David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

japan mini LP (2007) Toshiba EMI TOCP 70147
eac.wv.log.cue.covers

David Bowie fired the Spiders From Mars shortly after the release of Pin Ups, but he didn't completely leave the Ziggy Stardust persona behind. Diamond Dogs suffers precisely because of this -- he doesn't know how to move forward. Originally conceived as a concept album based on George Orwell's 1984, Diamond Dogs evolved into another one of Bowie's paranoid future nightmares. Throughout the album, there are hints that he's tired with the Ziggy formula, particularly in the disco underpinning of "Candidate" and his cut-and-paste lyrics. However, it's not enough to make Diamond Dogs a step forward, and without Mick Ronson to lead the band, the rockers are too stiff to make an impact. Ironically, the one exception is one of Bowie's very best songs -- the tight, sexy "Rebel Rebel." The song doesn't have much to do with the theme, and the ones he does throw in to further the story usually fall flat. Diamond Dogs isn't a total waste, with "1984," "Candidate," and "Diamond Dogs" all offering some sort of pleasure, but it is the first record since Space Oddity where Bowie's reach exceeds his grasp.



01. Future Legend [0:01:08.00]
02. Diamond Dogs [0:05:58.10]
03. Sweet Thing [0:03:38.50]
04. Candidate [0:02:40.07]
05. Sweet Thing (Reprise) [0:02:32.13]
06. Rebel Rebel [0:04:33.67]
07. Rock 'n' Roll with Me [0:04:01.59]
08. We Are the Dead [0:04:59.21]
09. 1984 [0:03:27.28]
10. Big Brother [0:03:20.35]
11. Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family [0:02:03.70]

Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around

Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around
1968 - 1993 HDCD
EAC, WAV Pack, CUE, LOG, Covers.

The internal dissension that was already eating away at Buffalo Springfield's dynamic on their second album came home to roost on their third and final effort, Last Time Around. This was in some sense a Buffalo Springfield album in name but not in spirit, as the songwriters sometimes did not even play on cuts written by other members of the band. Neil Young's relatively slight contribution was a particularly tough blow. He wrote only two of the songs (though he did help Richie Furay write "It's So Hard to Wait"), both of which were outstanding: the plaintive "I Am a Child" and the bittersweet "On the Way Home" (sung by Furay, not Young, on the record). The rest of the ride was bumpier: Stephen Stills' material in particular was not as strong as it had been on the first two LPs, though the lovely Latin-flavored "Pretty Girl Why," with its gorgeous guitar work, is one of the group's best songs. Furay was developing into a quality songwriter with the orchestrated "The Hour of Not Quite Rain" and his best Springfield contribution, the beautiful ballad "Kind Woman," which became one of the first country-rock standards. But it was a case of not enough, too late, not only for Furay, but for the group as a whole.

El último y muy estimable testimonio de la calidad y buen hacer de Buffalo Springfield, un magnífico supergrupo que a pesar de las diferencias personales derivadas de la inevitable confrontación de egos, de la dispersión individual y de la chocante fuerte personalidad de sus miembros, consiguió crear un espléndido álbum en el que se armonizan variados géneros como el country, el blues, el folk y el pop. El trabajo de composición se reparte entre el terceto base con un Neil Young poco participativo, quien se encontraba pensando ya más en su andadura en solitario. Aún así deja constancia de sus amplias dotes creativas con "On the way home", "I am a child" (con el propio Neil a la voz solista) y co-escribiendo junto a Richie Furay "It's so hard to wait", una suave y relajante pieza de gran clase. Un Furay muy lúcido oferta sugestivas joyas en donde se puede gozar de su mágica y cálida voz. Entre ellas "The hour of not quite rain" (con unos portentosos arreglos), "Merry-go-round" y "Kind woman". Stephen Stills continúa en su línea maestra, acertando plenamente en temazos de tintura más negra como "Pretty girl why", "Four days gone", "Special care", "Questions" y "Uno mundo" (donde se permite chapucear algunas palabras en español). Incluso el productor y bajista Jim Messina compone una de las canciones de mayor regusto country del álbum, "Carefree country day". Después de finiquitar la breve vida del grupo con este subestimado "Last time around", la mayoría de sus miembros prosiguieron en el mundillo musical. Stephen Stills se uniría a sus compinches David Crosby y Graham Nash para formar el famoso trío Crosby, Stills & Nash, el cual contó a veces con la incorporación de Neil Young. Richie Furay, por su parte, formaría junto a Jim Messina el grupo Poco.

