Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Showbiz Kids: Top Ten of 2011 (Part 2- Mike's list)




10. Discovering a new band right under the wire of 2011 called Alabama Shakes.  Still don't know much about them yet but their self titled EP was a fantastic discovery yesterday morning.  Just go to their website and download the EP now.
9. Bob Mould's book See A Little light . Several several years ago his band Sugar and the album Copper Blue wore out my CD player.  Then I went backwards to discover his Black Sheets of Rain and of course Husker Du.  Interesting life journey in his book.




8. Widespread Panic at the Tennessee Theatre...was my first experience of the Panic live and all the special visuals and smells that comes with it were a great experience.









7. Meeting Colin Hay on his solo tour and previously of Men at Work.  It was a special intimate setting at our local Knoxville record store Disc Exchange and he played old hits like "Overkill" and beautiful new ones off of Gathering Mercury.



6. My niece learning to play the trumpet.  She has really taken an interest in the instrument and learning to play it.  She allowed me to open her musical world up to the trumpet sounds of Miles Davis and other jazz albums.  So who knows...maybe we'll sit around one day talking about the influence of Lee Morgan and his album Sidewinder.


5. Crowded House Live in Denver   is special because its a recording that was released for Record Store Day of the same tour that my wife and I saw them at the Ryman in 2010.  I don't think sonically I have heard a better concert ever.  The band sounded great and the welcoming arms of the Ryman only enhanced the evening to be one of the best.
4. The Pixies at The Tennessee Theatre only out ranks Crowded House because it felt like a once in a lifetime to see them with all original members.  Plus they rocked...I cant remember the last time I 'head-banged' at the good ole' TN Theatre.


3. Wico Live at the Ryman was a blast.  They had released The Whole Love and I had missed them on the Sky Blue Sky tour so I was hell bent to see them no matter what.  They were all I had anticipated and an added surprises was getting to see Nick Lowe open up and play with Wilco as well as Nels playing Duane Allman's guitar on "Impossible Germany."






2. House of Cash by John Carter Cash is an excellent collection of photographs and memorabilia from Johnny Cash and the entire family.  It is essentially a scrapbook with some unique features such as handwritten notes,family recipes and Johnny's artwork.  Many times its actual pieces that you can pull out of the book as if it was the original document.








1. Circuital by My Morning Jacket The combination of the opening two tracks and seeing them live on the computer for their release party this year puts them at the top for me.  Its essentially about the music and these guys unique sound makes me a full time fan.

The Showbiz Kids: Top Ten of 2011 (Part 1-Will's List)

Will's Top Ten of 2011

 ***Honorable mention: The resurgence of vinyl has made Knoxville, TN a collector's hot spot with some incredible shops such as: Disc Exchange, Lost and Found Records, Raven Records, and the newly opened Wild Honey Records.  


I am including the Strokes' 2011 release, Angles, in the 'honorable mention' section because the album is enjoyable and I must say that I love the 80s-flavored album cover so much that I purchased it on vinyl.  With that said, the Strokes did not include a CD copy of the album or a coupon to download an MP3 version of Angles with my vinyl purchase, so I had to essentially purchase the album twice on its release date and for that the Strokes did not make the top 10 this year on merit.  





10. Fitz and The Tantrums’ debut, Pickin’ Up The Pieces, was easily one of my favorite new albums over the past year.  I grew up listening to old soul from Motown and Stax, and this soul/indie pop band from Los Angeles, CA ‘delivered the goods’ on their fantastic debut record. 

9.  The Canadian rock trio, Rush, released their classic album, Moving Pictures, re-mastered in stunning 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. Rush also followed up the reissue with their successful Time Machine tour where fans were treated to  Moving Pictures in its entirety.

8. Phish has really hit a home run in my humbled opinion with their ‘Live Phish App’ which enables Phans to stream and download the previous night’s show while the band is on tour.  Certainly handy for a married father and working stiff!  Thanks, Phish!

7. Before calling it quits, one of my favorite bands of all-time, R.E.M., released their final album, Collapse Into Now, which was easily their strongest body of work since New Adventures in Hi-Fi.   I will certainly miss R.E.M. but am pleased that they ended their career on a high note.


6. Thomas Dolby released his first new music in well over a decade, A Map of the Floating City. The album is a more mature work for the 80s New Wave pioneer, but one that I have come to appreciate after repeated listen. 


