David Bowie - Let's Dance

This is a music video for the title track of Bowie's album "Let's Dance" released in 1983, and digitally re-mastered in 1999.
This is a great album by Bowie, it experiments with many different genres of music, it has a lot of funk influences, but also draws on more traditional rock and blues, and of course also the pop sound of the times.
The album is also famous for helping blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan getting discovered. Bowie had heard Stevie's 1982 Montreux performance, and was impressed. They met up backstage and chatted, and it turned out they were in to some of the same weird things musically. Bowie admired Stevies sound, and hired him to play lead guitar on his next album which was "Let's Dance".
Stevie only plays lead guitar, the rhythm guitar on the album is Nile Rodgers. And Stevie's lead playing is very toned down, and not a huge part of the album, but still helps increase the sound and the experience.
The album cut of the song Let's Dance is 7:37, much shorter than what is used in the music video which I assume is also the radio edit of the song. They still left in all of Stevie's parts however which shows how much his lead playing helped the album.
Stevie was also offered a spot in David's live band that was going to tour for the album, but he turned it down, and went onto recording his first solo record with Double Trouble "Texas Flood", and got the massive career in the 80's.
It's a great song, and a pretty good looking music video for the times. Stevie isn't in the video, and Bowie pretends to play a Stratocaster looking guitar while wearing white gloves, perhaps a nod to Stevie and the fact that no one could play like him, who knows? Or maybe just David being odd.

Enjoy ; )

Ray Charles - Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

So it's Christmas, and I haven't posted a single Christmas song yet. I'm making up for that now. This is a performance by soul legend Ray Charles performing the classic Christmas song "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town".
The performance is from the "Feed the Future" benefit in 2007.
Ray's version is a bit more soulful than most other versions, but it is still probably more a pop song, or a seasonal song, if that's even a category of music. There just aren't a whole lot of blues Christmas songs.
Ray plays a soulful piano, and also gets out a harmonica and plays that as well.
It's a very good performance of this classic Christmas song, and it's sure to get you in the holiday spirit.

Enjoy ; )

Repost: B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone

I posted this once before, but the version I posted was taken down from youtube. I don't mind that however, because this is a better version in my opinion. (Click here to read the text from the old post, and a little background on the song).
This version is from BB's performance at the 1993 Montreux Jazz Festival, and it's just a smokin' version of the song. It starts out a little slower than the first version I posted, with BB playing at a very low volume level, with a lot of emotion. Then towards the end it picks up speed, BB turns up the volume, stands up and gives us the grand finale of his playing, and this concert. It's a great performance and a great show. (Can be purchased at Amazon.com, and is published by Eagle Rock, click here for product information).
It's a great performance, and the whole band is into it. The string section from the original recording is imitated beautifully on a keyboard, and the horn section do a fine job.
This is a great performance, and if not the best, then definitely one of the best versions of this song.

Enjoy ; )

Jeff Beck - Hammerhead

This is a live performance by guitar legend Jeff Beck. It was released on the 2010 album "Emotion & Commotion". Since it's a pretty new song, there isn't any really good concert footage of Jeff performing this yet, so I've included the album version in a youtube video beneath. The song credits both Jeff Beck and his keyboardist Jason Rebello, and Jeff states that the song's inspiration comes from their love of keyboardist Jan Hammer. Jason came up with the riff on the keyboard, and Jeff picked up on it, Jeff calls it a young and Indian sounding riff, ans states that it kicks ass which I agree with him on 100 %.[1]
It's a rock instrumental, and Jeff plays the main riff of the song alongside a 40 piece symphony orchestra which makes it sound epic, grand and magnificent. It has also recently been nominated for a Grammy at the 53rd Grammy Awards show. It's nominated for "Best Rock Instrumental" and has a good chance of winning, and I'm rooting for it, it's a good song.
The live version and the album version sound a bit different, and Jeff improvises a bit more in the live version, plus it's not with a symphony orchestra when played live.
A great song, cross your fingers for it at The Grammys.


