Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock

We watched Jimmy Hendrix live at Woodstock, and it was amazing. He is such an amazing guitarist that it is unbelievable. Some of the things he did on guitar were crazy. The fact that he could sing and play the guitar, the way he did, is amazing. Just listening to an album doesn't do him justice because half of the show is seeing him play. A thing that was unfortunate for him, was that the majority of the crowd had left, because he showed up a day after. There may have been more people at his concert if there was a published schedule, but it still was really good, and I enjoyed seeing him play a lot.

Abbey Road

This week we listened to Abbey Road. I thought it was good, but I liked The White Album more. Abbey Road was good, because it was the last album when The Beatles truly wrote as a band and because it sounded like some of their older stuff. My favorite songs of the album were Carry That Weight, The End, and Her Majesty. I liked Carry That Weight because I thought the chorus was good. I liked The End because it was sounded good, Ringo had his only solo ever in it, and because it had an iconic line, "The love you take is equal to the love you make." Lastly, I liked Her Majesty because after the end it was tacked on and it gave a little bit of light-heartedness to the end of the album because it sounded happy.

Woodstock Festival

In the past class we watched the Woodstock festival. Woodstock was interesting cause it was overnight and cause there were so many people. The people who set up cleared fields and set up the stage, campsites, and places to bring food and water. There were only expected to be about 50,000 people a day, but they were terribly wrong. From the stage there were people as far as the camera could look, and there were bands playing all through the nights. The festival itself was both a failure and a success. It was a failure at first, because it lost 3 million dollars, and that was back in 1969. It was a success because it pleased the people, and later made money from the documentary and and album. The Woodstock festival was important to music history because it was one of the first times where bands played in front of massive crowds.

The Band

This past class we talked about how technology has changed the current day and listened to The Band. I actually really liked The Band. I thought it was really cool and unique how every time they walked into their house they had to write a lyric It was surprising to me how good the songs were too. I definitely did not think they would be lyrically as good as they were. My favorite song we listened to was "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". I liked this song the most because the lyrics were really good, and I liked the way it sounded. My second favorite song that we listened to was "The Weight". I liked this song because it was one of the songs they wrote a lyric when they walked in and out of their house and because it sounded good. Here is "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "The Weight":

Johnny Cash

This past class we listened to Johnny Cash. I personally didn't like him that much. I didn't like him that much because I'm not a huge country fan, his voice was too low for me, and his songs were too slow for me. I don't like country enough to want to listen to it for a whole album. When I listen to a country album I have to listen to it over a few days, because after a while it all sounds the same to me. Second, I didn't like his voice that much. I didn't like his voice very much because it was really low, and it made me want to fall asleep. Lastly, the majority of his songs were slow. I prefer upbeat songs to slower songs, because they're more exciting and they are usually loud.

Christmas Albums

I personally don't like when artists do Christmas albums. I feel that whenever artists do Christmas albums, its just for the money, and the music singing is sub par. It also bugs me whenever an artist chooses cliche songs for their album. I like the original Christmas songs much more than the remakes. Christmas albums also bother me because generally they are made for the sole purpose of making a little bit more money, when they don't bring that much joy to people. In general, Christmas albums bother me.

The White Album

In the past class, we listened to The White Album. This has been my favorite Beatles, because it went back to their old style of music. There was a lot more bluesy songs, and a lot less weird John songs. The songs in this album that I liked were: Back in the USSR, Ob-La-Di, Black Bird, Helter Sketler, and Revoloution. I liked all of these songs a lot because they were either upbeat, bluesy, had good lyrics, or just sounded happy. My least favorite song of the album was Wild Honey Pie. When I looked at the the lyrics it looked like it was going to be a really short bad song, but it was short and weird. The singing was odd and there were like a total of 10 words used. It was not my favorite song. Here is Revoloution and Helter Skelter:

 

Axis: Bold as Love & Distraeli Gears

This past week we listened to Axis: Bold as Love  and Distraeli Gears. Distraeli Gears was much better than their first album. I liked it much more because it sounded much more bluesy, and that made it much better. The lyrics were much better than the first album, but they still werent very good. Axis: Bold as Love was also a very good album, I liked it a lot. I liked it a lot, becasue it was really good jam music, and the lyrics were really good. My favorite song from the album was Sand Castles out of Sand.  Here it is live:

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

In the last class (November 7, 2012) we listened to The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd. Personally I disliked this album a lot. I didn't like it because there was just too much going on for me. It was just odd, I felt like the whole album was that way. I also felt like there weren't many lyrics throughout the album. I felt like it was mostly noises and solos. There was one thing different about this album than most others that we have listened to though. The thing that was different was that it didn't have a bluesy aspect to it. You could say that music is changing, and I would say this album was a movement for the change.