5. Wilco toured in the United States behind the release of their latest album, The Whole Love, and I was fortunate to see them at the Ryman in Nashville, TN.  Fantastic show, and being the casual Wilco fan, I can say that I was completely blown away.


4. 2011 was a busy year for Pink Floyd, who saw the release of their entire catalog remastered in various forms-individual discs, boxed sets, etc.  The sonic improvements to albums such as Meddle and Animals are only paralleled to The Beatles remasters from a couple of years ago.  


3. In celebration of their 25th anniversary,Widespread Panic, returned to Knoxville for another three night stand that was one of the best runs I have witnessed in the Jimmy Herring era of the band.  


2. Better late than never, but I finally showed up late to the Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings party.  After hearing a few tracks from their recent B-Sides and out-takes compilation, Soul Power!, I have quickly purchased most of their albums.  I am really digging this band, their music, and their retro sound.


1. When I look back at 2011, the one album that I can easily say was my favorite release of the year was The Foo Fighters' Wasting Light. If songs like 'Bridge Burning' and 'Rope' don't do it for you, then I suppose nothing will.  A fantastic album from a band that continues to get better with age and still know how to rock.  (Be sure to check out their excellent rockumentary, Back and Forth, too!)










-Will Fisher
The Showbiz Kids









Friday, December 30, 2011

Phish @ Madison Square Garden


Phish kicked off their four night New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, with the first-ever “Free” opener. The solid first set also included: “The Ballad of Curtis Loew,”  “Glide,” “Bathtub Gin,” and “Contact.”

“Birds of Feather” began the second set which then then began an extended segue that started with “Carini,” which led into a “Tweezer” before moving into “My Friend, My Friend,” and a rocking(pun intended) “Rock and Roll,” followed by “NICU.”  

Phish also made University of Tennessee football fans happy by possibly playing one of the only versions of “Rocky Top” to be heard during bowl season this year in the encore before closing out the show with “Tweezer Reprise.”

Phish returns to MSG tonight for show #3.

Complete setlist from Wednesday below courtesy of Jambands.com:

Madison Square Garden New York, NY

Set I: Free, Glide > Possum, Cities, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, Stash, Contact > Sample in a Jar, Kill Devil Falls > Bathtub Gin

Set II: Birds of a Feather, Carini > Tweezer* > My Friend, My Friend^ > Rock and Roll** > NICU, Bouncing Around the Room, Harry Hood > Bug

Encore: Tube > Rocky Top > Tweezer Reprise
Notes: *Streets of Cairo tease ^No “Myfe” ending **Birds of a Feather jam

Thursday, December 29, 2011

My Sweet Lord...first #1 US Single in December 1970

George was the first ex-Beatle to have a #1 US single with "My Sweet Lord" off of his double album All Things Must Pass.

It was certified Gold and sold well over a million copies.  However the single wasn't without controversy.  There was a 10 year battle over the musical similarities between his song and The Chiffons' hit "He's So Fine".

Here are some big names that George was always associated with but Eric Clapton,Gary Wright,Ringo Starr,Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann  played on My Sweet Lord.

Coming soon...George amassed a large collection of guitars over his career and his son Dhani is organizing a way for us to view them along with background and history of the guitars.

Mike Smith,The Showbiz Kids

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Guided By Voices has heard their inner voice again

GBV has heard their inner voice and its told them to produce another album that is due out in January 2012.  The other big news is that its with the classic lineup that hasn't recorded together since 1996's Under The Bushes, Under The Stars.  They did however just finish spending a year long reunion tour together. 


I know there's already hundreds of reviews on this new album Let's Go Eat The Factory so I'm not going to add to it.  This is just my personal excitement that we have something new to listen to and the hope that they may continue to tour and I will see them this time.  I saw them at the Mercury Theatre in Knoxville back during the Bee Thousand tour and was 10 feet away from the band the entire concert.
If you're not familiar with Guided By Voices then go listen to them...here's another one of my favorite albums Isolation Drills.


Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Monday, December 26, 2011

Boxing Day? or The Boxer?

The day after Christmas in the United Kingdom is Boxing Day.  It has traditionally been  a day of some forms of charity.  Now I believe its just another day to go shopping.  Maybe take a moment and think about all that we received yesterday...gifts,time with friends or family,food,children and then do something for someone else today.

After you're done take another moment and enjoy The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel.

Merry Christmas and hopes for a good year!




Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Happy Holidays!

Thanks for checking us out this year. However you choose to celebrate, enjoy and don't forget to add the music!


Cheers!

