Search 'Woodstock'
Crosby, Stills & Nash (Album of the Day)
On this day in 1970, the trio of Crosby, Stills & Nash was named Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. Featuring an ex-Byrd, a former Buffalo Springfield member and a Hollies refugee respectively, CSN were a supergroup for the Woodstock generation, filtering a sometimes-guarded optimism through glorious three-part harmonies on their epochal self-titled debut for Atlantic Records. The trio's songwriting skills were as impressive as their singing, and the material here is uniformly strong; the ten originals include Top 40 hits “Marrakesh Express” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” as well as such could've-been-singles as “Guinnevere,” “Wooden Ships” and “Helplessly Hoping.” The musical high-water mark of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers remains a beguiling listening experience.
Watt (Album of the Day)
Champions of British blues rock, Ten Years After earned a place in music history with an appearance at Woodstock that included an epic version of “I'm Going Home.” One year after that international breakthrough, the quartet delivered the electrifying WATT. The band's sixth album (and final one for their U.K. label Deram) closes with a live cover of “Sweet Little Sixteen” from the Isle of Wight Festival earlier in the year, but the rest of the self-produced set was cut at London's Olympic Sound Studios. Alvin Lee's originals include appealing touches of jazz and rockabilly, and the guitar hero's frenetic licks are dazzling throughout. Released 50 years ago this month and still true to its name, WATT is filled with powerhouse performances.
Deja Vu (Album of the Day)
The first album from David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash set a remarkable standard both for artistic quality and commercial success, and expectations for a follow-up were high. Released 50 years ago today, DÉJÀ VU did not disappoint. The group upped the ante with the addition of Neil Young to the line-up; with four strong songwriters and a pair of fiery guitarists now in the fold, sparks flew. “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Woodstock” each became Top 40 hits, but tracks like Young’s “Helpless,” Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair” and the Stills-Young-penned “Everybody I Love You” are equally distinctive. The product of hundreds of hours in the studio, the multi-platinum DÉJÀ VU boasts marvelously eclectic arrangements and immaculate harmonies, and has been cited by the likes of Rolling Stone and VH1 as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Deja Vu (Album of the Day)
The first album from David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash set a remarkable standard both for artistic quality and commercial success, and expectations for a follow-up were high. DÉJÀ VU did not disappoint; the group upped the ante with the addition of Neil Young to the line-up and with four strong songwriters and a pair of fiery guitarists now in the fold, sparks flew. “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Woodstock” each became Top 40 hits, but tracks like Young’s “Helpless,” Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair” and the Stills-Young-penned “Everybody I Love You” are equally distinctive. The product of hundreds of hours in the studio, the multi-platinum DÉJÀ VU boasts marvelously eclectic arrangements and immaculate harmonies, and has been cited by the likes of Rolling Stone and VH1 as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Tonight's the Night (Album of the Day)
Though recorded quickly, TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT took almost two years to release, perhaps because its subject matter was so painful – the album is Neil Young's farewell to roadie Bruce Berry and Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, both of whom died of heroin overdoses. Nils Lofgren and pedal steel player Ben Keith join the Crazy Horse rhythm section behind Neil, and the music is as raw as the emotions on these dozen tracks (which include a live performance from 1970 featuring Whitten). If the playing on songs like “Albuquerque” or “Roll Another Number (For The Road)” is first-take loose, the collection gains a cumulative power as Young witnesses the idealism of the Woodstock generation crashing and burning before him. Released 45 years ago this weekend, TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT is a dark night of the soul that critics still hail as one of the singer-songwriter's greatest achievements.
King For A Day (Deluxe Edition) (Album of the Day)
Following the Grammy-nominated ANGEL DUST, Faith No More returned in 1995 with KING FOR A DAY...FOOL FOR A LIFETIME. Recorded at Bearsville Studios near Woodstock, New York, it was the first album following the departure of longtime guitarist Jim Martin, and the addition of replacement axeman Trey Spruance and producer Andy Wallace resulted in one of the group's most stylistically diverse collections. "We wrote and recorded some of our most radical, out there songs,” recalls keyboardist Roddy Bottum, “like 'Cuckoo For Caca' and 'Ugly In The Morning,' some of our mellowest like 'Take This Bottle,' 'Caralho Voador' and then some of our most high-drama, like 'Just A Man.'" The new Deluxe Edition of KING FOR A DAY...FOOL FOR A LIFETIME adds a second disc filled with related rarities including B-sides "Spanish Eyes" and "Absolute Zero," as well as the band's cover of the Bee Gee's "I Started A Joke."
One More River To Cross (Album of the Day)
Formed in the mid-1960s by a group of Los Angeles blues aficionados, Canned Heat became the music's ambassadors to the hippie generation, scoring Top 40 hits and performing at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals. After securing their liberty from original label Liberty Records, the band signed to Atlantic for ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS. Cut in 1973 at Muscle Shoals Sound with producers Barry Beckett and Roger Hawkins, the collection features the studio's famed horn section in support, but the sextet's powerful blues-rock remains center-stage throughout, with Bob “The Bear” Hite's vocals and Henry Vestine's guitar work particularly outstanding. The 10 tracks strike an appealing balance between originals (“Bagful Of Boogie,” “I Need Someone,” the supremely funky “You Am What You Am”) and favorites by the likes of Leiber & Stoller and Fats Domino, making ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS an album to warm the heart of any Heat fan.