Went to see Nils Lofgren last night in Copenhagen on his solo tour. You can't really call it solo acoustic tour, because on a few songs he duns his sun glasses, grabs his electric and lets it blast over a taped drum and bass track, including on a blistering version of "Because the Night". Wonderful stuff if you can get past the tape part. Most of the show however is a traditional acoustic setting with Nils doing his magic on an acoustic guitar. Amazing the sounds he can force out of it. No, "force" is not the right word, because it all looks and sounds so natural. The guitar is not objecting one bit.
Well, as I watched and listened to his between song comments I was overwhelmed by what a legend he really is. Some of the most famous tours and sessions that rock fans drool over and wish we just had a recording of, he was actually there alongside the big names. In 1973 he was part of Neil Young's infamous Tonight's the Night Tour just as he took part in the sessions for that album. He auditioned for the Rolling Stones. He stood alongside Bruce Springsteen when he was the world's absolute biggest rock star. And in between all of that he has continued to do his own thing, playing for 300 people here and 500 there, just carrying on the torch of real, true, honest music in a world of American Idol and Eurovision Song Contest, and never letting it stop him that his high status with the greats never really made him a star himself.
These days he doesn't even have a recording deal, but releases his music through his website. Whether that's a deliberate choice or because no label is interested, I don't know for sure... it's probably a little bit of both.... but whatever the case, Nils remains one of the most sympathetic characters in music. As long as he's out there touring and releasing music something is still right in the world. So... check him out whenever you get the chance, and until then visit www.nilslofgren.com and read his personal notes and buy a few of his albums.
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I have seen the future of Bruce Springsteen and its name is folk music. Well, that could be the headline to sum up my impressions after seeing Bruce with the Seeger Sessions Band in Frankfurt on Wednesday night. Unlike in 1992 and 1993 when Bruce last toured with different musicians than the E Street Band, this time there was something right and natural about the whole endevour. This wasn't just different musicians trying to imitate Bruce's sound - an impossible task when the "sound" equals the E Street Band - this was different. The songs were different, the sound was different, the whole genre was different. The only thing that wasn't different was probably Bruce himself. But that's not a bad thing. He adds all his energy and all his muscle to his performance and in no way tries to sound like anyone but himself, let alone Pete Seeger.
When that is said, what the heck was that version of "Johnny 99" all about? It sounded like a big mess to me. And where exactly is the connection between "Cadillac Ranch" and "Mystery Train"? To those who haven't heard this combo, he basically sings the verses of "Cadillac Ranch" and uses the chorus of "Mystery Train". Very odd. Read more
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Last night BBC Radio broadcast parts of Bruce's performance at St. Luke's Church in London. A 20-minute video has also been released and can be found here. You get three songs: "John Henry", "Mrs. McGrath", and "Jacob's Ladder". Now, if that clip doesn't give you goose bumps and make you tap your feet on the floor, I don't think anything will. My personal favorite here is "Mrs. McGrath". It's chilling and majestic in a way that only Bruce can make it. For my money it's ten times more effective in its anti-war message than "War", which I always found to be a bit on the corny side. It's just too simplistic and rams the message down your throat. "Mrs. McGrath" tells a story and leaves it to the listener to draw the conclusion. Just as Bruce himself would have done. Brilliant. Read more
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This has been on my mind lately. With the Seeger Sessions will the general music audience - that is, not the Bruce geeks like us - put Bruce in the Johnny Cash category or the Rod Steward category? Both of those artists have done similar projects to what Bruce set out to do with the Seeger Sessions. Johnny Cash with his American Recordings and Rod Stewart with his American Songbook. While Johnny Cash with his project in his later years found himself cooler than ever with the in-crowd, Rod Stewart has never regained his Seventies-Eighties hero status. Sure, his American Songbook series has recieved some nice reviews here and there, but it's not at all cool to say you listen to Rod Stewart whereas you'd be hard pressed to find a music fan who say he hates Johnny Cash (whether they listen to him or not).
