Hidden Track

We’re trying something different for this week’s edition of Grousing The Aisles: For your continued enjoyment, we’re adding links to high quality mp3 versions of some of the shows that are featured. Please weigh in and let us know if this is something we should continue. Allright, let’s get down to business here:

Betts, Leavell, Hall, and Trucks 04/23/83 SBD (320kbps MP3):

I didn’t even know this band ever existed until I came upon a torrent of this show from Hobart College. In 1983, the Allman Brothers Band had been broken up for a while, allowing all the members to pursue individual projects. Dickie Betts and Butch Trucks formed a cleverly titled band called BHLT with former Allmans’ piano player Chuck Leavell and Jimmy Hall on harmonica.

This show is one of few that circulate from BHLT’s short tenure. The band plays a number of Allmans classics and a few originals Leavell wrote with Betts (Chuck Leavell features a clip of Rain, one of the originals he wrote with Betts, on his website). BHLT had plans to record but dissolved before that ever became a reality. Luckily for us we can re-live this meeting of southern rock all-stars by listening to this show.

Read on for more from the popular rock band Phish, Clapton and moe…

We confirmed the Bonnaroo 2007 lineup last night, Roger Waters is coming back to the USA, and all is right with the world halfway through the week. Let’s look around the cyberweb and check in on some of the shit that’s out there: Blogcritics.com presents a list of rock’s greatest bass riffs If you don’t have tickets to see […]

He’s part Pete Carroll, part Bill Maher, and we love’m. Thanks to T-Money for the heads up about Roger Waters adding some American dates to his 2007 World Tour: Thursday, May 24th East Rutherford, NJ Continental Arena Wednesday, May 30th New York NY Madison Square Garden Friday, June 1st Philadelphia PA Wachovia Center Saturday, June […]

8 PM Update: We just got the official press release, and everything you’ve heard today is correct. One thing we can add: The comedians are back, and Bonnaroo 2007 will feature Lewis Black & Friends, Dave Attell and David Cross. Props to PT user jtr210 and the BonnarooDetective for discovering a link (since removed) to […]

“Hey, you…get your damn hands off my Internet videos.” –George McFly, 1955 Some time during HT Weekend Posting Hours I salivated over the upcoming SXSW premiere of the new David Berman-intensive documentary Silver Jew. In dual congratulatory honor of this release and my salivary glands working properly, here’s a cool clip of the Jews playing […]

One of the most unique aspects of Umphrey’s McGee’s music is the near-nightly improvisational jam — known as “Jimmy Stewart” — the band inserts into its sets. Now thanks to UM Street Team Coordinator, Jon McLennand, the best improvisations from February through June 2006 have been compiled into two discs called “Jimmy Stewart” – The Second Album, available now.

Umphrey’s played more than 50 shows during that time period, and it wasn’t easy for McLennand to decide which jams made the cut. His process? “I go through all the shows (of a certain period) and collect all of the improvisation. Then I listen to everything, ad nauseum, until I’m able to whittle down the best pieces of improv. Then, I jigsaw everything together so that it fits, is listenable, and flows.”

The result is an album that shows off all the different sides of the band’s music that isn’t based around two verses and a chorus. Read on for further details on the second Jimmy Stewart album, a full tracklisting and much more…

As part of our continued effort to geek everyone up about underrated artists we can’t wait to see down at Langerado next month, today we’ll sneak a peek into the Apollo Sunshine archive and get particularly geeky. Sadly I missed this trio of Berkelee gents at this year’s NYC Freaks’ Ball, but redemption is only one month away under the chicken soup-infused […]

The Police are currently holding a press conference and live rehersal at The Whiskey as I type this, and it’s currently being webcast live (so get on over there and watch first-hand). Confirming one of the worst kept secrets of all-time, The Police will be heading out on an extensive world tour at the end of May:

