So on Smooth Radio they're having their top 500 songs again, and usually I don't vote but this year I did: My top song I voted for was this gem: It asks for a reason why it's your top song, and the reason I gave: It is the quintessential end of summer song. It perfectly encapsulates the nostalgia for past summers and summer romances. It evokes memories of past loves, long summer days, basking in the heat of the sun, feeling the sand upon your feet, hearing the crashing of waves (and the call of seagulls, as in the instrumental break) and the idea that while these loves, these summers may be gone, they will always be part of you and in years to come, you can look back on them with bittersweet feelings. I must admit, I kinda like the DJ Sammy version. It's got a similar nostalgic vibe to it, but it feels like more of a party song. And like the nostalgia feels like it's more pertaining to young, buff 20-something year old college students partying on the beach during spring break or whatever. Still nostalgic, but a very different vibe. I think it was the first version of the song I heard though. Though obviously it doesn't compare to the classic Don Henley version. In case you're interested, my other choices were Taylor Swift -State of Grace, First Aid Kit - Waitress Song, Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time, The Cranberries - Linger, Coldplay - Strawberry Swing, Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Owl City - The Salt Water Room. Tbf, only some of them were certainties: State of Grace, Waitress Song and Strawberry Swing, the others I wasn't sure of.
A lot of talk about great guitarists lately, but here are 2 who as individuals easily get into anyone’s top 100, but put them together, and they are arguably the best twin lead combination ever. I give you Duane Allman and Dickey Betts:
Thanks, Chilco ...... I remember a friend of mine at school bringing in a copy of “Eat A Peach” when we were all raving about Zep and how good Page was ...... he put it on the record player in the 6th form common room and the place went quiet ..... I remember thinking “Holy ****!” ..... what a great band and so sad that Duane was taken so early .......
Indeed, killed in a collision with a truck on his Harley, in Macon Georgia. It’s often forgotten that the bass player in that video, Berry Oakley, was killed almost exactly a year later, just a few blocks from where Duane crashed, when his motorcycle hit a bus.
This lot could put a tune together. I was there slight dazed, not confused, spot me in the crowd I'm the the one with long hair denim jeans and a hooped polo, yellow and green as I remember, there's a photo somewhere in a box.
If I am going to listen to this kind of music,I really like the Tedeschi Trucks Band - Derek Trucks being another musician who played with the Allman Brothers. The TTB band were something I had read about but was not prepared to discover just how good they were when I heard them play live in Vienne a number of years ago. I suppose the large band sit in a style of music where blues, jazz and soul overlap. Since hearing them, I bought each new album as it came out but the last one was really MOR and the song-writing abilities seemed to have deserted them. I was really staggered how underwhelming it was and a marked contrast to their best work which I think would be appreciated by a good number of people posting here.
Derek Trucks is of course the nephew of Butch Trucks, one of the Allman Brothers Band original drummers.
Another brilliant drumming performance from "Powerful" Pete Thomas who formed a superb rhythm section with namesake Bruce (no relation) on bass in The Attractions...
You might enjoy this one more Ian, this was written by Dickey Betts after a gravestone he saw in a cemetery in Macon, Georgia. Duane Allman attributes some of the riffs he and Betts play to listening to Miles Davis and John Coltrane a lot. Sadly the cemetery where Elizabeth Reed lies is now the resting place for both Duane and Gregg Allman, and the bass player Berry Oakley:
Not really showcasing Ernie's electric guitar work but it has lyrics that are sadly even more relevant today....
Chilcs That is one of the best clips I have heard that has been posted here. I will ply devil's advocate with this and say that is this was recorded in 2021, this would be considered jazz and not rock. The Coltrane influence is self-evident. This tune bears a resemblance to Coltrane's "impressions" and is similarly based on a couple of modes although I love the fact that the head reverts in to 3/4. The solos are incredible. Again, this is purely modal improvisation. They are soloing on a single chord so the excitement comes from playing "off" of this harmony. It does strike me as sounding a lot like TTB bit without the horns. Like their modern equivalent, there are two drummers ( probably necessary if you are trying to emulate the great Elvin Jones from the Coltrane recordings) Thanks for posting,
Thanks Ian, and I absolutely agree this is more jazz than rock. The ABB were always hailed as being the inventors of the “Southern Rock” genre which spawned many followers, with Lynyrd Skynyrd foremost among them. But the Allmans themselves hated being pigeonholed into the rock label, and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” demonstrates why.