-The Showbiz Kids

Friday, December 23, 2011

Last minute Christmas shopping? Make it funky with the Dap-Kings!





Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are a funk/soul band signed to Daptone Records, where the Dap-Kings are the house band. They are spearheads of a revivalist movement that aims to capture the essence of funk/soul music as it was at its height in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. Part of the way this is achieved is to shun modern digital recording methods in favor of using traditional analog recording equipment. The type of instruments used by the band are limited to those that would have been available up until the mid-50's.



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Big Star's offering for Christmas "Jesus Christ"

I just discovered that Alex Chilton's birthday is in a few days and four days after mine.  "September Gurls" lyric "December boys got it bad" has new meaning  to me even after all these years. 



By the way it isn't coincidental that Katie Perry's song "California Gurls" was spelled that way.  Apparently her manager is a fan of Big Star and asked Katie to spell Girls with a "u" in honor of Alex Chilton's recent passing. So she did...hot and cool is a good combination.

I thought I'd point out Big Star's relevant song to this time of year "Jesus Christ" off their 1974 recorded but 1978 released Third/Sister Lovers.  Take a listen below.  I wish there was better graphics to accompany the song.





Here is an earlier blog entry on Big Star if you want to pursue.

Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

'The Night Before The Night Before Christmas' with Further



Further performed at Bob Weir's new Tamalpais Research Institute (TRI Studios) for the first time back in June this year, and now Weir and TRI have announced that TRI will rebroadcast that performance for "The Night Before The Night Before Christmas" special this Friday, December 23rd.


In addition, TRI will also offer a "Scaring The Children" Christmas special today, which will feature a set from Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, Jay Lane and some additional guests.  Merry Christmas to you too, Bob!  


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Paul McCartney to release album of covers, two new songs


Paul McCartney announced this morning that he'll be releasing a new album of cover songs, along with two new compositions, on February 7th. Featuring songs that McCartney says were key early influences on him and fellow former Beatle John Lennon -- in his words, "the songs me and John based quite a few of our things on" -- the as-yet-untitled album has guest appearances by Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder, and Eric Clapton.

Following in the footsteps of other baby boomer crooners dipping into the classics, McCartney digs into the attic of American popular music to uncover gems that inspired him.

"When I kind of got into songwriting, I realized how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them," McCartney said in a statement. "I always thought artists like Fred Astaire were very cool. Writers like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, all of those guys - I just thought the songs were magical. And then, as I got to be a songwriter I thought it's beautiful, the way they made those songs.

"It was very spontaneous, kind of organic," he said, "which then reminded me of the way we'd work with the Beatles. We'd bring a song in, kick it around, when we found a way to do it we'd say 'Okay, let's do a take now' and by the time everyone kind of had an idea of what they were doing, we'd learnt the song. So that's what we did, we did the take live in the studio."

McCartney, 69, has also penned two new songs in the spirit of the others on the album, called  'My Valentine' and 'Only Our Hearts.' The former will stream at McCartney's website starting at 9 a.m. Monday. (The track listing will be released at a later date.)

The album, to be released on Hear Music/Concord Records, was recorded throughout 2011 at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, as well as in New York and London, with a simple rationale in mind, said McCartney: "In the end it was 'Look, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it."

Monday, December 19, 2011

Trey Anastasio with The National


Phish's Trey Anastasio sat in with The National Friday night at New York’s Beacon Theater. 
The Phish guitarist emerged partway through the group’s set for “Blood Buzz Ohio,” “Squalor Victoria” and “Murder Me Rachel.” 
While onstage, the members of The National described the guitarist as “a hero of ours.” 

Sunday, December 18, 2011

On the turntable this Sunday...3 + 3




3 + 3 is a 1973 album released by The Isley Brothers for the Epic label under their T-Neck imprint. Their first album for the label after several years in Buddah Records, it was also the first time the family group, which had consisted of founding members O'Kelly Isley, Jr.Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley, included six members instead of the standard three. Although they had performed on Isley Brothers albums since 1969's It's Our Thing, this was the first album where younger brothers Ernie and Marvin and in-law Chris Jasper were now known as Isley Brothers members starting a period where the brothers would only be part of the musical and production department. The success of the album is contributed to their first Top 10 pop record since "It's Your Thing", with their own cover of the self-penned "Who's That Lady", now re-titled "That Lady, Pt. 1 & 2". Other hit singles included the top five R&B single, "What It Comes Down To", and their cover of Seals & Crofts' folk hit, "Summer Breeze", which was also a top ten R&B single. The album became their first platinum album.
The Isley Brothers recorded 3 + 3 in the Record Plant at the same time as Stevie Wonder was recording Innervisions. In fact they walked in on him recording "Don't You Worry Bout a Thing". Both Chris Jasper of the Isley Brothers and Stevie Wonder were users of the Arpsynthesizer and both worked with visionary engineers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil.
In addition to a stereo record release, this album was mixed in quadraphonic and released in 1974 on SQ record: T-NECK PZQ - 32453. It was also released on Super Audio CD on December 4, 2001.


