Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu Live (2008)

posted by albums-update

Déjà Vu Live is the sixteenth album by the rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, their sixth in the quartet configuration, and their third live album overall, released by Reprise Records in 2008. 
It peaked at #153 on the Billboard 200, recorded on their 2006 Freedom of Speech tour.

Based on the title, it's hard not to think that Déjà Vu Live finds Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reaching back into their past, perhaps even performing their classic 1970 album in its entirety. 

That's not true, although there is an album that comes close to being performed in its entirety here, and that's Neil Young's 2006 political manifesto Living with War, a controversial record that Young supported by re-teaming with CSN for a tour -- a tour that was documented in the Young-directed feature documentary Déjà Vu Live. Got that? It's a series of circumstances a bit too confusing for music that's so straightforward, as the Living with War tour was as direct as the album itself.
Direct, yes, but it also was a bit softer than the record, as it was bathed in the warm glow of the reunion of Young with CSN, whose presence helps Young's songs seem elegiac instead of bitter. There's no disguising what this is: this is a set of aging hippies lamenting the way things are now by connecting to who they were back then, reuniting for the new songs and mixing up relevant older ones -- including, yes, the warhorses "For What It's Worth" and "Teach Your Children" -- to provide a bridge to the past. CSNY don't run from their age, as they can't escape it: some voices have grown gravelly, the harmonies are shakier, there isn't quite as much muscle to the guitar. 
But by not running from these signs of age, CSNY wind up with a live album that has a bit of resonance, as when it's contrasted with the rangy, restless 4 Way Street, it's hard not to be a little moved and marvel that the bandmembers feel so comfortable here, especially considering their tortured history. 
This winds up being the overarching impression left by Déjà Vu Live, as despite the topicality of the set list, Déjà Vu Live feels curiously isolated; there may have been controversy on the tour, all chronicled on Young's film, but it doesn't feel engaged with the culture at large, which could be a side effect of the digital dislocation of the 21st century, or it could be a sign that CSNY are growing older and simply don't stir things up the way they did back then. 
But for those who are listening, their message has resonance -- and so does the music, as this live record winds up being a nice understated grace note to their tumultuous career. 

Tracklist

1.  "What Are Their Names?"  (David Crosby) - 2:28 
2.  "Living with War"  (Neil Young) - 3:25 
3.  "After the Garden"  (Neil Young) - 3:41 
4.  "Military Madness"  (Graham Nash) - 4:02 
5.  "Let's Impeach the President"  (Neil Young) - 5:43 
6.  "Déjà Vu"  (David Crosby) - 7:15 
7.  "Shock and Awe"  (Neil Young) - 5:08 
8.  "Families"  (Neil Young) - 2:58 
9.  "Wooden Ships"  (David Crosby, Paul Kantner, Stephen Stills) - 8:18 
10.  "Looking for a Leader"  (Neil Young) - 3:55 
11.  "For What It's Worth"  (Stephen Stills) - 4:50 
12 . "Living with War"  (Neil Young) - 5:24 
13.  "Roger and Out"  (Neil Young) - 3:55 
14.  "Find the Cost of Freedom"  (Stephen Stills) - 3:55 
15.  "Teach Your Children"  (Graham Nash) - 3:20 
16.  "Living with War"  (Neil Young) - 3:01 
17.  "The Restless Consumer  (iTunes Store bonus track)"  (Neil Young) - 6:23 

Companies, etc.

• Copyright (c) – Ohana 2006, Inc.
• Phonographic Copyright (p) – Ohana 2006, Inc.
• Manufactured By – Warner Music Canada Co.
• Distributed By – Warner Music Canada Co.