Magical Mystery Tour

In class we listened to Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles. I personally liked the album, I thought it was really good, and I also thought there were some really strong songs in the album. Some songs I personally liked were I am the Walrus, All you need is love, and Penny Lane. I am the Walrus was a weird song. I'm not exactly sure why I like it, because the lyrics aren't that great, but the beat is good. I like Penny Lane, because it had a nice tune to it and I had heard it before, so it made me enjoy it a little more. Lastly I liked All You Need is Love because its a classic, and its just a nice and good song. Here is I am the Walrus:

Jimmy Hendricks

In class we listened to Jimmy Hendricks' first album. Going into the class I only knew that Jimmy Hendricks was one of the best guitarists of all time. After listening to his first album, that's rightfully so. In all of his songs he played so hard. Some of the stuff he did sounded just crazy. I felt like I could jam to all of his music. The thing about his music is that its upbeat and loud, and that's good for jamming music. Even though Jimmy Hendricks is a phenomenal guitarist, his drummer was also extremely talented. His album was pretty good, but the thing I liked most about it, was that I could jam to it quite easily.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Recently we just listened to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album was structured to be like a concert, because The Beatles had recently vowed to never tour again because of a near death experience in India. The album started off with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and that was a good start to the album. A few tracks in there was this weird song named "Lucy in the Sky with Diamiands". This song was maybe the wierdest song I've ever heard. Everything about the song was just odd. My favorite song of this album was "A Day in the Life". It was a good idea to write a song about a newspaper, because there is just so much to wrtite about. Overall I didn't like the album too much, because I felt like it was different. Here is A Day in the Life:

RED

So, Taylor Swift's new album came out this week. It is titled Red. It was very hyped up by pretty much every fan of her's out there. I am fan, so I was pretty excited. When I downloaded it Monday morning I saw the lineup and was pretty excited. After listening to it, I was a bit let down. I was let down, because the music was sort of all over the place. She did many different types of songs this album and showed more of her vocal range and also her song writing capabilities. Since we were talking about maturing as an artist in class, that was on my mind throughout the whole album. I personally believe that she is on the road to maturing. Nearly all of the songs on her other albums have been about boys and haven't had great lyrics. In this album, a little over half of the songs are about guys and there are a few songs with great lyrics. The last thing that makes me think that she is maturing as an artist, is that her music videos also look different. They look more professional, and less childish. I probably made the album sound bad, but its still quite good. I think everyone just hyped the album up a lot, and if they were a little let down like me, they will realize that the album is still really good. My personal favorites on the album are Treacherous, All Too Well, and Begin Again. Here is the album cover art and the songs.

Treacherous 

All too Well

Begin Again

This is the album cover.

Revolver and Cream

In our last class, we listened to The Beatles album Revolver and a little bit of Cream. Let me start off with Cream. We started of listening to  Cream without lyrics, and it was pretty good, they all played well and sounded good. Then we started listening to them with lyrics. They are god awful song writers. I have no skill in song writing, and I am fairly certain I could write better songs than them. Then we listened to Revolver. I have to say it was a pretty good album, and it is one of my favorite albums that we've listened to. My favorite songs in the album were Eleanor Rigby, For No One, and Got to Get You Into My Life. I liked "Eleanor Rigby" because it was different and I liked the sound of the stringed instruments. I liked "For No One" because I liked the sound of it and the lyrics were great. I liked "Got to Get You Into My Life" because it was upbeat and I enjoyed the lyrics. Overall the band grew, not by a significant amount, but they definitely grew. Here are my favorite songs from the album:

