Ray Price 1926-2013

Though Jack Greene had the nicknamed the Jolly Greene Giant had a wonderful voice and his string of hits in the late 60's including some country standards like There's goes my everything and statue of a fool was impressive. It's Jones and Price who were truly the "Giants" That's not a shot at Jack whom I am also a fan of. George Jones was the soul of country music. Country Music was his love. His taste in music unashamedly ran from country to country and back to country and if you want to tell me he was the best ever at it you'll get no argument from me.

But Price's influences went beyond Hank Williams and Bob Wills. To the likes of Sinatra, Crosby and Cole. Price's first big hits Please Release me Crazy Arms are country standards. Any song covered by Patsy Cline, Jerry Lee Lewis and Louis Armstrong has to be great right? Of curse then followed a slew of Country standards City Lights, Heartaches by the Number etc. In 1963 he recorded what is considered the gold standard of Honkey-tonk albums Night Life. By the mid 60's he begun to evolve in to a more polished balladeer. By the 70's and his recording of For The Good Times his music had evolved enough that he was actually physically attacked at many personal appearances.

In terms of record sells his "snub" of country music didn't cost him. His records sold better than they ever had. In terms of his standing in the community of Country critics it cost him dearly. He wasn't elected to the country music hall of fame until 1988 when he famously said "about damn time"

At the time of his passing when Country music bears almost no resemblance to what it once was his career decisions have been more than justified. Today those records that once angered some are now regarded as Country music at it's finest. I love the Jack Greenes and George Jones of the world. Jones especially is a favorite and for sure their likes will never be seen again. Their legacy some of the greatest music ever recorded. But the Ray Prices, Jim Reeves and Patsy Clines of the world, the folks who left behind the twang, hay stacks and went "uptown" while keeping their country roots were the greatest talents on earth.

Part of the backlash against Price in the 70's came because some felt he was acting as if he was "too good for Country Music." Well I doubt that was the case but if it was...you couldn't really argue with him could you?

Let the the Skyfall/Song of the Night

In just under two hours, British soul singer Adele will drop the theme song to the new 007 flick, Skyfall, titled....well, "Skyfall". Fortunately, there's a 90-second teaser that's just been released, and all I can say is the following:

Wow. 

Don't just take my word for it - have a listen for yourself.

Late Edit:: Here's the full version of the song.



Also: (for anyone who cares): my take on the song and my general feelings on songs being used in film can be found here over at Mr. Brown Verses.

Whitney Houston 1963-2012

Obviously always tragic news when somebody so young passes. Rest In peace Whitney.

Um...What the f&^k!?

I love listening to J-pop as much as the next person, but this.....let's just say Lady Gaga would think this girl needs to tone it down. Watch it and decide for yourself.

Going To See Willie Nelson

I have a love hate relation ship with Willie Nelson. Not the man he seems like a great dude but with his music. For 20 years he couldn't buy a hit (ok he had 1 top 10 hit in 1962, Touch Me) but then he became an "outlaw" got popular and his music IMHO has for the most part stunk ever since. Still I am excited to see him in concert. One kinda downside. I have to go with the Contessa and My Mother. She has wanted to see him in concert forever and I couldn't go see him and not take her. I just hope my Mom is filled with the stories and ideas on what I like to eat like she always is.

Anyway My message to all Union busters and opponents be they in Wisconsin, Michigan or in the NFL



PS. Hope everything is safe for friends and family on the Pacific coast.

John Barry 1933-2011

RIP Charlie Louvin

The Beatles are now on iTunes

About damn time, too.

Yep, it's happened. A treasure trove of Beatles albums popped up on iTunes early Tuesday, a day after Apple promised an "exciting announcement" from iTunes.

Digital versions of such classic Beatles albums as "Abbey Road," "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!," "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" were selling for $13 each, with double albums like the "White Album" going for $20.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo are now avaliable on iTunes, and now, I can stop synching Beatles tracks to my iTunes library.

America has offically jumped the shark

A few months ago, after ESPN spent an hour kissing the Akron Hammer's ass, Count Istvan said this:

Count Istvan said...
you know the saying about the straw and the Camels back? Well this is it. An Hour dedicated to King Lebrick's Ego. America is too far gone. We ain't comin back from the brink folks. This was the jumping of the shark. Next will be the three hour special to announce Pau Gasol's bowel movements.
July 8, 2010 10:19 PM

The Count was wrong about that. This is the jumping of the shark that we won't come back from.

