Hindustan Times
My playlist got a little weird last week. It all began with a version of Paint it Black, the Stones’ song from 1966. The version, a cover, was stunning: slower and with none of the original lyrics. There was an Afro-beat and a funky feel to it, replete with congas and stuff. It was rather good. Instead of the original lyrics, the band covering it occasionally chanted “Paint it black”, pronouncing black as ‘Blaak’. I got curious and found out that the cover version was by a band, or rather, a collective, called Africa who put out just one album in 1968 called Music From Lil Brown. I later found that that Music from Lil Brown was an African-American response to Music From Big Pink, the debut album from The Band, which, of course, is the Canadian-American band that got fame because it was Bob Dylan’s back-up band but which on its own was easily one of the best rock bands that I’ve heard. Read more
(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Sanjoy Narayan on Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Filed under Download Central · Tagged Africa, African music, African-American, Afro-beat, Allman Brothers Band, argus48, Bahamas, BlackFlag, blues guitarist, Bob Dylan, calypso, Canadian-American, congas, dobro, Download Central, Duane Allman, electric guitar, Exuma, Foxygen, Greg, Here I Stand, iTunes store, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Jenkins, Kinks, Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey, Music, Music from Big Pink, Music From Lil Brown, New York, Otis Redding, Paint it Black, Papa Doc Duvalier, Peter Tosh, R&B, reggae, Reincarnation, Rhythm Room, Sanjoy Narayan, Sick and Tired, slide, soul, Steppenwolf, Tears of Rage, The Band, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Weight, The Wheel’s On Fire and Lonesome Suzie, To Kingdom Come, Ton Ton Macoute!, Twitter, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic, WWOZ
The reason why I avoid going for rock shows—here in India or anywhere else—is because it is hard to feel good if you’re like a dinosaur in an audience whose average age typically hovers around half of yours. You could, of course, ask me, perfectly legitimately too, what do I expect if I, plumb in the middle of middle-age, insist on listening to bands that people half my age or less than that find contemporary, interesting and hip. But I shall choose not to answer stupid questions. Read more
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Sanjoy Narayan on Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Filed under Download Central · Tagged Allman Brothers Band, argus48, Beacon Run, Beacon Theater, Butch Trucks, Come On In My Kitchen, Crossroads, Danny Louis, Derek Trucks, Dicky Betts, Don’t Want You No More, Download Central, Duane Allman, Going Down, Gregg Allman, It’s Not My Cross to Bear, Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson, James Van De Bogart, Leslie West, Marc Quinoes, Melissa, Mountain Jam, Music, One Way Out, Oteil Burbridge, Sanjoy Narayan, Shawn Pelton, Twitter, Warren Haynes
I don’t know exactly what I was doing on March 12 and 13, 1971 except that I was not-yet-a-teenager studying in Class 6 in a Calcutta school. Of course, I had not even the faintest idea that on the other side of the planet on those two dates, rock history was being made as a band played what is one of the best live concert recordings that I have heard. On those two nights, at New York’s Fillmore East venue, The Allman Brothers Band played two gigs that were later turned (along with another gig there that they played in June the same year) into The Fillmore Concerts album. Read more
(3 votes, average: 2.33 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Sanjoy Narayan on Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Filed under Download Central · Tagged argus48, B.B. King, Berry Oakely, Bill Graham, Derek Trucks, Dickey Betts, Download Central, Dr. John, Drunken Hearted Boy, Duane Allman, Eat A Peach, Fillmore East venue, Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, Gregg Allman, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Low Country Blues, Muddy Waters, Music, Sanjoy Narayan, Sleepy John Estes, Stormy Monday, T-Bone Burnett, The Allman Brothers, The Fillmore Concerts album, Twitter, Whipping Post, You Don’t Love Me
It was 1977. I was, er, let’s just say, very young and had my first brush with southern American rock bands. An older cousin had handed me an LP, The South’s Greatest Hits, which had come out that year, and with it began a torrid affair with southern rock bands, an affair that, as you shall soon find out, has passed the test of time. The South’s Greatest Hits had stellar tunes by stellar bands. I got to listen to the Allman Brothers Band, Charlie Daniels Band, Elvin Bishop, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dr. John and others. I was hooked. Read more
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Posted by Hindustan Times on Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Filed under Download Central · Tagged Allman Brothers Band, argus48, At Fillmore East, Birthday Boy, Blackfoot and Thunderhead, Charlie Daniels Band, Congratulations, Disco Biscuits, Download Central, Dr. John, Duane Allman, E-40, Eat A Peach and Brothers and Sisters, Elvin Bishop, Gov’t Mule, Grateful Dead, Gucci Mane, Hittin’ The Note, Hood, Jerry Garcia, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, MGMT, Patterson Hood, Ronnie Van Zant, Sanjoy Narayan, Southern Rock Opera, The Big To-Do, The Drive-By Truckers, The Fourth Night of My Drinking, The South’s Greatest Hits albums, The Wig He Made Her Wear, This Fucking Job, Truckers, Twitter, Warren Haynes, Wet Willie, Whip It Up
