June 16

ON THIS DATE
1967 The Monterey Pop Festival begins. The list of performers in quite impressive: The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Animals, Buffalo Springfield
1970 The company who provided the money for Woodstock, Woodstock Ventures, announce that they lost money on the concert
1975 John Lennon sues the U.S. government for "selective prosecution" as the U.S. try to deport him
1982 James Honeyman-Scott of the Pretenders dies of a heroin overdose. That same day Donnie Van Zant of .38 Special is arrested for drinking on stage
2007 Rod Stewart marries Penny Lancaster

May 6

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MAY 6, 2009
Colin Earl, formerly with Foghat, is 67; Bob Seger is 64; Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish is 42; Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters is 38;

ON THIS DATE
1977 Led Zeppelin breaks their own attendance record for one single concert as 72,000 see their performance at the Pontiac Silverdome
1994 Pearl Jam begins their fight with Ticketmaster over ticket prices
1997 Crosby, Stills And Nash and Buffalo Springfield are entered into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame
2005 Ozzy Osbourne is diagnosed with Parkin Syndrome, a genetic disorder that attacks the central nervous system causing involuntary shaking
2006 A memorial stone in honor of the Bon Scott of AC/DC is unveiled in his birthplace of Kirriemuir, Scotland

CONCERT NEWS
May 8, 9, 10 THE NELSONS Disney World Lake Buena Vista

May 5

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MAY 5
Bill Ward of Black Sabbath is 61; Shawn Drover of Megadeth is 43;

ON THIS DATE
1968 Buffalo Springfield play their last concert in Long Beach
1984 Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders marries Jim Kerr of Simple Minds
1990 Jason Bonham gets married, and at the reception he plays a 5 song set with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones
1995 Steven Alder, formerly with Guns 'N' Roses, is arraigned on possesion of heroin charges
2000 Rod Stewart undergoes surgery to have a growth on his thyroid removed, which turns out to be benign
2003 Ted Nugent makes racist statements in an interview with a Denver radio station. Nugent is then dropped from the upcoming Summer Celebration Festival in Michigan

CONCERT NEWS
Saturday, July 25 DREAM THEATER Hard Rock Cafe Orlando
Sunday, July 26 DREAM THEATER Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #87. Love - Forever Changes (1967)

Love - Forever Changes (1967)

Label – Elektra
Producer – Arthur Lee / Bruce Botnick
Art Direction –William S. Harvey / Bob Pepper
Nationality – USA
Running Time – 42:52

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Alone Again Or
2. House Is Not A Motel
3. Andmoreagain
4. Daily Planet
5. Old Man
6. Red Telephone
7. Maybe The People Would Be The Times
8. Live And Let Live
9. Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This
10. Bummer In The Summer
11. You Set The Scene

Another really good album. I have liked both albums by Love that have been on the 1001 list. When “Forever Changes” was released in 1967 it only made only a minor dent on the charts, rising only to #154 on the Billboard charts. (It did however reach the Top 30 in Britain.) But time has treated it well – and is often considered as one of the finest and most haunting albums to come out of the Summer of Love. The first thing that stuck our to me was the sound. This record just has a great sound to it. There are nice, sharp electric guitars on the tunes "A House Is Not a Motel" and "Live and Let Live," but most of the record is built around interwoven acoustic guitars with strings and horns punctuating the melodies. “Forever Changes” is most probably Love's masterpiece. The songs are simply good! The songs at time do sound dated – mainly with some topics of the era in which it was recorded - but not so much that you can’t enjoy them. Studio musicians performed nearly all of the tracks due to the regular line-up's alleged ‘inability to function’.
The album was the first to be produced by Arthur Lee, with assistance from Bruce Botnick. Originally, the album was to be produced by Botnick and Neil Young, but Young bowed out due to his commitments to Buffalo Springfield. However, Young did stick with the album project long enough to arrange the track "The Daily Planet" – one of the standout tracks on the record.
It’s enduring impact cannot be denied. The most notable praise came in 2003 from the British magazine, NME, who rated “Forever Changes” #6 on their list of greatest albums of all time!! In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Forever Changes the 82nd greatest album of all time. In Joe S. Harrington's “Top 100 Albums” it comes in at #69. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it 40th in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in the December 11, 2003 issue. Mojo magazine ranked it the second greatest psychedelic album of all time, while in 1995 it made #11 in Mojo's list of the 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made. It ranked 83rd in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. Finally – “Forever Changes” was praised by the British Parliament in 2002 as being one of the Greatest Albums of All Time.

