The News Blimp

When you love music as much as the Blimp Crew does…it’s really hard not to look back at the past 12 months and create a minds eye list of eardrum satisfying fave raves which…thank God…made a pretty lousy 2009 at least tolerable.

So…here, in no particular order…are 5 collections of music which helped keep The News Blimp aloft…while it seemed that for most of last year, much of our world was crashing forcefully down around us…

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears/Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is  No other band in 2009 unleashed such an infectiously strong blend of party rockin’ soul and blues as these Austin, Texas guys. If you can’t get your ass up off the couch when they rip into Boogie or Sugarfoot…you died last year.

Joe Bonamassa/Live At The Royal Albert Hall Simply put, this is a white man on a mission to save the black man’s blues…and he’s doing a pretty damn good job of it. To really capture the essence of the gig…go for the DVD…and head straight for Woke Up Dreaming. Everything you ever imagined about live music being so totally awe inspiring emotionally will be validated on that track…as Bonamassa tears it up for 10 plus minutes with only his voice and acoustic guitar. Goosebumps.

Booker T/Potato Hole Who woulda figured this? 64 year-old Stax legend Booker T. Jones hadn’t released a collection of tunes in practically decades…then along comes this from outta-left field ear busting monster collaboration with Neil Young and Drive-By Truckers. Mr. Jones proves he can still romp…and it’s found as you chomp down hard on the cover of OutKast’s Hey Ya…and then get your ears kicked sideways by Pound It Out. Never thought we’d say this about work from Booker T…but here we go: Crank it up!

Bob Dylan/Modern Times The man could be kicking back somewhere comfy…resting on his laurels and sipping or smoking whatever makes him happy. But, nope. Rather, here roars Thunder on the Mountain…and Dylan concocting 9 additional tumbling, rumbling grooves which might as well serve as the soundtrack for the Boomers in Century 21. Someday Baby, maybe. Modern Times, indeed.

Rolling Stones/Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out If Dylan’s Modern Times is designated the soundtrack for Boomers in the 2010’s…then this re-mastered 40th anniversary 1970 live set from Mick and the boys was the soundtrack for the post-flower power 1970’s. The Stones during this era were so musically tight it practically made all other bands irrelevant. And when they were introduced as “the greatest rock and roll band in the world”…it was no hype. It was God’s truth…and 7 minutes of Sympathy for the Devil proves it. Paint It Black, for sure.

Now go out and make some noise in 2010.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Culture, Entertainment, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.