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ITINERARY 2007

• 5/28/07 GM Place Vancouver, BC (Onsale: Saturday, Feb. 17)
• 6/06/07 Key Arena Seattle, WA (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/09/07 Pepsi Arena Denver, CO (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/15/07 MGM Grand Las Vegas, NV (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/16/07 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/18/07 US Airways Arena Phoenix, AZ (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/26/07 American Airlines Arena Dallas, TX (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/30/07 New Orleans Arena New Orleans, LA (Onsale: TBA)
• 7/02/07 Scottrade Center St. Louis, MO (Onsale: TBA)
• 7/22/07 Air Canada Centre Toronto, ON (Onsale: Feb. 17)
• 7/25/07 Bell Centre Montreal, PQ (Onsale: Feb. 17)
• 7/28/07 Fenway Park Boston, MA (Onsale: Feb. 20)
• 8/1,3/07 Madison Square Garden New York, NY (Onsale: Feb. 20)

“Additional North American concert dates in Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Edmonton, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Tampa, San Francisco’s Bay Area, Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Washington/Baltimore area will be announced in the next few weeks. Additional cities and venues to be announced soon.”

Read on for much more on this inevitable but still awesome announcement…

Our stellar photojournalist friend Nathan Ingraham craves the indie jam rock. So we sent him down to Boston’s Orpheum Theatre this past Friday, and he came back with these moe. better gems…

The venerable Boston Metro couldn’t make it two paragraphs without mentioning Phish in its preview of Friday’s moe. concert. So instead of fighting the urge to follow the paper’s questionable lead, I’ll get the comparison out of the way up front. As the Metro noted, moe. has not grown exponentially since the demise of the popular rock band Phish two and a half years ago. But I’d be willing to bet most fans at the Orpheum wouldn’t have it any other way.

The band as well seems content with its place in the musical hierarchy: moe. is big enough to throw large-scale events like the upcoming Snoe.down and yet intimate enough to still allow for band/fan interaction (such as the full band merchandise signing post-show) and 2005’s acoustic Coda shows in New York.

But let’s just talk about the music. Most in the crowd that night had a feeling they were in for a special show when the band opened with the raging jam-vehicle Recreational Chemistry. The song was just about to take off when who should wander onto the stage but bassist Rob Derhak’s son, Zach, wielding some sort of key-tar and screaming into a mic guitarist Al Schnier had provided. Sure it was adorable, but it also slammed the breaks on the jam, and the band sloppily segued into Blue Jeans Pizza. But things picked up there, and the song featured guitarist Chuck Garvey’s most ripping solo of the night. He didn’t get lots of other opportunities to really shine though — this evening was definitely an “Al” night.

Read on for 11 more amazing photos and the rest of Nate’s review…

Thanks to my DVR I was able to watch The Police’s quick performance over and over again last night, and in so doing I missed the rest of the Grammys. [youtube]fIIOwONgmJY[/youtube] Oh well, I hear I didn’t miss too much. Regardless of what may or may not have happened last night, let’s start off the week with […]

I expect no sympathy, but it was tough reacclimating to work following a week in the United Kingdom for five soccer matches. At least I can claim posting on this here rag certainly provided me a solid escapist outlet. This week marked our most prolific to date, with 22 posts published in six days. Here’s […]

…You open it up: No grapes, no nuts. But plenty of sour grapes from us today: What’s the deal with Levon Helm’s fucking me with his over-accommodative scheduling? The drawling drummer responded to high demand for his sold-out show at New York’s Beacon Theater by adding a second date — the night before our show. […]

I’m an admitted Silver Jews newb, but I’ve finally come to the realization that the best opening line to any album I own belongs to American Water‘s “In 1984, I was hospitalized for approaching perfection.” Talk about a lure, that’s it. For all the David Berman fans out there, Pitchfork is reporting a new documentary […]

