Katie Webster – Pussycat Moan

This is a live performance by Katie Webster, also known as the swamp boogie queen, playing the song “Pussycat Moan” live. The performance is from the 1990 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
I haven’t really been able to find any studio recorded versions of this. The only thing I’ve found is a version on the compilation CD “Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Collection”.
It’s a great slow blues song and Katie sings it to perfection, just the right way. Also plays the piano in that way only she can. She’s a great blues artist and more people should know about her.

Enjoy ; )

B.B. King – I’ll Survive

This is a live performance by blues legend B.B. King playing the song “I’ll Survive” live with his full band which also features a horn section, I’m a big fan of the horn section sound.
The song originally appeared on King’s 1998 album “Blues on the Bayou”. The first time I heard the song it was on the 2003 compilation album “Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: B.B. King” which is a great introduction CD if you’re new to King’s music.
It’s a great song and it really has that sound of a B.B. King song. Just sounds sweet.

Enjoy ; )

Robert Cray - Smoking Gun

This is the music video to the song "Smoking Gun" by Robert Cray. It was first released in 1986 on Cray's album "Strong Persuader". The album was Cray's fifth album and it became his breakthrough album into mainstream recognition. On it's release as a single in 1987 "Smoking Gun" reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The music video show clips of Cray performing at various shows throughout the beginning of his career. The year and place of the performance clips are displayed at the beginning of each clip which is quite nice in my opinion.
The song also appeared on Cray's 2010 release "Cookin' in Mobile" which was a live CD/DVD release.
It's a great crossover song, and Cray's solo towards the end is amazing.

Enjoy ; )

Joe Bonamassa - Burning Hell

This is a live performance by American rock and contemporary blues artist Joe Bonamassa playing the song "Burning Hell" live. The performance is from the 2006 Rockpalast festival in Germany. This performance was released on DVD. This was one of the last concerts Bonamassa played with his old three piece line-up band.
The song was originally released on Bonamassa's 2003 album "Blues Deluxe". It's a great slide guitar number by Bonamassa and I really love the groove Bonamassa has going with his band, especially towards the end of the performance. It's a great performance by a great, tight, and awesome three piece band.

Enjoy ; )

Joe Bonamassa - Django

This is a live performance by blues and rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa playing his instrumental song "Django" live. The performance is from The Royal Albert Hall and this concert is available in both DVD and CD format. (Click here for a previous post and another piece of performance footage from that concert featuring Eric Clapton).
This performance is the opening track alas we see Bonamassa entering the stage. It's a great little piece of instrumental music which leads into the second track "The Ballad Of John Henry" which is what Bonamassa starts playing after switching guitars.
The piece was influenced or rather inspired by jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and obviously also named after him. It's a great little instrumental.

Enjoy ; )

Joe Bonamassa & Eric Clapton - Farther Up the Road

This is a live performance by Joe Bonamassa playing the classic blues tune "Farther Up the Road" (sometimes titled "Further on Up the Road"). Joining him on stage is blues and rock legend Eric Clapton who made the song famous and part of his live staple. The performance video is from the DVD "Joe Bonamassa: Live from the Royal Albert Hall" from 2009 which was also released as a CD. Bonamassa who has stated the British blues wave as his biggest influence must have been thrilled to stand next to Clapton performing this tune. In fact, he stated that "Farther Up the Road" was the first song he ever learned to play before introducing Clapton. So it's also sort of like the circle has ended with this performance. It's the song that got Bonamassa started and now he's playing it with the artist who he first heard doing the tune. How great is that.
The original recording of this tune was done by Bobby Bland and was recorded in 1957. This original recording reached #1 on the R&B Charts and also did very well on the pop charts.
The song is a mid-tempo 12-bar blues shuffle in the key of G.
It has been recorded by a large number of artists since it's original release, including: Lonnie Mack, Earl Hooker, Robin Trower, Johnny Copeland, and Gary Moore.
On top of that Clapton has done the song several times live. He has done it live with both Jeff Beck and the infamous blues guitarist Freddie King who was a big influence on Clapton's playing.
It's a great song and it's sure to put you in a good mood and lift you up.

Enjoy ; )

Lou Reed - Foot of Pride

This is a live performance by rock musician Lou Reed performing his version of the classic Bob Dylan song "Foot of Pride". Reed is best known for his gig as singer and guitarist for the group "Velvet Underground" and for his successful solo career as well. The performance is from the 30th Anniversary concert celebrating the musical life of Bob Dylan, the performance was released as a CD and also released on DVD. It was recorded October 16, 1992 and released later in 1993.
All of the songs were written by Dylan, but Dylan only appeared on a few selected tracks himself.
It's a great performance, I really love how there's a lot of lyrics which makes for quite a long performance. Lou sort of talk sings a lot of it, but still doesn't loose melody, very impressive. The guitar solo on the song is done by G. E. Smith who also served as the musical director for the show. A great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck & Imelda May - How High the Moon

This is a live performance by Jeff Beck and vocalist Imelda May from the recently released concert film "Rock 'n' Roll Party". The film honours recently deceased guitarist Les Paul, features many different guest artists, a lot of classic rock 'n' roll tracks and is also available as a CD.
Jeff Beck is joined on stage be Imelda May an Irish vocalist who sings this style of music to perfection. It is very obvious that she is trying to imitate Mary Ford's clean vocals from the original recording with Les Paul, and she does an amazing job and is a very talented singer. She earlier collaborated with Beck on his 2010 Emotion & Commotion album where she sings on "Lilac Wine" and does an amazing job.
The song "How High the Moon" is a jazz standard and it was first featured in 1940 in the Broadway revue "Two for the Show". The best known recording of the song is the one done by Les Paul and Mary Ford. (Embeded below)

This version was recorded in 1951 and it was an unexpected hit doing well on the Billboard chart at no. 1 for several weeks.
It's a very good song and a very good performance by Beck paying tribute to a great player and a great inventor.

