Vacant Horizon

Rider ... your guidebook to GBV is www.gbvdb.com, a miraculous site that will answer any questions you have about what was released when, who plays on which records, what songs were played live, etc.

 

the essential releases are all the gbv records from bee thousand on --> b000, alien lanes, under the bushes under the stars (that's the holy trinity - the greatest 3-record stretch in rock music history), mag earwhig, do the collapse, isolation drills, universal truths and cycles, earthquake glue and half smiles, which you have PLUS the best pollard solo releases: waved out, kid marine, not in my air force and from a compound eye PLUS side projects ask them (by lexo and the leapers), choreographed man of war (robert pollard & his soft rock renegades) and blues and boogie shoes (keene brothers with tommy keene)

 

those 16 releases are a great starting point, but there are literally dozens more side projects, solo records, a bunch of early GBV records (vampire on titus and propeller are difficult but incredible) and the two legendary suitcase box sets (the third is out soon), each with 100 tracks that bob found on casettes in an old suitcase. some are as good as anything he's ever done. on top of that, there are literally dozens of CDs of unreleased stuff, demos, alternate versions, b-sides and rarities, etc.

 

i don't think anything bob has released in the last four years (since From a Compound Eye in 2005) is essential, but most contain two or three great tracks

 

it is truly a lifetime's work trying to keep up with Bob's catalogue.

 

and worth every second

thanks hardwood. i'm psyched, and yet totally overwhelmed. i'm sad to hear that the last few years have been touch and go. so what is the fading captain series?

the first song i really dug by GBV was Wished I was Giant off of Vampire i believe. i worked at a record store in dayton in the mid 90s during gbv heyday and that's one i heard and liked. the rest i was not into. i was steeped in the dead at that point. have tried a few times in the past 10 years to get into them only to enjoy a few songs. for some reason, half smiles is really sinking in, so i'm interested in what's next. thanks so much for the list. it's a good place to start:)

I hope you are wrong.

i don't think she's found her voice. that being said, she is one hell of a bass player. she has a signature sound. something not many bassists can pull off. if she does have a song, i hope its really really good and that she sings clearly.

okay, i'm going through the GBV slowly. then probably pollard solo stuff. is there a website with a directory of his other side projects. it's exciting that he has so much shit out there, but overwhelming. right now, half smiles is in rotation. i love it! given another zeitgeist, pollard would have been an arena rocker. ironically, he lives near hara arena in dayton which was a mecca in the 70s and early 80s for the greatest music of all time.

purple rain is not a guilty pleasure. that song is beyond awesome.

the beginning chords!!!!!!! Thank god for wendy and...?

awesome! god i love those songs/that album.

first CD i bought.

Billy Squier!

"Everybody Wants You" may be the most-perfect rock riff that's not Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath.

But he has a lot of other songs that are pretty damn good, too.

STROKE ME STROKE ME!!

It took me a while to figure this out, too, but here's how I do it:

 

Find the image you want.

 

Right click your mouse on the image.

 

Left click on "properties".

 

Copy and paste the address/url into your post.

 

Type directly after the url. edit, wait, it's not letting me type the image tag, so you need to type img, in brackets, before the url, and type /img in brackets, after the url. Damn, this probably no longer makes sense.

 

 

I'll try it now:

 

 

EDIT: Cool , it worked!

 

 

Oh yeah, I'm listening to Nels Cline "Coward". I've been negelecting this one for a while.

Is that the new line up of wilco?

well, my son (4) loves the wiggles. i can't stand 'em. the best kids music i've found was this candian dude who sings about bears and moose. also, that they might be giants kids album was pretty awesome. that being said, my son loves fiest, neil young, and is always asking me to play Take It Easy by the Eagles. go figure. i have this secret fantasy that when he's 14 he's gonna come up to me and ask about 'this band called led zeppelin'. at that point i will drop whatever i'm doing and we'll rock out to Black Dog!

my other son is 2 and he is constantly turning all the buttons while i play my guitar. he always turns the distortion on and off. so, i told him when he's jamming with his buddies downstairs in several years, i'm gonna come down and turn off his distortion during one of his blistering solos:)

Billy Joel up until around Innocent Man.

billy joel is pushing it, but i have to say that Just the Way you are and rosalinda smiles are two of the best songs of all time. There was an episode of Freaks and Geeks that featured Rosalinda that i loved.

