Gimme That Old Time Religion—And So Much More
I’ve been having trouble sleeping. My radiation and chemotherapy are coming to an end, and between the pain in my mouth and throat, the generation of masses of sticky mucous, and an active imagination wondering where my physiology goes from here, I mostly snooze in bed with a renewable supply of music videos playing all night. Soothing, and I hear some damned good music every night.
Last night I dug around the heap of DVDs and found the super-deluxe multi-CD version of Elvis Presley’s comeback special in Las Vegas in 1968. Elvis’ comeback may be the sole bright spot in that otherwise foul year. And it IS a bright spot. This set has all 4 of the smaller shows done with his original band, along with multiple angles, takes, versions, and interesting obscurities from the main show.
This stuff is fabulous. No household should be without. And every household should be watching regularly. There are nuances piled on nuances here, and the shows are worth watching repeatedly. Go thou and slick down your hair, build up your guitar skills, and figure out how to charm the hell out of audiences of young ladies despite a paunch and many silly clothes changes. Great, great TV. By one of the great, great masters of rock and roll!
This week in the hospital I was looking for some new, preferably well-outside-the-box music to get me through the physiological insults of the radiation and chemotherapy. I found on my shelves two 4 disk sets of King Crimson retrospective, prepared by Robert Fripp himself. I loaded it up. It is absolutely fantastic. Remember how fabulous their first album, In the Court of the Crimson King, was? Well, their work since then only reinforces the fact that Fripp and whatever cadre of musicians he assembles are absolutely awesome. These 8 disks in 2 box sets? Excellent. No household should be without.
And then, two shelves over, I found a two volume set of live bootlegs from the original lineup, mostly at Fillmores East and West. Even better! King Crimson—go for it!!!
Simple Soul Power
While poking around for music to get me through a hellish week last week, and get me past my writer’s block this weekend, I happened on Amazon’s uploads for the two albums the Buddy Miles Express cut in the late 60s. I’d almost forgotten how fantastic these albums are. Miles plays pure, ungimmicked, let-‘em-ring, full resonance drums. A lesson for anyone used to today’s treated, pedaled, taped and roped percussion sections. Plus you get high-powered horns that drive the music better than the horns on Quadrophenia. And, almost as lagniappe, you get Jim McCarty (of Cactus) on guitar, providing outstanding lead, backing, and even acoustic on some cuts. I’m glad Jimi Hendrix had the good sense to record with Miles. Set him up perfectly for working with Miles Davis, which would have been his next project, had he survived.
Anyway. Buddy Miles Express’ two albums—Expressway to Your Skull and Them Changes—come Highly Recommended. No Home Should Be Without. And it’s so easy to upload ‘em from Amazon, there’s no excuse for any home to lack them!
