Ex-Stranglers lead singer and song writer Hugh Cornwell performed an acoustic set at Bush Hall, Shepherd's Bush, London last night. The temperature outside was frigid, but Cornwell heated things up with a repertoire that included a new take on a good many Stranglers classics as well as songs from his solo repertoire. Cornwell drew heavily from his albums Beyond Elysian Fields, Hoover Dam as well as the forthcoming Totem & Taboo.
It was a great show. Cornwell's voice is as solid as ever. Some of the old Stranglers material works well in an acoustic arrangement including "Goodbye Toulouse," "Always the Sun" and even "Hanging Around." But other songs like "Get a Grip on Yourself" or "Midsummer Night's Dream" fell a bit flat without a full band. Interesting, but not quite a match for the original. Still, it's nice to see Cornwell mixing in the classic songs along with his new material.
Update: I've added some more videos from the show.
Also, if you haven't dropped by the official Hugh Cornwell site, this is a good time to stop in and learn how you can make a pledge via PledgeMusic to help with the production of the newest album.
I'm not sure how it's happened but some of the videos I've posted here on GuitarVibe have gotten way more views than I ever expected. There are now about 600 videos with a total of more than 1.2 million views in total. The average (2,000 views per video) is not great, but there are some videos of me playing with the Electric Buddha Blues Band that barely have double digit views and so clearly there are other videos pulling in some big numbers.
Some of the concert videos have certainly benefited from fanatical fans and maybe got some prominent blogs or websites to link to them. However, that doesn't even begin to explain the top 10 rankings. In the #10 spot is Queen + Paul Rodgers "Feel Like Making Love" live from Latvia with 31,000 views. Admittedly, the Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis replaced Roger Taylor on drums later in the set and maybe he legislated mandatory YouTube viewings in schools. Who knows. It was a good show, but pretty high volume of traffic for something this obscure.
Those numbers put Queen + Paul Rodgers way ahead of more mainstream artists like Aerosmith or Coldplay. Heck, the Grateful Dead and some great blues artists like BB King, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe Bonamassa are barely cracking 1,000 views, bumping along with local bands like The Blind Pilots. So there's no accounting for taste. But it gets weirder.
I don't know how to account for the fact that Lenny Kravitz comes in the #6 position with "American Woman" live from the Oracle conference a few years ago. I mean, I like the song, but 42,000 views? Really? And that concert was so loud it's one of the few videos where my Canon G9 sound gets distorted. Must be that 70's time machine problem.
Speaking of which, Buffalo Springfield and Pearl Jam w/ Neil Young at The Bridge School Benefit come in positions #4 and #5 with 70,000 and 46,000 views each. I can understand that given the significance of the Buffalo Springfield reunion after a 40 year absence. Had I been thinking more clearly, I would have braved the cold and rain for another 30 minutes to shoot the entire set. (And it came out remarkebly well considering I was shooting off a video screen.) But I'm sure in another 40 years, God willing, they'll do it again. Maybe by then, Bridge School Benefit will be sufficiently well organized that they can run the concert in less than 6 hours with 30 minute breaks between every set.
Coming in the #3 position AC/DC live from Oracle Arena in 2010 with their song "Big Jack" off their last album. You knew they released an album in 2010, right? "Big Jack" is a good song in that it sounds exactly like every other AC/DC song. I'll save you the trouble of reading the comments posted on YouTube; they all say "I waz there, that show rocked" or "That crowd sucks."
Ok, but now the really weird part. The top 2 videos (with 111,000 and 88,000 views respectively) are me reviewing some cheapass guitars I own. I don't know how that's possible. But there sure are a lot of teenagers who hate my playing, my talking, my amp, my shirt, my haircut and my taste in music. Luckily they let me know by posting misspelled comments on Youtube. (Even I'm slightly embarassed by these videos, so no links!) Yet somehow they've made me more popular than AC/DC.
Angus, Malcolm, I love you guys, but the numbers don't lie...
Blues legend Hubert Sumlin passed away a few weeks back at the age of 80. He played with Howlin' Wolf in Chicago for 20 years and is considered one of the most influential blues guitarists. Sumlin was listed as #43 in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time. Sumlin was also an influence on a generation of guitar players including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others. He went on to record and play for another 35 years releasing has award-winning album "About Them Shoes " in 2004.
I saw Sumlin play a couple of years ago at the National Guitar Workshop in Austin, Texas alongside Muddy Waters' guitarist "steady rollin'" Bob Margolin. In a somewhat ramblin story, Sumlin described getting fired by Howlin' Wolf for his reliance on using a pick. This motivated Sumlin to learn to play in the finger picking style that would make him famous and rejoin Howlin' Wolf a short time later.
Sumlin was also featured in Kenny Wayne's Shepherd's "10 Days Out" video/CD along side other blues greats Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Jerry "Boogie" McCain, David "Honeboy" Edwards, Willie "Big eyes" Smith, Pinetop Perkins, Etta Baker and BB King.