Truly, Madly, Deeply (tho I dont even know who sings it)

Some Madonna and MJ

Some Mellencamp (like Pink Houses) and a little of Seeger and Eagles stuff

SOME America-- e.g. I like Horse With No Name, but I absolutely hate that Tin Man song

Occasionally I can rock out to Queen in the car, a la Wayne and Garth

I will always love Bowie's disco phase..Let's Dance, Putting Out Fire etc. Don't care what anyone else thinks.

Pretty much anything Cindi Lauper ever did is fine with me, if I'm in the mood

Some old torch singers like Julie London or Johnny Hartman

Some new agey pseudo-jazz i.e. quite a bit of Pat Metheny tho I will not tolerate the likes of Kenny G. under any circumstance. Jesse Cook is borderline for me.

love pat metheny. the group stuff is a bit cheesy, but damn good in a prog rock sort of way. that man can write great long melodies. incidently, i hate horse with no name but LOVE tin man:)

well, now i have to check out blue rodeo. wasn't there a hair band called blue rodeo in the 80s? i'm confused.

as to the original intent of this thread, W(TA) is as good as anything the band has ever done. it's not immediate. nothing by them is immediate to me. however, it's a grower and will get many listens over the years. there's a reason i keep going back to farrar and tweedy, as i do with dylan and springsteen. they are great american songwriters.

Oh yeah...not much of a tv person but that is the best series I've ever seen. Superb production, writing, acting, music, everything. Hence my avatar...

yeah, i was being a bit sarcastic. some other dude on here as EB as their avatar. was that you? btw, amazing show!

Speaking of the 1990s, check out today's Top Rock Songs (Billboard.com).

interesting.

that alice in chains song is pretty bad ass.

season 3 is much better than season 2. i watched the leaked first episode of season 4 and it was pretty good. the plot for the season seems compelling, however, dex's interactions with is now wife and family is just so cliche and cheesy. so, we'll see. fyi, i loved keith caridine in the show. he was awesome on deadwood too. too bad he was killed off so soon in that one.

Didnt realize at first but I found out Deb and Dex are married in real life...!!

 

I think Dexter is probably the best show on tv-- the best show since Deadwood was canceled anyway. But....I havent watched The Wire yet. Uh, its on my to-do list.

 

you like deadwood?

I love all the Crowe talk. Getting me to think about buying a ticket to see them at the Riv. Best albums are without a doubt Three Snakes, Band Sessions and Southern Harmony. I like the new album but not nearly as much as some of their older stuff and the bonus album isn't good.

still loving the new album. i really think it works well as two separate albums. the last place where love lives fits well at the end of the second disc, i think. both are just growers. checked out some allstars stuff and that is a bit too REAL for me. did like the chris solo stuff. may get into that after i digest the new one. i am thinking about seeing them too in atlanta in october.

Seems to be this:

 

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/09/09/apple_to_debut_itunes_lp_alongside_launch_of_itunes_9.html

 

Apple to debut iTunes LP alongside launch of iTunes 9

 

By Sam Oliver

Published: 11:55 AM EST

 

iTunes LP, likely the official name of Apple's "Cocktail" project designed to spur sales of full albums, is expected to be officially unveiled at today's media event along with iTunes 9.

 

A new listing on iTunes for a deluxe edition of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," as discovered by AppleInsider reader Cameron Phillips, has revealed both new products. The description states that the album's release date is Sept. 15, 2009, and that the album-enriching iTunes LP will include bonus content in the form of additional recordings, photos and videos. It is listed for $16.99.

 

"Get this watershed album with iTunes LP (only for use on a Mac or PC with iTunes 9 or later) for 13 bonus recordings taken from the original sessions, live videos recorded at the Newport Folk Festival, photos, and more," the iTunes page reads.

 

Originally revealed under the codename "Cocktail," the new product is designed to incentivize purchases of full-length albums rather than individual singles. The effort is purportedly a multi-party collaboration between Apple as well as EMI, Sony, Warner and Universal. Reports have alleged it will go well beyond the PDF liner notes often included today.

 

With Apple's keynote media event just moments away, it is likely that the iTunes LP format, along with iTunes 9, will be unveiled. Previous rumors have suggested that iTunes 9 will include social media integration and Blu-ray support.

 

In July, Apple unveiled the D45 section of the iTunes Music Store. Like old 45 records, the format includes a popular single accompanied by a B-side. Prices on D45s range from $1.49 to $1.99.

i'd buy lots more albums if they were $5.

yep. and there's one from february i believe.

 

they are worth getting just for dark end & used to be a kind. chris picks the best damn covers.

dude, yes. great covers!

