Listening Theme 66: Drummers by Paul Adams on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 5:58am Hi, and a belated Happy New Year to you all.

I thought I’d start a new Listening Theme year with a bang and have a theme celebrating some of our great drummers, past and present, any genre – rock, jazz, you name it.

Just recommend [...]]]>

Listening Theme 66: Drummers
by Paul Adams on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 5:58am
Hi, and a belated Happy New Year to you all.

I thought I’d start a new Listening Theme year with a bang and have a theme celebrating some of our great drummers, past and present, any genre – rock, jazz, you name it.

Just recommend your favourite drummers and some examples of their best work and I’ll add them to my playlist and listen to an album or two.

Looking forward to your suggestions.
Cheers, Paul

Seasons greetings one and all,

Well folks, it’s December so it’s that time of the year when sheer stupidity takes over and I undertake my annual Christmas Music Marathon.

It started 2 years ago when I set myself the daunting challenge of [...]]]>
Listening Theme – Christmas Music Marathon 2011
by Paul Adams on Friday, December 2, 2011 at 1:41pm

Seasons greetings one and all,

Well folks, it’s December so it’s that time of the year when sheer stupidity takes over and I undertake my annual Christmas Music Marathon.

It started 2 years ago when I set myself the daunting challenge of listening to 100 different recordings of Irving Berlin’s Holiday classic “White Christmas” (don’t ask why, it seemed a good idea at the time) and I did it – http://bit.ly/svJwPR Last year I chose “Winter Wonderland” and managed 60 versions – http://bit.ly/rpN5Uj

This years choice is Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire… etc.). If you know of any notable recordings please let me know and I’ll listen to as many as I can between now and Christmas Day. I’m looking for established, well known artists, not just someone sitting at home in their bedroom with a guitar on YouTube.

Having said that, if YOU want to sit at home in your bedroom (or recording studio) with a guitar and record a version just for me, I’d be most grateful and I’ll include you amongst the likes of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Justin Beiber (damn!, I may have just put you off the idea). For the past two years Chris LeRoy has recorded special versions for us – will he take up the challenge this year? we’ll have to wait and see

Looking forward to hearing your recommendations.

Cheers, Paul

The next few Listening Themes will concentrate on some of our greatest songwriters – first off is Leonard Cohen. I’ll be listening to his recordings and covers of his songs by other artists. As usual, I’d be grateful of any recommendations you [...]]]>

Hi all,

The next few Listening Themes will concentrate on some of our greatest songwriters – first off is Leonard Cohen. I’ll be listening to his recordings and covers of his songs by other artists. As usual, I’d be grateful of any recommendations you can give.

Cheers, Paul

Listening Theme (Songbook Highway EXCLUSIVE!) – The Power Ballad

Here you go, a Listening Theme just for Songbook Highway visitors. My Listening Theme project usually appears on my Facebook page (and duplicated here) but this time my Facebook friends and regular Listening Theme participants will have to come over to here for a [...]]]>

Listening Theme (Songbook Highway EXCLUSIVE!) – The Power Ballad

Here you go, a Listening Theme just for Songbook Highway visitors. My Listening Theme project usually appears on my Facebook page (and duplicated here) but this time my Facebook friends and regular Listening Theme participants will have to come over to here for a change.

Anyway, here’s how it works (if you didn’t already know), I choose a random theme/music genre and ask my Facebook and Songbook Highway friends to recommend tracks or albums to me to listen to. I’ll listen to as many as I can for a week or two, hopefully discovering some new music I hadn’t heard before, then move on to another theme – simple.

This time it’s the turn of the ‘Power Ballad’. What I would like from you is your suggestions of some great Power Ballads, not just the usual ones (I wouldn’t be discovering much if you all said Foreigner ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ – even though it is a great track).

Lets have some recommendations,
Cheers, Paul

To mark the passing of Jerry Leiber a couple of weeks ago, I’ll be dedicating my next Listening Theme to the music of Leiber & Stoller.

http://leiberstoller.com/Discography.html

Using this comprehensive discography as my guide (and with your suggestions [...]]]>

Listening Theme 62 – Leiber and Stoller

Hi all,

To mark the passing of Jerry Leiber a couple of weeks ago, I’ll be dedicating my next Listening Theme to the music of Leiber & Stoller.

http://leiberstoller.com/Discography.html

Using this comprehensive discography as my guide (and with your suggestions as usual) I’ll be listening to anything penned (or produced) by Leiber & Stoller – not just the well known recordings by Elvis, The Coasters, The Drifters etc. So lets have some recommendations.

