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It takes a special breed of performer to be able to pull off a solo acoustic show in front of a large audience. When you strip away all the spectacle of a full live production (which usually include lights, band, sound reinforcement, etc.) and bring it all down to just an acoustic guitar and vocal, today’s typical singer/songwriter might not be able to keep an audience engaged for a full set of songs. Can you imagine any of the auto-tuned pop princesses on the radio these days having the cajones to stand in front of a packed crowd with just an acoustic guitar and no backup dancers, light show or a bank of computers to rely on? Something like that takes some old-fashioned talent in order to keep a crowd’s attention for more than a couple songs especially in this day and age of ADD. An artist like Shawn Colvin would be one that I’d place on the short list of performers who can successfully pull of a solo show like that. As a matter of fact, Colvin has recently released a 15-song live album simply titled Live that’s a perfect example of what it takes to do a live acoustic show.

In my opinion, Colvin brings three things to the table that keeps audiences enthralled. First off, she’s got a fantastic voice that is capable of conveying such a wide range of emotions. She’s got great control and her expert use of dynamics really shines through in this setting. Second, Colvin is a fantastic guitar player. Obviously, it takes more than just simple strumming to keep people’s interest and Colvin utilizes a variety of techniques that ultimately keeps each song fresh and unique. She also uses various alternate guitar tunings that pleasantly augment her sound with richness and depth. What surprised me when first seeing her live is the fact that she changes her tunings on-the-fly which can be very difficult to do while all eyes are waiting and watching. Other artists in a live setting usually bring along several guitars that are already tuned differently for convenience but Colvin is such a veteran of the stage, she simply changes tunings as she goes. Impressive, indeed!
and lastly, Colvin has written some strong material over the years. Her confessional-style lyrics have touched many and are so unique compared to the cliche-ridden manufactured fluff on the radio these days. Where else are you going to hear heart-breaking lines like -
“I can pack myself up in a matter of minutes, leave you all far behind. All of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find, if they ever were mine…”
or
“..wished hard enough to hurt, drove fast enough to catch the moon but I must have been dreamin’ again ’cause there’s nothing around the bend except for that flat fine line, the Wichita skyline…”

Colvin is truly a gifted artist and the new CD is just another testament to her talent and her work.

Personal favorites off the disc include – “A Matter of Minutes” (hits me down deep as a parent of young kids), “Tennessee” (I absolutely love the jazz-flavored chord she plays during the chorus), “Wichita Skyline” (love that signature percussive playing she does on the guitar), “Diamond in the Rough” and “This Must Be the Place” (I absolutely love her take on this Talking Heads tune).

retroGrade: A

Shawn Colvin – Live
Produced by Shawn Colvin and John Leventhal
Released: June 2009
Label: Nonesuch Records
Official website: ShawnColvin.com

TrackList:
1 Polaroids 5:05
2 A Matter of Minutes 4:31
3 Shotgun Down the Avalanche 4:01
4 Twilight 3:07
5 Trouble 3:55
6 Tennessee 4:01
7 Nothing Like You 3:38
8 Sunny Came Home 4:10
9 Fill Me Up 3:28
10 Wichita Skyline 3:42
11 I’m Gone 3:25
12 Ricochet in Time 4:10
13 Diamond in the Rough 4:04
14 Crazy 4:18
15 This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) 4:44
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Taylor Swift may not have the greatest voice but she sure does have a great sense of humor. On her last night touring with Keith Urban (at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri), Swift and her band rushed the stage while Urban was performing “Kiss a Girl” in full-on KISS outfits and makeup!! Watching the video clip, you can tell Urban was genuinely surprised by the whole thing. It’s a truly funny moment and I’m so glad some of the fans caught this on tape. Swift and her crew even got the KISS moves down. oh, and check out the Hershey’s Kisses prancing around in the back.

absolutely hilarious!

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The general public may not be aware of this but there’s a growing movement now among music enthusiasts who are going back to their record players and their vinyl LPs. The compact disc was once touted as the best medium for high fidelity music but over the years people were finding that they were missing the sonic warmth that the LPs had. With the mass consumption of iPods and other mp3 players, record companies have been tayloring their CDs for mobile devices by compressing dynamics and increasing overall volumes. So instead of improved fidelity and sonic quality, music on CDs for the last decade have sounded extremely loud and harsh, much to the dismay of audiophiles the world over. Since vinyl LPs have an inherent limitation to how loud music can be mastered onto it, discriminative listeners have found that music from the same album sound better on LP than on CD. This can also apply to CDs that were originally released in the 80′s compared to the “remastered” versions of the same album that were released after that time period. As a general rule, I avoid purchasing “remastered” versions of classic albums and try to find the CD versions that were manufactured in the 80′s. The 80′s counterpart may exhibit lower sound levels relative to the iPod generation, but at least the dynamics haven’t been squashed to oblivion. With the increased interest in finding vinyl LPs and better sounding CD editions of back-catalog albums, A Blog about Collecting Rare Vinyl 7″, 12″ like Sleevenotes is always a helpful reference tool. They feature the latest releases on vinyl as well as other collectables by legacy artists like Paul McCartney, Prince, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones. And if you’re familiar with what I regularly post about here on RetroBlog, then you know that I’m all about finding rare recordings and CD collectables by artists like these. So if you’re into music like me, be sure at add the Sleevenotes blog to your blogroll today!

I finally had the chance to watch the unaired “Epitaph One” episode that’s now available on the Dollhouse: Season 1 DVD set. And I’m relieved to be able to say that “Epitaph One” lived up to all the hype. I was a regular viewer of the Joss Whedon series on Fox and I’m glad to see the show getting some much deserved buzz surrounding the release of the DVDs as well as the upcoming season. Fox really put the kibosh on the show by putting it in the friday timeslot but hopefully the show will be able to turn it around and bring in some more viewers this coming season.

