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I think 'McCartney' is one of Paul's best post-Beatles albums. The other two I like are ones that he had notable people writing with him, kinda filling in the counterpoint role that Lennon had with him in The Beatles. Albums like 'Flowers In The Dirt' with Elvis Costello, or 'Flaming Pie' with Jeff Lynn.

Of course Paul McCartney did lots of stuff with his band Wings, but most of that wasn't my cup of tea.

Valentines Day was an absolutely brilliant track from the 'McCartney' album. Such a great album that doesn't get the recognition it deserves, it's like he lost a bit of his edge after this. Maybe I'm Amazed was another stand-out song from the that album, up there with his great material like Hey Jude etc

 
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McCartney is fantastic. All recorded at home for his own amusement as sort of demos, thus playing everything himself and not worrying about imperfections. A lot of interesting instrumentals resulting in a critical shellacking by reviewers demanding he produce a polished pop album, which, ironically, they later would give him shellackings for doing.

My copy of Pieces arrived today: it's 15 unreleased tracks recorded by Stephen Stills and Manassas circa 1971-1972. Stills is at his peak, it's inexplicable why this stuff was left on the shelf. I was playing Manassas and the underrated Down the Road earlier and this material is just as good. Speaking of McCartney, Stephen Stills is another guy consistently underrated because he's not viewed as being as "cool" as his sometime-partner, in this case Neil Young. The greatest irony is neither John Lennon nor Neil Young ever underrated their respective partners/rivals.

Both Manassa records and his first solo record are really good (haven't listened to SSII). Took me forever to find the double LP. A very good guitarist too.
 
Always dug this performance on Conan by Steve Earle and the V-Roys doing 'Johnny Too Bad.' Can never seem to find the EP they were promoting.

 
Hilarious lyrics. Bob Dylan sounds like he's going to crack himself up at any moment.


I like the Travelling Wilbury's. There were a legitimate super group but with the attitude of just some dudes in a garage band playing for fun, because that is basically what it was. It just happens it was a group of really talented "some dudes".

Just being dorks :music:

 
Speaking of underrated band mates



This was the closest thing to a Beatles reunion that ever occurred. Ringo was on the drums as well as in the video. Popular legend has it Paul participated as well, but his official response is that he was too busy.


and a pre-Wilbury's collaboration of Harrison, Petty and Lynne.

 
Some more Stan Ridgeway...



...and (veering dangerously close to pop) also the Hooters.

 
I really hate Jeff Lynne's production. In particular, the way he stacks rhythm guitars so they all sound like chunka-chunka-chunka with no space to breathe between them. It afflicts everything he does. I think it's an attempt to emulate Phil Spector, but I've always hated Phil Spector's production too.
 
These guys were pretty far out in their day:

Once upon a long ago I had a cool set of records compiling all these Southern California rock groups that put out a single or two or maybe even an LP in 1965-66, wild garage punk and psychedelic stuff, crazily aggressive or whacked out. I have no idea what label it was or what the series was called. Anybody else remember them? Or was it just locally distributed?
 
The Answer: the DNA of "Satisfaction" and "Get Off of My Cloud" is all over this one.
 
I don't think there was a better place to be than California in 1965-1967 if you wanted to start a band. Here's a group from Fullerton.
 
I can't get this guilty pleasure out of my head after seeing the trailer for Tarrantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood !!!



Amen bruthas, heh heh :grin:
 
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Have you seen them live? An awesome, scorching experience, but Do Bring Earplugs!! The times I went to see Afghan Whigs have definitely been the loudest gigs I've ever been to.
 
Have you seen them live? An awesome, scorching experience, but Do Bring Earplugs!! The times I went to see Afghan Whigs have definitely been the loudest gigs I've ever been to.
Never seen them perform, live or dead!
 
I'm gonna go on the record and say Pink has evolved into the most musically ambitious pop artist and best singer of her generation, which I would never have guessed way back when she debuted.









 
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More eclectic pop artistry from Pink:











Even if you don't like her music for some bizarre reason, you have to admire the sheer variety of styles she's willing to attempt.
 
Funhouse always reminds me of this for some reason:

 
Footage starts at about 1:15, before that it's just warm-up audio as the band hasn't been introduced yet. Fleetwood Mac 1975, having to incorporate older Mac material into their setlist since they have not been together long enough to have enough new material to fill out a concert.
 
A co-worker mentioned this Tool cover of Zep’s ‘No Quarter’ to me. Houses of the Holy remains my favourite Zeppelin album, strong songs that haven’t been diluted through overplay.

This cover is actually quite faithful but that doesn’t prevent the usual stupidity on YT where fans of either band endlessly insult each other over it, seeming to misunderstand the very point of a cover, it is a tribute not an attempt to ‘improve’ on the original.



Found that someone had the inspired idea to set the original song to Refn’s psychedelic viking epic Valhalla Rising.

 
Hope to catch the great Valerie June on tour this summer. Here is her cover of ‘Little Wing.’

 
Listening to the remastered Rumours three-disc set. The first disc is the actual album from 1977. The clarity is fantastic. I'm hearing parts that were buried in the mix on my old copy of the album and it sounds so much better. Percussion parts, little guitar bits, background vocals, everything is there to be heard. It's also got the B-side "Silver Springs" that was left off the album due to length and because (at least supposedly) there were already enough slow songs, so they put on "I Don't Want to Know" instead.

The second disc is also clear as a bell and is a 12 tracks from their 1977 concert tour. Especially interesting is the first track "Intro," as it's obviously music that Lindsey Buckingham later developed into the title track from the Tusk double-LP from 1979.

The third disc is made up of 16 early takes and demos and some unreleased songs. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but the quality of the first two discs bodes well.
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1977...looks like a soundcheck or rehearsal to me. Sounds awesome. Love that unique pickless style Lindsey Buckingham developed.

 
Just found this band called Gygax while checking out the current Beast in Black album on Youtube

 
Been digging through LPs I haven't played in a long time to see what should stay on the shelf and what should go to the garage or the Goodwill. Dreamboat Annie gets to stay.
 
Another LP that stays is There's a Riot Goin' On. Don't think I've heard this in a decade.
 
Maybe my favorite guitarist.

Fun fact I just discovered while reading Making Rumours : "Rhiannon" and Rumours were both released on my birthday, exactly one year apart.
 
Maybe my favorite guitarist.

I think he's a great guitarist too - his fingerstyle playing is amazing. But I've never been able to get very enthusiastic about Fleetwood Mac as a band. There's only one of their songs that I really like, a somewhat predictable choice...




Also, here's my favourite track from McCartney...

 
Anyway, been listening to The Staple Singers this afternoon...







Mavis Staples is a legend. The documentary Mavis is a great tribute.
 
I think he's a great guitarist too - his fingerstyle playing is amazing. But I've never been able to get very enthusiastic about Fleetwood Mac as a band.
He's actually got more records on his own now than with Fleetwood Mac.





His best record so far is Out of the Cradle from 1992.
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On the topic of Lindsey Buckingham's guitar technique:



This guy's videos are always informative and fun.
 
On the topic of Lindsey Buckingham's guitar technique:

So wot I heard was that LB started out learning the banjo and then transferred over to guitar. And nobody bothered to tell him that you're supposed to use a pick :tongue: His technique does seem to be somewhere between folk/bluegrass frailing and Travis picking.

Here he is on the banjo....

 
Here's another great fingerstyle player...



And yes, singing while playing both the melody and the bassline definitely triples the difficulty :smile:
 
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