quote:

---

Originally posted by boombox

A bit late to the thread, so rather than multiple posts, here are (some) of mine:

Marty Balin - Comin' Back To Me - my favourite song EVER! That gentle guitar and Grace's recorder - just sets up the song for the voice to come in, a voice which raises the hairs on the back of your neck in all the right ways. And he's still got the voice now - just listen to any recording from the last JS tour.

And of course, from the same band, Grace Slick, be it belting out Somebody To Love or the gentle delivery of Lather. Attitude and a lovely tone, the epitome of a great lead singer.

Janis Ian - came to her very late - only a couple of years ago when I went to see her in an old cinema in Aberdare, just to see if she really was one of the greats and boy, did she deliver. This Train Still Runs has become one of my all-time faves and despite her tender age when it was recorded, her debut album recorded over 40 years ago is amazing.

Tim Buckley - what can I say that hasn't been said above - everyone should own Goodbye and Hello and Happy Sad!!

Fred Neil - proof you don't need to be a high tenor to sing beautifully.

Special mention also to Diana Mangano (ex of Jefferson Starship, who has just retired from regular touring, but who delivers Grace's songs better than anyone else other than Grace herself - and she also does Sandy Denny songs too) and David Freiberg - well, you knew there would be a strong JA/JS representation, but Harp Tree Lament on recent tours has been a tear-bringing song. Add to that, Huw Williams (Welsh acoustic maestro whose songs have been recorded by Fairport), Judee Sill, Sandy Denny, Tom Paxton, Al Stewart (can't believe the praise for him here - thought it was just me!), Donovan, John Martyn (when he sang, rather than mumbled) and just to throw a few curve balls for this board, Fish and Ian Gillan and you have a good selection.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Signed RW

In the mid-nineties, at a time when none of Fred Neil's music was
available on CD, anywhere in the world, I was given the opportunity
to put together a number of retrospective compilation releases from
the Capitol Records vaults. Fred Neil was my first choice. I also
did projects on McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman, Jesse Colin Young, and
my friend James Talley. In the course of squaring away the notes
for the Freddie set, I decided to contact a number of his greatest
fans (and acolytes) for input (David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Paul Kantner, John Sebastian, Richie Havens, Jesse Colin Young). The
first to respond were David Crosby and John Sebastian, but all were
willing and eager to share their thoughts and feelings about what
Fred Neil (still alive at the time) had meant to them. When the
plug on all of the projects I'd completed was unceremoniously pulled
after a regime change in the Capitol hierarchy, I just hung on to my
work, until a few years later, I learned that the Collector's Choice
label was releasing a two disc set of Fred Neil's Capitol years, at
which point I passed along the artist testimonials/statements about
Freddie to the folks at Collector's Choice. And that's how Crosby's
statement that Fred Neil had taught him (among many, many important
life lessons) that everything was music, came to be included in the
CD booklet. Also, as I recall, how to roll a proper joint, too. Just a couple of years ago, David was in the studio with me, on the air at the radio station I'm at here in Santa Barbara (we're his home town rock station) and we spun Fred Neil's "Dolphins" during the course of the interview. The point is, if by chance you're not already familiar with Fred Neil's work, but enjoy the music of any of the numerous artists on whom Fred was a major influence, it could well be worth
the effort to investigate his sadly small, and even more sadly, under-appreciated body of work, at last, thankfully, pretty easy to come by.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by John9

Allan - Al Stewart is especially well chosen and I was very pleased to see most of his original albums re-released last year albeit with some unusual bonus tracks. In early 1974, whilst I was at Leicester University, a friend of his was in the same hall of residence as I was and through him, Al turned up to do a really low key gig in our dining room. 'Past Present and Future'(perhaps his finest album) had recently appeared and I especially remember him doing 'Roads to Moscow' and 'Nostradamus'. It was just Al and an acoustic guitar...how often does something like that happen?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by bob f.

yeah, PRINE! his first, self -titled album is great! a recovering junkie's art speaks to me, personally. another artist, such as Steve Earle, touches me with truth and pain.
John Prine's music is balanced by meaningful lyrics, accoustic guitar, and depth , voiced by a soul of humor and wisdom.



...what the world needs now...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by boombox

Prine is vastly under-rated - I too love 'Sam Stone' - just as relevant now as when it was written. I have seen reviews where his guitar playing is criticised as being basic, but Dylan proved you only need three chords to write a great song! I love playing along to his stuff too, especially the funny and satirical stuff.

Strangely, though I'm a fan of The Youngbloods, JCY's solo stuff doesn't do much for me. But speaking of 'Darkness, Darkness', Banana does a lovely version of it these days on 5 string tenor guitar.

---