Eleanor Rigby

 For No One

                         Got to Get You Into My Life

Rubber Soul and Pet Sounds

In the past class we finished up listening to Rubber Soul by The Beatles and Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. I thought Rubber Soul was alright. I definitely thought they had put better albums out. I didn't like it as much because they just sounded different, and the songs weren't just that great for me. Then in the last half of class we listened to Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds, to me was maybe the best album we've listened to so far. All of their other albums were about Surfing, California, and Girls. And they changed the vibe of this album completely, and  I liked it a lot. I think they showed a ton of change, and if they hadn't changed the theme of their songs I don't think they'd be nearly as good as they are. The way they changed in one album is absolutely phenomenal, and I believe it caused everyone else to have to step up their game, making music better as a whole. Here is the album cover:

October 16th Talk

In the past class we talked about ACL and bands that have attempted to mature. I personally didn't go to ACL, because I had a Cross Country Meet in Arkansas, but I would have gone. There were a couple of bands that I thought would be good, were good, and vice versa. I wasn't too excited about the line up this year, because I didn't like too many of the bands that were going.We went around asking about "The Best and Worst of the Fest" and our class had some pretty good diversity. There were also a couple of arguments about the performances of bands, but it was good to hear both sides of the arguments. Then we talked about bands who have matured, and how their fans stopped liking them. We talked about why The Beatles could do it so well, but not other bands. There is one modern day artist who I can think of who is either close to maturing or is about to, and that is Taylor Swift. In her past couple of singles, there has been a lot of diversity, and a lot of fans are worried for the upcoming album, RED. She usually sings about boys and breakups, but the past couple of songs have taken a different genre and some different themes. Bands like The Beach Boys and Green Day have not had good reactions to maturing, so it could be interesting to see what happens to Taylor Swift. 

Discussion/ Bob Dylan

We had another good discussion for the majority of class, then in the last 15 minutes we listened to a little bit of Bob Dylan. We started off class by listening to a song by Bob Dylan, which I didn't like. Then we listened to a cover of it, by The Red Hot Chile Peppers. The cover was much different, they sort of made a rockish rap out of it, I can't say that it was good, but it was much better than the original. I liked it more than the original, because it was louder, more understandable, and they made it their own. We then talked about music, and the genres of music. We classified certain bands as different genres, and it led into our Bob Dylan conversation. We talked about how for him, he didn't need to have a great voice to put out music, because he has meaningful lyrics.

Class Conversation (October 8, 2012)

In class, we didn't listen to music, but we talked about current issues and just random things. It transtioned so many times, I barely even remember what we talked about. I do remember us talking about a World War 3, and if there was a mass illness or something that killed 98% of the population. It was interesting to listen to what people had to say about each of the topics. Many people thought it would be between Israel and Iran. The big factor of the war, would be which side China went on. We also had a conversation about if the US and China engaged in a war. Every American would half to kill about 4 Chinese, and how the war would go down. There were a couple different view points about how America would fight the war, but we decided that the US and China would not get in a fight, because China can make endless amounts of money off of us, so it would be worthless for them to kill us off. Lastly, we talked about why Americans think they are the best country in the world. One person said that we are proud, because we're ignorant and that we we were born into thinking that we're the best, and that it will probably always stay that way, until China is far better than us. It was a great talk, and I wish that I could explain it as well as it was in class.

Help! (Movie)

In this movie The Beatles were stars in their own movie, along with many other actors. The movie was a lot like Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There was a lot of random, but funny things throughout the entire movie. After about 1 hour and 15 minutes, I felt like the movie was being dragged on. There were multiple instances where I personally thought that the movie could have ended short. There were also some funny scenes, like when they go to their house for the first time. It completely reminded me of the humor from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.The movie, as a whole, in my opinion was just okay. I thought it was okay, because the movie dragged on for too long. I would recommend this movie if you like English humor.

Help!

This week we listened to Help by The Beatles. The album was produced in the summer of 1965. The album introduced an instrument called the Sitar. They used it in one or two of the songs, and the songs that they were played in were totally different from their other songs. I didn't like the songs with the Sitar, it was just obnoxious and loud. My favorite songs in the album were Help, Ticket to Ride, & Yesterday. I  like Ticket to Ride becasue it has a double meaning and its a good song. Here the songs are:

This is Help!