John Lennon - The Lost Lennon Tapes (Vinyl) Vol. 2

Publisher: Bag Records
Reference :BAG 5074
Date :1988
Made In :Canada
Quality : flac.covers
Total duration: 43:18

01	Revolution	Esher demo At start John says, "Put the incense on, light the candles and give yourself a hard time." The take on CLLT 6 is the same take.	3:52
02	Child Of Nature	Esher demo Longer version on Complete Lost Lennon Tapes Vol. 6	2:33
03	He Said He Said/She Said She Said	Acoustic demos This is actually the end few seconds of "He Said" demo as on CLLT 14, spliced together with part of "She Said" demo found separately on CLLT 14.	1:07
04	I'm The Greatest	Early piano demo #2	1:21
05	Make Love Not War	Piano demo - Early "Mind Games".	3:13
06	How Do You Sleep ?	Take 4 0 Long outtake version.	8:09
07	Daddy's Little Sunshine Boy	With Ringo	0:28

08	I'm The Greatest	Take 1 Preceded by a song from John about "knitting a sweater".	2:50
09	The Luck Of The Irish	Acoustic Take 1 and Take 2	3:11
10	Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him	John for first half, then Yoko joins in.	3:17
11	(Just Like) Starting Over	Guitar and drum machine demo (Take 3)	4:53
12	I Promise (Love Is The Answer)	Piano demo	1:56
13	Medley : Sea Ditty My Old Man's A Dustman I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside Leaning On a Lamp Post Mr. Woo	John doodling at the piano	2:34
14	Grow Old With Me	Piano and drum machine. Yoko speaks at the end.	3:19

Jefferson Airplane - Last Flight 1972

Jefferson Airplane - Last Flight
Winterland Arena 12 Sep 1972

Released: 2007
eac.flac.cue.log.covers

Last Flight is an album taken from the last live performance of the San Francisco rock group Jefferson Airplane prior to the band's dissolution in 1972. The concert was held at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco, and selected tracks were released on the 1973 album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland. Last Flight consists of much of the remaining unreleased material.

A cover sticker announces this is "the first authorised release" of Jefferson Airplane's final concert performance before their 1970s breakup, held at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco on September 22, 1972. That show, along with others, was tapped for the 1973 live album Thirty Seconds Over Winterland, a seven-track LP that ran less than 40 minutes, whereas this double-CD set runs over an hour and 43 minutes and contains 20 selections. Of course, professional recording equipment was present, and, even though this seems like only a semi-legitimate release, the result is good sonic quality for the most part. There is, however, a strange edit at 5:46 in the 11-minute "Feel So Good," indicating that something went wrong somewhere along the line. Otherwise, this is an effective performance by the late-period Jefferson Airplane, the band that produced Bark and Long John Silver, which serve as the sources for half of the selections. Only the opener, "Somebody to Love," "Wooden Ships," "Crown of Creation," and the closer, "Volunteers" (which includes a reappearance from departed singer Marty Balin), date from before 1970, and there are some songs that belong in the repertoire of Airplane spinoffs, such as "Come Back Baby," from Hot Tuna's First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, "Papa John's Down Home Blues" from Papa John Creach, and "Diana" from Paul Kantner and Grace Slick's Sunfighter. ("Blind John," as Slick hints in a stage remark, was about to be heard on Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's guest-filled solo album Rolling Thunder.) The set list makes sense for a band that was, in effect, ending a tour intended to promote Long John Silver, but fans might have hoped for a show that summed up the whole of Jefferson Airplane's career as its final concert statement. Of course, at the time nobody was acknowledging that this show was the final statement; it just turned out that way (until the 1989 reunion, that is).

