Author Archives: Steve Matteo

When Paul Simon released his album In the Blue Light in 2018, it had all the earmarks of a final work. It also came the same year that Simon said he would stop touring, with a show in Corona Park in Flushing Meadows, Queens, in New York, on September 22, 2018 to be his last. He subsequently played in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park at the Outside Lands festival on August 11, 2019, an environmental fundraiser that took place over three days and mostly featured newer artists and that on the 10th also featured Simon’s wife’s band Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians.

This new album, a very short, seven-song, mostly acoustic offering, also feels like it’s the last from Simon. The album’s lyrics reflect the feelings of someone looking back on their life, but who also feels like they have a lot more life to live. The album is also very much a prayer or meditation on spiritual salvation.

The mostly acoustic songs have faint echoes of Simon’s more folky works with Art Garfunkel in the 1960s and on his first solo albums in the early ’70s. But this is not a nostalgia show. The sounds and musical explorations here are fresh and new, albeit somber. Also of interest is the song “The Lord,” which appears as three separate songs and becomes a repeating musical and mostly lyrical motif.

Simon’s wife Edie Brickell duets with him on “The Sacred Harp” and “Wait.” And while the album has a very sparse acoustic feel, Simon plays five different guitars, a varied list of percussion, and three different keyboards. Jamey Haddad contributes various instruments, Voces8 also contribute on vocals, and five other artists comprise an orchestral quintet. The subtlety with which all of these instruments and voices are integrated is tasteful and refreshing.

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George Harrison, through his love for Indian music, by interjecting it into his work as a solo artist and as a member of The Beatles, and by virtue of his relationship with Ravi Shankar, was instrumental in exposing the music to the non-Western world. Another artist who has been a champion of Indian music and explored the style in his own works is John McLaughlin. Through his work with Shakti, he perhaps hasn’t been as well-known for exposing the music as for touring and recording with various configurations of Shakti. His efforts to share his enthusiasm for the music should not be diminished or underestimated. What follows are reviews of a recent reissue of a Ravi Shankar album and a brand-new Shakti album.

Ravi Shankar had been recording for nearly 20 years by the time he was part of the Shankar Family and Friends album which was released in 1974. This is the second time this century that it has been reissued. Previously, it was part of the George Harrison Collaborations CD box set in 2010. The album was produced by George Harrison and was released on his Dark Horse record label. Of course, Harrison was close friends with Shankar, studied Indian music under his tutelage, and worked on several live albums with Shankar, two of which were also film soundtracks: The Concert for Bangladesh and Ragas. This reissue is part of the new Dark Horse reissue program. It is available on limited edition orchid vinyl, was remastered by Paul Hicks and comes with a four-page insert.

Along with Harrison, who plays electric and acoustic guitars and autoharp on the release and who arranged “I Am Missing You,” other non-Indian musicians who worked on the album include Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, David Bromberg, Tom Scott, Ed Shaughnessy and many others. Owing to the eclecticism of this album, including the mixing of styles and experiments with various instruments, Paul Beaver, Vini Poncia, and Robert Margouleff play Moog synthesizer. Nearly 50 musicians contributed to this album.

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Two sumptuous coffee-table books on The Beatles have recently been released.

The newest book of the photographs from Paul McCartney is yet another beautifully designed coffee-table book that fans of The Beatles will love, but as it is also an eyewitness photographic trip back to the ’60s—it’s really much more than just a book on The Beatles. The book is primarily divided up among the six key places (Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington D.C., Miami) that were the geographic launching pads for the international Beatlemania invasion of 1963 and 1964, along with a coda that brings together a miscellany of additional and related photos.

In the beginning of each section, Paul intros the six locations and there’s a contact sheet included of the time and place in question. The book also includes a timeline covering October 1963 through December 1964. There is also an Introduction entitled Beatleland by Harvard professor and journalist Jill Lepore; a preface by Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery in London, a foreword by Paul; and an essay, Another Lens, by Rosie Broadley, Senior Curator, 20th Century Collections, National Portrait Gallery, London.

The hardcover book comes with an OBI strip and lovingly evokes the first flush of Beatlemania, primarily capturing the monochromatic black-and-white world of the group’s early look, which was also how they were seen in A Hard Day’s Night. McCartney proves to be a very adept and talented photographer. As a member of the group, he is able to capture moments that no press or portrait photographer could have been privy to, let alone be able to photograph so candidly.