Happy Birthday Keith Richards

 
Keith Richards was born December 18,1943.  I'll let Keith sing his own song in honor of his birthday.

"Happy" was recorded for the  the Exile On Main St. album and at the time the vocals,guitar and bass were all done by Keith himself during  the summer of1971, at the villa Nellcôte in southern France.









Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Beach Boys Reunite for 50th Anniversary Tour and Album

All five surviving members of The Beach Boys will come together to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary in 2012. The Beach Boys plan to release a new studio album and tour the world. The 50-date outing will kick off at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in April. Brian Wilson will produce the album while and Mike Love will serve as the project’s executive producer.

The tour will feature Beach Boys co-founders Mike Love, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine as well as longtime member Bruce Johnson. Dave Marks, who played guitar in the band in 1962 and 1963 at the tender age of 16, will also be part of the reunion. Dennis and Carl Wilson died in 1983 and 1998, respectively.

“We got together at Capitol Records and re-recorded ‘Do It Again.’ Brian and I wrote that song which went to number 1 in Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere some 44 years ago,” Mike Love said in a statement. “Brian paid me a compliment saying, ‘How can a guy sound that great so many years later?’ Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment. It was a thrill to be around a piano again with Brian, Alan and Bruce and experience firsthand the brilliance of Cousin Brian’s gift for vocal arrangements. I am very much looking forward to David Marks joining us and thrilling with his surf guitar licks. Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world. Wouldn’t It Be Nice to Do It Again? Absolutely!”

The Beach Boys have not issued a studio album since the 1996 country-pop release Stars and Stripes Vol. 1. For all intents and purposes, Carl Wilson’s death signaled the end of The Beach Boys; Love pushed Jardine out of the group in early 1998 and licensed the band’s name for touring purposes. He continues to play with Johnson and a variety of backing musicians as The Beach Boys. Marks—who returned to the group after a several decade absence as Carl Wilson’s health was failing—also toured and recorded with Love and Johnson in 1998 and 1999. He left after being diagnosed with hepatitis C.

Jardine continues to tour with his own projects and sat in with The Mother Hips a few months ago. In addition, hetoured as a guest with Brian Wilson and 2006 and sat in with Love and Johnson’s touring Beach Boys band at Ronald Reagan earlier this year. Brian Wilson has only played with the Beach Boys live on sporadic occasions since the 1960s and has not appeared onstage with love since the mid ‘90s.

Article from Jambands.com

Friday, December 16, 2011

Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Comin To Town"

I know by now you've probably heard this song a couple dozen times,but its one of those traditions and you'd miss it if never came on the radio anymore. Its more poignant now since we lost the "Big Man" earlier this year.  So it hurts a little to hear Bruce ask if Clarence's been "practicin'...Santa's gonna bring you a new saxophone" in the opening of the song.

The version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" that we hear on the radio was recorded at the December 12th 1975 concert at C. W. Post College.


Here's a few of the releases and the album cover artwork that has been used with the release of the single.  Lastly...its just a cool picture of Bruce in the winter sitting on an old Corvette.


Photo by: Frank Stefanko/HC

Here's a link to some black and white concert footage of Bruce and the E Street Band playing the song in 1978.


Mike Smith, The Showbiz Kids

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Why you won't hear the new Black Keys album on Spotify






The latest Black Keys album, El Camino, hit stores last week, but has been notably missing from many of the popular music streaming services such as: Spotify, Rhapsody, and Rdio.  Apparently, the Black Keys have taken such a deliberate stance for financial reasons...



Drummer Patrick Carney recently told VH1: "Streaming services are becoming more popular, but it still isn’t at a point where you’re able to replace royalties from record sales with the royalties from streams." "For a band that makes a living selling music, it's not at a point where it’s feasible for us."
Carney also told VH1 that he is fine with streaming services such as Pandora, which are built to encourage listeners to sample new music on a song-by-song basis, but is skeptical of Spotify, which he says is "set up to be a little more fair for the labels than for the artists." 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Brent Thompson is a squirrel trying to get a nut on Christmas...



