Down With the Man

From the Steel Belted Radio video there is a shot (above) of Mike Plume posting a new list of artists he is gonna give airplay to ( he has just taken over a radio station.)

In the lyrics he also mentions some other players. One of the artists MP wants to bring back to the world from the station manager’s shelf is Mr Todd Snider – who also happens to be a great story-teller, which you’all know if you have ever seen any of his live shows.

Todd Snider – Alright Guy

Click here  to view because the YouTube poster does not allow embedding.

Radio Radials

Mike Plume Band bio

A band from Alberta (Mike had moved to Bonnyville AB from Moncton NB) and a song that for some reason staion managers across the continent merely put on the shelf and never played.

Of course, I think it is exceptional.

Steel Belted Radio – Mike Plume Band – 1998 YT post by mikeplume

MySpace site

Covers of the Rolling Stones

The Stones have given us so many memorable hits over the past (almost) 50 years. Of course, many people have covered Stones material – too many to even contemplate.

But there is one song from 1969’s Let it Bleed. In fact, it is song number one. And Gimmie Shelter, the song inspired by Altamont, remains to this day one of my favourite Stone’s tunes. But even The Stones themselves seldom live up to my expectations when they play it in concert ’cause not only does it have to be one of the ‘ballsiest’ songs ever but I prefer it with Merry Clayton’s dynamic female vocal heard on the original studio track. Who wouldn’t?

Here’s two covers of Shelter. In the first you gotta love Ash’s rough’Nready voice and the “ballsey” performance by her band. The second is another good one by none other than Detroit’s Mitch Ryder.

 
Gimmie Shelter – Ashley Cleveland  -  1997 YT post by ashleyclevelandmusic

Gimme Shelter – Mitch Ryder audio only slides – first release 1972 then re-released 1995. Yeah, this one is a joy to listen to too.

YT post by awhistler86

 

Ashley Cleveland’s myspace

Amelia Amnesia Ἀμνησία

One of the most enduring stories of our time has been the story of Amelia Earhart. The Handsome Family captures this in song and imagery.

Call their music what you like (alternative country?) but you gotta like their stuff!

Amelia Earhart – The Handsome Family 1996   from the album Milk and Scissors

YT post by blindlemonlemonhead

lyrics

Amelia, Amelia Earhart, after her plane was torn apart and bursting through the trees
She remembered picking lemons with William Randolph Hearst and how a spinning plane propeller turned liquid in the sun.
And as the cockpit burned, her hair filled with sparks, but when the glass exploded in, everything went dark.
She remembered sipping consommé with William Howard Taft and a boy with perfect skin who smelled like mustard gas. And as the cockpit burned, she couldn’t help but smile, recalling a dancing bear she’d seen as a child.

Amelia Earhart official site

Handsome Family myspace site

image credit

Grey Day

image from knarkiller91

 

I was watching this YT video today. Grateful Dead was lamenting about how it had been 20 years since they were at the top of their game. It was recorded in 1991 – almost 20 years ago. The Dead were playing to the “Deadheads” 40 years ago for crying out loud. Think I’ll run out back and cry out loud…..

Grateful Dead – Touch of Grey 11-3-91 YT post by splaif

Long Way Home

I like this version of “500 Miles” so much I think I’ll post it (followed by one of the first versions of the old classic folk song). The Journeymen released it in 1961 and Bobby Bare relesed his in ‘63. It was also recorded by Peter Paul et Mary, The Kingston Trio and a host of other folkies in the mid-sixties. Trouble is, nobody seems to know for certain who wrote it, coulda bin Bare, West, Phillips, Williams, me….it’s a mystery.

The Hooters – 500 Miles YT post by ValorOfSoul

from the album: Hooterization A Retrospective – 1996

 

The Generally accepted “Original” version – The Journeymen – 1961
YT post by PCMusic75
Journeymen = John Phillips, Scott McKenzie and good ole Dick Weissman

 

 

 

Go Ahead – play it….live a little: Chords and lyrics from this here site:
Gm | Bb | Cm | Eb x2
Gm | F/D | Gm | F x2

Gm      Bb    Cm     Eb
If you miss the train I’m on, you will know that I am gone
    F        Eb F F
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.
        Gm Bb
A hundred miles, a hundred miles,
        Cm Eb
A hundred miles, a hundred miles,
    F        Eb Gm F Gm F
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

Gm
Not a shirt on my back not a penny to my name,
And the land that I once left is not my own.
Lord, I’m one, Lord, I’m two, Lord, I’m three, Lord, I’m four,
Lord I’m five hundred miles away from home.

Solo

A hundred tanks along the square, one man stands and stops them there,
Some day soon the tide will turn and I’ll be free.
Ill be free, I’ll be free, I’ll come home to my country,
Some day soon the tide will turn and I’ll be free.

If you miss the train I’m on, you will know that I am gone,
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.
Lord, I’m one, Lord, I’m two, Lord, I’m three, Lord, I’m four,
Lord I’m five hundred miles away from home.

Solo

I’ll be free, I’ll be free, I’ll come home to my country,
Lord I’m five hundred miles away from home.
Ooooh, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles …

Flip Side / L’autre coté

In North America the ‘flip side’ of English language recordings could be considered to be Spanish, French, Amerindian, or any one of numerous other local languages.

But to exclude them from your listening repetoire woud be unwise.

A huge amount of material exists in French, the bulk of it coming from Québec but also ‘Acadia’, Manitoba, Louisianna and others.

Immediately following the backward steps taken during “les années noires”, Québec entered what has been called the “Quiet Revolution”. It was a period of time during the 1960s when the people started to realize who they were – and what direction they wanted to go.
Musicians started recording songs aimed solely at the Quebec market in genres previously not explored in such detail. In this case, it wasn’t exactly quiet, in fact in the field of popular music, it became quite loud (and proud).
Les Miserables were one of those bands very popular in Québec during this short period of time in Québec’s history.
Great ‘garage sound’:
Les Misérables – Misérablement votre – 1965? – YT post by TOKENHIPPIE54

More recently artists such as :

Daniel Bélanger – La folie en quatre – 1990s

YT post by rsensorat3

Lies. All Lies!

 From just down the road in  Fargo North Dakota (you know we were probably pub crawling around Broadway when this guy was born):

Jonny Lang – Lie To Me Youtube post by mistatt2

(Numéro sept sur le top cinquante) pas trop pire

 

 

pic credit

Money Back Guarantee

I personally guarantee you have never heard anything like this before……unless you have heard this before. The best Russian band to come out of Finland, The Lenningrad Cowboys, cover one of the most overplayed songs ever. But they have added a polka twist to it.

Leningrad Cowboys – Smoke On The Water – 1997

YT post by jarksu

Wild T. You Make My Heart Sing.

 

Saw the man and his band known as Wilt T and The Spirit last week. Great show. My heart was singing the Wild T blues! May the spirit be with you!

MIDNIGHT BLUES, WILD T & THE SPIRIT 1991

yt post by fdsdfsdf

pic credit