I'm a super nerd when it comes to the Crowes; have hundreds of bootlegs, all the solo stuff, blah blah blah. Suffice to say, it's probably no great surprise that, like most bands, they are definitely greater than the sum of their parts. So you definitely want to start with the band's albums first. The Holy Trinity in the eyes of most fans would be Southern Harmony through Three Snakes (I also include the two amazing "lost" albums during that '92-'97 period, "Band" and "Tall") Incredible songs, playing, production, the whole enchilada on those records. I find moments of greatness in the other release as well (again, super nerd fan), but everything else is much spottier.

 

As for the solo stuff... you basically get each half of the classic Crowes sound with the Robinson solo releases. The killer riffs, open G tuning, and trademark descending chord progressions are all over Rich's album "Paper" (as is his less than stellar voice, which I've grown to love, but is certainly an acquired taste), and the unmistakable voice and tentative genre exploration (the funk, folk, disco, et. al) are on Chris' solo stuff (This Magnificent Distance is a much, much better album than his first one, IMO).

 

Marc is the wild card. He did no writing/singing with the Crowes, so his first solo album was an introduction in a way. Turns out the guy is a Neil Young fanatic (no real surprise there). "It's About Time" is considered his best solo project (only one I've heard), and like Rich's it suffers from his less than wonderful singing, but the songs are really solid, and the production has an unmistakable 70s Neil vibe to it. Obviously, there is some great guitar playing as well.

 

I'm really loving the new album. I attended one of the Cabin Fever shows, and it's really cool to see the album turn out as well as it did. A great couple gigs spawned a great couple albums.

thanks for the info. really need to check out ford's releases if he's into neil.

so you were at the cabin shows! tell us more!

btw, didn't rich have a band called hookah brown and circle something? any info on those?

Hell yeah. "Only The Strange Remain". I enjoyed those discs. It was great to hear the Aoxomoxoa songs on there, seeing how I never saw the GD do 'em. MOTM was lovely.

 

I only wish the Easy Answers from Deer Creek (7/15/98) would have been on there. God, I could not stand that tune when the Dead did it - but the version TOO did that night was so far out I gained a new appreciation for the song.

i wanna say that Easy Answers showed up on one of those Furthur sampler? can't remember. concerning the otherones, i loved the bruce songs they did. also, they were the most rehearsed i ever saw any incarnation of the band.

I have only heard/own the Chris solo albums. I think the album cover is boring, and does not really suit the music. I would have used a photo from the actual recording session.

oh yeah, something from that awesome barn they recorded in.

at least release a cryptical from 85.

 

 

btw-was gonna download some recent ratdog shows. i just love to hear bob's guitar as much as jerry. such a compelling rhythm guitar player. unfortunately, that band sounds like a train wreck. do they practice? have they ever practiced?

i take back my comment about ratdog. i listened to a recent playin' and it was great. bob really seems to be into just one long jam with out real soloing, but collective improve. i like it i think:)

btw, anyone remember that other ones disc that came out 10 years ago. i loved it. i love bruce singing jerry songs:)

what was the standout DEAD show from this summer? i want to download one.

Speaking of that, it's funny how they are separated in the photo on the cd sleeve. I think the cover art on the new album is sort of crappy.

you don't like the After the Frost cover? i like it. i wish the new wilco had something similar. i tend to like minimalist landscape fotos though. i wish there was a different foto for the bonus album.

btw, are the marc ford solo albums any good? how about rich and chris's solo stuff?

Johnny Colt

 

Much like Wilco, The Black Crowes have had several members over the years.

okay.

Well, the Indy show I saw that year (6/30) is possibly the best show I ever saw of the GD. No shit.

 

The Maine shows in October are superb as well.

at least release a cryptical from 85.

btw-was gonna download some recent ratdog shows. i just love to hear bob's guitar as much as jerry. such a compelling rhythm guitar player. unfortunately, that band sounds like a train wreck. do they practice? have they ever practiced?

i tried listening to the vinyl sequence and i didn't like it. bands know what's the cream of the crop. the first disc is excellent. however, i don't think the last song fits. it's better on the second disc. aside from greenhorn which is amazing, the second disc seems like the band is experimenting with some new sounds that they may get into next time around.

btw, i love luther. such a regular guy. watched some vids of him on youtube and he is just so cool. can't wait to dive into the allstars too. seen them open for several bands, but never paid much attention, except for when he played an electric sitar:)