Enjoy ; )

Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

The song "Whole Lotta Love" is a song by the legendary band Led Zeppelin. It was released in 1969 on the band's 2nd album titled "Led Zeppelin II". The song has appeared on many lists, and is considered one of the best hard rock songs ever.
The song is influenced by a lot of different blues singers and songs. Mainly the song "You Need Love" recorded by Muddy Waters, written by Willie Dixon. The lyrics in the two songs were very similar, and in the end Willie Dixon ended up suing the band. They agreed on a cash settlement, and that was the end of that. Plant has stated that he felt that the lyrics and the song was so far back in time that it was just influence, and not copying. He has also stated that Page's guitar riff was there before the lyrics, and that the guitar riff was the origin of the song, and they came up with the lyrics later. Plant then said that everyone borrows lyrics and stuff like that, but you only get caught when you're successful.[1] 
The song has a very unique and different construction. It starts off with Page's riff which also descends into the main verse. Then at about 3:02 into the song, it goes into a more jazzy feel, John Bonham plays a jazzy feel type of thing on the drums, and it goes into a very weird section with Plant moaning and screaming and Page playing his guitar with a bow, this section is by many fans referred to as the "Orgasm Section" of the song.
Below is a list of some of the lists the song has been on, and the ranks it has gotten on those lists. I really think this is one of the best, if not the best hard rock songs ever. Truly a great song, and a great recording and construction.

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Spin	United States	"100 Greatest Singles of All Time"[9]	1989	39
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame	United States	"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"[10]	1994	*
Classic Rock	United Kingdom	"Ten of the Best Songs Ever!.. (Bubbling under)"[11]	1999	30
VH1	United States	"The 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time"[12]	2009	3
Rolling Stone	United States	"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[13]	2003	75
Q	United Kingdom	"100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever"[14]	2005	3
Toby Creswell	Australia	"1001 Songs: the Great Songs of All Time"[15]	2005	*
Grammy Awards	United States	"Grammy Hall of Fame Award"[16]	2007	*
Rolling Stone	United States	"100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time"[17]	2008	11
VH1	United States	"VH1 Greatest Hard Rock Songs"[18]	2009	3

Enjoy ; )

Metallica - Mama Said

The top video is of James Hetfield performing an acoustic version of this song of the band's album "Load". It's a genre bending tune that strays a lot from Metallica's other songs. It starts off with an acoustic guitar, and the towards the chorus goes into a country inspired piece, with the whole thing sort of peaks, and power chords played on a distorted electric guitar plays through the last part of the song. I think it's a really good song, and it really sounds great in the studio version, a well mixed song that mixes genres. The video below is the music video for the song, so you can hear the studio version of the song as well.

The lyrics are written by Hetfield, and they are about a boy struggling to find his own way in life without his mother. This draws on Hetfield's own relationship to his mother who died of cancer.
The song has never really been part of Metallica's live set, probably because it strays so much from Metallica's traditional metal sound. Hetfield has played it alone with no accompaniment, and has also played with country singer Jessi Colter. But we'll probably never get the band playing the song live as it was recorded. It's sort of James' song which is also shown in the fact that the other band members only make a brief and excluded cameo in the music video for the song.
Still a very good song.


Enjoy ; )

ZZ Top - Bang Bang

(The resolution isn't very good, so it's the small size player)
This is a live performance by blues, rock and hard rock band ZZ Top. They perform the song "Bang Bang" from their 12th studio album Rhythmeen released in 1996. It's a great little song that does what ZZ Top does best, produce good, funky, bluesy and fun songs.
On this album they sort of went back to a more rock/bluesy sound. In the 80's they had experimented with synthesizers and electronic drum beats. A sound that gave the great air-play and success, but didn't sound like their earlier work.
The album got mixed reviews, but I think that it's a top notch album, prima quality, and just what you'd expect from ZZ Top. If you're a fan, it's a must-have in your collection, definitely.
They do a great performance with a nice set of bongos accompanying Frank Beard on the drums which gives the song a very good rhythm and groove.
A great song, and a great performance.

Enjoy ; )