On the run up to New Year's Eve, I managed to see the White Album Ensemble perform their magic two nights in a roew in Santa Cruz. The White Album Ensemble focuses on live performances of Beatles albums from the band's "post touring" era that were never performed live by the Beatles. On Thursday December 29, they played "The White Album" in its entirety and on Friday December 30, they played "Revolver" and "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
The White Album Ensemble has become famous in the San Francisco bay area, having been founded in 2003 by ex-Doobie Brothers multi-instrumentalist Dale Ockerman and bass player Tiran Porter. They've also nurtured local Santa Cruz talent, including James Durbin, who went on to American Idol fame. Durbin even joined his former band mates on stage for an encore Thursday evening.
To be fair, it's impossible to live up to the legend of the Beatles during their 1966-1970 studio era. They moved beyond the Mersey sound and created step by step a blueprint that was much about music as it was about ideas. They literally invented the psychadelic sound by turning the recording studio into an instrument with multi-track recordings, tape loops, layered harmonies. And they wrote the most beautiful, timeless songs ever: "Eleanor Rigby", "Taxman", "She Said, She Said", "Here, There, Everywhere", "Tomorrow Never Knows". That's just from 1966's "Revolver". In 1967 they raised the bar with "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with such songs as "A Little Help from My Friends", "She's Leaving Home", "Within You Without You", "When I'm 64" and the finale, "A Day In the Life", arguably one of the greatest song ever written.
That's not to say that every song the Beatles wrote was perfect; the "White Album" in particular has its share of songs that I'd be happy to never hear again. But it also brought "Back in the USSR", "Glass Onion", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Blackbird", "Birthday", "Revolution", and "Savoy Truffle" to name a few. Could any band ever be this good? Could any band live up to the expectations of a live Beatles concert? No, not hardly.
But still. It's a worthy effort and the White Album Ensemble approaches the material with a love and reverence of the Beatles music that is obvious and endearing. It's truly a feat of epic proportions: note-for-note renditions of entire Beatles albums (plus a couple of singles) with all of the instruments and arrangements captured precisely, from the to the sitar of "Within You Without You" to the harp of "She's Leaving", the oboe of "When I'm 64" and the crazy orchestrated layers of "I am the Walrus". Every note is played live using real instruments.
It's hard even to conceive of how much time must go into perfecting these arrangements. As good as the arrangements are, the vocals remain a tribute. Newcomer Omar Spence, son of Moby Grape founder Skip Spence, sings with an uncanny resemblance to John Lennon. Richard Briant who sings Paul McCartney's parts does an admirable job and has a fantastic range, but no, he doesn't sound 100% like Sir Paul did when he was 25. Ken Craft does a great job on George Harrison's vocals and does some brilliant guitar work. Could anyone capture the unique timbre of Ringo Starr? Doubtful.
Despite that, when you put it all together, it works remarkebly well. Even if you're not a die hard Beatle fan, you can't help but walk out in amazement at the complexity and sophistication of these songs as well as the dedication of the musicians who put this together. If you get a chance to see them live, you won't regret it. In the meantime, I've posted some video on YouTube.
Update: I've now posted videos from both nights below.
Durbin joined the band for an encore of two songs: "A Little Help from My Friends" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Great to see Durbin taking time out of his schedule for an end of year concert. And as Durbin mentioned on stage, he's getting married in 2 days to his fiancée, Heidi, to whom he proposed to 3 years earlier after a White Album Ensemble concert. I managed to get both songs on video. I apologize in advance that some of video is a bit overexposed, but the sound quality is good.
There's another gig tomorrow night at the Rio theater in Santa Cruz covering Revolver and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Tickets are still available.
I'll post more videos from the rest of both shows on the weekend.
On my trip last month to Austin for the National Guitar Workshop, I was lucky enough to see Jimmy Vaughan perform at Antones. While I had been lukewarm on Vaughan last time I saw him, this show was fantastic. Here are some videos shot with my trusty Canon G9. Great audio, as usual. I'll post some photos from the gig in a few days.
If you want to check out some of my other concert photos or videos, checkout www.guitarvibe.com/gigs
Meanwhile I'm wondering if Fujifilm's new X10 camera could be replace my 4 year old Canon...
Elvin Bishop appeared at the National Guitar Workshop in Austin speaking about his introduction to the blues in Chicago. He also played several blues songs with his guitar player Mike Shermer and with members of the NGW faculty and students. Of all the guest artists I've seen present at NGW, this was by far the most interesting and lively.
I've posted some videos on YouTube including a jam where Elvin brought up several young students from the NGW class. Very cool!
Officially it's not The Grateful Dead, it's Furthur, which sounds like some weird Web 2.0 startup. But maybe that's not a bad analogy. Furthur was founded by Grateful Dead founders Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and John Kadlecik, most recently from the Grateful Dead tribute band Darkstar Orchestra. Not only does Kadlecik sound like Garcia on guitar, his vocals match Garcia's exactly. Many deadheads consider Furthur to be the best post-Garcia version of The Grateful Dead. The tour they kicked off last night at Shoreline amphitheater lent credence to this view with a more energetic, lively set than the most recent 2009 reunion of The Dead that featured the full lineup.
We had great seats and the rain was kept at bay. I managed to shoot quite a few songs on video, though the camera is a bit shaky at times as I had to hold it over my head. Nonetheless, if you want to get a preview of the 2011 Summer tour for Furthur, check it out.
