Archive: 2007

It feels like forever since we posted a Grousing The Aisles, but it’s only been two weeks. We’re gonna make up for lost time by posting three incredible soundboards by legendary artists and linking to an additional five at the end of the piece As my mom likes to say “Don’t ever say we never gave you anything.” Let’s get down to business…

Sly and the Family Stone 09/01/1969 SBD [FLAC, MP3]

Much has been made about Sly Stone’s reappearance onto the scene. Sly clearly has seen better days, so instead of looking at his present, let’s take a look at a golden oldie from the days when crack was just the line on your ass. Just this week we came across an incredible soundboard of Sly and the Family Stone’s groundbreaking performance at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969. You can hear the urgency in Sly’s voice as he sings early versions of songs that would soon be classics.

The whole band absolutely kills this material throughout the set. M’lady brings the funk, Sing A Simple Song shows a bit of a harder edge and Stand! gives the crowd a feel for the more political side of Stone’s music. All of Sly’s musicians are having a great night, especially bass player Larry Graham. Other highlights include a bombastic Dance To The Music and the whole filler, especially the guitar-driven Thank You (Fallentime Be Mice Elf Again). If you want to see what Sly and the Family Stone was all about, download this set or check out the Woodstock video, but whatever you do don’t pay $75 to see them play. Read on for tasty boots from Paul Simon, the Dead and more…

If Tea Leaf Green replacing Ben Chambers with Reed Mathis was a steal, then the Black Crowes replacing Paul Stacey with Luther Dickinson will go down as the best deal this side of the Louisiana Purchase. The Crowes announced the move on Tuesday as they spilled the beans on details about their new album. Warpaint will be released via the Crowes’ new imprint Silver Arrow Records on March 4th.

Photo by VanArk

Dickinson makes his Crowes recording debut on Warpaint and will join the band on a world tour supporting the album throughout 2008. Before anyone starts scouring Northern Mississippi for another Allstar, keep in mind that Luther will probably keep his role in NMAS. At least that’s what Mike Greenhaus thinks, and we trust him. This won’t be the first time a Robinson brother will be in a band with Luther Dickinson, as Rich played in the short lived Circle Sound with Luther last year. Read on for more about the Crowes big move…

We never thought that visiting Vineland, New Jersey — the armpit of America’s armpit — would be in our plans next summer, but yesterday’s announcement that C3 Presents will be holding a festival in Vineland puts the city square in our plans.

C3 Presents, the brains behind Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits festival, always seem to know how to put together a varied and exciting lineup that can draw a diverse crowd. The new festie will be held on a 500-acre privately owned farm on August 8th – 10th.

Interestingly, Vineland takes place only one week removed from Lollapalooza, which means they are ultimately competing with themselves. We don’t really care about that; we’re just psyched to check out what’s sure to be an epic festival about two hours from NYC. Read on for more about Vineland…

We’ve been blown away by the flood of amazing new rock documentaries about old bands. No Direction Home was brilliant. Amazing Journey was awesome. Runnin’ Down A Dream beats ’em all. And everything we’ve heard about Julien Temple’s Joe Strummer documentary makes us feel like a couple of custies for not seeing it yet. USA Today examines the trend, filling us in on what it takes to bring these artists’ stories to the screen.

• A lucky Radiohead fan got his copy of the In Rainbows box set a week early
• Van Halen adds a few more dates to their busy 2008 schedule
• Our friend Brian Bavosa writes about his experience at a recent Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm’s barn
• Somebody played a joke on Weezer, and the media fell for it (including us)
• We don’t blame James McCartney for getting his dad to help him record his debut album
• Slapdelay asks What Would Zappa Do?
• Benji and Mike pick up the pace with some stellar editions of Cold Turkey
• Hey Parents: Get your kids a hippie van this holiday season
• The Police bring the never-ending reunion tour to the Isle of Wight

Finally, we really got a kick out of Jack White’s matador impression in the White Stripes new video for Conquest. Check it out after the jump…

Somehow I find myself typing this post from a hotel room in Little Rock, Arkansas. Yeah, I’m on the road again, and this time there’s no Vegas. Work, she is a whore. At least now I can say I’ve spent a solid night in the great state that spawned two American heroes: Billy Jeff Clinton […]

Either Queensryche doesn't love the songs on Take Cover or they are completely incapable of conveying their love.  Either way, this album is a failure even among all the failures that make up this sad new convention practiced by bands that are desperately trying to show their relevance.

