Posts by Scott Bernstein

It looks like The Police isn’t the only band discussing reunion plans in 2007.  Van Halen has been selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and you know what that usually means. The induction ceremony takes place in New York City on March 12th, giving the band three months to figure out which […]

The King of the Smooth Jam will make his television debut in March with a guest appearance on the popular hospital drama House. Incoherent rambler Dave Matthews takes on the role of Patrick, a savant and virtuoso pianist who suffered a severe neurological impairment as the result of an accident 10 years prior. Patrick’s illness […]

After a couple of short weeks, we’re back to the grind with a full week of action. Don’t think of it as more work, think of it as more Hidden Track. To start you off on the right foot, here’s a handful of links to keep you occupied: Cold Turkey’s Benji Eisen and Mike Greenhaus offer us […]

Sometimes in life everything comes together and you find yourself at the place you most want to be. This past weekend, I was That Guy.

That was me, experiencing the gamut of emotions at the Aragon Ballroom, where Umphrey’s McGee played three shows leading up to New Year’s Eve. I’ve fallen head over heels for UM over the past two years, and I’m thankfully still at the point where I enjoy each successive show more and more. When the band announced they were playing three year-end shows in its hometown, I just couldn’t resist and gathered 15 of my closest friends to join me for a trip to the Midwest.

Each night the band left nothing in the tank as they explored their huge repertoire, even adding a few covers to the mix. When you tear through your own songs for two hours it must be nice to play two or three amazing new covers each night. Who doesn’t like seeing their favorite band switch it up and play something new, like say, Dick In A Box?

The pairing of The Fuzz > Dear Lord that opened the second show was the musical highlight of the three shows that were chock full of musicial highlights. The rock groove found in The Fuzz was a major contrast to the beautiful tones on Dear Lord, a rarity that was one of the first songs the band ever wrote. For me the beauty of Umphrey’s is the diversity of their catalog — one minute the band would be grooving out to a reggae number when all of the sudden a heavy rocker would develop. The other non-musical highlight was the light show. Both the lasers (last seen on Pink Floyd’s Divsion Bell Tour) and the light show were top notch and really added to my enjoyment of the festivities.

Now that I’ve used every positive adjective in the blogging handbook in gushing over Umphrey’s, let’s check out some snapshots. Adam Kaufman shot the middle show on December 30th, and the pictures came out so good I thought I’d let the images do the talking and present a gallery of his incredible photos…

After a couple of three-day weekends we’re back to the old-fashioned two-day version. Whatevs, Fridays are awesome. It’s been a busy week at Hidden Track Headquarters, yet believe it or not we still have plenty to tell you about. Forget about your job and relax with some linkage: Guitar Magazine presents a list of the top […]

I had the genuine pleasure this past holiday weekend of attending Umphrey’s McGee’s three-night run at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. One of the cooler aspects of these shows was that UM handpicked three great bands to open each night of the run. The North Mississippi Allstars opened the show on the 29th, followed by Los Lobos on the 30th and Taj Mahal on New Year’s Eve. It was incredible to get a taste of all of those bands before Umphrey’s owned my face.

Of the three opening acts, the band I most enjoyed was East L.A.’s Los Lobos, a Mexican-American rock band that has been going strong for more 30 years.

I was mostly familiar with Los Lobos’ music, but I had never gotten a chance to experience them live. You can surely color me impressed now…

I grew up in the days of Hair Metal, even staying up ever Saturday night to watch Headbanger’s Ball on MTV. At first Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Quiet Riot were my thing. Then as the ’80s turned into the ’90s I was more of a Poison, Guns N’ Roses, and Metallica guy. And while I loved the heavy shit, I also enjoyed when bands showed a completely different side and busted out the power ballad.

An ingenious formula was established in the late ’80s for a band releasing a heavy yet catchy single and following it up with a slow song to show the emerging artists’ more sensitive side. Examples of this major phenomenon include Firehouse (Don’t Treat Me Bad > Love of a Lifetime), Warrant (Down Boys > Heaven) and Europe (The Final Countdown > Carrie).

At first I was going to list the most popular and successful power ballads, but screw that. Even though Don’t Treat Me Bad and More Than Words sold the most records, songs such as Love Song and November Rain still hold up 13 years after Headbanger’s Ball went off the air. So this edition of The B List features my 10 favorite power ballads from the Hair Metal band era (1984 – 1993) — make sure to click on the song title to see the classic video for each of these songs:

10. Love Song – Tesla: Many Hair Metal bands sucked musically and were basically productions of record companies. Tesla broke that mold by combining honest songwriting with five truly talented musicians. Love Song provides an excellent example of the power-ballad formula of instrumental opening > sappy lyrics > powerful guitar solo that was a hallmark of many songs on this list.