Paramount Pictures has made a deal to turn Justin Bieber's life story into a 3D feature biopic. Davis Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth, is negotiating to direct. The film doesn't have a title, but Bieber will play himself in the film. The pic will be sprinkled with performances from his current concert tour. The film will come out February 11, 2011 on Valentine's Day weekend. Manager Scooter Braun and Island Def Jam chairman L.A. Reid will produce the film.

Yes. The suits in Hollywood have come down with Bieber Fever, or more accurately, the money he can rake in just on appearance alone.

But wait, there's more!

This comes as Bieber made a deal with Harper-Collins for a memoir about his life.

A fucking book on his life, and a 3D movie biopic.

God help us all.

What the hell?

It's bad enough that Kanye West is a brilliant, but ego-centric jackass, now he's selling out to collaborate with Justin Bieber!?

Justin Bieber has reached a new milestone. The 16-year-old singer from Canada has been mobbed by fans at malls, achieved the most YouTube video streams, and scored No. 1 on the charts. But now, he has officially hit a hip hop plateau, recording with the legendary Wu Tang Clan rapper Raekwon and Kanye West.

The Kanye-produced remix of Bieber's "Runaway Love," featuring rap verses from Raekwon and Kanye, was released Monday, and includes a surprise.

The revamped track incorporates a sample of the classic 1993 Wu-Tang Clan song "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F*** Wit."

What the hell happened to the music industry?? We had talents like Dylan, the Beatles, Public Enemy, Ray Charles, etc. How did they get to catering to the lowerst common denominator?

A Fitting Exit For A Musical Giant

Honestly I am not a huge fan of Johnny Cash's "American" recordings as a whole or at least I wasn't. The Cash voice which was never great to begin with had faded with the times and Johnny's American recordings to me were often average at best and painful at worst. I figured the overwhelmingly positive critical reviews were either sympathy or going away presents to a man whose true musical legacy can't be measured.

But after listening to the 6th and last American recording Ain't No Grave I wonder if just possibly it was me that didn't get it. As I mentioned earlier Johnny Cash never had the best voice in business. With Cash it was always about much more than the voice. It was about the man so judging his final recordings on the fading quality of something that

never really told the whole story was a mistake I should have known better than to make when talking about Johnny Cash. And it's with the voice that I will begin my review of this his last studio CD. The voice for lack of a better term is gone. Listening to Ain't No Grave you get the unmistakable feeling you are listening to man who doesn't have long to live going out on his own terms. If not handled correctly the fading quality of cash's voice could have lead to an embarrassing record very easily. Not only is Ain't No Grave not an embarrassing record because of Cash's voice it is in fact greatly improved by Cash's voice. and for that the credit must go not only to Cash but to Rick Rubin for the sparse arrangements and the selection of songs that make this such a surprisingly enjoyable CD.

The CD opens with the title track and then Cash sings Sheryl Crow's Redemption Day. Honestly if I had my way the Names Johnny Cash and Sheryl Crow would never go together but who am I to judge a legend? (And I don't mean Crow) Then Johnny Cash joins the likes of Ray Price, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra by recording Kris Kristofferson's For The Good Times. The fact that those names I have mentioned have sang the song attests to the quality of Kristofferson's composition and Cash's version is very much in their league.

From here Cash sings his own composition I Corinthians 15:55 which makes it clear Cash didn't fear his coming passing and Tom Paxton's Can't Help Wondering Where I am Bound. Dealing with death is the reoccurring theme of the album. Cash then sings 3 longtime Country Music standards. Red Foley/ Porter Wagoner's Satisfied Mind, Hank Snow's I Don't Hurt Anymore and The Sons Of The Pioneers Cool Water. The first song stating the opinion that money has little effect on mental well being, the second is about a man of no longer hurts for his lost love, and the third about how the devil can tempt a needing man with mirages. All are handled exceedingly well here.

The CD closes with the Anti-War song Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream which Cash also sang in his Live At Madison Square Garden CD which was recorded in 1969. The Closing number is Hawaiian Aloha Oe which stretches Cash's remaining voice to it's admittedly very much reduced limit.

