No laughing here Jasper, both are wonderfully romantic folk songs... Here is another from the same era and I love this version almost as much as I love Neil Young's original...
I remember watching a Mark Cohn YouTube (probably him doing WIM) and the recording ran on to include him making a very salient point on behalf of practically all professional musicians. He said, in a nutshell, by all means buy our records but most of the money we make these days comes from people attending live gigs. OK, Mark Cohn as a songwriter gets a fair whack of royalties just for the many recorded versions of Walking in Memphis alone, but the vast majority of musicians never have the luxury of a major hit like that. If you have any feeling for music at all, go and see it live, it's by far the best way of spending your time, and that includes watching football!
Could not agree more . For personal reasons I hardly ever go to concerts etc . However , when I have done , I have loved it . This is also why , when I post music on here , I try to find a decent live version .
Acoustic guitarists come in all shapes and sizes. Back in 1989 I came across one who played exciting and unpredictable music. He often played the harp guitar, which I had never even seen before, let alone heard. His technique was percussive, mixed with picking. He'd hit the strings with his fingers, from both hands. It produced a sound which had been known before, but Michael Hedges brought it into the popular domain. This track is a tribute to another guitarist, Pierre Bensusan, from the Aerial Boundaries album.
Michael Hedges died in a car accident in 1997. So this return tribute to him from Pierre Bensusan is quite poignant. So Long Michael:
This is quite an elderly Youtube video now. It is another example of a master of the acoustic guitar, Andy McKee, playing a tune called Tight Trite Night, written by another guitarist Don Ross. I choose this version because if there's one thing I can't stand with acoustic guitar playing, it is when the guitarist displays technique at the expense of the sound. I've heard Don Ross's version of this and it has nothing about it that I like. You can hear the technique but the tune is almost gone. Which brings me to celebrated guitarists like Tommy Emanuel. I can listen to him for about 30 seconds to a minute before he can't resist over doing the technique. Andy McKee is just this side of the tune, which is why it works for me:
Soul, R&B and Doo-Wop legend Ben E King was born on this day in Harlem, New York in 1938... Here are three of the timeless classics he sang on...
Love this rendition of Space Oddity. It is sung so straight and simple, yet given the context of where it was performed and recorded, it is raised to equal the original. Chris Hadfield is the astronaut and performer. Oh, and the visuals are entirely real. Which is something to think about in itself:
Happy Birthday to "The Killer", Jerry Lee Lewis who was born in Louisiana 82 years ago today.... What a showman he is....
Thank you for sharing your recommendations guys. For those who would like to listen to some Spanish, I recommend this station. http://www.rtve.es/radio/radio3/ The presenters are great and very informative. Unlike many of the daytime broadcasters on Radio 2 who tend to talk down to their audience, the presenters on Radio Tres treat the listener with respect. If you have teenage children who like good music and could be learning Spanish, this is the station for them.
