Jose Gonzalez - Remain (Live)

Although this might be an overplayed song, it still amazes me... the beauty of such guitar playing and singing by Jose Gonzalez. I can't wait for his new album.

Greatest Bassists - Part 1 - Willie Weeks - Giving the Bass Guitar a Life

This weekend I'm starting a section which I'd love to get your feedback. Every week I'll cover a different bassist that I admire and inspires me on their playing. Although James Jamerson would be the ultimate Number 1 for me, I'm still gathering more data to write that one up.

This week the spotlight is on Willie Weeks:

Born in Salemburg, North Carolina, Weeks grew up working in the fields and listening to country, pop, and R&B on the radio. At age 12 he started singing and then playing guitar in a gospel group—learning on a homemade axe strung with fishing line—and when the group began performing alongside big-time acts, he got his first glimpse of an electric bass. “It was a Fender Precision,” Weeks recalled in a May ’90 Guitar Player interview. “I said, ‘Man, that’s it!’”
In the 30 years between Donny Hathaway’s Live and John Scofield’s That’s What I Say, Willie Weeks has played on more than 200 albums. Here’s a partial list of artists whose tracks his grooves have graced: Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, Michael McDonald, Buddy Guy, Aretha Franklin and so many others.
Currently his is touring with Eric Clapton. The snippet below that I took from Clapton's last performance in Detroit on April 5th, illustrates a little bit what Willie is able to do with the bass.


Check out these other two great links:
+ Willie Weeks does it all (Bass Guitar Magazine Interview)
+ Willie Weeks unforgettable bass solo on “Voices Inside (Everything is Everything) from Donny Hathaway’s Live album

Sara Tavares - Balancê (2006)

First there was Cesaria Evora, Then Lura, and now, the Portuguese/Cape Verdean singer/composer/guitarist Sara Tavares. The title of this CD (pronounced bal-on-SAY) refers to the equilibrium necessary for balancing her mixed, Crioulo culture that stretches from Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Blessed with an angelic voice, and a knack for writing accessible compositions that are global, yet ancestral, Tavares is closer to Les Nubians than to Evora, as the title track makes clear. She's more about adapting her homeland's musical conceptions to include Angolan sembe Afrobeats on "Poka Terra," with rapper Melo D, reggae, and Cape Verdean coladeira rhythms on "Planeta Sukri," co-starring vocalist Boy Ge Mendes. Fadista Ana Moura helps Tavares tell her soulful story on "De Nua." With this heartfelt, autobiographical work, Sara Tavares emerges as a new dark and lovely diva for this decade. --Eugene Holley, Jr.
+ Check it out (thanks to Sarajevo-X forum)

Satellite Party - Perry Farrell's new super band

Judging by their first single - Wish Upon a Dog Star - Perry Farrell's new band is very promising. Later you learn that he has paired with Nuno Bettencourt (ex-Extreme) and this musical partnership not only defined sound but crystalized the band.
The debut album - Ultra Payloaded (to be released on May 29th) - features a host of guests participating in the recording. That includes The Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea and John Frusciante, UK production duo/beat-makers Hybrid, New Order/ Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, down tempo pioneers Thievery Corporation, Porno for Pyros' guitarist Peter DiStefano, Black Eyed Pea's Fergie, film composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Chronicles of Narnia, Kingdom of Heaven), and a 30-piece orchestra.
According the Perry's own words "Our album, 'Ultra-Payloaded,' is a story expressed through music. The story centers around a group of people known as the Solutionists. They're a brain trust of artists, musicians, technology cats and fashionistas that plan these wonderful underground parties. They become experts at the art of public display. All the songs on the record tie into the story line, but here are some excerpts that go along with each song."
Stay tuned for more...
+ MySpace website
+ Wish Upon a Dog Star (1st single)

Chris Cornell - Live in Denver (02/12/00)

01. Sunshower
02. Can't change me
03. Flutter girl
04. Mission
05. Preaching the end of the world
06. Seasons
07. Fell on black days
08. Disappearing one
09. Moon child
10. Sweet Euphoria
+ Check this out

Block Party - Black Session (Live from Paris - 01.22.07)

Waiting For The 7.18
Positive Tension
Banquet
Hunting For Witches
This Modern Love
The Prayer
Uniform
I Still Remember
So Here We Are
Little Thoughts
Helicopter
Sunday
+ Check it out

Muse - Live from Reading Festival (08/26/2006)

01. Knights Of Cydonia
02. Hysteria
03. Supermassive Black Hole
04. Showbiz
05. Map Of The Problematique
06. Forced In + Bliss
07. Butterflies and Hurricanes
08. Feeling good
09. Invincible
10. Starlight
11. Plug In Baby
12. New Born
13. Time is Running out
14. Stockholm Syndrome
15. Take a bow

Password: sgeltoob
Quality A+

+Link 1 (thanks to Some Bootlegs)
+ Link 2

Under the Ironed Sheets - A Fan Tribute CD to Keane

Every time a tribute album comes out we have the probably of the quality inconsistency amongst the bands contributing to the project. This one follows the same rule. I would say that Tom's voice is probably one of the key elements of Keane's sound, which becomes quite evident listening through this sub-par tribute CD. I know that no one here is an accomplished musician, but just a die hard fan... Hamburg Song is probably one of those interesting and worth listening to.
+ Under the Ironed Sheets - Keane Tribute CD

Norah Jones - Live from Paris (Maison de la Radio)

A GREAT radio broadcast. Thanks to Some Bootlegs
01. Cold cold heart
02. Sunrise
03. Thinking about you
04. Sinkin' soon
05. Not too late
06. Not my friend
07. Humble me
08. Wake me up
09. Broken
10. Until the end
11. Creepin' in
12. The long way home
13. Little room
14. My dear country
15. Rosie's lullaby
16. Be my somebody
17. Don't know why
18. Come away with me
19. Encore, applause
20. Lonestar
RS1 - RS2

password: sgeltoob

Jeff Buckley - Live @ Sproul Plaza - Berkeley, CA - 5/5/95

This was a free acoustic show recorded on May 5th 1995 in the infamous Sproul Plaza (a major center of student activity at the University of California, Berkeley)
Set List:
1- Last Goodbye
2- Lover you should have come over
3- So real
4- Mojo pin
5- Grace,
+ Link 1