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You can purchase the CD here

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #80. Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again (1967)

Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again (1967)

Label – Atco
Producer – Buffalo Springfield and Jack Nitzche
Art Direction – Loring Eutemey
Nationality –USA
Running Time – 33:10

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Mr Soul
2. Child's Claim To Fame
3. Everydays
4. Expecting To Fly
5. Bluebird
6. Hung Upside Down
7. Sad Memory
8. Good Time Boy
9. Rock 'n' Roll Woman
10. Broken Arrow

This is another one of those bands that I feel like I should know more about than I do – and I should have heard this record before now! I of course knew ABOUT them but had no clue their story. And an interesting story it is.
Personnel problems saw Bruce Palmer and Neil Young in and out of the group, so Buffalo Springfield's second album ‘Buffalo Springfield Again’ was not the unified release that their debut album was. And yet - it doesn't really suffer because of that. In fact – this record stands as their greatest triumph. Stephen Stills' "Bluebird" and "Rock & Roll Woman" are bold rockers that one thinks should have been big hits (they did manage to be small ones); even the non-single contributions "Hung Upside Down" and the jazzy "Everydays" are just fine songs. Neil Young contributed "Mr. Soul," "Expecting to Fly" and "Broken Arrow," all three are great tracks with layered psychedelic textures throughout. Richie Furay (who had not written any of the songs on the debut and would go on to form Poco) wrote three songs but only "A Child's Claim to Fame," is really worth mentioning. So it is a uneven record that due to the conflicts doesn’t feature the entire band on many of the tracks (a number of Los Angeles session players are featured – including future Elvis Presley guitarist James Burton), but the high points are great AND plentiful enough that this is a good record and is highly recommended. In 2003, the album was ranked number 188 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.


You can purchase the CD here.

(LW)TOP 10 ABSOLUTE ROCK CD'S/DOWNLOADS FOR THIS WEEK
(Enter)1. U2...No Line On The Horizon
(1)2. NICKELBACK...Dark Horse
(3)3. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN...Working On A Dream
(2)4. ROBERT PLANT/ALISON KRAUSS...Raising Sand
(4)5. KID ROCK...Rock 'N' Roll Jesus
(5)6. HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD...Swan Song
(Enter)7. RUSH...Retrospective 3:1989-2008
(6)8. THEORY OF A DEADMAN...Scars And Souvenirs
(Re-enter)9. SHINEDOWN...The Sound Of Madness
(7)10. METALLICA...Death Magnetic

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR MARCH 12
Bill Payne from Little Feat is 60; Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is 53;

ON THIS DATE
1969 Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London. That same day George and Pattie Harrison are arrested for possession of cannabis resin
1974 John Lennon and Harry Nilsson are kicked out of a Smother's Brothers show in Los Angeles
2003 The Rolling Stones are told by the Chinese Ministry of Culture what songs of theirs they are NOT allowed to perform while touring their country. They are: “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Beast of Burden” and “Let’s Spend The Night Together.”
2007 Van Halen is inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame by Slash and Scott Weiland from Velvet Revolver. Eddie Vedder inducted R.E.M.

CONCERT NEWS
Monday, May 18 GAVIN ROSSDALE Jannus Landing St. Petersburg
Tuesday, May 19 GAVIN ROSSDALE House Of Blues Lake Buena Vista
Saturday, August 15 INCUBUS Ford Ampitheatre Tampa

December 5

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR DECEMBER 5
Little Richard is 76; J.J. Cale is 70; Jim Messian from Buffalo Springfield and Poco is 61; John Rzeznik from The Goo Goo Dolls is 43;