Joined: 19 Sep 2003 Posts: 646 Location: City of Trees, USA
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 5:47 pm Post subject:
Daved: OK, so like where in your house do you put stuff like clothes? Or food? Not to mention furniture? I have visions of a dwelling packed from floor to ceiling with all of those CDs.
In my player right now: "Bata Mbira," Michael Spiro and Michael Williams. If you want to learn about someone getting really, really deep into his music, Sprira's stories about traveling to Cuba and getting into the Santeria religion to better understand the bata drum are really something. My own preference, of course, would be a denomination whose rituals involve Stratocasters and 12-year-old Scotch, but then I'm not a drummer. _________________ - BlueRunner
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:53 am Post subject:
BlueRunner wrote:
Daved: OK, so like where in your house do you put stuff like clothes? Or food? Not to mention furniture? I have visions of a dwelling packed from floor to ceiling with all of those CDs.
Actually, everything is meticulously shelved and catalogued by artists name... tho it DOES eat up alot of wall space.
Current listens:
Mickey Baker - In The 50's: Hit, Git & Split (A selection of Mickey's '50s recordings, mostly Blues, R&B, and Pop [including 1957's Love Is Strange, written by Bo Diddley, incidently] with a nice summary of his life & career in the CD fold out. I've seen some later years and Jazz collections available on Amazon I think I need to check out now.)
Ramatam - Ramatam and In April Came The Dawning Of The Red Suns (Between Fanny's [rock's first all girl recording band] June Millington, in the late 60's, and Heart's Nancy Wilson, ten years later, came the beautiful April Lawton... one of the classic "whatever happened to..?" subjects for those who were aware of her back in the early 70's.
Her only two albums with a luscious mix of acoustic and electric tunes highlighted with some of her extraordinary guitar 'shredding'. Backed by Mitch Mitchell from Jimi Hendrix's Experience and Mike Pinera (one of the 70's premier session quitar/vocalists) flows with an impressive and wide range of styles. April Lawton, amazing guitarist. I wonder whatever happened to her?)
Smothers Brothers - "It Must Have Been Something I Said" and Aesop's Fables, The Smothers Brothers Way (Coming from the 'Folk' era, they morphed their way into TV and ground breaking biting satire. I dare you not to laugh!)
Bobby Vee - The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, B.V. Meets The Ventures, Take Good Care Of My Baby, Come Back When You Grow Up Girl, B.V. Meets The Crickets - (Initially groomed as the late Buddy Holly's successor in Buddy's band, the Crickets, and armed with one of the finest, in my humble opinion, early rock/pop voices, Bobby went on to score a gazillion hits in the early/mid 60's with songs I still love listening to today. So many great albums and I think I own them all. Even the songs between the hits could have been hits. Seems I always have at least one of his albums mixed in with whatever else I choose to playlist.)
Rare Bird - Sympathy and As Your Mind Flies By (Two keyboardists and a drummer... one of the early prog rockers from the late 60's.
"... And sympathy is what we need my friend, 'cause there's not enough love to go 'round.")
Alan Price - O' Lucky Man (The original soundtrack from the excellent movie of the same name written by and starring Malcolm Mc Dowell. A slice-of-life flick about a coffee salesman in Northern England whose life proceeds thru a series of 'good luck'/'bad luck' episodes, Malcolm considered it one of the finest things he ever did in his career. The soundtrack was written and performed by Alan (founder & original keyboardist of the Animals) who also stars in the movie with his band, as a touring barband who pop in and out of Malcolm's life.