Last night's gig set featured 20 songs and some awesome jams in between. The playing was tight and vocals were excellent. For those keeping score at home, here's the full set list:
Here Comes The Sun Jack Straw Bertha Pride of Cucamonga Cumberland Blues Deal The Other One Hell In A Bucket
Help is on The Way Slip Franklin's Tower St. Stephen The Eleven The Mountain Song Playin' In The Band Uncle John's Band Morning Dew Uncle John's Playin' in the Band (reprise) Touch of Grey
It was great to see Bob and Phil keeping it fresh after playing together for 45 years. Way to do it, guys!
I went to see the Tedeschi Trucks Band at San Francisco's Warfield this past Sunday. It was a great show by an 11 piece band that included two drummers, a three piece horn section, great backing vocals and two tremendous guitarists. Susan Tedeschi's vocals were soulful and moving. And Derek Trucks is no slouch on the guitar!
I managed to shoot quite a bit of the concert with my Canon G9. Audio quality is great, but the camera has some shake due to the zoom. Nonetheless, for anyone on the fence about going to see them on their current tour, I hope this will convince you this is a heckuva rocking band. Whether you like soul, blues or funk, there's some great music that will get you moving.
There were several excellent songs from the new album Revelator and if you get a chance to see Tedeschi Trucks live, you should definitely do so. It's a fun evening not to be missed, especially for blues guitar fans.
Note that I was contacted by folks associated with the Tedeschi Trucks Band and asked to remove some of the videos. They said it was ok to keep a few videos on YouTube but I guess they were uncomfortable having too much posted live. I can't say I agree with this approach, but what the heck, you gotta respect the artists wishes, right?
Also, astute readers may have noticed that my frequency of posting has slowed down in recent months. I've taken a new job and so I expect posting may stay sporadic. Nonetheless, I'll try to post the occasional concert video, music or gear review when I can. Meanwhile, enjoy the videos from a great concert.
Hugh Cornwell, former Stranglers front man, played a gig in San Jose this evening on the current leg of his North American tour. If you're a Stranglers fan, this show is not to be missed. Cornwell's vocals are as strong as they were in 1977. For me, the show was incredible. I felt like I'd waited 20 years to see this gig. The set started with "Nice n Sleazy" and went on to include songs from Cornwell's recent solo albums ("Going to the City," "Black Hair, Black Eyes, Black Suit") as well as a tremendous selection of Stranglers hits such as "Golden Brown," "Always the Sun," "No Mercy," "No More Heroes." The second set was the entire Stranglers first album Rattus Norvegicus including my favorite song "Hanging Around."
I've uploaded a few of the videos from my Canon G9 to YouTube.. Unfortunately, the batteries ran out about 3 songs into the first set. The rest I managed to shoot with the iPhone 4. While the iPhone video quality is not perfect, it does a pretty decent job with the audio.
I'll provide a more detailed write up in the next few days. Note you can download Hugh's latest album Hoover Dam completely free of charge. Or check out Cornwell's live CD Dirty Dozen.
Meanwhile the tour continues through Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Austin and beyond.
Update: I've added the rest of the videos and they came out decent, all things considered. Vocals got a bit drowned out on occasion and the bass doesn't come through as loud as I would like on the iPhone songs, but I think you can get a pretty good feel for the show.
Following up from my post on Buffalo Springfield, here's some videos from Pearl Jam's performance at the Bridge School Benefit concert. This was shot directly from the video screen, so while it's not perfect, it came out better than one might expect.
It was also nice to hear Eddie Vedder thank Neil Young for his influence on the band over the years.
And also a few from Sunday's concert that I found on YouTube.
This past Saturday, I happened to luck into a pair of lawn seats for Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit concert. Despite my distance from the stage, I used my trusty Canon G9 to shoot video direct from the project screen. And to my surprise the videos came out pretty decent. You get the benefit of multiple camera angles and excellent close ups. Unfortunately, you do hear a bit of wind noise on occasion during the quieter parts.
Nonetheless, for die hard fans waiting 40 years for a Buffalo Springfield reunion, I'm sure this will be a treat. It's pretty amazing to hear the vocals as strong as they were back in the 60's. The set list included:
On the Way Home
Rock 'n Roll Woman
Child's Claim
Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It?
Go & Say Goodbye
I Am a Child
Kind Woman
Burned
For What It's Worth
Clancy Can't Dance
BlueBird
and finally: Mr Soul (my favorite)
Here are a few links to some others that I found on YouTube.
I'll post more videos from the concert in the coming weeks. But unfortunately, I'll not be able to make it to Sunday's show.
, Hoover Dam (CD/DVD)
, Rattus Norvegicus
" in 2004.
" video/CD along side other blues greats Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Jerry "Boogie" McCain, David "Honeboy" Edwards, Willie "Big eyes" Smith, Pinetop Perkins, Etta Baker and BB King. 
, 
, 
, 
and if you get a chance to see Tedeschi Trucks live, you should definitely do so. It's a fun evening not to be missed, especially for blues guitar fans.
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