So while I don’t have anything substantial to post today I had to share with y’all this face melting live take of  CSNY’s “Almost Cut My Hair.” A good friend sent it to me the other day and I’ve pretty much been playing it on a continuous loop ever since, I’m sure you’ll understand why. Cheers!

Amnesty International has just released a 4-cd album of Bob Dylan covers. Chimes of Freedom features renditions by everyone from Joan Baez to Maroon 5. (Sidenote: Maroon 5 should be on musical timeout until they can think of a way to apologize to the world for “Moves Like Jagger”) The album is a fundraiser for Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary so the music is for a great cause, even if it is all over the place.

There are a few real standouts for me. Mark Knopfler delivers a quietly gorgeous “Restless Farewell.” Jackson Browne doesn’t mess with a good thing on his fairly faithful take of “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.” Adele’s version of “Make You Feel My Love” shouldn’t be new to many but it’s quite lovely. Brett Dennen’s jubilant “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” works well. Throwing a Joan Baez cover in the mix is like letting Baryshnikov compete on So You Think You Can Dance. But her “Seven Curses” is fabulous, obviously. And I love the posthumous collaboration between Johnny Cash’s studio outtake and the Avett Brothers on “One Too Many Mornings,” Johnny Cash has always known his way around a Dylan tune.

But there are plenty of misses among the hits. Lenny Kravitz doesn’t sound nearly high enough for “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and the sped up tempo feels like there should actually be a jack-in-the-box popping out at the end of the song. Silverstein’s punk take on “Song to Woody” is a terrifying non sequitur. I couldn’t even make it all the way through Silversun Pickup’s overworked “Not Dark Yet.” Maroon 5’s “I Shall Be Released” rings incredibly hollow.

Admission: When I first heard that Miley Cyrus was going to contribute to this album I was, ahem, less than enthusiastic. But she shocked me with her not-terrible, stripped down, country take on “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” It isn’t a musical revelation but it’s a serviceable, and dare I say, endearing cover. Typing that isn’t easy for me, but it’s important to admit.

The majority of the songs plod along through middle ground, being neither a disaster nor a triumph. There’s a lot of music on these CD’s and, unfortunately, a lot of it is forgettable.

Chimes of Freedom is available for purchase and can also be streamed via Spotify.

2011 was the year of the Milk Carton Kids for me. After discovering them at a Joe Purdy concert in April I spent a good chunk of my year listening to their music, going to their shows, and writing about them on this site. It’s exciting to find new artists that I feel so passionately about. And even though I’ve played their albums to absolute pieces they still manage to sometimes just stop me in my tracks.

The Milk Carton Kids’ two albums – Prologue and Retrospect would definitely land in any kind of list of favorites for my year. As would Adele’s blistering smash 21, Ryan Adams’ triumphant Ashes & Fire, Paul Simon’s masterful So  Beautiful or So What, The Black Keys’ down and dirty El Camino, and hometown heroes Blitzen Trapper’s American Goldwing. My totally-not-biased-at-all favorite album of the year would be my sister’s, the eponymous Sea Bell (but you don’t have to take just my word for it)

Bob Dylan turned 70 in May, and celebrated with a European tour opened by Mark Knopfler. Martin Scorsese hit another music documentary homerun with George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Rock & Roll triumphed in Rolling Stone’s Choose the Cover contest when grizzled Southern (Canadian) rockers The Sheepdogs took the grand prize. Longtime holdout Bob Seger began a gradual release of his catalog to iTunes for download. The Beach Boys offered up a comprehensive reissue of the great unfinished Smile sessions. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee class included Leon Russell, Darlene Love, Neil Diamond, and Dr. John.

Mega-talent Amy Winehouse joined the tragic pantheon of musicians gone at the age of 27. And the world lost some true musical luminaries with the passing of bluesmen Pinetop Perkins, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, and Hubert Sumlin, soul crooner Dobie Gray, songwriting powerhouse Jerry Lieber, and The Big Man himself, the incomparable Clarence Clemons.

Looking forward, 2012 is shaping up to be an exciting year for music. Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and The Black Keys – some of the best live acts around – will all be hitting the road for U.S. and international tours. Rumors abound about a possible Rolling Stones reunion to mark their 50^th Anniversary. If I were the praying type I would certainly be including that in my nightly appeals.

My parting gift of 2011 is this video from the transcendent Joe Purdy/Milk Carton Kids tour. Enjoy!

All of us (me) here at That Mercury Sound thank you for reading and wish you a very Happy New Year! 

There’s also a special Twitter event tomorrow afternoon that you don’t want to miss. Tom (@tompetty) will be on Twitter from 2:30 to 3:30 PT to answer fan questions. Use hashtag #tompettyTCS to follow or join in on the conversation.