Well, maybe Brent Thompson is not really a squirrel, but he channels his best Alvin and The Chipmunks impersonation on the hilarious ballad, "I'm Just A Squirrel (Trying to Get a Nut on Christmas)," one of three songs on his collection of Christmas tunes: “Brent Thompson’s Christmas EP,” now available for download on Thompson’s Bandcamp site.


If you are familiar with the multi-talented and humorous, Brent Thompson, host of the Internet TV show "Eleven O'Clock Rock" on Knox iVi, or Brent's fun-loving/out of left-field band, Brent Thompson's Wandering Circus, you are certainly in for a treat on “Brent Thompson’s Christmas EP.”
In addition to rodents, nuts, and the newest iPhone, the EP also includes Brent's warm and jazzy takes on the classics: "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Christmas Song," both of which will be welcome additions to your holiday playlist.    
We are blessed with some incredible local artists here in Knoxville and this Christmas EP only shows how talented and diverse Brent Thompson really is, even if he is just a squirrel trying to get a nut on Christmas.  All proceeds of the $5 cost for the Christmas EP will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House.  

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Available today: Crosby, Stills, Nash (Gold Disc)

Crosby, Stills & Nash is the first album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, released in 1969 on the Atlantic Records label. It spawned two Top 40 hits, "Marrakesh Express" and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," which peaked respectively at #28 the week of August 23, 1969, and at #21 the week of October 25, 1969, on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The album itself peaked at #6 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.

The album was a very strong debut for the band, instantly lifting them to stardom. Along with the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo and The Band's Music From Big Pink of the previous year, it helped initiate a sea change in popular music away from the ruling late sixties aesthetic of bands playing blues-based rock music on loud guitars. Crosby, Stills & Nash presented a new wrinkle in building upon rock's roots, utilizing folk, blues, and even jazz without specifically sounding like mere duplication. Not only blending voices, the three meshed their differing strengths, Crosby for social commentary and atmospheric mood pieces, Stills for his diverse musical skills and for folding folk and country elements subtly into complex rock structures, and Nash for his radio-friendly pop melodies, to create an amalgam of broad appeal. Eventually going multi-platinum, in addition to the abovementioned singles, Crosby, Stills & Nash features some of their best known songs in "Wooden Ships" and "Helplessly Hoping". "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" was composed for Judy Collins, and "Long Time Gone" was a response to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

This album proved very influential on many levels to the dominant popular music scene in America for much of the 1970s. The success of the album generated gravitas for the group within the industry, and galvanized interest in signing like acts, many of whom came under management and representation by the CSN team of Elliot Roberts and David Geffen. Strong sales, combined with the group's emphasis on personal confession in its writing, paved the way for the success of the singer-songwriter movement of the early seventies. Their utilization of personal events in their material without resorting to subterfuge, their talents in vocal harmony, their cultivation of painstaking studio craft, as well as the Laurel Canyon ethos that surrounded the group and their associates, established an aesthetic for a number of acts that came to define the "California" sound of the ensuing decade, including The Eagles, Jackson Browne, post-1974 Fleetwood Mac, and others.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album has been issued on compact disc three times: mastered by Barry Diament at Atlantic Studios in the mid-1980s; re-mastered by Joe Gastwirt at Ocean View Digital and reissued on August 16, 1994; reissued again by Rhino Records as an expanded edition using the HDCD process on January 24, 2006.

On a new edition of the album to be released on December 6, 2011, the track 'Guinnevere' will be changed to 'Guinevere'. Marshall Blonstein , head of Audio Fidelity, said "Since 1969, every vinyl, cassette and CD version of the album had it spelled with two n’s. But recently the group decided to take out the [historically inaccurate] extra ‘n.’ So our CD booklet, tray card and even the original LP labels now show the title with just the one ‘n.’” Noise11.com

The original vinyl LP was released in a gatefold sleeve that depicted the band members in large fur parkas with a sunset in the background on the gatefold (shot in Big Bear, California), as well as the iconic cover art. A long folded page inside displayed the album credits, lyrics, track listing, as well as a quasi-psychedelic pencil drawing.

The 2006 expanded edition of the CD features an additional four tracks, as well as a slight difference in the cover art. The face of drummer Dallas Taylor was added to the original as he was not present at the photoshoot. He can be seen looking through the window of the door on the rear of the sleeve. In the expanded edition, however, he is absent.