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This 1989 release marked the one and only reunion of the entire original Poco—Jim Messina, Richie Furay, Randy Meisner, Rusty Young and George Grantham. That lineup launched in 1969. The band grew out of the end of the Buffalo Springfield, with Messina and Furay forming the group. Messina would leave shortly to form Loggins and Messina, and Meisner would depart soon also to form the Eagles, only to be replaced by Timothy B. Schmit, who himself would eventually depart Poco for the Eagles, again replacing Meisner. Furay, Young, Grantham, and eventually Paul Cotton would carry on the Poco name for many years until only Young and Cotton were left.

This album was very much instigated by Richard Marx, riding high on the pop charts at the time, and he produced, co-wrote, and arranged the vocals on “Nothin’ to Hide.” The group’s impeccable harmonies remained and although it wasn’t the strongest batch of songs, for the most part, thankfully the producer eschewed some of the ’80s synthetic musical cliches of the era. The album doesn’t so much reflect the group’s seminal ’70s meld of country and rock as it offers a modern pop approach to the Poco sound.

Furay kicks it off with “When It All Began,” a song that provides a loving and affectionate short biography of the group’s heyday. Young provides some of the other better moments with a pop sound he had cultivated in the band that neither took away from the group’s signature sound or pandered to the pop trend of the moment. Messina’s contributions are surprisingly limited, although his “Follow Your Dreams” is one of the best tracks on the album. Meisner’s contributions are a little heavy-handed, and his vocals lack the smooth, high-pitched perfection of his best work with the Eagles.

A host of musicians helped flesh out the music, including Bill Payne, Leland Sklar, Jedd Porcaro and others. The group toured behind the album, opening for Richard Marx. Overall, it’s a good listen and at more than 30 years old, it sounds pretty fresh. The packaging replicates the original gatefold jacket. The sound quality is a perfect duplication of the original album.

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Celebrating Cat Stevens on his 75th birthday. —Ed.

The singer-songwriter movement that began in the late ‘60s and blossomed in the ‘70s became one of the most dominant musical movements of that very rich era. It’s influence only seems to continue to grow and the key music of the genre holds up remarkably well.

While many think of American or Canadian artists as the dominant artists of the genre—Joni Mitchell, Carole King, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Gordon Lightfoot, Carly Simon and others—some British artists were also key to the sound, particularly Cat Stevens. His album Tea for the Tillerman in 1970 became one of the most important and commercially successful albums of the era. A Super Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition of the album was released in 2020, along with Mona Bone Jakon, his previous album, which was also released in 1970.

Mona Bone Jakon signaled a sea-change in Stevens’s music. He had previously written and recorded very pop-oriented music for the Deram label, that was often lumped in with the then waning British Invasion sound. Mona Bone Jakon also began his relationship with Chris Blackwell and Island Records. Equally influential and as timeless as Tea for the Tillerman, his next album, Teaser and the Firecat, released in 1971, is now also available in a Super Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition.

This set is as fulsome as the Tea set including for starters four CDs. CD one is a 50th anniversary remaster of the original 10-track album. CD two includes 17 demos, alternate versions, rehearsals, bonus tracks, and new recordings of “The Wind” and “Bitterblue.” CD three, entitled Live On Air, UK 1970/71, includes 20 live radio and television performances, mostly from the BBC. CD four is a 12-song live performance from Montreux, Switzerland on May 2nd, 1971.

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Arguably the greatest living jazz artist, Sonny Rollins has had many downs, but mostly ups in his long, illustrious and peerless career. One of the peaks was his Way Out West album from 1957, originally released on Stereo Records from Contemporary. It is now available as part of a three-LP vinyl bespoke box set from Craft Recordings, that also includes Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders and a bonus disc, Contemporary Alternate Takes, that was originally released in 1986. This release is part of the Contemporary Records 70th anniversary celebration.

Way Out West was a breakthrough album for Rollins. He had spent years woodshedding and making a name for himself in his hometown of New York City with the heavyweights of the era, including Monk, Miles, Bud Powell, Fats Navarro, and Max Roach, among many others, and also further honed his skills playing in Chicago. 1955 was the year Rollins kicked drugs and took some time off to get healthy and change his personal lifestyle.