1. Introduction by Bill Graham – 1:14
2. "Somebody to Love" – 4:39
3. "Twilight Double Leader" – 4:30
4. "Wooden Ships" – 6:17
5. "Milk Train" – 4:09
6. "Blind John" – 4:27
7. "Come Back Baby" – 7:01
8. "The Son of Jesus" – 5:13
9. "Long John Silver" – 5:15
10. "When the Earth Moves Again" – 3:55
11. "Papa John's Down Home Blues" – 5:26
12. "Eat Starch Mom" – 5:35
13. "John's Other" – 6:08
14. "Trial by Fire" – 4:24
15. "Law Man" – 2:40
16. "Have You Seen the Saucers?" – 4:04
17. "Aerie (Gang of Eagles)" – 3:30
18. "Feel So Good" – 11:00
19. "Crown of Creation" – 3:23
20. "Walking the Tou Tou" – 5:11
21. "Medley: Diana/Volunteers" – 5:21

Buffalo Springfield - Again (1990 HDCD)

Buffalo Springfield - Again

Released: 1967
Genre: Rock - Country Rock
(HDCD 1990)
Format: eac.wavpack.log.cue.covers


Uno de los grupos musicales más importantes de los 60, no sólo por incluir en sus filas a importantes personajes que serían con posterioridad figuras clásicas dentro del universo del rock sino por su indagación y expansión en diferentes vertientes de los sonidos propios del continente americano, como el country, el blues o el folk, que en combinación con sus constantes pop-rock lograron extraer una influyente acústica que definió las pautas principales del country-rock y el folk-rock.

El grupo estaba formado por varios jóvenes pero avezados músicos que se habían pateado buena parte de Norteamérica para intentar abrirse paso en el mundo de la industria del disco hasta que en el año 1966 se encontraron en la ciudad de Los Angeles.
El guitarrista y vocalista canadiense Neil Young (ex Mynah Birds), el cantante y guitarra tejano Stephen Stills (ex Au Go-Go Singers), el vocalista y guitarrista Richie Furay (ex Au Go-Go Singers), el bajista Bruce Palmer (ex Mynah Birds) y el batería Dewey Martin (ex Dillards y Modern Folk Quartet) fueron los primeros nombres que conformaron el nuevo grupo bautizado como Buffalo Springfield.

Tras llamar la atención de Ahmet Ertegun con sus vibrantes actuaciones en vivo por los clubes angelinos firmaron con Atco Records, en donde publicaron el soberbio album debut homónimo "Buffalo Springfield" (1967), excepcional trabajo que contenía temas como el himno generacional "For what it's worth" (compuesto por Stephen Stills como protesta por los violentos métodos policiales tras una pacífica manifestación) o bellos temas pop de elevadas melodías y logradas armonías como "Flying on the ground is wrong".
Las composiciones del album estaban compartidas por Young y Stills, aportando ambos en la escritura lo mejor de su talento. "For what it's worth" fue su tercer single del álbum (cara b "Do I have to come right out and say it"), alcanzando el puesto 7 en el Billboard.
Previamente habían publicado los tambíen excelentes "Nowadays clancy can't even sing" (cara b "Go and say goodbye") y "Everybody's wrong" (cara b "Burned"), temas con elementos country y folk que pasaron sin pena ni gloria a nivel comercial a pesar de su gran calidad como piezas musicales.
La rápida secuela a este disco fue "Buffalo Springfield Again" (1967), una obra maestra atemporal que incluía una mayor experimentación, siempre dentro de los patrones usuales en su sonido.
Los singles fueron "Bluebird" (canción para Judy Collins que tenía como cara b a la stoniana "Mr. Soul"), el tema dedicado a Grace Slick "Rock & Roll Woman" (cara b "A child's claim to fame") y la maravillosa "Expecting to fly" (cara b "Everydays"). Furay se incorporó a la tarea compositiva con buenas canciones como la citada "A child's claim to fame" o "Sad memory".