Admittedly I bought Ain't No Grave as a lifetime achievement award and a way to say thank you to one of the absolute legends of a music I have loved my entire life. I didn't figure it would leave much of an impact on me but it very much did. Now I may have to give the other American Recordings that I have shied away from in the past a listen to see if the Cash magic is there even when at times the Cash voice is failing. I suspect I will find that to be the case. About the cover art. The Picture of Johnny Cash as a child on the front is a nice touch but the almost silhouette like shadow of him looking out the corner of a window as an old man is kinda creepy.

Ain't No Grave ****/*****

On Lady Gaga

Confession: I don't see the huge appeal in Lady Gaga. Yes, she dresses uniquely wherever she goes and that makes her front page news for People and Us Weekly; and yeah, she has a slew of hits that have reached no.1 several times over, but I just have to raise an eyebrow when people say that she's original, or that her stuff is new and fresh. Don't be fooled, people: we've seen Lady Gaga before. She was Madonna in a past life...the 1980's. From the crazy wardrobe choices, to the dance pop hits, its the Material Girl in a shiny new wrapper.

A bad night to watch TV

In one corner: the 2010 Pro-Bowl. The one game out of the whole NFL season no fan of football gives a rats ass to watch. Sorry Antonio Gates and DeMarcus Ware, I could care less to watch a game that has no meaning to anyone playing on the field.

In the other: the 2009 Grammy Awards. I actually like watching this, but music in 2009 (save Dave Matthews, U2, Green Day, Bruce Springsteen, MGMT, Muse, and Beyonce) sucked. Not a fan of Taylor Swift's country-pop crossover/teenage girl romance shtick, didn't like Black Eyed Peas's latest effort, Kings of Leon are overrated, and Lady Gaga is just a rehash of Madonna back in the 80's. Nothing really stood out to me, unlike last year when Radiohead gave the one-finger to the recording industry with In Rainbows and still made their best album since Kid A; when Coldplay embraced being U2's eventual heirs with Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends; when Auto-Tune reached it's peak with Lil Wayne's amazing Tha Carter III; when British singer-songwriter Duffy stole and broke hearts with her debut album, Rockferry, and so on.

So what's there to watch? Big Love on HBO. I'm completely behind in that family drama, but thank goodness for HBO On-Demand. I can catch up on all the episodes i've missed.

Late Edit by Jonathan: Taylor Swift won Album of the Year. It's official: The Grammys have become a pathetic popularity contests.

Late Edit From The Count: My disdain for 21st century culture is legendary but looking at the Grammy's through the years I see they have always made some head scratching choices.

From 1966: Best Contemporary (Rock and Roll) Recording“Winchester Cathedral,” New Vaudeville Band (Fontana) Um say what? Of course it's all about who greases whoms palms.

Bear Family Answers My Prayers

The Follow Up To Their Act Natrually Box Set...


This thing is going to have 7 CD's and won't be cheap. May have to wait until Mah Birthday for this.

Ellipse

Imogen Heap's new album, Ellipse, will be released on August 25, but since she's realized her fans can't wait that long, Heap has released a preview of the album. Its really good, so I hope you enjoy Ellipse, as much as I did.

The King of Pop has died.

This is fucked up. First First McMahon, then Fawcett, now Micheal Jackson.

We've just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived.

Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive.

We're told one of the staff members at Jackson's home called 911.

La Toya ran in the hospital sobbing after Jackson was pronounced dead.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.

Update: Can't watch the news anymore, or TV for that matter.

Also: the jackasses at BFV are now pissing on his grave.

js02 says:
June 25th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

the world was a better place with Farrah Fawcett

and it is a better place without michael jackson

children are a little bit safer

fmrmarine says:
June 25th, 2009 at 10:21 pm

Js02

the little bleached out little fag died of AIDS = AMF

lead youre next!!!!!!

Is it fair to say that Mark has no standards when it comes to what his idiot buddies can comment on?

Stay classy!

Live + Loud + Shitty

Just in case the worlds shittiest music isn't enough to keep you from watching Special Guests include Ted Nugent, Kid Rock and Bill O'Reilly!!!! They must really not want people to watch. Of course If I were in the country music industry I would be embarrassed to have people to watch as well.