After a long and successful stint on Prestige Records, he struck out for the West Coast, where the cool, new, hip West Coast sound was exploding. He signed to Contemporary and his first album with the label, with its iconic cowboy-on-the-range cover shot (conceived by Rollins and photographed by the legendary William Claxton), became a huge hit and allowed Rollins to reach his largest audience yet.

The album has three songs that follow the western theme. In 1957 he was in LA as a member of the Max Roach Quintet and recorded the historic album at a session that began at 3 AM. The middle songs of each side are the most lush and romantic and other than the kind of hokey western thematic approach on the other songs, these tracks are the most adventurous.

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WANTAGH, NY | Counting Crows’ “Banshee Season” tour stop at Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, on July 9th, was both a celebration and a homecoming.

The band released their debut album August and Everything After in 1993. Surprisingly, since that time, the group has released only seven full-length studio albums, the last being nine years ago. It has also released four live albums, a live download-only album, two best-of collections, and its most recent release, “Butter Miracle,” a four-song EP in 2021. While the group was founded and has recorded extensively in California, the band’s principal songwriter, lead singer, and founding member Adam Duritz has lived in New York.

Counting Crows has long been one of the best American bands on the scene. While Duritz is the frontman and commands much of the spotlight (with his trademark dreadlocks now a thing of the past), this is indeed a true band. Drums, bass, and keyboards are augmented by a killer three-guitar attack.

In many ways, the group is part of a continuum of classic, timeless and iconic American rock bands that extends from The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, followed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and R.E.M., and even artists like Sheryl Crow, not to mention The Beach Boys, The Eagles, The Black Crowes, and Fleetwood Mac (pick your lineup). Another American band to fit into this club since Counting Crows has come along would be Kings of Leon and arguably the list ends there.

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Andre Previn was a man of many musical talents. Some of the greatest film scores of all time were written, orchestrated, and played by Previn, and his work extends beyond popular music into classical music. Sometimes his work in jazz is overshadowed or overlooked, in light of his iconic film scores, which is surprising given the enormous output of jazz recordings he was involved with in his lifetime.

A work that brings together his sensitivity to the music of the screen and more specifically the stage, is West Side Story, featuring Previn along with drummer Shelly Manne and bassist Red Mitchell, a 1960 release on Contemporary Records. Manne, known as one of the leading lights of the West Coast school of jazz, also had a considerable amount of film work under his belt as well at this point and Mitchell had played often with Previn, both in the studio and on stage.

This esteemed trio brings a light touch to what on the stage and screen, and in many jazz and pop interpretations, can often be heavy-handed and miss the subtleties of Leonard Bernstein’s original groundbreaking, iconic, and historic music. This was the third outing from Previn, Manne and Mitchell, interpreting music from the stage or screen, following their albums of the music from Pal Joey and Gigi.

Leroy Walks! By Leroy Vinnegar, was released only a couple of years before the West Side Story album but it’s a forward-thinking, heady release and marked the debut album as leader for Vinnegar and one of only two as a leader for the Contemporary label, with Leroy Walks Again!! released in 1963.

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There are many people, places, and things that made up the San Francisco psychedelic explosion of the 1960s. Much of it has become an important cultural moment in history, known to many, with the likes of key figures like Bill Graham, places like the Fillmore West, and groups and artists such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and others.

A venue that may not be known to the casual fan of ’60s music is The Family Dog. While not as popular at the Fillmore, or with as long a run as Winterland, it was a key part of the scene. Performances that were part of a series of San Francisco public television broadcasts from 1970, that were originally released on DVD in 2007, have now been reissued as a two-DVD set and include two additional shows from 1969 and 1968 that were part of a 2008 reissue.

The concerts and television broadcasts that comprise these discs were produced by Ralph J. Gleason. Gleason was a jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, who was a key figure in the birth of the scene. The older critic, along with the young Jan Wenner launched Rolling Stone magazine in San Francisco in 1967. His stature, influence and blessing on the trailblazing young musicians and hipsters lent a legitimacy to the scene’s early birth.

The first concert segment here, A Night At The Family Dog At The Great Highway, features some of the key groups of the time and place—Santana, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. The performances capture Santana just as the group was exploding on the scene after its 1969 galvanizing performance at Woodstock, the release of its self-titled debut album, and the year that the group would release its iconic Abraxas album.