Here is the complete list of dates:

April 19: 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO

April 21: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, AR

April 24: Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, NM

April 26: INTRUST Bank Arena, Wichita, KS

April 28: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, New Orleans, LA

April 29: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park, Alpharetta, GA

May 1: Germain Arena, Estero, FL

May 3: Amway Center, Orlando, FL

May 5: Frank Irwin Center, Austin, TX

June 3: Mile One Centre, St. John’s, NL

June 7: 02 Arena, Dublin, IR

June 8: The Marquee, Cork, IR

June 10: 02 World, Hamburg, GER

June 12: Open Air, Horsens, DK

June 14: The Globe, Stockholm, SWE

June 15: Norwegian Wood Festival, Oslo, NOR

June 22: Isle of Wight Festival, UK

June 24: Hallenstadion, Zurich, SWI

June 25: Lanxess Arena, Cologne, GER

June 27: Grand Rex, Paris, FR

June 29: Piazza Napoleone, Lucca, IT

June 30: SAP Arena, Mannheim, GER

Get pumped y’all.

This summer I was out to lunch with my parents and their friends (another musically inclined couple) and my dad posed the question to the table: what bands are on your bucket list? They spent the next several minutes batting around their choices, and reminiscing over some of the truly great shows they’ve seen, while I sat there stewing in jealousy. I generally feel an innate envy of everyone over 50 because their concert records are more often than not the stuff my dreams are made of.  But it got me to thinking – who is on my list?

So after some thought, I came up with the Top Three on my “Must-See Concert Bucket List”

1. The Rolling Stones
2. Dolly Parton
3. Mark Knopfler

If the inclusion of Dolly Parton at the number two slot offends any rock & roller readers of this site I would encourage them to reassess their life. Dolly’s a hell of a songwriter, performer, and all around human being who I would adopt as a surrogate grandmother in a heartbeat. Mark Knopfler, who I personally think was slighted by Rolling Stone – coming in at just #44 on their recent Top 100 Guitarists lists, is someone I’ve wanted to see for a very long time. My heart was breaking a little this fall when he was touring Europe with Bob Dylan and I was stuck in the Midwest with zero funds available for a hop across the Pond.

Of course my dream concert list would be miles longer, and filled with bands and performers that are no longer around. There’s not much I can do about that, sans time machine. I’m fortunate enough to have seen just about everybody I love who is still touring but if I could catch these last three at some point I will be a happy girl. (Ya hear that Stones?) So what about y’all, who’s on your Bucket List?

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  “One of These Days” – Neil Young (seen him, thankfully)

Photo by Michael Putland

I’m a couple weeks late to this party (just started a new job, playing a bit of catch up) but The Rolling Stones have released the audio of their epic 1973 Brussels concert for download. I wrote about this concert last year, when I streamed it for the first time from Wolfgang’s Vault and it legitimately knocked my socks off. It really is vintage live Stones at their finest. And now, the Stones have opened their online vault and are releasing this fantastic scorcher of a concert for download. The mp3 version is only $7.00 and FLAC is just $2 more. The concert has been  a popular bootleg for years but the audio quality on this official release is really stellar. And I can’t think of many cooler things you can get for $7. Ease the post-Thanksgiving weekend transition back to reality by downloading it today, and start your week rocking.

I read an article about him recently in the local paper of Palm Desert, where he now resides. Then a few days later had a brief Twitter exchange with Maureen Van Zandt after she shared her discovery of a YouTube treasure trove of  tracks from his obscure 1979 album Rogue Waves. I realized that I’d never written anything about Terry Reid on here, and that needs to be remedied.

Young Terry Reid was very much a part of the Sixties London rock milieu. In 1966, at the tender age of 16, Reid was playing lead guitar with Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers when they were tapped to open for The Rolling Stones’ U.K. tour. The group disbanded following the tour but Reid had caught the attention of Mickie Most, famed producer of hits like The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” and Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow.” Collaborating with Most, Reid released his first solo album in 1968.

Bang, Bang You’re Terry Reid was critically well-received but didn’t make much of a commercial splash. His eponymous follow-up album, released in the U.S. under the title Move Over for Terry Reid, is a masterpiece. “Superlungs My Supergirl” is a slice of 60’s psychedelic-pop-rock perfection and the gut-wrenching “Stay With Me Baby” never fails to give me chills. On a trip to London several years ago I was browsing through a little record shop in Camden when I came across an original UK copy of this stellar album. Naturally, I was over the moon. When I went to purchase the LP I struck up a conversation with the shop owner, who was quite intrigued by a 22-year-old American girl getting so excited over Mr. Reid. The shop owner told me that he’d actually had two copies of this hard-to-find album, but just last week he sold the other copy to none other than Robert Plant, whose office was just down the street. So you don’t have to only take my word for this guy. . .

