Rod Stewart - A Night on the Town Deluxe Edition CD Review (Rhino/Warner)

Rod Stewart's seventh solo CD, A Night on the Town, was originally released in 1976 and this was Stewart's first platinum release. The disc has aged well and Rhino Records has now given it deluxe treatment by adding a second disc with an unreleased alternate version of the full A Night on the Town album along with four studio outtakes. These thirteen unreleased tracks are a 'must have' for long-time Rod Stewart fans and well worth a "trade up" from an LP or single disc versions of A Night on the Town. For the uninitiated, this disc is a return to the blues/bar-stomping sound of The Faces and 70's era Rolling Stones. While there are a few slow songs, "Trade Winds" is really the only syrupy ballad (and the only dud on the disc). If you are a fan of 70's British blues/rock, you aren't going to go wrong with this disc.

There are already a lot of reviews out of A Night on the Town, so I'm just going to focus this review on the bonus tracks. Disc 1 contains one bonus track, "Rosie", which was originally issued as the b-side to the single "The Killing of Georgie". This cut is a great New Orleans blues style bar room stomper. The song has a great build-up which features horns, strings and piano.

Disc 2 starts with the studio outtake "Share" which is a bit too soft for my taste but it doesn't fall to "Trade Winds" status as the song features intricate guitar work and raw vocals from Stewart. The alternate version of A Night on the Town follows and this is a great companion piece to the studio LP. These are "early versions" which are less produced, rawer versions of the songs. The early versions of the fast songs capture the rawness of a live-in-the-studio performance and the slow songs are more intricate than the fully produced versions would imply. While all of the songs are finished versions, this disc includes some studio banter which adds to the overall work-in-progress ambiance. In addition to including an early version of "Rosie", this second disc also includes an early version of Stewart's cover of The Beatles' "Get Back" (the final version was used in the film All This And World War II).

A Rod Stewart box set is supposed to be released sometime later this year and deluxe editions of Foot Loose And Fancy Free and Blondes Have More Fun will follow early next year.

Links:
Rhino Records
Rod Stewart's Website

Heaven & Hell: Win A Vinyl Copy of "The Devil You Know" (Courtesy of Rhino Records)

It has been a while since I've done a give-away...

To keep this simple - drop me an email at 'mike.brooklynrocks at gmail dot com' with the subject 'Giveaway'. Be sure to include to include your first and last name and postal mailing address in the email.

I'll close this out on July 2nd and choose a winner at random.

Links:
Heaven & Hell's Website
Rhino Records

Crosby, Stills and Nash - Demos CD Review (1968-1971)

Crosby, Stills & Nash's latest release Demos is a collection of twelve previously unreleased demos that were recorded between 1968 - 1971. The material is split between songs from the first two Crosby, Stills & Nash LPs and the individual band members' solo projects.

Where it gets really interesting is that nine of these demos are solo performances that are likely the 'working demos' that were brought to either CSN or solo band's recording session. These stripped-down demos highlight gems like David Crosby's clear tenor vocals on "Almost Cut My Hair" and "Deja Vu", where Crosby ends the song with some free-form scat vocals. Graham Nash has three songs on this collection from his first solo CD, Songs for Beginners, and these demos give songs like "Sleep Song", "Be Yourself" and "Chicago" an earnest and wistful charm.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are three songs which feature all three members of CSN or various combinations thereof. An acoustic demo of "Marrakesh Express" (where this demo was recorded a few months prior to the first CSN album) is particularly enjoyable, "Music Is Love" is a Crosby/Nash performance that adds Neil Young on guitar and vocals and "Long Time Gone" features David Crosby and Stephen Stills.

While Demos isn't a starting point for new CSN fans, it is pretty much a "must have" for long-time fans.

Crosby, Stills & Nash are out on tour this summer and they are playing a couple shows in the NYC area:

8.7.2009 Borgata Spa & Resort Atlantic City, NJ
8.8.2009 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY
8.11.2009 PNC Bank Arts Center Holmdel, NJ

Links:
Crosby, Stills & Nash's Website

Crosby Stills and Nash Release CD of 1968 - 1971 Demos on June 2nd (Rhino Entertainment)

STREAM: Crosby, Stills & Nash - Demos (Rhino Entertainment)
(Streaming tracks are "Marrakesh Express”, "Almost Cut My Hair” and “Love The One You’re With")

On June 2nd, Rhino is releasing a collection of 12 previously unreleased demos by Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) that were recorded between 1968 and 1971. Many of the performances feature various combinations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and the tracks are a good mix of CSN(&Y) and solo solo songs.