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The recordings of The Beach Boys that are regarded as their best work are their sun, surf, and hot rod California hits of the early 1960s and the Brian Wilson artistic pinnacles of Pet Sounds and “Good Vibrations.” However, after Brian Wilson’s role in the group diminished, they made some excellent music in the late-’60s and early-’70s.

In 2021, Feel Flows – The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 was issued, which began the chronicling of these sometimes underrated albums from The Beach Boys. That heralded set is now followed by Sail on Sailor — 1972. This 5-LP/EP box set focuses on their Carl and the Passions/So Tough and Holland albums. While there were recent reissues that expanded on the Wild Honey, Friends, and 20/20 albums which preceded the Sunflower, Surf’s Up, Carl and the Passions/So Tough and Holland albums, those reissues were not released as bespoke box sets.

These Carl and the Passions/So Tough and Holland album sessions were also significant in that they included two new members, Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar. Fataar would become a part of another group, namely The Rutles. The two were part of a South African group called The Flame, which was the only signing by The Beach Boys’ record label Brother Records. Bruce Johnston, who had joined the group after the founding membership of the group, briefly left the group at this time.

Carl and the Passions/So Tough, released in 1972 is the group taking tentative steps to forging a new musical identity that was more in line with the laid-back California sound of the early 1970s; in many ways, a seemingly natural progression. The album opens with the only Brian Wilson production contribution to the album, “You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone,” which he co-wrote. He also co-wrote “He Come Down” and “Marcella.”

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There have been some excellent reissues of the music of Elton John lately. The focus has been on marking the 50th anniversary of his earliest albums that built and further developed the beginning of his peak reign in the early 1970s. 1972 marked the release of John’s fifth studio album, Honky Chateau. It was actually only his fourth release in the States, with his UK debut Empty Sky didn’t come out stateside until 1975.

Honky Chateau came out the year after John was launched in the US at his famed Troubadour club shows. It came after his self-titled US debut in 1970, which was followed that same year by Tumbleweed Connection, which was the release that reflected the enormous depth of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin songwriting juggernaut. Those two 1970 releases were followed the next year by the even more majestic Madman Across the Water, which upped the ante even further.

Honky Chateau, released in 1972, had echoes of the thoughtful singer-songwriter feel of the Elton John album, the conceptional country dustbowl of Tumbleweed Connection, and the lush epic nature of Madman Across the Water in spots. However, in many ways it was a break from the past, as the album was propelled by the mega-hit “Rocket Man” and was recorded outside of London at the legendary Château d’Hérouville recording studio, not far from Paris, and which was the place that inspired the album’s title. This was at a time when British groups like Traffic, Fleetwood Mac and others were seeking out places to record outside of the noise and distractions of London, for a more rustic, communal, and laid-back vibe.

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Tribute albums can be a mixed affair. Often, a disparate collection of artists, usually recording on their own, independent and separate from each other, tackle a song or two from an esteemed songwriter or musical figure worthy of a tribute. Sometimes, artists who seem to have little musical connection but an affection for the person being honored will interpret a song from the artist covered, with uneven at best results. Hank Williams is more than deserving of a tribute release and there have been many over the years. His songwriting ability and influence as a ground-breaking and highly influential country artist and who transcends that genre, mostly overshadow the troubled mythological biographical narrative.

With Hank Williams Uncovered, we have a two-CD collection of tracks from artists who were born to interpret these remarkable songs. This is not a busman’s holiday or a chance for a pop or rock artist to try their hand at the impeccable Williams canon. These are artists steeped in the music, many who have spent decades honing their country roots chops. The fact that these artists mostly hail from the same region and that most of the tracks were produced by New York-based Paradiddle producer and head honcho Bill Herman, makes for a cohesive and shrewdly programmed 22-song recording.

The first disc starts off with rising star Pete Mancini and an aching, yet confident cover of “Lovesick Blues,” not Williams most popular song, but perhaps his most iconic. The Paradiddle king of country Gene Casey and his Lone Sharks offer up a perfect and understated “You Win Again,” another knowing choice for a follow-up to the opener. The king is followed shortly on disc one by the queen, with Mary Lamont nailing “You’re Gonna Change,” one of her most commanding vocal performances on record to date. Another standout on disc one is the sweet, one-of-a-kind vocal style of Caroline Doctorow on “Cold Cold Heart,” bringing an empathy to a track often sung through bitter tears.