Quarterflash - Quarterflash and Take Another Picture (This is where it all started for me, folks. A fine Portland, Oregon band who launched Geffon Records with their 80's platinum overnight hit Harden My Heart, sailed thru their charting follow ups Find Another Fool and The Night Shift (title song from the Ron Howard movie which launched Michael Keaton's career), and then nose dived into obscurity leaving behind 4 great studio discs. These two were their first and are enjoyable albums through out with great musicianship and strong song writing. It was during the "Take Another Picture" tour (while supporting Sammy Hagar's "Three Lock Box" tour, Elton John's "Jump Up" tour, and Rick Springfield's last major 80's tour) that I hooked up with them as a tech for Ricky D. (keyboards), and then moved onto teching for Jack Charles (guitars/lead male vocals) when he left to start a solo career, begining my long trek thru the madcap world of R&R roadie-ism! Still enjoy the hell out of both these albums to this day.
UFO - Lights Out (For me, one of the peaks of exquisite 80's compressed, studio guitar. Great songs!) _________________ B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)
Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 246 Location: San Mateo, CA
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:16 pm Post subject:
Quote:
April Lawton, amazing guitarist. I wonder whatever happened to her?
I remember April Lawton...
Wikipedia says:
Quote:
April Lawton was a guitarist, singer, and composer who rose to some prominence in the early to mid 1970s as a member of the band Ramatam, which also included former Iron Butterfly guitarist Mike Pinera and former Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell. She was hailed as the female Jimi Hendrix by many, and her style was an inimitable mix of Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Alan Holdsworth. Indeed she was so virtuosic that many believed no woman could play like this. To this end, a rumor started to spread that she was actually a transsexual. Her husband advises that those rumors are "total garbage" and were started by less talented male guitarists.
Lawton stayed with Ramatam for two studio albums, their self-titled debut and In April Came the Dawning of the Suns. The group unfortunately never lived up to its promise either commercially or musically. She left the group after the second album, forming a short lived solo project entitled The April Lawton Band, which dissolved in the late 1970s, disappearing from the music scene almost entirely to concentrate on painting and graphic design. Her personal life remained very private up to the time of her death.
During the 1990s she recorded demos for a future album, and the material currently remains unreleased.
Lawton passed away due to heart failure at her home in November 23, 2006. She was 58 years old.
I remember hearing that rumor about her being a transsexual...
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:46 pm Post subject:
Thanx for filling me in.
Sad tho.
She could really rip a great guitar. very talented.
I always figured she must have found a more satisfactory creative outlet. Looks like she did and enjoyed it enought to stick with it for the rest of her life.
I'm glad to hear that.
I do hope that her unreleased material eventually gets released. I'll definitely buy it.
P.S. Following your lead, I just googled April and found there is a Ramatam Myspace page. I was surprised to find that April has also been discovered recently by such notables as Susan Tedeschi, Tal Wilkenfield, Lita Ford, Kathy Valentine, Joan Jett, etc.
I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread. I've never gotten so many great recommendations for music in one sitting before. Daved, you have an impressive and eclectic collection of music. For what it's worth, my latest list of listening pleasure includes:
EST
Tord Gustavson
Tomasz Stanko
Keith Jarret (Trio and Solo performances)
And when I'm working out...
Audioslave, Audioslave
The Who, Quadrophenia
Rush, Moving Pictures
The Chemical Brothers, Come with Us
Crystal Method.
Robben Ford, Supernatural
John Findlay : http://www.johnfindlaymusic.com/index.cfm
A resident at The Gear Page. He had a full CD for download on his web page, which is really excellent : great songs, great arrangements, great voice, great playing, great tone It seems that his site does not work at the moment...but that's really worth hearing his music.
John Jorgenson "Franco American Swing". For anybody who loves Django Reinhardt stuff this CD is a revelation. This guy is incredible, he not only plays guitar like God but also clarinet and sax to perfection. Plus his compositions are wonderful. Don't think he's just technique (though his technical skills are incredible) - every tone is music! _________________ www.soultingo.at
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 4:55 pm Post subject:
edpesco wrote:
JohnnyZ wrote:
Donna Summer- Crayons
Ok, who threw that rotten tomato?
I wasn't it I swear! Donna had some great stuff and wwwonderful voice!
I've always loved Donna Summer, and even now! Nice to know I'm not alone! She always had great background music too (full orchestra in concert!), and great show presence...
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