Some of the tracks include:
- "Marrakesh Express" features Crosby, Stills and Nash and was recorded four months before CSN's debut release
- "Music is Love" features Crosby, Nash and Young
- "Almost Cut My Hair" is a solo recording by David Crosby
- "My Love is a Gentle Thing" is a 1968 solo recording by Stephen Stills

Here is the complete track list:

1. "Marrakesh Express"
2. "Almost Cut My Hair"
3. "You Don't Have To Cry"
4. "Déjà Vu"
5. "Sleep Song"
6. "My Love Is A Gentle Thing"
7. "Be Yourself"
8. "Music Is Love"
9. "Singing Call"
10. "Long Time Gone"
11. "Chicago"
12. "Love The One You're With"

Crosby, Stills & Nash are out on tour this summer and here are their June tour dates:
June 03 - St. Louis, MO, Chaifetz Arena
June 04 - Chicago, IL, Charter One Pavilion
June 06 - Detroit, MI, Meadow Brook
June 07 - Toledo, OH, Zoo Amphitheatre
June 09 - Niagara, ON, Fallsview Casino Resort
June 10 - Canandaigua, NY, Constellation, PAC
June 12 - Cooperstown, NY, Doubleday Field
June 13 - Mashantucket, CT, MGM Grand @ Foxwoods
June 14 - Boston, MA, Bank of America Pavilion
June 27 - Glastonbury, England, Glastonbury Festival
June 29 - Cork, Ireland, Marquee

Links:
Crosby, Stills & Nash's Website

Graham Nash - "Reflections" CD Boxset Review (Rhino Entertainment)

STREAM: Graham Nash - Selected Tracks from Reflections

With the 'death' of the LP, most record companies seem to have forgotten the importance of the album cover art, lyrics that can be read without a magnifying glass and innovative packaging. Rhino obviously hasn't forgotten this as the packaging alone on Graham Nash's 3-CD retrospective is impressive. Reflections is designed to look like a weathered and well-loved book and this book folds open to reveal the three CDs nestled in full color art. The discs are accompanied by a 150-page book of photos and Graham's notes about each track.

The sixty-four tracks on this set follows Graham's career chronologically from The Hollies to Crosby, Stills and Nash (and C,S,N&Y) to Graham's solo recordings and his work with David Crosby. This is an impressive collection and die-hard Graham Nash fan who already own Graham's prior releases will likely want to pick up this box set as thirty-two of the sixty-four tracks are previously unreleased. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Graham said “I went through 44 versions of the set before I settled on this one...It was painful for me because I’m not for introspection or resting on my laurels. A lot of the musical soundtrack to my life is on this box set.”

While most of the unreleased tracks are alternate mixes or unreleased versions of familiar songs, one of the highlights of this box set is six previously unreleased songs. One of these songs includes an unreleased Crosby, Stills & Nash song from 1984 called "Lonely Man". Some of the other highlights include a new mix of "Cathedral" (originally on the 1977 "CSN" LP) and a solo version of the little heard "Right Between the Eyes" (originally on the 1971 live LP "4 Way Street").

This isn't just a greatest hits collection as all of Graham's work is given equal attention. Disc One serves as a "greatest hits" collection with songs from the original CSN(&Y) lineup and Graham's first two solo discs. Disc Two takes the listener through the Crosby/Nash partnership, various CSN reunions (and "almost" reunions - check out the track notes for "Mutiny") and tracks from Graham's two solo discs from the 80's, Earth & Sky and Innocent Eyes. The third disc brings the listener to the present and covers the more recent CSN work along with Graham's 2004 outing with with David Crosby. There are a number of unreleased Nash tunes on this last disc and the disc closes with the poignant "In Your Name". For this last song, Graham writes in the track notes "[t]he killing of human beings by other human beings in the name of their respective "God" has always seemed most unholy to me...this song is a small prayer."

Links:
Graham Nash