Credits

• Arranged By – Darrell Brown (tracks: 2 & 16), Neil Young (tracks: 2 & 16)
• Art Direction, Design – Gary Burden, Jenice Heo
• Bass – Rick Rosas
• Drums – Chad Cromwell
• Engineer – Tony Hugar (tracks: 2 & 16)
• Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals – Stephen Stills
• Guitar, Piano, Vocals – Graham Nash, Neil Young
• Guitar, Vocals – David Crosby
• Keyboards – Spooner Oldham
• Mastered By – Chris Bellman
• Mixed By – David Lohr, Tim Mulligan
• Pedal Steel Guitar – Ben Keith
• Producer – L.A. Johnson, Neil Young
• Recorded By – Rob Clark
• Trumpet – Tommy Bray

Notes
Released: July 22, 2008 
Recorded On The 2006 Freedom Of Speech Tour 
Genre: Soft Rock, Folk Rock 
Length: 73:00 

Label - Reprise Records

Pat Mears - There Goes The Rainbow (1991)

Pat Smear (geboren als Georg Ruthenberg, Los Angeles, 5 augustus 1959) is een Amerikaans rockgitarist.

Smear groeide op in Californië, en hij richtte in 1976 samen met Darby Crash de band The Germs op met bassist Lorna Doom en drummer Dottie Danger, een pseudoniem van Belinda Carlisle. Haar plaats werd later ingenomen door Don Bolles, en The Germs brachten in deze opstelling een album uit in 1979 met de naam GI. Het album wordt wel als een mijlpaal in de geschiedenis van de punkrock gezien. Later speelde hij met Nina Hagen en maakte twee soloalbums: So you fell in love with a musician en Ruthensmear.

Hij verscheen ook in televisieseries en films, waaronder Blade Runner. Toen hij aan de film Breakin' werkte ontmoette hij Courtney Love, en in 1993 werd hij door Kurt Cobain gevraagd om in Nirvana te spelen, en hij accepteerde het aanbod onmiddellijk. Hij verscheen voor het eerst in de band tijdens de televisieshow Saturday Night Live op de Amerikaanse televisie, en toerde ongeveer 6 maanden met Nirvana voordat Cobain zelfmoord pleegde.

Na het einde van Nirvana richtte drummer Dave Grohl de Foo Fighters op, en vroeg Smear in de band. Hij speelde met hen tot september 1997. Daarna werkte hij aan een aantal TV reclamespots, en produceerde hij het debuutalbum van Harlow.

Sinds 2007 speelt Pat weer mee met de Foo Fighters, op hun promotietour van het album Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. Hij speelde ook al mee op het album Skin and Bones. Nu op het nieuwste album Wasting Light heeft Pat een vaste plaats in de band.

De naam Pat Smear ontstond naar aanleiding van de term pap smear (in het Nederlands: uitstrijkje) die hij op de middelbare school leerde, en waarvan hij zegt dat dat het meest smerige is waar hij ooit van gehoord had.

Pop als zelfstandig genre binnen de popmuziek is eigenlijk een kunstmatige categorie. Het omvat alles wat buiten de andere popsoorten valt, maar bezit daarmee toch min of meer eigen kenmerken. In pop ligt de nadruk op het liedje.

Compositie, melodie en productie zijn belangrijker dan stijl en inhoud. Pop ligt goed in het gehoor en spreekt idealiter een massapubliek aan. Onder haar beoefenaars treffen we dan ook veel hitmakers aan, uiteenlopend van The Beatles tot Michael Jackson, en van Simon & Garfunkel tot de Spice Girls.

Her first album, There Goes the Rainbow was a tour de force -- it is one of those rare musical statements that is perfect and timeless. Each song follows the other naturally and with a tension in build-up that pulls the listener in, as the stories are told, as written and sung by Pat Mears, of human sorrow, and desire, and experience. "If I die tomorrow," Pat says, "at least
I will know that I made this album."

Tracklist

1.  There Goes the Rainbow  (5:27)
2.  Just Experience  (5:54)
3.  I Try and Try  (4:06)
4.  Look for You  (4:52)
5.  Can You Spare It, Baby  (4:30)
6.  A Bird in Hand  (4:31)
7.  Someone Is Cryin' for You  (4:46)
8.  Making Up for Lost Time  (4:03)
9.  When the Time Is Right  (3:31)
10.  Baby's Blues  (4:56)
11.  The River Road  (4:17)


The musicians 
Leland Waddell: drummer
David Waddell: bass player
Randy Glines: harmonica
the three guitar greats: Gary Craft, Eric Blakely, Billy Mack.

