Rainbow - Long Live Rock 'n' Roll

This is a live performance by the classic rock band Rainbow playing their classic song "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" from their 1978 album of the same name.
The band Rainbow was formed by guitarist Rithchie Blackmore in 1975 shortly after he left Deep Purple. This performance is from 1977 and it features the line-up from the album that also was released the following year. This line-up of course also very famous for featuring legendary front man and singer Ronnie James Dio who also played with Black Sabbath for a period and had his own solo career for a long time. Recently he passed away after struggling with cancer. Dio didn't just do the front man thing when he was with the group, which he was from 1975-79, he also wrote all of the lyrics for the band in this period.
It's a great song and an amazing performance from a band that seems to be on fire. Also it's a great anthem with simple lyrics that were made for the audience to shout a long which they do and are encouraged to by Dio. A great performance by a great band.

Enjoy ; )

Black Sabbath - Iron Man

This is a live performance by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath playing perhaps their most famous song, or one of them at least, "Iron Man". The performance is from Paris 1970.
The song is of their "Paranoid" album which was also released in 1970. The song has since its release been featured in various TV-shows, been sampled by numerous hip-hop acts and covered by a large number of artists.
The song's title is courtesy of Ozzy Osbourne, but the lyrics were written by Geezer Butler around Ozzy's title. Originally it was named "Iron Bloke", but this was just a working title alas it was changed before the song's release.
The song is about a man who travels back in time and sees the apocalypse. When he returns to the present he is turned in two an iron man and proceeds to communicate with people around him. His attempts are ignored and mocked and so he gets angry and causes the very destruction he saw in the future.
As mentioned earlier the song has been covered by a large number of artists. Anything from Metallica to Sir Mix-A-Lot. It was also recently confirmed that William Shatner with the aid of Ozzy's former guitarist Zakk Wylde. Below is a short clip showing them working on it in the studio.

I think this is very funny and really shows the cult status the song has reached.
It's a very good performance of a truly iconic song. The audio isn't the best in the world, but still all right and a pretty good descent video quality for 1970.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck & Joss Stone - I Put a Spell on You

This is a live performance from "Idol Gives Back" charity show. In this performance Jeff Beck and Joss Stone do a version of the classic soul song "I Put a Spell on You".
The song was originally released in 1956 and on this version it was sung by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. There are rumours of an earlier recording dating back to 1949. This version is rumoured to be more mellow, toned down and laid back, but it has never been confirmed and the so called "original recording" is either non-existing or lost through poor preservation. Until the release of this song Hawkins had been an unknown blues singer. His management suggested a gimmick to go along with the song, and he started performing by rising from a coffin wearing a long cape. He later elaborated his act with props and a smoking skull, and through time has become known as one of the first theatrical acts. He became an influence on later acts such as: Dr. John, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Marilyn Manson. He can kind of be pin-pointed as the first shock rock/rock 'n' roll act in history. A version of the original performance from Screamin' Jay Hawkins embeded below.

It's one of those songs that have been covered by a huge amount of artists, including: Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Tim Curry, Buddy Guy, Marilyn Manson and Pete Townshend.
The version done by Jeff Beck and Joss Stone was originally recorded on Beck's 2010 album "Emotion & Commotion" which is a very good album that I can only recommend too little. It's great. And this is one of those short little songs that just stick out. It's a great song and both versions embeded are good and interesting, though I probably prefer Beck's and Stone's version over the original.

Enjoy ; )