With the general reception of the Seeger Session in the music press, I think the arrow is pointing in the right direction for Bruce. From what I have heard others say and from what I have experienced with my own non-fan friends, Bruce is on to something. I think deep down I was among the people who when they first heard about this Seeger project thought, "this is commercial and artistic suicide", but it may turn out that Bruce was right... again. Only time will tell what the final verdict is going to be. Read more
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OK, someone just submitted an eyewitness account for one of the Birmingham shows in 1988. The eyewitness says the woman Bruce got on stage to dance with him during "Dancing in the Dark" took off her bra and danced topless. I don't remember reading this anywhere else. Can someone please confirm? And the million dollar question: does a video exist? You can read the eyewitness account here. Read more
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You can submit your opinion about the Seeger Sessions (and most other Bruce releases) in the Drop the Needle section on the main site. Unlike on a fast moving message board your opinion will stay forever for the world to see. Just find the item you want to review and under "Fan reviews" on the right hand side press "submit". Read more
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I've been away from this thing for a couple of days so a few people have been waiting a while to have their comments approved. Actually, I guess I could have found the time to do it since it only takes a few seconds, but I must admit I hesitated a bit because of one particular comment. No, it wasn't anything bad. It was just a simple question: "how does this differ from The Circuit?".... The Circuit of course being the Greasy Lake message board. Well, there are several obvious differences. Here I decide the topics for one thing, and all replies have to be approved (and I won't approve just anything). But still, this could turn into another discussion forum, couldn't it? Some of the topics could even be the same as on The Circuit. And no, I guess that's not the idea. I don't have a really clear answer. Hopefully this will be more managable for those who feel The Circuit is too time-consuming and confusing with its myriad of activity. This is much more controlled. I won't rule out that deep down this could just me experimenting with a new media and abusing the popularity that Greasy Lake has gained and which assures a certain amount of readers. I certainly don't claim that what I have to say here is more interesting or worthwhile than what tons of people have to say on The Circuit, so I urge you to go there too and other message boards. Only time will tell what this thing turns into and if it will be viable in the long run. Read more
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OK, this may no longer be a real news page, but I personally haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else. Not that I check all Bruce sites every day. Anyway, it looks like Johnny Cash's version of "Further On (Up the Road)" is going to be included on his posthumous volume V of American Recordings. This should be a real treat I bet. Read more
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Apart from the Vote For Change Tour I don't remember anything that has divided the fan community as much as Bruce's first stab at a cover album: The Seeger Sessions. To a number of fans it seems this has been the final straw and that they lost all faith that Bruce can create anything that comes close to former magic. The majority were probably skeptical. They would buy it, listen to it, but few thought the album would be in heavy rotation for long. Finally, there has also been a group of fans who saw this as big step forward for Bruce. That it was about time he ventured into pure folk music with banjos and violins.Well, it seems that a lot of the skeptics, myself included, have started to come around after actually listening to the album. I think this is what usually happens when you realize Bruce is still Bruce no matter what he does. It's still the same voice, the same muscle, the same energy. Not to mention, a lot of these songs could almost have been written by Bruce himself. They are about the every day hardship of people at the bottom of society, but mixed with a good amount of optimism and joy. Now, where have we heard about that before? Oh yes, that's pretty much Bruce's music in a nutshell, isn't it? Read more
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Well, if you are a regular Greasy Lake reader and came to this place via the Greasy Lake news page, you were probably in for a shock. Yes, things have changed. After nine years of publishing more or less regular Bruce news, the site and me personally needed to shake things up. With this thing called a weblog or just "blog", several things can be gained and few things will be lost.
The one thing that will be lost is that you can no longer count on Greasy Lake providing the breaking news on what happens in the Bruce world. It probably hasn't been like that for a while. The old news page got most of its information from the Bruce online communities, including Greasy Lake's own "The Circuit". Anyone who felt like it could find the information for themselves before it hit the news page. Once in a while someone would send us some information privately. For instance, Greasy Lake was, I think, the first news source in the world to mention the plans to release a concert DVD from Madison Square Garden in the year 2000 thanks to a tip from a reader. I hope Greasy Lake will still get that kind of information now and then, big or small, and in that case you can count on it being mentioned here. The Greasy Lake main site will also continue to provide setlists as soon as possible after the shows end.
However, in general, if you are interested in finding the up-to-date everyday Bruce news check the new automatically generated Google harvested headlines on the mother site or visit Backstreets. No one does it better than them, anyway. Every now and then I will comment on the rumors I read on the Bruce discussion boards, but if you want to be sure you don't miss anything, I can only recommend joining one of those boards yourself.
So what exactly is the upside to this change? Well, for one thing this blog will have a much more personal style and more energy. In other words, it will be a lot more entertaining. It will also expand the subjects that can be covered. It doesn't have to be about current events. I will be about old and new, big and small, folk and rock. And no one says it all has to be in writing. Blogs also provide the opportunity to share pictures and other files with your readers.
Last but not least, the blog medium opens up to a two-way communication. People can comment on whatever is posted on the blog. The idea is also to invite others to contribute with their knowledge and insight. In short, the possibilities are vast. Only time will tell how things evolve, but hopefully this will seem like a step forward in Greasy Lake's almost 10-year history. Wow, has it really been that long? Read more
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