A Bloy and his Blog

For you Neil Young fans out there, That Truncheon Thing (an excellent music blog) has posted a bootleg of Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams.

Chrome Dreams is described as “one of those great lost albums, from the further reaches of rock history, that never saw the light of day, except to boot collectors.”

This particular bootleg also includes a “select batch of bonus cuts to give you a further taste of just how creative Neil was during this fertile period” (the mid 1970’s).

Definitely worth downloading. Share and enjoy.

I’ve been to five concerts of the band Wilco, and every time I see them, they never disappoint. Perhaps my fondness for their music clouds my judgment, but with each concert I go to, they seem to get better and better. Last night, I was at Madison’s Overture Center where Wilco performed an outstanding show to a sold-out theater.

The band touched on every album from their career last night, playing more tunes from their back catalog than I expected. Some of the best songs of the night were older ones: “Too Far Apart” from their first album, A.M., and “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” from Being There. I also enjoyed the songs from my favorite Wilco disc, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” “War On War,” and “Jesus, Etc.”

read the rest of: Wilco’s live shows keep getting better

Boxer, the newest release from The National, is one of those albums where the melodies linger in your brain long after the music has stopped playing. Maybe it’s the lead singer’s, soothing baritone, maybe it’s the dreamy, atmospheric sound the band has. “Green Gloves” is a perfect example of both.

read the rest of: Boxer by The National

Ryan Adams new disc, Easy Tiger, has been out for a few weeks now, and it’s been in heavy rotation for me. Prior to this CD, Ryan Adams was releasing music at a very quick pace (three hit and miss albums in about a seven month period). Adams and his band, the Cardinals, took their time with Easy Tiger (it’s been a year and a half since the last release), and the result is the most solid Ryan Adams disc since 2001’s Gold.

The albums starts off with “Goodnight Rose,” a rocking promise of the good music to come.

read the rest of: Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger

Several months ago I started linking to sample MP3 files, when I write about music I’m listening to. Since then I’ve been looking for a simple way to add a Flash player to stream those files right from the page. Today I found a post by someone who discovered the Google player used in Gmail can be used on any website.

Update, July 13: It seems Google has changed the parameters of the player and it no longer works properly. The good news is I have found a decent player which I can install on this site.

read the rest of: Streaming MP3 files

When the band Tragically Hip plays in their native land of Canada, they are so popular they have to play in arena-sized venues. Here in Madison, they cannot fill a small venue like the Barrymore Theatre. At last night’s show, the theater looked to be about half full to me. More’s the pity. I’ve seen Tragically Hip several times, and from my experience, I believe the band would play their hearts out whether they were in front of 20,000 or 10. They certainly did last night.

The Hip (as their fans call them) opened last night’s concert with the first track from their latest, and very strong release, World Container. “Yer Not The Ocean,” an ode to Lake Ontario, very much in the style of The Who, was a perfect way to begin the show.

read the rest of: Tragically Hip plays Madison

Last night I went to the Neko Case concert at the Barrymore Theatre here in Madison. Her wonderful Fox Confessor Brings The Flood was my favorite album from last year, and I was very excited to see her perform live. I was not disappointed.

Hearing the music and that gorgeous voice resonate through the sold-out theater was an enchanting experience. From the Patsy Cline like crooning of the opening song, “A Widow’s Toast,” to the defiant (and almost shouting) end chorus of “Maybe Sparrow,” Neko’s voice was indeed the star of the show.

read the rest of: Neko Case mesmerizes