Wednesday 18 November 2015

RIP PF SLoan - Rumer - P.F. Sloan [Live At Rivoli Ballroom]

RIP

Sloan co-wrote a series of hit songs with Steve Barri during the 1960's and early 1970's most notably Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", "Unless You Care" by Terry Black and "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers. Sloan & Barri on several songs which became hits for The Grass Roots - "Where Were When I Needed You", "Let's Live For Today" and "Things I Should Have Said." In addition to songwriting, Sloan was also respected session player and was associated with The Wrecking Crew.

Given the events which have taken place in Paris, "Eve of Destruction" takes on a new meaning 50 years after it was written.

Wednesday 11 November 2015

The extraordinary New Orleans producer-songwriter is no longer with us. But his music will live for as long as people sing.



http://blogs.artinfo.com/blunotes/files/2013/08/Allen_Toussaint_promo_photo_1-640x960.jpg
His words – combining sophisticated social comment and a knowing, earthy wit in the New Orleans tradition – seemed always apt, whether coming from the pugnacious mechanic/boxer Lee Dorsey, whose best work he helmed, or Elvis Costello. He was a modern classic, Cole Porter combined with Leiber & Stoller, with lashings of tumbling funk and soul dripping from his piano keys or oozing out of his fantastic arrangements.

I have  played  lots  of  music from  New Orleans  over the  years. This week we remember  Allen Toussaint.  Every time i see  our  college band  perform i am  reminded  of the  joy that music can bring to people. Allen  epitomized  the word  joy in his music. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp6VHGHg-mQ

Friday 10 July 2015

LIVE AID month @ 3CSC FM - Live Aid 30 years Ago

30 Years Ago, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, helped change the world in which we live. Together they put on a dual live music event that would raise funds for the relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. The show was entitled Live Aid and took place on Saturday 13th July 1985 at both Wembley Stadium, in the UK and at John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia in the USA. That hot summer day, united as one, the human race reached out in a bid to save the lives of so many people who were destined to die at the hands of a terrible famine. 

 I stayed  up  most  of that night and taped  all the bands that I really  loved. I wished I  had  taped it all but  I only had 2 x180 minute vhs tapes. Queen were the highlight but I hung in there  in the early morning for Bob Dylan to appear. Led Zeppelin reformed, Neil Young sang  something weird, The Who were great and so were U2 and Elvis Costello .It was the  closest to a Woodstock experience I was ever  going to  have. I will play  segments from the event  all month.  Enjoy.

Saturday 20 June 2015

Southern Soul Special.....3CSCFM this week





Southern Soul is today's extension of classic rhythm and blues as it was
played and appreciated in the 60's and early 70's, and as it's still
being played on the Stations of The Deep South. Southern Soul
music--with its own stars, its own audience

Monday 8 June 2015

Nina Simone Week @ CSC

“I don’t think you have a choice. How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?”

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Sunday 18 January 2015

Queen - Live Aid - Wembley 13 July 1985 - Complete

Live Aid  at it's best...Queen delivered a great set.

Live Aid 1 - Against All Odds (2005)

2015....30  Years since Live Aid. Check this documentary for a look  back at when music could make a difference.

Thursday 15 January 2015

Duke Ellington - Legendary Concert

Among other things, this classic album is (especially in its Special 60th Anniversary Edition boxed set) a historical document: the first time a whole show by a major jazz group was recorded live. And it only happened because two young audio geeks in the middle of nowhere owned a portable disc-cutting machine they wanted to try out. The Duke himself gave his permission - though he didn’t really understand why they were bothering, if you can believe that -  and the show was recorded direct to 16-inch discs, at 33 1/3 rpm, using just three microphones. Some songs are missing their beginnings or endings as our intrepid heroes scramble to load new discs onto the machine, but, even allowing for several hi-tech restorations and remasterings, the recording quality is astonishingly good. 

Then again, it helps if you’re recording one of the greatest bands of all time, whose peerless playing, brilliant arrangements, and internal dynamics should have made it hard for anyone to make them sound bad. This is the famous ‘Blanton-Webster Band’, named after two of its biggest stars, tenor sax legend Ben Webster and Jimmy Blanton, who can be heard here revolutionising the art of bass playing, and who, a year and a half later, would die of tuberculosis at the age of just 23. The Fargo show was also the debut of another distinguished Ellingtonian, Ray Nance, just hired to replace the irreplaceable Cootie Williams (one of Ellington’s many strokes of genius was that every time he lost someone irreplaceable, he replaced them with someone just as interesting but in a completely different way).