Nice to see the goals of Country Music have gone from trying to be good to just trying to be loud. Pardon me while I go cry. Or kick something.

For people who were never fans of country music this just feeds into all stereotypes and gives them more ammunition. For people like me who loved what what the music once was this is sickening. Really it never used to be like this. But today it is what it is. And what it is is fucking horrific and a cruel joke

For Tomorrow May Rain So I'll Follow The Sun

The Beatles British CD's are going to be "remastered" and re released on September 9th of this year. Get it 9-9-9. Now on the one hand this will provide us some with high comedy. When it comes to bitching, pissing and moaning about everything Beatles fanatics rank up there with Star Wars fanatics. I can guarandamntee you that legions of Beatlemaniacs will be bitching nonstop about how the awful mix on Maxwell's Silver Hammer has completely ruined their best childhood memories.

On the other hand it leads to a tough question do I want to buy these again? Once upon a time I loved the Beatles. maybe not like I currently love Sinatra or not as much as my friend who named his son Jude, but I loved them none the less. I had all of these CD's and played them quite often. Now I do not know where they are. I gave some away I think. There are still Beatles songs I love but not nearly as many or as much.

So Do I buy these new CD's? The answer now is some of them for sure others maybe. The First 2 Beatles Albums Please Please Me and With The Beatles are the same damn album. Both are quite good neither are great. Will I buy either? I don't know.

Now comes the Beatles peak period. Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, (Yes I know this album gets bashed more than any other Beatles album I like it.) Help, Rubber Soul and Revolver are all certain purchases. Revolver and Help are to these ears the Beatles best two albums.

Next comes the slow decline, Sgt. Pepper is ok but massively overrated. Magical Mystery Tour is a better Album than Sgt. Pepper. Yes I said it. The White Album is the Beatles biggest strike out. There is some good stuff there but there is also a whole lot of pure D. Shit. Number 9 Number 9 Number 9. Spin it anyway you like much of it is trash. Yellow Submarine is dispensable. All of these CD's are in the questionable leaning towards not buying them again catagory.

The Beatles made a bit of come back with Abby Road which was their best album in years. Then they end it with the decent but not earth shattering Let It Be. Again if I don't buy them all I can see myself passing on these as well.

Finally the 2 CD's which collect the singles will be on 1 CD this time around. This CD will have some really good and some not so good but will probably be a purchase for me. Bottom line is Usually when I am on the fence I buy since these come out September 9th a day before my birthday I'll get somebody to buy them for me.

P.S. Act Naturally is a Buck Owens song covered by the Beatles not the other way around. Never mind that Buck recorded 2 years before the Beatles or his version is oh... a billion times better, somehow some still consider it a Beatles song.

Reposting For Jonathan.

I Shot a Man In Reno Just To Watch Him Die

Columbia legacy has put out a box set to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Concert. Cash actually gave two shows at Folsom Prison a morning show and a afternoon show the original album and was made up mostly of the first and best show with a couple of tracks from the second show. In the new box set both shows are included with the opening acts Carl Perkins and The Statler Brothers. The third disk is a DVD which contains an 75 minute documentary about the show and Johnny Cash's views on prisoners rights. The first show is far and away a better show. The afternoon show Johnny sounds tired and loses his voice several times. Still there is an odd quality to the show none the less that makes it an intriguing listen. Johnny cash knew how to work a prison crowd and Carl Perkins got through his very short set on both shows well but the Statler Brothers a "family" friendly act if ever there was one, sounded as if they were scared shitless. On the first show they only had to do one song and got through it fine but on the second show they did 3 and by the third song they sounded as if they were going to puke. You can almost hear them thinking how fast can we get through Flowers on the wall? The two shows are more of an event than they are great listens. The San Quintin concert a year later is the much better show, still this is essential for Country music fans and better than anything coming out of Nashville today. What isn't? Documentary is also very interesting even if it's not 2 hours and 10 minutes like the box says. (They get that time by factoring the extra scenes you can watch as a bonus)

At Folsom Prison Johnny Cash Legacy Editon **** 1/2 out of ****

And The Guy In the Rear Got Drafted

Some Weekend Johnny Cash. The song is "The One On The Right Is On The Left" From the 1966 Album Everybody Loves A Nut. Notice how Fucked up Johnny was at the time of this video. Of course it's hard not to notice. Still I love the song.