9. Here I Go Again – Whitesnake: Tawny Kitaen introduced herself as the “girl from the Whitesnake video” to her castmates on VH1’s Surreal Life 6. That speaks volumes about the power of the music video, as well as the power of a hot chick rolling around on a Jaguar in a white negligee. Whitesnake’s singer David Coverdale was a lucky man, as he dated Tawny Kitaen during her best years, well before she started beating up baseball players and doing tons of coke. Oh, there was a song that we were talking about, right? That happens.

Read on for the rest of this week’s edition of The B List: Hair-Metal Power Ballads…

Apparently Xanax, Percocet, and Vicodin weren’t the only drugs Trey possessed upon his December arrest for driving while drugging. WNYT in Albany is reporting that police found heroin in the former 70 Volt Parade guitarist’s automobile: Ernest “Trey” Anastasio, the lead singer of the rock-jam band Phish, was in court in Whitehall Wednesday for his […]

Welcome to the first 2007 edition of Grousing The Aisles. We’re still waiting for someone to recognize from where the title of this department was taken. The winner may or may not receive a set of steak knives.

GTA this week checks out a few shows from this weekend’s NYE festivities and takes a look back at a classic Dead show and a must-hear Rick Danko project. Also added to the weekly mix are a few early ’70s gems from The Doors and David Bowie. Let’s jump right into the fray and see what’s what, shall we?

Rick Danko, Jonas Fjeld, Eric Anderson 12/04/94 SBD (FLAC)

Regular HT readers may have noticed at this point that both Ace Cowboy and I are totally geigh for The Band, and more specifically Rick Danko. Guilty as charged your honor, as no singer or musician can convey emotions in their voice like Ricky D. In 1991, Danko recorded an album with Jonas Fjeld and Eric Anderson — cleverly titled Danko/Fjeld/Anderson — on which all three musicians’ styles converge to form a new style all its own (the trio then followed up their debut with Ridin’ On The Blinds). This show features plenty of songs from both albums, as well as some traditional songs and a couple of incredible Band tunes. Highlights include Stagefright, Ragtop, and It Makes No Difference. Read on for more downloads…

Is anyone else feeling pretty groggy this new year? I returned home to New York yesterday after an amazing, yet brief, trip to Chicago for the Umphrey’s McGeestand at the Aragon Ballroom. But UM wasn’t the only band playing a gig on New Year’s Eve, which has become a major holiday on the calendar for many fans and bands.

So for this special Tuesday edition of Hors, here are a few links, followed by New Year’s Eve setlists from your favorite bands:

• Just what you wanted and needed for the holidays: A complete list of all the music videos on YouTube, sorted by artist (via LHB)
• Was anyone else a little creeped out by Michael Jackson’s appearance at the James Brown Funeral at the James Brown Arena?
• U2 is ready to take it to the next level
• Our friend Neddy took in the Widespread Panic NYE shows in Atlanta and reviews Saturday’s show on his site
• Former kings of the hill Strangefolk and The Samples will combine forces to play at Sugarloaf in late January
• Trey Anastasio returns to the scene of the crime
• Check out these seriously awesome videos of Paul Green’s School of Rock playing the songs of the Grateful Dead

Read on for the jam-packed NYE setlists from some of the usual suspects…

Yet another three-day weekend is upon us, and I’m about to jet to Chicago for the Umphrey’s McGee New Year’s Run at the Aragon. Have a terrific NYE, folks, and expect even more from Hidden Track in 2007. It’s so on. Bob Weir is making the rounds, this time sitting down with Jambands.com’s Taylor Hill […]

This week Grousing The Aisles takes a look at performers at the top of their game. Sure, it must have been cool to see The Stones and The Who at any point this year, but can you imagine seeing these bands in 1973? As a reference point for this particular post, when you head to a show hoping not to see “any new shit,” the band you are seeing has completely passed its peak. Let’s do this…

Primus 11/17/93 SBD (FLAC)

Looking back now, Primus’ live show hit its peak in 1993 with the inclusion of the material from Pork Soda. There aren’t too many soundboards from ’93 circulating these days, but recently this Bomb Factory show has begun to make the rounds. (There must be something about The Bomb Factory, because one of the best Phish concerts of all-time took place there six months earlier.) Primus opens with the high-energy Jerry Was a Racecar Driver and tears through Bob and My Name is Mud, continuing to hit many of the songs from Pork Soda over the length of the 80-minute set. Les Claypool’s bass sounds particularly good due to the sublime separation of instruments on this remastered recording.

