[Originally Published 7/4/07] We’ve got an abridged version of GTA for this week’s edition — well, less words, more links. There’s something for everyone on the list of streamable shows from SugarMegs, all concerts played on the Fourth of July. Clever, no? Shut it.
I’ve always wondered what the real story was behind Roger Waters leaving Pink Floyd in the mid ’80s. Who knows what went on behind the scenes of Roger Waters and David Gilmour’s epic breakup better than the two of them? Britain’s Classic Rock magazine has been re-running interviews that the two rock legends did in 2000 that helps to explain what went down.
Read the Waters interview first, but don’t miss Gilmour’s either. Both chats make you realize why they have left so much money on the table.
Here’s six more links to help you get over the hump…
Finally, who doesn’t love a good reader interview? Publications love having their readers come up with questions and readers love getting the answers to stuff that actually care about. The next subject of Jambands.com’s Reader Interview series will be bassist Dave Schools of Widespread Panic while the next Uncut Reader Interview will focus on Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Click on those links to find out how to submit your question.
This week’s B List looks at ten bands that went on without their fearless leaders. We’re talking about the main creative force not just the lead singer. Team HLA has helped with this post and there have been some healthy debates about what exactly constitutes a band’s leader.
Opinions vary, but here’s what I settled on with their help…
1. The Doors - When anyone thinks of The Doors they think of both Jim Morrison’s songs and voice. Morrison died in 1971 and his three surviving bandmates went on as a trio for two unsuccessful albums before disbanding.
2. The Dead - After Jerry Garcia died in 1995 the surviving members of the Grateful Dead thought better of moving on without Captain Trips for a few years. In 1998 all of them except for drummer Bill Kreutzmann reformed as The Other Ones for that summer’s Furthur Festival. When Billy joined his old bandmates in 2002 they kept The Other Ones moniker for a while until they decided to go back to be calling The Dead for Summer Tour 2003.
READ ON for rundowns of seven other leaderless bands and more…
If you’re ever in need of a good gift idea, this random assortment of music for this week’s Friday Mix Tape comes from my little brother’s Christmas gift this past year. He plopped his entire music catalog onto an 80 gig harddrive and presto, the best gift ever. So, today’s mixtape is just a smattering of different stuff I found in perusing the halls of the new library.
We kick off with the cathartic finale of Roger Water’s live performance of the Wall, Outside the Wall, performed in almost a Celtic feel. Day of the Locusts is a fabulous Bob Dylan song off New Morning, the album better known for hosting Man in Me of Lebowski fame, but less so for the rest of the songs. After hitting the cheerful virtuoso number Big Country by Bela Fleck, Mike Marshall, and Edgar Meyer off Uncommon Ritual, we take a trip back in time for some Bone Thugs n’ Harmony and Tha Crossroads. From there, we have a couple of Bob Marley gems including an extended live No Woman, No Cry and an instrumental demo of Time Will Tell, which sounds like it leaked just before Bob hit the studio to layer on his vocals tracks.
Next, we bounce back to Jerry Douglas for another uplifting instrumental, Snow’s First Fall, off his solo release The Best Kept Secret. Then back to some hip hop with Jurassic 5’s Concrete Schoolyard off their original EP. Finally, we close with the bluegrass pickers on the title track off Josh Bell and Edgar Meyer’s crossover classical album, Short Trip Home. I actually used this tune in my wedding ceremony, yet not one single person recognized it, so was pleasantly surprised to see it appear on the playlist.
After a few past Cover Wars appearances, the Ryan Montbleau Band can now claim a victory after scoring the majority of votes from last week’s edition when we looked at ten covers of John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. I wouldn’t be a responsible writer if I didn’t point out that Donny Hathaway also deserves much credit as Montbleau’s cover is part Lennon part Hathaway.
This week we’re taking a look at seven covers of Pink Floyd’s Young Lust off of their 1979 epic The Wall. In the ongoing story of The Wall, this tune depicts a part of every rock star’s career that just doesn’t get enough songs written about it. I am talking about banging groupies in hotel rooms.