Anyway, “Epitaph One” takes place in 2019 with the world in chaos due to the technology that developed out of the Dollhouse/Rossum Corporation. Felicia Day does a fantastic job in leading the group of renegades that are trying desperately to make sense of what’s happening. The main cast appear via flashbacks and provide viewers brief glimpses of what took place to cause such a catastrophe.

here are some random tidbits from the episode:
- Topher lost his mind at some point and is as annoying as ever.
- we learn that Echo develops a way to block imprints
- Paul becomes Echo’s handler
- in the future, there’s a way to imprint the same person into multiple bodies. that’s just freaky!
- there’s some sort of relationship between Boyd and Dr. Saunders/Whiskey.
- oh and speaking of “Dr. Saunders” – apparently Amy Acker will be moving on to another series so her role will be diminished in season 2. so sad. she was superb as Dr. Saunders.

oh and it has been reported that Whedon & company will be working on a smaller budget. I’m not sure if that will affect the look of the show but they’ve already said that the episodes will no longer be 50 minutes anymore like they were in season one.

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The following post is sponsored by Sears but even so, all the opinions written here are my own.
I live near a college campus so even though I no longer have to worry about exams, professors or making it to the early morning lectures on time, I’m well aware of when fall semester is about to begin. That’s when 20,000 or so students all converge back into town after a long summer break. I still remember those harried days of my freshman year, trying hard to get accustomed to all the changes and new experiences. I especially remember “dorm life” being a real eye-opener for this sheltered boy. Yup, definitely an “education” on ALL fronts, to say the least.
In any case, the folks at Sears know how hectic it can be to get all set for college and have put together a great new website called CampusReady to help make the transition into college life as smooth as possible. They’ve thoughtfully placed helpful tips and recommended product info all in one easy to find page. The Dorm Room link features all the necessary items that a modern day student will need including coffee makers, bike rack, storage containers and computer monitors. The Interactive Checklist breaks the necessities into categories which can help parents and students list things out for their next shopping trip. If you don’t like “lists”, use the Shop by Need link to bring up items associated with “eating”, “sleeping”, “studying”, “playing” or “cleaning”. I like their money sense page where students will find practical advice on spending wisely and saving money. The last link on the CampusReady site is the fill my closet link which showcases the best apparel for today’s collegiate.
Oh and to make it even easier to connect with students, Sears has opened CampusReady on Facebook as well. The all new facebook app lets students design their ideal dorm room and also features a gift registry so that all their friends and family know exactly what they need.
and for all of us parents worried about covering our children’s tuition, Sears and Upromise are giving away a total of $25,000 in a brand new sweepstakes. Enter for your chance to win at sears.com/campusready.

I recently stumbled across an interesting 2001 interview with guitarist Jimmy Haun (currently with Circa and AKA) conducted by Henry Potts that’s posted on Henry’s Bondegezou website. I’ve always known that Haun contributed guitar work on some of the tracks on Yes’ 1991 Union album but I didn’t realize the extent of his contributions. According to what he said in the interview, Haun pretty much redid the bulk of Steve Howe’s guitar tracks on the album. Apparently Howe, Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson weren’t really getting along with each other during the making of the album (yeah, I know, what’s new?) and producer Jonathan Elias had to rely on other studio musicians in order to complete the tracks.

Here’s an excerpt of the Haun interview:
So I went to A&M studios in Hollywood to meet Jon Elias and he played me the rough tracks for the new ABWH album. Basically he told me Arista felt Steve’s guitar parts were unacceptable and that he had just soloed over all the songs. Now this was partially true. What they wanted was a blend of the old classic Steve Howe sound mixed with Trevor Rabin! I guess they felt it would sell more records. So Jonathan gave me a mix of three songs with no guitar on them (“Without Hope”, “Dangerous” and “Silent Talking” ), told me to do what Howe/Rabin would do. So in my home studio I recorded wall to wall guitar parts and mailed Jonathan the tape to New York. There was also two other name guitar players (I wish I could tell you who) who had done the same thing but they liked my tape the best, so I flew to New York for approximately three months and recorded guitar for my favorite band (a dream come true!)
about the song: “Shock to the System”:
Must have been a shock to Steve’s system—there is simply no Steve Howe on that at all! Steve had, of course, written the opening riff (which I ended up replacing for sonic reasons). I think this was my favorite track because I got to write most of the riffs and there was this new section we came up with and tacked on at 4:10 and the riff is very reminiscent of “Gates of Delirium”. And I had to replace some of the bass! (Tony Levin left his bass at the studio so we got his exact sound and added the sections.) I guess Steve refused to play this section live. (This is the track that Rabin played for Steve on the plane during the Union tour and Steve’s mouth dropped.)

read the complete interview on Henry Potts’ website.

It’s definitely a great read for those like me who are always interested in that particular era of Yes. The Union album as a whole isn’t one of my favorites but I have to say that it spawned a once in a lifetime tour with eight legendary musicians on one stage.

Anyway, for today’s song of the day I thought I’d post a live version of a song from the much maligned Union album. enjoy.
—
Shock to the System

Shock to the system,
But you’re going back inside of the light.
Shock to the freedom,
Only one more body of love in the rolling
They’re rolling back to you!
Dreaming all the time; they be dreaming all the time.

So, in answer to the prayer,
The one you feel is there,
The one you feel so close to (the order of the Sun).
And everyone is one and all the pieces fit together.
Did it all begin with Someone?
Did it all begin with Someone?
I could not admit to being alive!

- Shock to the System (from the Mountain View, California show, August 1991) [download mp3 via mediafire]
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