Quoted from SteveClark Been listening to mostly jazz lately, namely Vince Guaraldi, as per my avatar. But in the car right now... Neil Diamond - Hot August Night IMO, it's THE best live album ever made. It captures ND at a particular time in his career (1972) where he was just tasting some real success as an artist, but wasn't big enough to lap up all the acclaim and entertain solely off his name. His brand. No. Each track drips with passion, sung by an artist with something to prove - that he could deliver familiar choruses and catchy melodies on a different emotional level. On a level that deeply touched each person lucky enough to be there for the shows, and for each listener playing this all these years later. It's a masterpiece.

Glad to see that almost 11 years after this post was started, the dialogue continues...

It's of course morphed into a 'what are you listening to now?' discussion. Fyi - I still do buy CDs. If you download music, you still have to upload it to source in order to save it, and a CD is a portable source that can then be saved in to a digital platform.

StevenClark, I agree with you about Neil Diamond. Not sure it's the best live album ever, but it's an amazing piece of work. I've seen Neil 2x live, and the crowd reaction when he breaks into 'America'? I've only seen an explosion like that one other time - when The Who went into 'Baba O'Reilly'...

I'm listening to jazz as well, but mostly blues, which I feel is the new rock 'n' roll. Sure, AC/DC, Rush, etal. are making new music, but it's largely ignored. Even the Stones made a blues album recently.

Joe Bonamassa, Tedeschi / Trucks, Walter Trout, Samantha Fish, Keb Mo, Eric Gales, Mike Zito, Quinn Sullivan, Gov't Mule, Phish, along with classic artists like Free / Bad Company and Bonnie Raitt.

Quoted from ajr Glad to see that almost 11 years after this post was started, the dialogue continues... It's of course morphed into a 'what are you listening to now?' discussion. Fyi - I still do buy CDs. If you download music, you still have to upload it to source in order to save it, and a CD is a portable source that can then be saved in to a digital platform. StevenClark, I agree with you about Neil Diamond. Not sure it's the best live album ever, but it's an amazing piece of work. I've seen Neil 2x live, and the crowd reaction when he breaks into 'America'? I've only seen an explosion like that one other time - when The Who went into 'Baba O'Reilly'... I'm listening to jazz as well, but mostly blues, which I feel is the new rock 'n' roll. Sure, AC/DC, Rush, etal. are making new music, but it's largely ignored. Even the Stones made a blues album recently. Joe Bonamassa, Tedeschi / Trucks, Walter Trout, Samantha Fish, Keb Mo, Eric Gales, Mike Zito, Quinn Sullivan, Gov't Mule, Phish, along with classic artists like Free / Bad Company and Bonnie Raitt.

Yeah, this is like the thread that never dies. It pops up twice a year then hibernates.

I'm partial to Neil Diamond. My dad got me into him when I was little and it never left, which I'm thankful for. I've seen him several times as well.

But other than that, not much else except Jazz on Pandora. Good writing music. And as far as blues goes SRV is king as far as I'm concerned. Though I did just get tickets to see Cheap Trick in February up near me so I'm stoked about that. To this day CT is by far the loudest concert I've ever attended.

Quoted from SteveClark Though I did just get tickets to see Cheap Trick in February up near me so I'm stoked about that. To this day CT is by far the loudest concert I've ever attended.

Saw these guys way back in the day, way back… they were touring with KIZZ on the Love Gun tour in ’78, and I’ll agree with you on how loud these guys are; I was only 9 at the time (and, of course… in the KIZZ Army, lol)  to this day I think I suffer most of my hearing loss from that one concert, seriously.

This was the same year they recorded ‘Live at the Budokan’, probably their most iconic album. It was an amazing show to say the least, but then again, that was at a time when you were allowed to smoke in arenas, and everyone was smoking copious amounts of primo ganja. We (Mom, brother, and I) were so stoned from second-hand smoke, that to this day, whenever I hear "I Want You to Want Me”, I literally feel like I’m floating.

I saw Cheap Trick "open" for Heart... they were excellent.

They did a cover of the entire Sgt. Pepper album - it's really worth checking out.

AJR

I’ve just recently (shut up) downloaded Apple Music. Damn! Best decision I ever made. I can’t stop downloading music - old, new, all my old favorites.

Currently I am jamming hard to Justin Currie’s The Great War. Some (but not many) may remember him as the lead singer from Del Amitri (Roll To Me). This guy, holy shit, this guy knows how to write a song. This particular album came out in 2010, but it might as well be late 90s, early 2000s. Such a distinctive voice. Love it.

Quoted from ajr I saw Cheap Trick "open" for Heart... they were excellent. They did a cover of the entire Sgt. Pepper album - it's really worth checking out. AJR

CT does excellent covers. Just saw them in February at the palace theater in Albany NY. Rocking as always. Robin Zander’s still got some pipes, man!

Black Noi$e (feat. Earl Sweatshirt) - Mo(u)rning - https://youtu.be/miQhggqrVac

Anderson .Paak (feat. Rick Ross) - CUT EM IN - https://youtu.be/B7pTcCvBibo

A rock/folk album that never gets old for me is Deer Tick's "War Elephant." Deer Tick's lead singer is John McCauley and he has a really interesting voice.

I also recommend Damien Jurado's Saint Bartlett and many tracks from the Growlers.