As a solo act Reid opened for both Cream’s 1968 U.S. tour and The Rolling Stones ’69 U.S. tour, as well as for Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac. In 1970 he performed at Britain’s answer to Woodstock, The Isle of Wight Festival. In 1968 Reid was asked by Jimmy Page to front his latest incarnation of that epic rock-god-incubator The Yardbirds, which would of course end up becoming Led Zeppelin. Reid declined but suggested that Page check out another young vocalist active on the Birmingham scene, Robert Plant, who was fronting the Band of Joy at the time. And the rest is history.

Despite this impeccable rock pedigree, Reid remains widely unknown. On that same trip to London, I was lucky enough to catch a rare Terry Reid live gig at the famed Dingwalls club. I was with a dear friend of mine, who is also a big fan of Reid’s, but even we managed to deftly illustrate our ignorance. At the time of our visit London had just passed its indoor smoking ban.  Between sets we were hanging in a hallway near the backstage area talking with the opening band when an older man in a bright orange blazer stepped in smoking a cigarette. My friend took it upon herself to remind him of the recent ban: “You know you can’t do that in here anymore.” Well, of course the man lighting up turned out to be Terry Reid and he looked at us like we were probably the cheekiest American idiots he’d ever laid eyes on. And we might have been. Needless to say my friend was mortified and we didn’t get the chance to talk to him much after that. But he delivered a tremendous performance to the 500-seat club, his voice still just as raw and powerful as ever – the Unsung Siren of Swinging London.

Here are a few of my favorite Terry Reid tracks, for your listening pleasure: (Don’t miss the first one, it’s an unbelievably high quality video of a 1969 performance)

I was very much looking forward to reading Marc Spitz’s new biography of Sir Mick, Jagger: Rebel, Rock Star, Rambler, Rogue, but I’m afraid it’s a flop. The book opens with a foreword by Spitz that I found utterly baffling. In it he discusses at length his understanding of the negative public perception of Jagger. Many of the “public” complaints he registers were news to me, and his defenses against them were only off-putting to someone who actually doesn’t have a negative opinion of Mick Jagger. While reading it I couldn’t help but think, why would you begin a biography by villainizing your subject?

Further, the book doesn’t present a very nuanced understanding of the Stones’ dynamic, and at times it reads like little more than celebrity gossip. The chapter on Anita Pallenberg and Performance strives for such lurid indulgence that it becomes difficult to take seriously. As Pallenberg, a singular force of a woman who is hard to over-describe, is represented as a caricature of dark desire. And an entire paragraph is devoted to debating the merits of Keith Richards’ now infamous literary swipe at the size of Mick’s manhood. This chapter felt like it was pulled straight from the tabloids and, for me, it was hard for the book to recover from.

Spitz injects welcome touches of humor throughout, but the book doesn’t feel that serious. A majority of the quotes are second-hand and the decisions on what events from Jagger’s life to focus on seem sort of haphazard. While the book never really hits its stride I did find certain chapters to be somewhat more engaging. For example, Spitz, who has written at length about the punk movement, offers an interesting discussion of the late 70’s musical fissure between the punks and the aging Stones.

The book doesn’t illuminate much that isn’t already known about Jagger. It read to me like Spitz, for whatever reason, felt personally affronted by some of the jabs that Keith Richards took out against Mick in his recent bestselling memoir Life and decided to write his own defense of sorts. This method becomes a distraction when you’re really just looking to learn more about the man. There are plenty of rock & roll biographies out there worthy of your time and attention. But this one, you can skip.

“Take It or Leave It“  – From the Stones’ Flowers album

And speaking of beautiful, for the past 25 years Neil Young and his wife Pegi have been responsible for putting together one of the most consistently marvelous musical events of the year: The Bridge School Benefit Concert. Since 1986 this special annual gathering has hosted some of the brightest stars in music, many performing rare stripped-down acoustic sets. The concert raises funds for the Bridge School, an organization that works with severely disabled children.

Those of us who have wished for years to make the trek to the Shoreline Amphitheater to join in this uniquely wonderful occasion are now in luck. To mark the 25th Anniversary the best of the Bridge School Benefit concerts is coming to DVD. And for one night only, the film will be playing in theaters across the country. I will be at Edina Cinema here in Minneapolis tonight, and can’t wait to see these historic performances on the big screen, with theater-quality sound. Here is a complete list of participating venues – hopefully there’s one near you!

Atlanta                           Midtown

Austin                           Alamo Drafthouse Lakecreek

Boston                          Kendall

Chicago                        Century

Dallas                           TBC

Denver                          Mayan

Los Angeles                  The Laemmle Santa Monica

Madison                        Sundance

Milwaukee                     Oriental

Minneapolis                   Edina

New York City               Sunshine

Philadelphia                   Ritz Bourse

Pleasantville, NY           Jacob Burns

Portland, ME                 Nickelodeon

Portland, OR                 Hollywood Theatre

San Diego                     Hillcrest

San Francisco               Embarcadero

Santa Cruz                    Nickelodeon

Santa Rosa                   Summerfield

Seattle                           Harvard Exit

Silver Spring, MD       AFI Silver Theatre

Washington, DC          E Street