Enjoy ; )

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

This is a live performance by metal band Metallica playing their ballad "Nothing Else Matters" live. This performance is from the 1999 S&M concert which is available on both CD and DVD. It's a great concert featuring Michael Kamen conducting the San Francisco symphony orchestra playing live with Metallica in concert.
The song was released as a single in 1992 and it originally appeared on the band's 1991 album entitled "Metallica" aka. "The Black Album".
The song is credited to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Hetfield came up with the beginning of the song as he was plucking the four open strings of an Em chord while on the phone with his girlfriend. Originally Hetfield didn't want the song to be on the album, but after hearing it Lars convinced Hetfield to put it on the album. It is also one of the few tracks where Hetfield plays lead guitar. And on the original album version Hetfield recorded all of the guitar tracks on the song. So Hammett isn't even playing on this track.
The original album version was also scored by Michael Kamen. The band tuned down his scoring a lot, but a version with acoustic guitars, Hetfield's vocal track and the original composed piece by Kamen exists and is known as "The Elevator Version". Kamen orchestrated a lot of Metallica songs (including this one) for the S&M concert in San Francisco.
It's a really good song and a really good ballad for Metallica that seems to strike something in people when they listen to it. A really good track.

Enjoy ; )

Spın̈al Tap & Albert Lee - Break Like the Wind

This is a live performance by semi-fictional metal band Spın̈al Tap and Albert Lee playing the song "Break Like the Wind" live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1992.
The song is of Spın̈al Tap's album of the same title released in 1992.
As said, the band is semi-fictional. It's the band from the famous mockumentary (even though Christopher Guest hates that term) "This Is Spın̈al Tap". It's a legendary comedy that mocks rock 'n' roll and throws allusions to a lot of different rock and metal acts. It's one of the best and most quotable films of all time.
The album featured many guest artists, and on the album version of Break Like the Wind it breaks down at the end, and a bunch of guitarists join in: Jeff Beck, Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani and Slash.
On this live version they have Albert Lee who of course can't play like all of these guitarists. I think he does a very good job however, and it's a fun and enjoyable performance.

Enjoy ; )

Steve Vai - Building The Church

This is a live performance by guitarist Steve Vai performing one of his original instrumental guitar pieces. It was released in 2009 on both CD, DVD and Blu-ray. This number is really good, and it's not just a guitarist showing off. I've always loved Steve Vai because he is an original. He really tries to be innovative and push the envelope as far as what is possible on guitar. On top of that he's also a great composer who does some really good guitar instrumentals. He plays fast, but has a lot of feeling in his playing as well. He's really good, and you gotta respect that!

Enjoy ; )

Eric Clapton - Christmas Tears

This is a performance by Eric Clapton playing the Christmas song "Christmas Tears". The concert footage is from a benefit for The Special Olympics, and it is shot in Washington D.C. in December of 1998. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were present, and they held the benefit.
There were many different acts present at the concert, and the year after the concert, a CD of the concert was released. (Click here to go to purchase a copy of the CD).
Other acts at the concert were: Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, John Popper, Run–D.M.C. and Vanessa Williams
On Clapton's part this is a pretty standard blues tune, singing about loneliness and missing some one at Christmas. It doesn't have bells and all that, and in some ways it's not that uplifting, but I still think it's a pretty good song. Maybe just because it isn't your typical overproduced pop song, but a good blues song that just happens to be about Christmas.
It's a really good performance on Clapton's part, of a good and a little untraditional Christmas song.

Enjoy ; )

Robert Cray - Chicken In The Kitchen

Robert Cray Band on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from Vanguard Records on Vimeo.
This is a performance from famous singer, songwriter and blues guitarist Robert Cray. The performance is from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" where Cray was promoting his album "Cookin' in Mobile" a live album featuring an audio CD and a performance DVD.
He performs the song "Chicken In The Kitchen" a nice up tempo bluesy tune with a nice groove and rhythm. It's a very nice performance, and Cray is, as always, playing at the top of his game. It's just a wonderful song and a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Eric Clapton - Badge

This is a performance video from 2001, it's off the "One More Car One More Rider" CD that was enhanced and also contained a video performance on each disc (it was a two disc album).
The song is from Cream's album "Goodbye". The song is composed by Eric Clapton and George Harrison, and Ringo Starr allegedly also helped, but Harrison and Clapton are the only ones who are credited.
The song's title was a bit of an enigma for some time, some people thought it was a rearrangement on the letters used to describe a standard guitar tuning (EADGBE), but that doesn't fit entirely. It is actually a result of Ringo's bad handwriting, Ringo wrote the title "Bridge" on a piece of paper, and Clapton read it upside down, and read it as "Badge", and that became the title.
The chanting of the line "Where is my badge?" was added much later, so it isn't on the much shorter album version.
Harrison's guitar influence can be heard in the interlude, it resembles Harrison's playing on the Beatles song "Here Comes The Sun", but without the capo and at a lower pitch.

A great song and performance, enjoy ; )

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Change It

This is a performance from blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, it's him performing the song "Change It". It's one of Stevie's best, it has a melancholic feel to it, but still sort of a sad cheerful nature, true soul, no one but Stevie could do this. It was released on Stevie's 1985 album "Soul to Soul".
I don't think they performed it live that often, I've only been able to find this one clip that's live from Farm Aid, but other than that I don't think they played it live that often.
It's a great song, and a good live performance that catches the soul and tension that is on the original recording, truly great.

Enjoy ; )