And if that wasn’t enough, I think I’ll attempt one of my music marathons (haven’t had one for a while). I’ll try to listen to as many different recordings of Hound Dog as I can. According to the list there are pleanty of recordings of it around

Cheers, Paul

After a bit of a break it’s time to get back to my Listening Themes – I haven’t forgotten.

I’ve been thinking about Birmingham and the West Midlands a bit lately. Firstly I’ve been really busy producing some maps of [...]]]>

Listening Theme 59 – Brum

Hi all,

After a bit of a break it’s time to get back to my Listening Themes – I haven’t forgotten.

I’ve been thinking about Birmingham and the West Midlands a bit lately. Firstly I’ve been really busy producing some maps of the area and also because I’m heading up to Birmingham on Sunday for the big athletics meeting – for those who don’t know me, I’m not competing, just spectating I thought I should listen to some of the music that has come out of the Black Country. So, got any ideas of albums by bands/artistes from Birmingham* and the West Midlands?

Cheers, Paul

* that’s Birmingham in the UK not Alabama – so no Emmylou Harris!

The reason for the delay was that my main source of online music (we7.com) only [...]]]>

Listening Theme 58 – Bob Dylan

Okay, for all those of you that have been wondering why I haven’t had a Bob Dylan Listening Theme yet – relax, here it is!

The reason for the delay was that my main source of online music (we7.com) only had 30 second previews of Bob’s back catalogue, however now I’ve discovered mflow.com with it’s full length tracks there’s no stopping me. Besides, it’s Bob’s 70th birthday on Tuesday so now seems a good a time as any.

You know the deal by now, let’s have your favourite Bob Dylan albums (solo or collaborations) or any notable Dylan cover versions by other artists and I’ll try to listen to as much as I can over the next couple of weeks.

Cheers Paul

Time for another Listening Theme and seeing as I’ve covered British punk a year or two back I thought it’s about time I took a look at the US punk scene. Let’s have some suggestions as to [...]]]>

Listening Theme 57 – US Punk

Hi all,

Time for another Listening Theme and seeing as I’ve covered British punk a year or two back I thought it’s about time I took a look at the US punk scene. Let’s have some suggestions as to which albums I should check out.

Cheers,

Paul

PS – regarding my earlier teaser video of Camper Van Beethoven performing Wasted back in 1987, well here’s the original by Black Flag: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU7xIqB47vw

I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice but it’s the ‘Big Day’ tomorrow and seeing as the media is going wedding crazy I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon and have a special Royal [...]]]>

Listening Theme – Royal Wedding Special

Hi all,

I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice but it’s the ‘Big Day’ tomorrow and seeing as the media is going wedding crazy I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon and have a special Royal Wedding Listening Theme to mark the occasion.

Now, as far as I know, HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton haven’t recorded an album yet but that won’t stop me, I’ll have to listen to other Williams* (Wills, Billys and Bills etc.) and Kates (Katherines etc.) instead – get the idea? Perhaps also some suggestions for appropriate song titles would be fun.

This is a special Listening Theme just for this extended bank holiday weekend, then back to more serious stuff.

Cheers,

Paul

For the next couple of weeks I’m going to focus on the Woodstock Festival of 1969. The idea being to go through the list of acts (in performance order – starting with Richie Havens and finishing with [...]]]>

Listening Theme 56 – Woodstock Festival

Hi all,

For the next couple of weeks I’m going to focus on the Woodstock Festival of 1969. The idea being to go through the list of acts (in performance order – starting with Richie Havens and finishing with Hendrix) and listen to two or three albums from each.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_performances_and_events_at_Woodstock_Festival

There are a few acts there that I’ve not heard of before so I’m looking forward to this one. As with my Live Aid theme last year I’m going to try to stick with albums that were already released at the time (although that may not be possible, I’ll see how I go). So let’s begin with Richie Havens (someone I’ve only recently started listening to) and his ‘67 album ‘Mixed Bag’. Let me know if you’ve got any other recommendations.

Cheers,

Paul

the small print:

If you’re new to this little project of mine it’s basically an opportunity for me to listen to and discover music and artists I wouldn’t normally listen to by asking my Facebook friends to give me their recommendations (albums and artists that influenced them maybe). I choose a particular music genre or theme or artiste and listen to just that for a week or two. I’ve discovered some great music over the past couple of years (see my previous notes and you’ll get the idea) and I value any contributions you can make.

If you’ve been tagged, you are under no obligation to take part but if you can spare a couple of minutes to recommend some great albums I’ll be most grateful and if you’re reading this and not been tagged (nothing personal) please feel free to participate anyway, the more recommendations the better.