Read on for more downloads from the recently deceased James Brown, Neil Young, Genesis, Leftover Salmon and God Johnson…

Let’s give thanks for three-day weekends. This Monday and next Monday are the only sniff of a vacation I’ll get, so I’m going to take full advantage. You should take advantage of these links here, full advantage: Great news, check out the best of the Bridge School benefits on iTunes Get this: Biff sings! There’s […]

Welcome back to another edition of Grousing The Aisles. There’s nothing like music to fight off the mid-week blues, so check out these fine live shows:

Gov’t Mule – December 16th, 2006 AUD (FLAC)

In quick fashion, this torrent features Mule’s headlining set from last Saturday’s Christmas Jam in Asheville. Since Warren Haynes has sat in on many a DMB version of Cortez The Killez, Dave returns the favor here by sitting in on a stellar version of the Neil Young classic. Branford Marsalis came out as well for Watchtower and a reggaefied Soulshine. The Mule only played two songs from their new album, and they even broke out old favorites Sco-Mule and Mule. While the link above is for an audience recording, I plan on buying the Mule Tracks soundboard version as soon as it becomes available later this week.

Read on for some Johnny Cash, MMW, kickass bluegrass and the old standbys…

As we previously reported last week, Phish’s 12/29/97 concert is indeed the next show to be released as part of the Live Phish download series. For whatever reason the original link became inactive for awhile, but today, both the audio and video are now available for download. Get to it. If the free audio clips […]

I sure wish it were next Monday; then I’d be off from work for Christmas. Since I’m not, though, here are a handful of links to keep you entertained: Diane Schnier, wife of moe. guitarist Al, has a track available for download for which the proceeds will benefit Multiple Sclerosis Double J Jesse Jarnow reviews […]

Much has been written over the past 30 hours aside from our commentary about the roadside arrest of former 70 Volt Parade lead singer Trey Anastasio:

• WCAX TV went right to the people and got the “Phish mom” perspective
• The AP story had Trey’s written statement, which read: “I feel terrible about what happened last night, and I am deeply sorry for any embarrassment I have caused my friends, family and fans”
• Phish still couldn’t get any respect from MTV — Trey’s arrest only garnered a brief mention
• Oddly enough, the best news story came from E! Online’s Josh Grossberg, who must be a Phish fan — he managed to work “flubbed” and Antelope lyrics into his piece
• The Rutland Herald’s Alan Keays disclosed that Trey was driving from NYC to Burlington
• Even the gossip blogs got in on the act: Gawker’s Idolator and Perez Hilton snarked away
• Check out this video from Albany TV station WNYT
• And front-page stories ran in the Burlington Free Press, The Post-Star, and the Times-Union in Albany

Deep down I always knew Trey could be front-page material:

Trey’s loving fan base also got their shots in, Photoshopping his image to show their care and concern for the man (via Pheesh and other places):

Read on for more well-crafted Trey images from around the world wide web…

There has been a bunch of chatter on the message boards lately about an announcement from the Phish organization. We seem to have our answer, as today the band has put up a show from December 29th, 1997 for download on Live Phish. This terrific show from Madison Square Garden features amazing versions of classics […]

Today is Friday, which means it’s time for another helping of Leftovers: The Top 10 Grateful Deadest Moments as picked by Boomsalon Porcupine Tree will be joined by Rush’s Alex Lifeson and King Crimson’s Robert Fripp on their next album Tucker Carlson goes to Dark Star Orchestra concerts and doesn’t really oppose gay marriage. The […]

This week, Grousing The Aisles takes a look at the best podcasts on the web.

Just in case you are living in the early 2000s, a podcast is a file (usually mp3) distributed by subscription for use on a portable music device or on a computer. In researching this piece, it really surprises me more up-and-coming bands haven’t taken advantage of this cheap and easy way to market their music. For now, these podcasts are the best music you can buy (legally) for absolutely nothing:

Umphrey’s McGee: UM was the first band in the so-called jam genre to use podcasting to market their music. Just about every two weeks, the band releases a new 70-minute “Best Of” compilation…for free. This week the band released the 35th installment of the series that features the best music of July 2006. Jon McLennand, podcast coordinator for the band, reports “It’s been a fairly steady growth since the inception, starting from around 6,000 downloads per podcast initially to 20,000 currently.” Yes, 20,000! That’s a serious model for success…