Sunday Listenings #01 : VA - It Wasn’t My Idea to Dance [A Harvest Sampler]

Showcasing what's going on at Harvest, It Wasn't My Idea to Dance, brings together tracks from the old world of Harvest to the new releases from the Blue Aeroplanes, Amorphous Androgynous and Patrick Duff. The original artists that are included here either have Best of collections, such as Pete Brown and Syd Barrett, or their back catalogue has been remastered/re-issued, such as Barclay James Harvest, Kevin Ayers and Edgar Broughton Band. We've also included music from recent signings to Harvest to showcase works from their brand new studio albums, such as the Emptiness of Nothingness by the Amorphous Androgynous and Bright Star Catalogue from the new album the Blue Aeroplanes. There are the most original and enduring artists from the 70's and their counterparts from today. Harvest. 2006. [www.amazon.com - Editorial Reviews]

 

 

 

Dale Hawkins - Wildcat Tamer [1999] … Rediscoverd

 

Hawkins' first record in over 30 years shows that he had plenty of gas left in the tank as the new century approached. 

 

From the opening title track (complete with chaotic false start) to the closing recut of "Susie Q" (done more in a Creedence style than Hawkins' original), it's very obvious that Hawkins is absolutely delighted to be making records again.  

His bluesy style is put to great use on funky remakes of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" and "Going' Down the Road (Feelin' Bad)" while his country side comes up for air on the whimsical summer hit in the making, "Summertime Down South," which features Vassar Clements on fiddle. Some great rockin' that recalls his Chess salad years without Xeroxing it. [www.allmusic.com/ Wildcat Tamer Review by Cub Koda]

Dale Hawkins died in 2010 from colon cancer.

 

 

 

Friday Rocks with ... a smell of Lynyrd Skynyrd

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd is the definitive Southern rock band, fusing the overdriven power of blues-rock with a rebellious Southern image and a hard rock swagger.

 

Skynyrd were a hard-living, hard-driving rock & roll band. They may have jammed endlessly on-stage, but their music remained firmly entrenched in blues, rock, and country. Throughout the band's early records, frontman Ronnie Van Zant demonstrated a knack for lyrical detail and a down-to-earth honesty that had more in common with country than rock & roll. During the height of Skynyrd's popularity in the mid-'70s, they adopted a more muscular and gritty blues-rock sound that yielded the classic rock standards "Sweet Home Alabama," "Simple Man," "What's Your Name," "That Smell," "Gimme Three Steps," and "Free Bird." The group ceased operations after the tragic deaths of Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and backup singer Cassie Gaines, who were killed in an airplane crash on October 20, 1977. Skynyrd re-formed in 1987 with Ronnie's younger sibling Johnny Van Zant on vocals, and guitarist and co-founder Gary Rossington, who would serve as the group's sole constant member over the years. In 2018, after decades of performing and recording, the band embarked on a farewell tour, which was chronicled on the 2020 concert LP and film Last of the Street Survivors Tour Lyve![biography by allmusic.com]

Now its time to enjoy with some other songs of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Don't Ask Me No Questions

Cry For The Bad Man

You Got That Right

I Know A Little

Was I Right Or Wrong

I Never Dreamed

Ain't No Good Life