Jimi Plays Monterey / Shake! Otis at Monterey

Another one of my Criterion Collections’ 50% off purchases was “Jimi Plays Monterey / Shake! Otis at Monterey” which documents each artists’ performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. This is directed by D.A. Pennebaker - for the most part, straight concert footage is used, a credit to Pennebaker’s taste. One point where this strays during the music is during Otis’s “Try a Little Tenderness” where Pennebaker cuts in shots of various women in the audience and outside of the venue with children, lovers, etc. It’s short, very sweet, and manages to get beyond all the negative hippie mystique of the era and show the truly beautiful aspects of the 60’s - all in a short 2-3 (?) minute sequence. Very well done.

Both of these are historic performances and important documents of the history of rock and rhythm and blues music. There are many highlights, not the least of which is seeing a very young Donald "Duck" Dunn spasm all over his bass in glorious fashion.

I’m glad they’re in my collection.

14 Favorite 2010 Albums

I'm finding that I'm enjoying R&B more as I grow older. I continue to enjoy alternative country, americana, folk, roots, or whatever you want to call it. There continues to be a wealth of world music out there that I need to take pains to explore - the same goes for jazz. Great music continues to be made, but the "noise" surrounding it has grown, too. It seems that the internet and other trends continue to bring us a world of options, but have also made it more work to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Out of the numerous 2010 albums that I've listened to, here are my 14 favorites in alphabetical order with a sample song from each. I hope you dig it like chicks dig overalls.

Aloe Blacc - Good Things



Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart



Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void



Broken Bells - The High Road



The Budos Band - The Budos Band III



Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig



Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer



I have to include this, too:



I love that.

Dylan LeBlanc - Paupers Field



Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid



JJ Grey and Mofro - Georgia Warhorse



Johnny Cash - American VI



Mary Gauthier - The Foundling



Midlake - The Courage of Others



and last, but certainly not least:

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I feel like starting off the New Year with a blog post to get my brain's RPMs up a little this morning.

I'm trying to catch up on all the music releases in 2010 that I missed and there's quite a few. This was inspired by my friend's "Best of 2010" list. I had heard exactly 1 out of the 10 records he listed. So, in the meantime, I got caught up on Avi Buffalo, Cee-Lo Green, Black Label Society, and a few others. I simply don't enjoy a lot of modern music that are critics' darlings. I can abstractly respect most of it, but most of it simply leaves me cold - there's no emotional component in it for me.

Once I give myself time to pour through the music of 2010, I'll see if there's enough I like to do a top 10 and discuss in more detail.

More later - thanks for reading.