Wanted to do something different today. It’s my birthday, and I already built a playlist last week celebrating a bunch of great music that came out during the year of my birth. But the music of 1973 isn’t what made me into who I am now – that’s an ever-growing, ever-evolving store of musical moments and memories. And so I wanted to make another playlist, of the songs that inspired me, moved, me, marked significant moments of my life.
Continue reading “52 Reasons Why”
I’m back on vacation, this time disease-free and making the most of it on the sandy beaches of Jamaica, so album analysis and the final arc of Flower King records will wait until I’m home next week. I thought about another playlist of recent listening but, uh…it’s almost exclusively been the last few Deep Purple records. After initially being lukewarm on their new album =1, the first to feature Simon McBride on guitar, I fell hard for it and subsequently fell even harder for the last few with Steve Morse. You don’t want an hour of that, believe me (maybe you do).
Good thing I’ve been on a rampage lately with new music. Sure, it’s mainly progressive rock, jazz, fusion and – yeah – Deep Purple, but at least it’s not ALL Deep Purple, right? Right?
Continue reading “(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 11: Back in the Acquisition Saddle Again”
Oh man…almost 30 years since first hearing this and it sounds just as fresh, just as vibrant, just as alive as the first time I heard it. Friday Night in San Francisco is more than just a live document of three guitar virtuosos at the top of their game; it’s a seminal work of music, astounding in its passion, technicality, and execution, and a high water mark for Al Di Meola, John McLaughin, and Paco De Lucia. It’s bar none one of my favorite records of all time, and remains for me the apex of what you can do with a guitar, unadorned, armed with only your love of making music. Continue reading “Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco De Lucia: Friday Night in San Francisco (1981)”
Consuming the Tangible 