James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing

This is a live performance by James Brown the Godfather of soul performing his classic song "Get Up Offa That Thing". The performance is from The Late Show with David Letterman.
The song was originally released on 7" vinyl in 1976. The original single was a two-part single with a B-side titled "Release the Pressure". "Release the Pressure" is actually just a continuation of the same song, but with different lyrics. The song became a huge hit and one of Brown's biggest hits in his late 70's career. It also later became a very common number to appear in Brown's live sets.
The song was produced by James Brown and written by Deanna Brown, Diendra Brown, and Yamma Brown.
I really love this song and performance. I love how much energy Brown puts in to this performance at his age. And the way he still controls the band; a true band leader. And the saxophone solo, man that was amazing. Also love how the song has a lot of musical breaks and stops that are very fast, and how it usually starts off again with the guitar doing something with a wah wah pedal. This is how funk is supposed to sound. It's grand and I love it.

Enjoy ; )

The Fabulous Thunderbirds & Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Crawl

This is a live performance by Texan blues rock band The Fabulous Thunderbirds, the performance is from 1984.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds was the group that Stevie's brother Jimmie Vaughan played in from its formation in 1976 to 1989. Jimmie left the group to play in a duo with his brother, but these plans were foiled by Stevie's unfortunate death in 1990. After that the band has gone through a huge number of line-up changes.
This is a great song. There's a lot of influence from surf guitar on this definitely a lot of Dick Dale in the sound of it. Also love the musical breaks on it that includes the audience and the part where they play the guitars on their backs. Also Stevie is playing a Telecaster. I think this is the first time I've ever seen him do that. I've seen him play guitars with humbucker pick ups on rare occasions, but never a Telecaster. So it's a first. It's a great song and great solos from both Stevie and Jimmie.

Enjoy ; )

Rush - 2112 (Overture/The Temple of Syrinx)

This is a live performance from Canadian progressive rock band Rush playing the first two parts of the song "2112" from the album of the same name.
The "2112" album was released in 1976. The title track of the alum is a 20 minute suite composed by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson with lyrics by the drummer Neil Peart. The composition tells the story of a dystopian society in the year 2112. This 20 minute suite and the fact that the album is named after it makes people think that it is a concept album. However technically it's not because the rest of the songs on the album have nothing to do with the suite and its lyrics.
The song is divided into 7 parts adding to the lengthy running time of about 20 minutes.
Complete list of the parts of the composition:
Part Title Starting time (*) Length (*)
I Overture 0:00 4:33
II The Temples of Syrinx 4:33 2:12
III Discovery 6:45 3:29
IV Presentation 10:14 3:42
V Oracle: The Dream 13:56 2:00
VI Soliloquy 15:56 2:21
VII Grand Finale 18:17 2:14
Total Running time 20:33
This performance only features the two first parts of the composition.
I think it's a very good song and live performance. Rush is definitely an impressive band.

Enjoy ; )

Parliament-Funkadelic - Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)

This is a music video from the classic funk group Parliament-Funkadelic (Funkadelic was a sister act of George Clinton's first project Parliament, it's a rather complicated band-history, but the two groups were basically a music collaboration collective, in short terms. The credited writers of this song are George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Jerome Brailey.
The song is off Parliament's album titled "Mothership Connection". It is one of the most recognizable P-Funk songs and also their best selling single ever reaching gold in 1976 (the same year as the single's release).
The song has become quite familiar in pop-culture and has been sampled on numerous occasions by artists like Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. An example of this can be found in Snoop Dogg's song "Undacova Funk" featuring Bootsy on the track. (Embeded below)

I think it's a really good song, and it has a nice jazz vibe, not just in the progression, but in the way the musicians are playing off each other. A very good funk song indeed.

Enjoy ; )

Gary Moore - Don't Believe a Word

This is an awesome performance by blues and rock guitarist Gary Moore. He plays the classic Thin Lizzy song "Don't Believe a Word" from their "Johnny the Fox" album. The album was released in 1976. The song was released as a single the same year. The album version of the song is only 2:18 which is very short, and probably made it adequate for radio play.
This performance, however, is much longer, and really a whole different rendition of the song. It starts off being a slow blues in the delicate style of Gary's playing, resembling the sound on songs like "Still Got The Blues" and "Parisienne Walkways" (which is also originally a Thin Lizzy song). Then towards the end of the song, a hard rock riff starts, the lyrics are repeated again, but now it's all played in the style of the original. It's like two renditions of a song melted into one performance.
Gary plays the hell out of this song, and you can tell he was a fan and personal friend of Thin Lizzy and Phil Lynotts song writing. A great performance of an excellent song.

Enjoy ; )

Rory Gallagher - All Around Man

This is a magnificent performance from blues extraordinaire Rory Gallagher, it's from the concert at BBC's Grey Whistle on March 2nd 1976 which was also the date of Rory's birthday.
The song was originally performed by Bo Carter, but Rory's version is just smokin', no doubts one of Rory's best performances ever, though I don't think there is such a thing as Rory's best performance. Rory was an artist who gave 100 % on stage, and in that sense you could easily say that all Rory's performances were his best.
I really love this song and performance. Rory really shows the extent of his talent, by playing some of the best bottle neck slide I've heard, period! It's amazing, it's fast, but still keeping feel, and being right on spot in terms of intonation and execution of the playing. Not only do we get Rory's guitar playing, but Rory also plays a really good solo on the blues harp. He uses a harmonica microphone, and gets that perfectly good blues sound. He also shouts into that mike on the musical breaks of the solo. He also does something similar with his slide playing, where he sings the part, as he's playing it, true feeling, true blues!
We also get a really good piano and Hammond Organ solo from Lou Martin who also joins in as Rory is soloing on the blues harp. They basically riff off each other, and Lou tries to play the lines Rory just played, it's amazing, a true jam between two good musicians.
This is just an amazing performance from Gallagher, definitely one of his best, though all his performances pretty much fit that mark.

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 ; )

Aerosmith - Back In The Saddle

This is a performance from classic hard rock band Aerosmith performing the rock 'n' roll song "Back In The Saddle". The song was written by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry aka The Toxic Twins. The song is from the band's 1976 album "Rocks" and was released as the third single from the album in 1977 and peaked at #38 on the Billboard charts.
The song was came about from a bass riff that Joe Perry came up with which gave the song the heavy bass sound. It is also one of the songs to feature Brad Whitford on lead guitar and Joe Perry on rhythm guitar, changing it up a bit.
Another characteristic of the song is the slow build up from the drum, to the bass kicking in, to it finally taking off into the song that is "Back In The Saddle". It's a great rock 'n' roll song, and a good performance.

Enjoy ; )

Bootsy Collins - Stretchin' Out

This is performance by funk bass player Bootsy Collins from the television show "Night Music", a late night show that showcased performers and featured live performances.
The song Stretchin' Out was released in 1976 by Bootsy's band "Bootsy's Rubber Band", a funk band that was formed after Bootsy stopped touring and recording with James Brown. The song's full title is "Stretchin' Out (In a Rubber Band)".
It's a great performance, and it seems a little unrehearsed in the good way. It's a jam, and every performer gets a slot to strut their stuff, the sax, the guitar and the bass of course. A great performance from a time where live music actually had a decent slot in television.
(I know it's not exactly rock or blues, but funk is somewhat a descendent from the blues genre. I mean all those funky chords on the guitar were first played in blues and jazz songs, funk just sped it up, added a whole lot more wah and made it more funky). And besides, you should be able to enjoy this, or you've got no good music taste what so ever!

Enjoy ; )