The Black Crowes have wrapped "Warpaint," their first studio album since 2001, and will release it March 4 internationally via their own Silver Arrow imprint, with distribution by Megaforce/Red.The 11-track set was recorded at Allaire Studios in Woodstock, N.Y., and procued by Paul Stacey. It features the recording debut of new guitarist Luther Dickinson of […]

Radiohead have confirmed the first two dates of 2008, and they’ll happen in Germany. The band recently hinted that their first shows to preview ‘In Rainbows’ will happen in the US in May, and that a Glastonbury performance is a possibility but so far the only confirmed shows are at the Southside and Hurricane Festivals […]

The Bob Dylan film ‘I’m Not There’ led the nominations for the 2008 independent Spirit Awards announced today (November 27) in Los Angeles. The unorthodox film in which several actors portray the legendary songwriter received four major nominations, including Best Feature. Actress Cate Blanchett, who portrays Dylan in the film along with Richard Gere, Heath […]

After much speculation that C3 Presents would roll out a new music festival in Philadelphia, the Austin-based promoter/producer has pulled an end run and announced the Vineland (N.J.) Music Festival in a partnership with U.K. festival producer Melvin Benn’s Festival Republic."For our company to be involved with an individual who more or less has inspired […]

New West Records & Ammal Records are excited to announce the release of Working Man’s Café, a new studio album by legendarysongwriter Ray Davies. Available in North America on February 19th, 2008 Working Man’s Café, features 12 new songs written by Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame member Davies, and co-produced with Grammy® Award winning […]

Velour Music Group is proud to announce the March 4, 2008 release of the new record by guitarist/songwriter Kaki King, Dreaming of Revenge. Produced by Grammy Award-winning musician and producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel, Daniel Lanois), this is King’s first record since 2006’s …Until We Felt Red. Red found King branching out with […]

Jerry Garcia would chuckle to think of a multi-day event hosted by a major American university designed to dissect Grateful Dead culture and history. No doubt too as the weekend long series of events progressed, he would become more than bemused by the proceedings.

hy are so many people on the multilingual bus with Gogol Bordello? Because getting into them is as much as layered, depth-creating experience as it is the well-documented hyper-visceral one. That is, the more layers you peel back and the deeper you entrench yourself in what the band's laying down, the richer the experience gets.

The Noise Pop Festival returns in 2008 from February 26 to March 2. Over six nights, Noise Pop 16 will take over the best-loved venues in San Francisco, to host unforgettable performances by Magnetic Fields, The Mountain Goats, The Gutter Twins and dozens of other important indie rock, electronic, punk and cutting edge musical artists, […]

The latest FIFA football rankings are out, and a scrappy Northern Ireland side has risen four places to 32nd in the world. That’s three spots ahead of the Republic of Ireland, and clearly this week, Northern Irish eyes are smiling. And pointing and laughing at the Irish, I’m sure. As someone whose borderline obsessed with […]

We’ve noticed some striking similarities between two of our favorite shredders and two of our favorite villains. Any doppelganging in your nape of the neck? Above: RAQ’s Chris Michetti and Whitestarr’s Cisco Adler [kudos to the_coach] Above: Umphrey’s McGee Jake Cinninger and The Hamburglar Previously on Hidden Track: I Beg My Mirror Image

Here’s a survey that must be flawed: “The poll by Harris Interactive…showed that…83 percent of people earning $150,000 or more had a music education.” Then how do I know tons of poor folk that’ve played the skin flute for years?

The beginning of the year is generally considered the leanest part of the live music calendar, yet January tour dates have been flying into Hidden Track headquarters faster than Ricky Williams could injure himself upon returning to the NFL. And here we thought we were gonna be able to save some cash after the holidays. […]

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that White Chalk is another interesting slice of Harvey that is calmer but just as pleasing beginning with “The Devil” and continuing on with “Dear Darkness.” Perhaps the album brings to mind her “Dance Hall At Louse Point” period most clearly during the carnival-tinged “Grow Grow Grow” that is quirky, unsettling and yet strong. Throughout it all, Harvey plays the light, airy vocals to a tee, especially on the haunting, retro-laced title track.