The News Review:
- What’s filling the nightlife void? We look at the options
- Burnishing the metal on the blues
- Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite : Music Reviews :…
- Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite : Music Reviews :…
What’s filling the nightlife void? We look at the options
mlive.com – Apr 23, 2008
– Over the past 14 months the Kalamazoo music scene has been hit with a slew of venue closings. In response several venues event organizers musicians and music fans are adapting. Since the milestone closing of Kalamazoo’s Club Soda last February venue after venue has shut its doors:– Kraftbrau Brewery which picked up much of Club Soda’s slack closed in November. — Blues and hard rock fans lost their home last May when Wonderful’s Funky Basement and The Doghouse above the blues venue closed their doors. — Country fans were dealt a huge blow when Otsego’s Bresa del Rio burned down around Thanksgiving… In response several venues event organizers musicians and music fans are adapting. Since the milestone closing of Kalamazoo’s Club Soda last February venue after venue has shut its doors:– Kraftbrau Brewery which picked up much of Club Soda’s slack closed in November. — Blues and hard rock fans lost their home last May when Wonderful’s Funky Basement and The Doghouse above the blues venue closed their doors. — Country fans were dealt a huge blow when Otsego’s Bresa del Rio burned down around Thanksgiving. — The salsa music crowd lost its original home when Club Soda closed and was forced to leave its surrogate home when Tortilla Flats closed in January. Badly beaten but refusing to disappear the local music scene has been chameleon-like as it adapts to the changes. With the loss of prominent music venues the numbers have dwindled but each scene is hoping to bounce back.
Burnishing the metal on the blues
Prague Post – Apr 23, 2008
Cane was no small factor in Savoy Brown’s deep excursions into blues roots on the 1999 CD The Blues Keep Me Holding On. He also made noteworthy contributions to Hubert Sumlin’s 2005 Grammy-nominated About Them Shoes. And Cane’s bass and vocal work on the 2007 B… ” As co-founder of Twin Dragons Cane has tweaked a few blues purists’ eyes and ears by affiliating himself with former members of Venom Carcass the Plasmatics and Black Sabbath. Yet for Memphis-born Cane his music and his life are one continuous weave where “everything has been changing. It’s the sound that reacts to the way the world is with all this anger about war rebellion and drug dealers where up is down and down is up.
Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite : Music Reviews :…
Rolling Stone – Apr 23, 2008
Just as well Elvis didn?t play ?Heartbreak Hotel?. Sure there are moments. ?Steamroller Blues? really does swing and Elvis nails the dramatic vocals. ‘An American Trilogy? is truly inspired (and inspiring) while Elvis seems especially taken with ?I?ll Remember You? enthusing it with the same sense of pathos that the listener can really sink their teeth into and which made the original recording so special. So it?s not all bad. In fact the rehearsal recording is quite impressive with ?Fever? being particularly saucy and the interplay between Presley and his rhythm section (the core of his big band and arguably the only members worth keeping on) enlivens ?A Big Hunk O? Love?. What makes it all the more ironic is the fact Elvis? studio output at this point was some of the best music of his life: Elvis Country He Touched Me and his forthcoming work at Stax all spring to mind.
Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite : Music Reviews :…
Rolling Stone – Apr 23, 2008
” The “American Trilogy” El’s version of Mickey Newbury’s simple but effective blending of “Dixie” “All My Trials” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” doesn’t generate anything near the power of actually seeing him do it. In the enjoyable documentary Elvis On Tour he turns his performance into a visual drama. By contrast the live recording magnifies the worst element of Elvis’ stage show—the simplistic horn arrangements poorly performed—while the film magnifies the depth of Elvis’ commitment to the music. I usually enjoy hearing him do the ballad staples he became identified with during the movie phase especially the by-now haunting “Can’t Help Falling in Love” with which he closes each concert (and here given its worst recording yet). But when he strays into the pure Caesar’s Palace repertory that includes “What Now My Love” “You Gave Me a Mountain” and “My Way” depression easily crosses over the line into disgust. As usual Elvis trys his hand with some recently popular chart material; thus a mediocre “Something in the Way She Moves” and a bloated “Steamroller Blues” only partially salvaged by some elegant James Burton lead guitar. The band is impersonal but astoundingly tight and professional throughout… I usually enjoy hearing him do the ballad staples he became identified with during the movie phase especially the by-now haunting “Can’t Help Falling in Love” with which he closes each concert (and here given its worst recording yet). But when he strays into the pure Caesar’s Palace repertory that includes “What Now My Love” “You Gave Me a Mountain” and “My Way” depression easily crosses over the line into disgust. As usual Elvis trys his hand with some recently popular chart material; thus a mediocre “Something in the Way She Moves” and a bloated “Steamroller Blues” only partially salvaged by some elegant James Burton lead guitar. The band is impersonal but astoundingly tight and professional throughout. Charlie Gillett once noted that in his early records Elvis sang at the top of his vocal range but that soon after the move to RCA he started singing lower. The high notes were the mark of an innocently beautiful approach to rock & roll singing the bass ones more symptomatic of his penchant for self-mockery. And on this album he seldom crawls past the middle register at all a sure sign of what he’s thinking about himself.