Staff Picks
Rock 'n' roll party [sound recording] : honoring Les Paul / Jeff Beck.
Jeff Beck is a legend and for good reason…he is one of the few true innovators of the electric guitar. His touch and tone are always breathtaking, and his phrasing is inimitable. Beck’s tribute to the music of Les Paul and Mary Ford is much more than a waltz through some of the duo’s finest work, it is an historical account of Beck’s formative years. Scottish diva Imelda May shines throughout the concert, turning in consistently fabulous performances including an intoxicating version of the Shangri-Las classic “Walking in the Sand”. 72 yr. old Gary U.S. Bonds absolutely brings the roof down with a crackling rendition of his 1960 hit “New Orleans”. Brian Setzer’s walk on performance of the Eddie Cochran classic “Twenty Flight Rock” is just awesome! However, throughout the recording the star is Beck’s powerful yet understated playing, filled with elegance and passion for his own Rockabilly roots.
Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2012
Shadows of a fleeting world : pictorial photography and the Seattle Camera Club
Wonderful book with beautiful photographs.
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012
Next Stop is Vietnam: the war on record, 1961-2008
This just came across my desk, an amazing collection of songs from and about the
Vietnam War. 13 CDs, one CD-ROM of lyrics, and book complete with history, photos,
and details of each song round out this collection. Published by the wonderful
people at Bear Family Records.
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011
The Very Best of Cream
A terrific sampling from the fireball that was Cream...and all the proof one
needs as to why Eric Clapton is one of the most influential guitarists in the
history of western music. In their brief three-year career the band released 4
studio LPs and a bevy of live recordings. While criticism of Cream's often overly
indulgent live jams (excepting the fiery live version of "Crossroads") is common
amongst music fans, their legacy truly lives in their remarkable studio work. Each
of their studio LPs sparkle with the inspired and elegant touch of one the the
finest groups to emerge from 1960's British blues boom. The production on the Cream
records is refreshingly raw ("Fresh Cream" is basically a live recording), giving
the music a consistently dangerous edge. Jack Bruce's slinky bass lines and Ginger
Baker's thunderous drumming are thrilling in their masterful urgency. Eric Clapton's
tone and phrasing are simply incomparable throughout Cream's recorded material. The
richness of the music emerges with repeated listens, but its power lies in the
feeling one gets that these tunes are being played for the very first time.
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011
Made in Japan
In the 1970's, the release of a live album by an artist symbolised not only an
established career, but one still on the rise. If you're curious to pay a visit to
this golden age of gatefold sleeves and arena rock, "Made in Japan" is one of the
touchstones of the era. With changing technology, the passing of time, and the
emptying of closets of tape, we have discovered that many of the classic "live"
albums tended to be bogus "live-in the-studio" affairs than actual unedited
documents of a magical moment in time (e.g.-"Kiss Alive!"). Not so with "Made In
Japan", one of the finest examples of a live album in any genre. Notoriously
virtuosic and legendary for their incendiary performances, Deep Purple's first live
album, recorded on their 1972 tour in support of their classic "Machine Head" LP, is
pure gold. And as is evident from the extensive surviving film of the band from the
era, their improvisational skills had few peers. And as the subsequent release of
the complete concert tapes from these shows has shown (on a three-CD set), there
were no overdubs on this original release. FYI- The live version of "Smoke on the
Water" found here is also its most familiar incarnation. Released in 1972 as a
single, it became the definitive version of the classic rock staple. Rock
on!
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011
Samba
If you (like me) have a fascination with Brazilian Samba culture, then this book
is for you! The author is a former dancer and journalist who spent a year dancing in
a Samba school and living in a favela in Rio. This book is a fascinating tale of
carnival, the Brazilian underworld, and the joy that dances brings.
Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011
Ways of Seeing
"Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak."
This book, based on the BBC television series with John Berger, is a
thought-provoking look at the way seeing establishes our place in the world. The
essays use words and images to start in the reader a line of questioning - how do
you see the world and how does the world see you?
Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2011
The Fawn by The Sea and Cake [sound recording]
Looking for some mellow music to go with a relaxing afternoon? Look no further
than the Sea and Cake's album The Fawn. I've been listening to this album since
2000, and it still feels just as fresh today as it did then. It remains on heavy
circulation at the Fine Arts Library, so you may need to wait in line to get it, but
you'll be glad that you did.
Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2011
State of the Union
This is a fabulous book of photographs. Really stunning stuff. Epstein has an eye
for the most compelling images.
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011
Art of modern rock: the poster explosion / Paul Grushkin & Dennis
King; foreword by Wayne Coyne.
This book takes you through the "re-birth" of screen-printed poster art in the
modern age (early 1990's-2000's). This book picks up where The Art of Rock, by the
same author, left off. Though the book gives a thorough look at modern poster art,
it is lacking in the coverage of women within the gigposter world. This book breaks
up gigposter history into styles and movements which makes the mass of content
digestible.
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010
