Roxor Blog

Well I heard ‘ole Neil put him down….

While it is sad that it takes someone from that other quagmire’s generation to release the first protest album for our current debackle of choice, at least we get a real album from one of the most important voices in the history of Rock n Roll.

Neil Young released “Living With War” — a 10-song collection that the artist describes as a “metal folk protest” — as a digital download album.

“This album is about exchanging ideas,” Young told CNN in a live interview last week on the steps of Warner Bros./Reprise Records in Burbank. “It’s about getting a message out. It’s about empowering people by giving them a voice. I know not everyone believes what I say is what they think, but red and blue is not black and white. We’re all together. It’s a record about unification.”

You can listen to Living With War Here.

Neil Young on CNN - A Video Discussing Living With War

“Living With War” has already set fans and the media abuzz over the Internet due to its reflections on the Iraqi war and the turmoil in this country.

It was written and recorded in two weeks with Young on electric guitar, vocals and harmonica, Chad Cromwell on drums, Rick Rosas on bass, and Tommy Bray on trumpet, along with a 100-member choir. One choir member, speaking to a British newspaper, said the recording session was “like being at a 12-hour peace rally.”

The Living With War Blog

While to my ears this does not stack up to the best of Neil Young, not much really does, it is far and away the best album I have heard from a 69 year old in quite some time. The third track is vintage Young - Don’t Need rails against the lies of Bish Co. as well as other things in the modern world that we clearly don’t need.

And it seems to me that the point of this record is not to try and rival Tonight’s the Night, Neil has got something on his mind ( and before you reject him as some long hair pinko fag you might want to do some research…) that he needs to share, and something that we need to hear.

This track comes from the CCMixter site - and is as good as it get from the remix/mashup camp. It’s a slow, downtempo cut that shows that good music is good music no matter what the style or how is was created.

Download: John Van Buren/Ashwan - Smitten Kitten

So I was watching Animal House the other night and I remembered how much I loved Otis Day and the Knights. When that royal blue station wagon pulls into the Delta front yard with OtisDay & the Knights painted on the doors, I always tune in just a little bit more.Those two scenes always remind me of my mom telling me about going to on campus parties at UVA where each party had there own band, and where once, one of those bands just happened to be James Brown. Can you imagine, stumbling into the third or fourth party of the night and being in the presence of the hardest working man in show business?When I was a kid I could not get enough of that sound - Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, all the Stax/Volt stuff, and Otis Day and the Knights fit right in there.

But I digress.

Of course before the movie there was no Otis Day, there was only DeWayne Jessie who was at that point a character actor under contract with Universal Studios. Jessie had appeared in movies such as Car Wash andThank God It’s Friday, but ever since Animal House he, professionally at least, has been Otis Day you can even book him for your next event.

As I watched “Otis” kick out the Isley Brothers classic Shout I noticed something. I recognized the bass player. Who is that, younger then I had ever seen him, but I knew the face - and even though I had seem him countless times, and seen this movie quite a few times I had never noticed before.

Yep the bass player in the movie version of the Knights was none other then Stratocaster master Robert Cray! And if you don’t know who Robert Cray is, you better ask somebody.

This track, recorded with Steve Conn on accordion and harmony vocals live at KBCO FM, is a fun, sort of Cajun/zydeco. Sonny Landreth is a major talent that deserves more recognition.

Download: Common Law Love - Sonny Landreth

Gizmodo is declaring the month of March Boycott the RIAA month:

We’ve been following the RIAA’s increasingly frequent affronts to privacy and free speech lately, and it’s about time we stopped merely bitching and moaning and did something about it. The RIAA has the power to shift public policy and to alter the direction of technology and the Internet for one reason and one reason alone: it’s totally loaded. Without their millions of dollars to throw at lawyers, the RIAA is toothless.

They get their money from us, the consumers, and if we don’t like the way they’re behaving, we can let them know with our wallets.

If you are unsure whether or not an album is put out by an RIAA label, the handy RIAA Radar will clear everything up for you.

Jim dropped me a line the other day:

My name is Jim, and I’m part of a two-piece acoustic
act called Postmark Twain. We recently recorded with Shep & Kenny (Head Automatica, Bayside) and have been playing all over NJ.

We hit the #1 Unsigned spot on Purevolume as a pure promo as well as a purepick, and have been fortunate enough to get some great feedback and online press within the past few months.

It would mean a lot to me if you could check out our music either at www.myspace.com/postmarktwain or www.purevolume.com/postmarktwain, where you can download our entire 5 song EP, “Timing is Everything” for FREE!!

I checked them out and decided that I should at the very least pass along their info, so check’em out.

Cherry Hill is a rock band from Las Vegas serving up melodies and harmonies with a classic guitar sound. This is a great track download it while you can.

Download: The Struggle - Cherry Hill

From the very first track on Macy Gray’s new album BIG that unique voice is instantly recognizable as one of the most distinctive in all of pop music. Macy Gray is back after nearly four years, with a dynamic new effort that spotlights those classic pipes in a variety of stylistic settings.

The album follows a narrative that mirrors Macy’s own experiences over the last few years, dealing with her husband leaving (“Finally Made Me Happy,” “Shoo Be Doo,” “Get Out”), being a single mom (“What I Gotta Do,” “Okay”), her memories of the good times (“Ghetto Love,” “Glad You’re Here”), hopes of finding Mr. Right (“One”) and the possibility of growing old together (“Slowly”).

There are also a pair of tongue-in-cheek numbers in which Macy pokes fun at society’s preoccupation with materialism and bling in “Treat Me Like Your Money” and “Strange Behavior,” a film noir-like tale of Double Indemnity in which a wife kills her husband to collect his insurance policy.

“Finally Made Me Happy” Streaming Audio Links:

Windows Media

QuickTime

This is a live version of a song from 22-year old Marc Broussard’s new album Carencro, as in Carencro, Louisiana. Marc’s blending of styles keeps his music continually interesting.

Download: Marc Broussard - Come Around (live)

It began almost as a lark when Carlos Santana encountered his longtime friend and hero Wayne Shorter on the concert trail in Atlanta, GA, in 1987. Carlos said, “Let’s start a rumor that we’re putting a band together.”

Wayne’s eyes got bigger and brighter as he smiled and then responded: “Yeah, Carlos, let’s start a rumor.”

A few months later the Carlos Santana/Wayne Shorter Band performed its debut concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco, the beginning of a 26-concert tour throughout the U.S. and Europe. The performance of this magnificent band was recorded at Montreux, Switzerland, on July 14, 1988, and includes interviews with Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter and festival creator Claude Nobs.

Monteux Jazz Festival Video Streams:

Clip 1 (Concert)

Clip 2 (Interview) with Carlos Santana