Motörhead - Ace of Spades (Acoustic) (100th post)

This is a recently recorded acoustic version of the Motörhead song "Ace of Spades", they recorded it for a European beer commercial, and took the tempo down to a slow blues progression. Really shows the relation between genres, when you can just slow something down and add an acoustic guitar instead of an electric, and boom heavy metal turned into slow acoustic blues.
The top box is the new single in its full length, and the two videos are the commercial in which the song is featured, and a behind the scenes following Motörhead as they recorded the song.
I really like this song, it really shows that Lemmy has a broad style, and can play many different types of music. This is just pure acoustic blues, and I love it. It both features acoustic guitars playing the slow main rhythm part, a blues harp solo by Lemmy and a Dobro solo by Phil Campbell. It's a great song, and it really shows that Motörhead is much more than a metal band.

Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

This is a performance from 70's rock band "Electric Light Orchestra". It's one of their most famous songs, and it's a mix of pop and 70's rock with a lot of experimentation going on. It features a nice and up-beat melody that gives the tune a happy feeling. It also features a nice little happy guitar solo from Jeff Lynne, and an experimental part of vocoder singing. It's a nice up-beat song that's been featured in many different kinds of medium.

Enjoy ; )

Rory Gallagher - Walk on Hot Coals

This is a 1974 performance from blues and rock guitarist Rory Gallagher. The footage is from the documentary/concert film "Irish Tour '74". It's a legendary film following Gallagher as he tours through Ireland. The director originally intended the footage to be used on a television special, but decided to release it as a theatrical feature.
The film is famous for featuring a performance from Gallagher in Belfast. Belfast was a rocky place at this time, with brawls etc. being very common, also at rock shows. This meant that most bands refused to play in Belfast. But not Gallagher. As part of his tour he stopped in Belfast, and played one of the best live shows of his career, and there was no violence at the concert, just mesmerized teens.
The song "Walking on Hot Coals" is a Rory Gallagher original. It's an instrumental song featuring a lot of guitar playing on Gallagher's part, but also a piano solo by Lou Martin. On the song Gallagher also uses pinch harmonics on the song. He was one of the first guitarists to incorporate this technique into his style. A technique he also used on the song "Off The Handle" previously posted on this blog (click here). This is just a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

This is a smoking performance from 70's progressive rock band "Kansas". They play their 1976 song "Carry On Wayward Son". The song was released in two versions a 5:26 album-version and a radio-edit cut down to 3:36. This live version is 6:43 with an extended ending of the song, and performed with a string section.
It's a great song, and the riffs driving the song are amazing. You can tell that the guys in the band are getting old, but they still play with the same energy and as good as when they were young. They all pretty much have white hair, and one of them even wears an eye-patch, now that's bad ass!!
It's a great performance, the singing is fantastic, the playing is fantastic and their energy is amazing.

A great performance, enjoy ; )

Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever

This is a recent performance of the classic hard rock 70's song "Cat Scratch Fever" by Ted Nugent, of the album with the same title. The song is known for its simple three tone blues scale riff harmonized in parallel fourths.It's traditional rock 'n' roll, straight forward, one riff, attitude and a simple but rockin' guitar solo by Ted Nugent himself.
In 2009 the song was named the 32nd best hard rock song of all time by the VH1 television network.
It's a great ballsy performance, with Ted functioning at full throttle and energy level. Truly a great song, true rock 'n' roll.

Enjoy ; )

Lynrd Skynrd - Free Bird

This is a song by southern rock band Lynrd Skynrd. Alongside "Sweet Home Alabama" it's one of their most famous songs. The song is known for its build-up, it starts out very slow with a slide guitar intro by Gary Rossington and then starts of with a slow nice melody, as the singing begins. Towards the middle of the song there's a musical break, and the song starts picking up speed, it accelerates. It's a grand instrumental finish, and it's by far one of the longest songs in recording history. The album-version is about 9 minutes, but some live version reach a length of about 14 minutes, now that's improv guitar soloing!
It's a great and legendary song. Lynrd Skynrd would often use it to close their live sets, and it has become known as the ultimate closer. For a period at the top of the song's popularity, fans would scream Freebird (it's not really clear how people spell the title), even if it wasn't Lynrd Skynrd performing it.
It's a legendary 70's songs, and one of a kind. There aren't a lot of songs that in live versions run into 14 minutes. This live version is about 10 minutes. It's a great song, and a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Stevie Ray Vaughan - I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime)

This is a performance by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He performs the song "I'm Leaving You (Commit a Crime). A performance of this is featured on the classic live album "Live Alive" bye Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's a live record that boasts a lot of different types of material. Vaughan draws in all of his influences, performing rather contemporary tracks such as "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by Hendrix and "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder, but also includes a lot of the old school blues feel.
This is one of those old school songs. The performance is simple, pretty much repeating the same little riff over the entire progression, and adding pauses where Stevie just gets to sing. It's really a performance that shows how good a singer Stevie truly is. He does a small guitar solo, but nothing fancy or flashy, and then ends it with a simple take on a turn around lick. It's just classic old school blues. This performance is inspired bye Howlin' Wolf, and Stevie definitely does him justice. It's just a great performance.

Enjoy ; )