On the cover the members are, left to right, Nash, Stills, and Crosby, for no particular reason, the reverse of the order of the album title. The photo was taken by their friend and photographer Henry Diltz before they came up with a name for the group. They found an abandoned house, north of 809 Palm Avenue, across from a Santa Monica car wash that they thought would be a perfect fit for their “image”. A few days later they decided on the name “Crosby, Stills, and Nash”. To prevent confusion, they went back to the house a day or so later to re-shoot the cover in the correct order, but when they got there they found the house had been reduced to a pile of timber.


Monday, December 12, 2011

Just in case you missed it...The Roots' undun



Last week, I was watching Late Night w/Jimmy Fallon and his house band, the Roots, just happened to be the music act on the show, promoting their new album, undun.


After checking it out, I must say that the Roots' 13th album is one of their best, if not most thoughtful.  undun is a concept album that tells the story of Redford Stephens, a bootstrapping hustler, and his eventual downfall, with one vital twist-the story begins at his death and moves backwards in time back to his birth.  


The music is outstanding, sonically speaking, and the lyrical content and rapping are solid throughout.  A very interesting release from one of the finest and most intelligent hip-hop artists on the planet...  


The Showbiz Kids Rating: 9 out of possible 10
-Will Fisher, The Showbiz Kids




Sunday, December 11, 2011

On the turntable this Sunday...A Charlie Brown Christmas




A Charlie Brown Christmas is an album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, released in 1965 as the soundtrack to the CBS Christmas television special of the same name. It is among the most popular Christmas music albums of all time. There was also a book-and-record setfeaturing music, dialogue and stills from the Christmas special released in 1977 on a 33 RPM vinyl record by CBS Records.
Fantasy Records first reissued the album on CD in 1986, with a track listing and cover art identical to the original 1965 LP release. In 1988, a new CD version was issued, with updated cover art and "Greensleeves" added as a bonus track. This track features Guaraldi performing as part of a different trio than the one heard on the original eleven songs. 
In 1997 Fantasy issued a Starbucks Exclusive edition of the album, sold only through Starbucks retail. This version omitted "Greensleeves" and had very different cover art and new liner notes. A somewhat controversial remastered version of the original album was released by Concord Records in conjunction with Fantasy on October 10, 2006. The new edition includes four previously unreleased bonus tracks—all are alternate versions of songs in the original track listing—and features Digipak packaging, new liner notes by music critic and historian Joel Selvin, and the original cover art.


Saturday, December 10, 2011

Trey Anastasio New Album Update




According to an article on Spin.com, Trey Anastasio is working with noted producer Peter Katis (The National/Mates of State, Interpol). The article states, “Since winding up his fall tour, the Phish guitarist has been making a daily commute from his New York City home to Bridgeport, Connecticut’s Tarquin Studios, recording with his band and members of the National and Mates of State for the last month.” The album will also feature members of Anastasio’s current solo group, including Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman, who tweeted about recording sessions with Anastasio earlier this month.
As the piece points out, Anastasio and Katis, share a common bond through the Burlington, VT punk group The Pants who Katis produced in the ‘90s. Members of The Pants were also part of Anastasio’s short-lived project New York!, whose lone show introduced future Phish songs “Dirt” and “Saw It Again” (and perhaps signaled the band’s shift toward the more, ambient, indie-leaning songs which the guitarist wrote at the tail end of the ‘90s).
The members of The National also have deep roots in the Phish world. One of the band’s earliest predecessor, Equinox—which featured future National members Aaron Dessner (guitar), Bryce Dessner (guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums)—covered The Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead and has a sound that saxophonist Kevin Seal described as “Sorta jammy and the product of listening to a lot of Phish and classic rock radio.” Bryan Devendorf and his brother Scott, who play bass and guitar in The National, also took National frontman Matt Berninger—the only non-jam fan in the group—to a Deer Creek Phish show once. As Aaron Dessner recalled on Jambands.com in 2009, “He listened to one song and then went and hid in the car. Matt can still not understand at all how any of us can stomach Phish but pretty much everyone else in the band grew up on their music.”
Phish has played a number of indie rock songs over the years, including TV on the Radio’s “Golden Age,” Pavement’s “Gold Soundz” and Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Anastasio and Bryce Dessner also share backgrounds in both improvisational and classical music. The members of The National are also working on an all-star Grateful Dead tribute album benefiting the Red Hot Organization.

(Article Originally appeared on Jambands.com)