On your way out of the office today, peep what one veteran music man calls the worst album covers ever created. I like this one…a lot…like that: But, hey, where the hell is the revised cover for Smell the Glove? C’mon! The Worst Album Covers Ever Created? [stevecarter.com] 

Our main man Coach thought it a stellar idea to fill the day with the sounds of soulful begging. So here are two fairly unique takes on the title track of this post: [youtube]es8bPS0tUmU[/youtube] And now for The Yardbirds‘ turn to hack at the D & C Piñata: [youtube]xmNfOdDCtwU[/youtube] As our resident jester Neeko points out, the […]

I’m not a big fan of Sunday nights, especially now that the football season is over. That all changes this weekend — like many of youse, I can’t wait for 8 pm on Sunday when The Police take center stage at the Grammys. Sterogum went so far as to set odds for what song the band will play. […]

Anyone else think today’s initial artist announcement containing the lengthy list of 1,000 acts that’ll perform at the March 14-18 SXSW festival in Austin serves more as blatant comedic fodder than it does to build excitement?

I’m not taking anything away from the lineup by any means, it’s just that one quick glimpse of the roster…shit, the list has four bands from three different countries with names based on the word Panda, there’s Child Abuse, Dead Child and Children Collide, Psychedelic Horseshit, Holy Fuck and Holy Shit!, Lesbians on Ecstasy, and my personal favorite, This Moment in Black History.

What? SXSW couldn’t snare Womb Raider, Third Hand Smoke, Stabbing Monica Seles, Schlongstein & the Well-Hung Jews, or Pontius Pilate & the Nail-Driving Five? You know, a snarky music blogger could probably trek down to the Tejas capital, eschew the recognizable names, see only bands with clever monikers like those above and come away with the absolute best review of the festival. Hmm.

A bit more seriously, the list of performers is as impressive as it is long. It’s gonna be a helluva week down in Austin, 60 stages of every genre imaginable. Read on for the complete list of bands in today’s initial artist announcement…

2007 has started off with a bang for fans of bands that have broken up. Reunion Mania has taken over the rock world, with everyone from America to Zero getting in on the act. I’m not satisfied: I want more reunions. So this week’s B List features eight more bands that need to get in on the great money grab of 2007:

1. God Street Wine: Fuck Phish, if any more jambands are planning to reunite, I’d like to see God Street Wine get back together. As I mentioned in last week’s Grousing The Aisles, both Ace and I are huge fans of this dynamic band that added a little soul to the improv scene.

2. Blind Faith: Eric Clapton has run out of bands to reunite. Cream had a successful run of shows in 2005, and Clapton is currently on the road with Derek Trucks playing a bunch of Derek and the Dominos songs. Steve Winwood is in a similar predicament with the passing of Jim Capaldi. Blind Faith’s bass player Ric Grech has passed on, but Ginger Baker can still play (for the moment). I’d love to see these three men reform Blind Faith before they wind up in nursing homes.

3. Talking Heads: If The Police can put aside their animosity towards each other for a reunion, why can’t the Talking Heads? I think all the hipsters would faint at the sight of Tina Weymouth on stage again with David Byrne. Imagine the setlist the reunited Heads could put together? I’d love to see the band put aside their differences and score one of the biggest paydays in the history of rock and roll.

Read on for the other five bands that need to reunite this year….

The most talked about event in New York City last night involved Andy Samberg joining Justin Timberlake on the Madison Square Garden stage for a live rendition of the duo’s smash hit Dick in a Box. But 60 blocks north and over to the east, the headiest of the heady crammed into the 92st Street […]

It’s been a long time comin’, but the Superfly folks just posted three videos of Oysterhead’s performance from the Bonnaroo festival on its 2007 website. Rubberneck Lions, Shadow of a Man, and Pseudo Suicide are now yours… From the ‘Roo 2007 site: We added 3 video tracks from Oysterhead’s Bonnaroo 2006 performance at http://www.bonnaroo.com/. Also check out […]