El gran problema de Buffalo Springfield fue su falta de cohesión interna, pues los choques de ego entre Young y Stills comenzaron a romper la ligazón general entre sus miembros y problemas de drogas provocaban la ausencia regular de Bruce Palmer en el estudio de grabación, que fue sustituido en muchos pasajes por Jim Fielder. Finalmente Palmer abandonó el grupo y fue reemplazado por Jim Messina.
En 1968 se separaron, aunque previamente habían publicado el también magnífico e infravalorado "Last Time Around" (1968), un Lp producido por Messina en el que el grupo en conjunto practicamente no coincidió jamás en su elaboración. Neil Young ya pasaba bastante del proyecto y fue sustituido en algunas piezas por Doug Hastings.
La calidad del disco es más que notable y la escucha de los singles "Uno Mundo" (cara b "Merry go round"), "Special care" (cara b "Kind woman"), "On the way home" (cara b "Four days gone") y "Pretty girl why" (cara b "Questions") así lo demuestran.
Tras la ruptura, Stephen Stills se unió a David Crosby (ex Byrds) y Graham Nash (ex Hollies) para formar el exitoso supertrío Crosby, Stills & Nash, que conoció en algunas entregas el acompañamiento de Neil Young. Tambien Stills comenzó una carrera en solitario y un proyecto denominado Manassas.
Neil Young iniciaría una legendaria, prestigiosa y ecléctica carrera como solista, Richie Furay y Jim Messina crearían el meritorio grupo de country-rock Poco, Bruce Palmer lo intentó también en solitario mientras que el batería Dewey Martin quiso probar fortuna con New Buffalo Springfield (posteriormente New Buffalo), pero sus trabajos no encontraron demasiada repercusión.
Bruce Palmer falleció el 1 de octubre del año 2004 a causa de un ataque al corazón.

Due in part to personnel problems which saw Bruce Palmer and Neil Young in and out of the group, Buffalo Springfield's second album did not have as unified an approach as their debut. Yet it doesn't suffer for that in the least -- indeed, the group continued to make major strides in both their songwriting and arranging, and this record stands as their greatest triumph. Stephen Stills' "Bluebird" and "Rock & Roll Woman" were masterful folk-rockers that should have been big hits (although they did manage to become small ones); his lesser-known contributions "Hung Upside Down" and the jazz-flavored "Everydays" were also first-rate. Young contributed the Rolling Stones-derived "Mr. Soul," as well as the brilliant "Expecting to Fly" and "Broken Arrow," both of which employed lush psychedelic textures and brooding, surrealistic lyrics that stretched rock conventions to their breaking point. Richie Furay (who had not written any of the songs on the debut) takes tentative songwriting steps with three compositions, although only "A Child's Claim to Fame," with its memorable dobro hooks by James Burton, meets the standards of the material by Stills and Young; the cut also anticipates the country-rock direction of Furay's post-Springfield band, Poco. Although a slightly uneven record that did not feature the entire band on several cuts, the high points were so high and plentiful that its classic status cannot be denied.

John Lennon - The Lost Lennon Tapes (Vinyl) Vol. 1

John Lennon - The Lost Lennon Tapes (Vinyl) Vol. 1

Publisher: Bag Records
Reference :BAG 5073
Date :1988
Made In :Canada
Quality : Flac.covers

1 Strawberry Fields Forever Very early acoustic runs - Kenwood demos (Takes 2,4,6,7) 3:04
2 The Happy Rishikesh Song Acoustic demo 1:52
3 Rock Island Line Acoustic take 2:32
4 John Henry Piano take with double-tracked vocal 1:37
5 Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox) Acoustic demo #2 1:22
6 Keep Right On To The End Of The Road Sang at a press conference in support of Oz, 14th July 1971 this was issued on a flexi and given free with a later Oz edition.
John sings in silly voice, Yoko joins in.
At end John says "Radio Free Widnes". 0:40
7 Goodnight Vienna Demo (same as on the official "Anthology") 2:52
8 Tennessee Demo takes 1 & 4 (?)
Composing piano and drum machine demo. 1:56
9 God Save Oz Take 1
A better quality version of the same take is on Complete Lost Lennon Tapes Vol. 5 3:07
10 With A Little Help From My Friends Sean sings his favourite Beatle song which John struggles to remember it's title. 0:37
11 Power To The People Take 2 2:29
12 Here We Go Again Acoustic Demo 1:21
13 Mucho Mungo Acoustic Demo 2:11
14 God Acoustic demo #2, quite fast too 1:26
15 Life Begins At Forty Acoustic and drum machine demo (same as on the official "Anthology"). At start John says, "This is the Dakota country and western club" 2:03
16 Woman Bermuda demo (Acoustic and drum machine)
This is the same as the take on CLLT 4 except the one on 4 is longer.
I believe this to be demo #3 (see index). 3:06
17 Girls And Boys "Real Love" earliest acoustic demo #1 2:20
18 Clean-Up Time Piano demo - Take 2 3:08
19 Beautiful Boy Demo 4 - Acoustic and hand-claps + Sean's Goodnight 2:48