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Aside from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from The Beatles in 1967, Dark Side of the Moon from Pink Floyd may be the most important and iconic album of the rock era. The album has been issued and reissued countless times over the years since its debut in 1973. There have been various formats released of the album and endless configuration reissues.

For such an important album, the various recent 50th anniversary releases, while not entirely disappointing, perhaps could have been done differently. This is surprising in that Pink Floyd, like The Beatles (sorry to make that comparison again), has been at the forefront of reissuing not only its music, but also visual material and audio in the latest advanced formats. While Pink Floyd has sometimes fallen short in releasing their music in the best analog way on vinyl, sound and packaging design is something it always excels at.

One of the most welcome aspects of this new reissue series is the vinyl reissue of The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974. This concert, widely bootlegged, was officially released on CD as part of the 2011 Dark Side of the Moon Immersion box set released in 2010 and now long out of print. It is now available as part of the deluxe box set and as a standalone release. This is a captivating listening experience, as the group’s playing the album in its entirety, with slight unique touches, and makes for a fresh listen of an album we’ve all heard countless times.

Moments of jazzy improvisation by keyboardist Rick Wright and a more pronounced gospel feel on the backing vocals in particular stand out. The entire live recording has a more organic feel and seems to literally breathe and pulse. The original studio album may be the pinnacle of ’70s rock studio-craft, so to be able to have a live experience this good, and now on vinyl, is truly a revelation.

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Over the years, many compilation albums of the music of The Kinks have been released. Reprise Records, the group’s first American record label, famously released the double-album set The Kinks Kronicles in 1972. The impetus behind the release was the group leaving the label and signing with RCA.

Reprise actually created an excellent and still sought after release. The two-LP set included one previously unreleased track and 13 non-album B-sides. Music journalist John Mendelson selected the tracks and contributed liner notes. Reprise had previously released a greatest hits album in 1966. There have been nearly 40 compilation releases of the group’s music from various US and UK labels over the years, representing the good, the bad, the ugly, and unfortunately totally unnecessary.

If The Beatles were the big bang of pop music in the 1960s, The Kinks might represent the next big bang. Just barely before the Rolling Stones and The Who, the group scored hits with an explosive new sound, boasted one of the best ever English pop songwriters (Ray Davies), and quickly grew as witty chroniclers of English life.

This 2-LP, vinyl set includes 30 tracks and there are 36 on the CD set. The vinyl was mastered by Kevin Gray and sounds excellent, especially the many mono tracks. There are liner notes by three of the four original members of the group, Ray Davies, Dave Davies, and Mick Avory, included in the eight-page booklet. The time period is 1964 through 1971, from their self-titled debut album through the soundtrack to Percy.

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Continuing to reissue some of the best jazz music in bespoke audiophile editions, Craft Recordings has released Birth of Bop: The Savoy 10-inch LP Collection, a five-disc, 10-inch vinyl box set, that is easily one of the best jazz vinyl box sets of the year and which celebrates the 80th anniversary of Savoy Records.

The music included in this historic set represents the change jazz music was going through in the wake of the end of WWII. This music represents an evolving break from the big-band, swing sound of jazz that dominated the war years and, as the title of the box states, the birth of bop. The music here includes players who were part of that sound and, in some cases, the music still has the kind of exuberance inherent in swing music, but there is new-found confidence and joy and new modes of expression that paved the way for the genre’s sound for decades.

The recordings here are from 1944–49. Savoy Records was founded in Newark, New Jersey, by Herman Lubinsky in 1942. The label was independently owned until 1974 when Clive Davis of Arista Records purchased it. Since 1986 it has been part of the stable of many record labels, including the Warner Music Group, which purchased the label in 2009, others in-between, and since 2017 it has been part of the Concord label which owns Craft Recordings.

It’s extraordinary that a label so new at the time boasted such an all-star cast of jazz artists on their roster, many of whom are included here, such as Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Fats Navarro, Stan Getz, and Milt Jackson, among many others. While the recordings here from Getz and Jackson are timeless classics, they also hinted at how the two would become groundbreaking artists of the future of jazz with Jackson’s place in the Modern Jazz Quartet, and the collaborations between Getz and other artists spearheading the popularization of bossa nova music.

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