This is Ticket to Ride.

This is Yesterday.

A cool fact about Yesterday, is that it is the most covered song ever.

Babel

This week, Mumford & Sons released their new album, called "Babel". It released on September 21 and since then it has been #1 on iTunes. There is a deluxe edition and regular album. In the deluxe edition there are 3 extra songs named, For Those Below, The Boxer (feat. Jerry Douglas), & Where are You Now. The regular edition is made up of 12 originals. Marcus Mumford, the lead singer, has a unique voice that fits most of these songs just right. The lyrics in the songs are also very good. Two of the biggest songs of the album are Babel and I Will Wait.  Here they are.

This is Babel.

This is I Will Wait. This is the most popular song of the album. It released about two weeks prior to the release of the album as a single. It did quite well, and was at #1 on iTunes for a couple of days. The album is great and I would definitely recommend it.

The Who

This week we listened to The Who's first album called My Generation. This album was to me, a mix of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. There were songs that were Bluesy and there were also songs that sounded more like rock. The most popular song of this album was called My Generation. It ranks number 11 on the "500 Greatest Songs of All time" list. Here it is.

 These guys liked to have fun. They would smash stuff on stage, like guitars and drum sets. In a show Keith Moon, the drummer, put dynamite into one of his drums without telling anyone and let it explode, permanently damaging one of the member's hearing. A lot of their shenanigans are pretty cool, but the drums exploding was a little too far.

One thing that The Who did differently from the The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, was that they dressed differently. While the two other groups dressed in black, The Who dressed a bit more flamboyantly, wearing bright colored pants and shirts, which made them unique.

Penny and Sparrow

I've been listening to Penny and Sparrow lately. They are a local group, with two guys named Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke and are quite small still. They cover mostly, and also play their own. The main vocalist, Andy Baxter, sings at a new church, and does small little gigs around town. They have three of their own songs, and working on an album. Here is some one of their originals.

This is "Creature" by Penny and Sparrow. Here is one of their covers.

This is their cover of Hallelujah. Both of these were sang by Andy Baxter.

Covers

In music, you have the original song, then other artists come in and do it their own way. That's a cover. Some covers can be extremely good, and others not so good. They can turn a song from good to bad, or the complete opposite. I think covers are great for music in general, because it gives other people, who may not be very good at songwriting, a chance to be heard. There have been some really successful acoustic covers of popular songs. The most covered artist I've seen is Taylor Swift. There are hundreds of covers for every one of her songs. For example artists like Walk Off the Earth only cover, and they add cool twists to their videos. Here is a cover of Someone Like You by Adele.

This song was good by Adele, but  I really like what they did to it. I like the Ukulele in it, and the female vocalist has a very good and natural voice. I also like how this is done live. It shows that they have talent, and aren't only auto tuned.  It kills me to see groups like this, who are undiscovered, but have a ton of talent.

A Hard Day's Night

We watched "The Beatles" movie called A Hard Day's Night in class. Unlike their first movie, which was a documentary, this movie was scripted. The movie was funny, there were some subliminal things you had to be paying attention to to catch. One thing that made the movie a little worse, was their accents. They have pretty heavy accents, and it was a little hard to understand some of the things that they were saying, but that's extremely minor. My favorite scene of the movie, is the end, where they have to go rescue Ringo from the police station. That was fun to watch, even though you knew he was going to make it back, it was still fun to watch. Another thing I liked about the movie, is how throughout the movie it would show the guys doing stuff, but instead of them talking it would a song in the background. I think this happened twice or three times in the movie, but I enjoyed it and thought that it was a good idea. 

Here is a picture.

The Rolling Stones

In class we listened to "The Rolling Stones" first album called "England's Newest Hit Makers". The album line up was made up of 11 covers and 1 original. The album starts of with "Route 66" (Bobby Troup). This song is alright, but Mick Jagger, personally, doesn't have a good voice at all.The guitar solo in the middle it good, and I think that saves the song. Here is the song.

I'm not a big fan of their first album, because their music is sloppy, Mick Jagger's voice just isn't that great, and they didn't write enough of their music. 