Notes
Release: 1991
Genre: Blues
totale tijdsduur: 50:53


Label - silenZ Records

The Juliana Hatfield Three - Become What You Are (1993)

by Record Facts

Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, The Juliana Hatfield Three, Some Girls, and The Lemonheads.

Hatfield acquired a love of rock music during the 1970s, having been introduced by a babysitter to the music of the Los Angeles punk rock band X, which proved a life-changing experience. She was also attracted to the music of more mainstream artists like Olivia Newton-John and The Police.

Hatfield began her solo career following the Blake Babies‘ breakup in 1991, releasing her first solo album (Hey Babe) in 1992. The album was one of the highest selling independent albums of 1992. Hatfield recruited a rhythm section consisting of former Moving Targets and Bullet LaVolta drummer Todd Phillips, and Thudpucker bassist Dean Fisher, and thus becoming The Juliana Hatfield Three.

Hatfield achieved alterna-rock stardom with the release of 1993’s Become What You Are (recorded under the group name The Juliana Hatfield Three). Several songs from the album received regular airplay on major North American rock stations, with Hatfield’s song “My Sister” becoming the biggest hit of her career, with a #1 placing on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and the video becoming an MTV staple..

“My Sister” was based on a real person: Hatfield’s older brother’s girlfriend, Meg Rafferty, who lived with the family while Hatfield was in high school. She enjoyed Rafferty’s eclectic record collection. Rafferty also took Hatfield to see the Del Fuegos and the Violent Femmes, which inspired her to form a band.

“Spin the Bottle” was used in the soundtrack of the Hollywood film Reality Bites (1994). Hatfield also made the cover of Spin magazine..
Hatfield was profiled in a number of girls’ magazines at this time and addressed serious issues faced by young women in her songs and interviews. About this period she says: “I was never comfortable with the attention. 
I thought it had come too soon. I hadn’t earned it yet.” She gained notoriety in 1992 for saying that she was still a virgin in her mid-twenties in Interview magazine. In a 1994 interview for the magazine Vox, she said she was surprised by the effect ‘outing’ herself had: “I think there are a lot of people out there who don’t care about sex, but who you never hear from, so I thought I should say it. The magazine I did the interview for is full of beef-cake hunky guys and scantily-clad models, so I thought it would be really funny to say that I didn’t care about sex in a magazine that’s full of sex and beauty – but no one really got the joke.”


Tracklist
1.  “Supermodel” – 2:52
2.  “My Sister” – 3:22
3.  “This Is the Sound” – 3:01
4.  “For the Birds” – 4:14
5.  “Mabel” – 4:09
6.  “A Dame with a Rod” – 2:55
7.  “Addicted” – 3:16
8.  “Feelin’ Massachusetts” – 4:11
9.  “Spin the Bottle” – 2:23
10.  “President Garfield” – 4:38
11.  “Little Pieces” – 3:05
12.  “I Got No Idols” (Hatfield, Dean Fisher, Todd Philips) – 2:16

The Juliana Hatfield Three

• Juliana Hatfield – guitar, vocals
• Dean Fisher – bass
• Todd Philips – drums

 Additional musicians

• Denny Fongheiser – percussion
• Peter Holsapple – keyboards

 Technical personnel

• Scott Litt – producer, engineer
• Ed Brooks – engineer, assistant engineer
• Martin Schmelzle – assistant engineer
• Steve Holroyd – mixed assistant
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering
• Jean Cronin – design
• Melanie Nissen – photography

Notes
Released: August 3, 1993
Recorded at: Studio Hollywood Sound in Los Angeles
Genre: Alternative rock
Length: 40:22

Label – Mammoth Records