Bob Seger - Like a Rock

Bob Seger - Like a Rock

Released: Apr 1986
Genre: Rock - Detroit Rock
Format: eac.wavpack.log.cue.covers


Enough already. Just when you thought you'd defect if you heard one more song with "America" or "U.S.A." in the title, here comes "American Storm," the first single off Bob Seger's new album, Like a Rock. A shallow rewrite of "Even Now" (a single from Seger's last album, 1983's The Distance), "American Storm" is a compendium of the kind of clichés about "America" and "struggle" that ring false. When people hear Seger sing, "We take no risks," they're either going to laugh at the unintended irony or quickly turn the dial.

This is a shame, because much of Like a Rock, Seger's fifteenth album, is likable and thoughtful, unlike "American Storm." On The Distance, Seger extended his vision beyond the rocker's standard concerns, and he continues to probe; this album's "Miami," for instance, is a haunting evocation of the dreams carried from Cuba to Florida on the Freedom Flotilla. But his best writing is still centered on stark domestic scenes. Now forty-one, Seger seems most comfortable and least overwrought when he slows down: the most fully realized of the album's dramatic ballads, "The Ring," describes a marriage crumbling into resignation. The sweetly nostalgic title track, a wistful sequel to 1976's "Night Moves," finds Seger's gaze fixed on the rear-view mirror, yearning for strength.

All well and good, but Seger doesn't break any new ground with this LP. For the past decade, much of the Silver Bullet Band's best music has been in E Street territory, a tradition continued here. There have been some updates, though. The vocal arrangements are exquisitely tight and supportive, and "Tightrope" and "The Aftermath," two synthesizer-dominated songs Seger co-wrote with keyboardist Craig Frost, are the most distinctly modern tracks he's recorded. Like a Rock is a modest album, but when it works, it picks you up, takes you out and brings you back home. (RS 475)

Many people condemn this album as being Seger's attempt to reinvent himself as an '80s rocker. It's true that the omnipresent synthesizers sound a little dated today, but if you're willing to overlook them, you'll discover a treasure trove of music that got surprisingly little recognition for its inventiveness and power. "American Storm" is essentially an update of Seger's earlier song "Even Now," displaying all the glorious driving beats and hard-sung lyrics that made that song such a hit. "The Aftermath" and "Sometimes" follow up in that vein, with a relentless rhythmic pulse--driving music if ever there was any. "Miami" is something of a departure for Seger, a smooth, almost soft-rock song that casually tells a compelling tale--a notable foreshadowing of the style he would explore in depth with his album "The Fire Inside." The other work is less notable, although "The Ring" is one of the most lyrically brilliant stories Seger's told. "Like a Rock" sounds the most like the "original" Bob Seger, and would easily be the best song on the album if we hadn't all heard the chorus so darn much (and I agree... someone at Chevy should be fired for that). Overall, this CD represents Seger's first real departure from his classic-rock roots, and that might initially turn people away from buying it. If you take it on its own terms, however, there's a lot to like about this album--and a surprising amount of the original Bob Seger sound to boot.

Plaza Real

Plaza Real de Barcelona, se diseño por el 1850 y hasta hace pocos años estaba llena de comercios singulares, taxidermistas, fotografos... hoy solo hay bares y restaurantes, ademas de una variada fauna humana. Las farolas las diseño Gaudi, son una maravilla en su simplicidad.





En el lado derecho de la Rambla, , una vez pasada la calle Ferran, se abre la plaza Reial, uno de los espacios de la ciudad de más tradición e interés, por su configuración y la vida que en ella se desarrolla. Como una gran parte de los espacios públicos de la ciudad antigua, la plaza Reial ocupa el solar del antiguo convento de capuchinos. Fue creada en el año 1848 por el arquitecto y urbanista Francesc Daniel Molina.

Esta plaza, remodelada en diversas ocasiones, es actualmente punto de reunión de un público muy heterogéneo, el cual encuentra en este espacio, un lugar para sentarse y tomar unas copas al aire libre en las terrazas bajo los porches acogedores que la caracterizan. En el centro de la plaza está la fuente llamada de las "Tres Gràcies". Las dos farolas de la fuente son obra del joven Antoni Gaudí.

Las Ramblas