Their album cover isn't very good either. I don't like it, because it looks almost exactly the same as "The Beatles" second album, and it is boring. In the first album, I feel like you should go big or go home in the photo. To me The Stones went home. I completely understand why they did their album cover that way, and its because The Beatles had amazing luck with it. I don't know how well it works the second time around though. Here is a picture of The Rolling Stones first album cover.

I'm not a very big fan of this album. 

Tenth Avenue North

So there is this Christian band, by the name of "Tenth Avenue North". They sing Christian rock. The lead vocalist, Mike Donehey, is very passionate when he sings, so listeners can connect. In songs such as By Your Side the band's passion is displayed. 


In the song, at 2:40, there is a large pick up in the volume of Donehey's voice. Overall the song is great, and I'd recommend it for anyone who is into Christian music. 

Currently, the band has 3 albums out. "Over and Underneath" (2008) is their oldest album, the most popular song of the album is By Your Side. "The Light Meets the Dark" (2010) is their second oldest album, the most popular song of the album is You Are More. "The Struggle" (2012), is their most recent album. It just came out on August 21, 2012, in the debut week it was #1 on the Christian and Rock albums. The most popular song is Losing. 

Here are some pictures and songs of Tenth Avenue North.

This is Losing from The Struggle. 

A picture of the band. 










Until next week... Farewell. 

Week 2 Blog

So this week we listened to "The Beatles". We checked out their first and second albums that they had ever made. The thing about these guys, is that you love them or you don't love them. Going into this week I didn't have much of an opinion for them, but now I think that they're pretty good. I'm not a big fan of the the background singer, every other note, but they do it quite well. Another thing that they do well, is harmonizing. I feel like in the majority of each song you can hear a member of the band harmonizing with the lead singer, which makes it sound good, and it makes it sound more passionate. An example of this, is "You Really Got a Hold on Me" Through out most of this song there is a member harmonizing. 

For how cool these guys really are, a name like "The Beatles" just doesn't do them justice. For having 27 number one hits worldwide, I personally think they should have a more manly and outgoing name. 

Album covers are a big part of an album. "The Beatles" first album cover was loud and bright, while their second album cover was boring and dull. 

This was their first album cover. It's appealing to audiences, and it 's loud. There is a lot to look at, like bright colors, "The Beatles" themselves, and the background.  

This was their second album cover. Its not very exciting, what soever, and I don't like to look at this, because there isn't much to look at. 

Until next week... Cheerio. 

Mumford & Sons

For the past week and a half or so I've been listening to Mumford & Sons. Before I downloaded their album I had only heard songs of their's such as "The Cave" and "Little Lion Man". After one week of listening to them I have to say they are really good. I'm not a huge fan of folkish type music, but this is a complete exception. There are so many instruments involved with some of these songs, and the lead singer's voice is quite good. He has a pretty large range, and can sing with both slow and fast songs. The way the album is laid out is also very good, they have a good amount of faster songs and a good amount of slower songs. These guys make some quality music, and if you haven't listened to their album, I would highly recommend doing it.

Here are some songs and pictures of the band. 

Here is Little Lion Man, one of Mumford & Sons most popular songs. 

Here is the album cover for Sigh No More.

Here is a picture of the band. 

Until next week... Goodbye.

Week 1 Blog

This week in History of Rock, we learned about the classic rock. We talked about people like Leo Fender, Les Paul, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Leo Fender and Les Paul created iconic guitars, such as the Stratocaster, Telecaster, and the Les Paul. Les Paul also was a pioneer in multi-track recording, allowing multiple instruments/voices to be heard at once. We spent some time talking about the King of Rock, Elvis Presley. He didnt have a great voice, but sold a load of reocrds, mostly for his looks. Then we listened to a great singer named Little Richard. This guy could jam, for example "Tutti Frutti" I could listen to this for quite some time before getting bored with it. I like how he adds a really high note in really quickly and then just keeps singing. Now there was Jerry Lee Lewis, who was weird. He married his thirteen year old, first cousin! Then he just tried to cover it up by saying that there was true love, don't forget three out of his eight wives are dead. The highlight of this week for me, was Little Richard. His voice fluctuations just add to the greatness of his voice, and make him just so much greater.