Anyway, be sure to register/login to imeem to stream the playlist below.
We’d like to welcome back Sleepy Floyd for this week’s B List…
One of the most degrading jobs in the world, aside from greeter at Best Buy, has got to be the classic rock DJ. Playing a pre-programmed format, day after day – the same Rush songs followed by the same Foreigner songs followed by the same 38 Special songs followed by the same Boston songs.
The only thing more boring than working a tollbooth on the turnpike would have to be manning the controls of a corporate classic rock station. You know those stations: “100.7 KZLX – playing the greatest hits of yesterday and today.” Since when was Jukebox Hero or Shakin’ a greatest hit?
Bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and the Stones have a plethora of greatest hits. Yet we only hear Black Dog, Another Brick In The Wall, and You Can’t Always Get You Want over and over again. At least those tracks are halfway decent compared to these ten tunes which just need to be stopped from playing…period. Not that in this age of the iPod and satellite radio, anybody listens to classic rock radio anymore, but here it is anyways…
1. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - Blinded by the Light
Alright, what most people don’t know is this obnoxious tune was actually written originally by Bruce Springsteen and featured on his album – Greetings From Asbury Park. But as the boss explained himself in concert, somehow the words got changed from “revved up like a deuce” to “revved up like a douche.”
READ ON for more tunes we can live without hearing anymore…
The release of David Gilmour’s DVD Live in Gdansk features the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, and was filmed on the Gdansk, Poland shipyards at the final show of the Pink Floyd guitarist’s 2006 solo tour in front of 50,000 fans. Perhaps, just as significant, is the fact that the DVD features the last filmed public performance of the late Floyd keyboardist, Richard Wright, who passed away on September 15, after a long career as the unsung hero of many great space rock songs.
We take a moment of silence after several suggested hidden cinematic treasures, to uncover the gold that lay buried in the film bag underneath Pink Floyd The Wall, Pulse, and even the Syd Barrett-era 30-minute jewel, Tonight Let’s All Make Love in London. This week’s Hidden Flick was once an underground classic, but the years have been kind to its eccentric magic. Indeed, we focus our light on Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii.
Pink Floyd founding member Richard Wright passed away this morning at the age of 65. The extremely underrated keyboardist succumbed to cancer after a short battle with the disease. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. I guess this puts to rest the notion of a Pink Floyd reunion.
For those of you who had been holding out hope that Pink Floyd would reform with David Gilmour on guitar and Roger Waters on bass, we’ve got some bad news. Gilmour told the AP: “”There have been all sorts of farewell moments in people’s lives and careers which they have then rescinded, but I think I can fairly categorically say that there won’t be a tour or an album again that I take part in.”
Gilmour explained that while he enjoyed playing Live 8 with Waters in 2005 the rehearsals reminded him why they had a falling out in the first place. Bummer!
What’s not a bummer are these terrific links we’ve found…
Wick’s Picks offers views and photos from MMJ in Charlottesville
Finally, Rose Hill Drive will once again cover an album in its entirety on New Years Eve at the Boulder Theater. This year, the boys tackle Led Zeppelin II after doing a wonderful job with Aerosmith’s Toys In The Attic on 12/30/2007.
the album better known for hosting Man in Me of Lebowski fame, but less so for the rest of the songs. After hitting the cheerful virtuoso number Big Country by Bela Fleck, Mike Marshall, and Edgar Meyer off 
we take a trip back in time for some Bone Thugs n’ Harmony and Tha Crossroads. From there, we have a couple of Bob Marley gems including an extended live No Woman, No Cry and an instrumental demo of Time Will Tell, which sounds like it leaked just before Bob hit the studio to layer on his vocals tracks. 
Then back to some hip hop with Jurassic 5’s Concrete Schoolyard off their 
Finally, we close with the bluegrass pickers on the title track off Josh Bell and Edgar Meyer’s crossover classical album, 
I actually used this tune in my wedding ceremony, yet not one single person recognized it, so was pleasantly surprised to see it appear on the playlist.
