Over on Dead Air Space, Jonny Greenwood posted a list of some of his favorite hip hop tracks. I haven’t gotten into much hip-hop in my life, perhaps a list by Jonny Greenwood could convert me? Well, I am off to listen to some of these tracks and see if I like. If Jonny Greenwood likes them, they have got to be semi-good right? We will see.

The Tracklist:

Follow the Leader - Eric B & Rakim
Strange Eyes - RZA/Ghost Dog soundtrack
Air Hoodlum - Public Enemy (he’s a basketball fan….)
Take Notice - J Dilla
Deez Nuuuts - Dr Dre/Snoop Dogg
Zip Code - RZA/Black Knights
I Left My Wallet… - A Tribe Called Quest
Testin’ Me - Dudley Perkins
Bring The Noise - Public Enemy
Reunited - Wu Tang Clan
Wild - J Dilla
Don’t Believe the Hype - Public Enemy
Microphone Fiend - Eric B. and Rakim
Electric Relaxation - A Tribe Called Quest

In the movie Forest Gump, Forest finds himself a significant part of many major historical moments from the 1950’s onward. From meeting a young Elvis, to investing in Apple, Gump was everywhere. Perhaps the same could be said about the late keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, who played a significant role in recording some of the most important albums of the 60’s and 70’s, who helped shape the sound of1960’s Rock N Roll and who went on tour with some of the biggest acts of that time.

Hopkins begin his career in the early 60’s playing keyboards for a band called “Screaming Lord Sutch’s Savages” which included Richie Blackmore, the founder of Deep Purple. He also played keyboards on records by The Kinks, and several albums by the Rolling Stones including Between the Buttons, Their Satanic Majesties Request, Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed.

In 1965, Hopkins played keyboards on The Who’s first album, My Generation. In 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, which featured legendary performers such as Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. Hopkins also performed on The Beatles song “Revolution” and contributed to solo recordings from John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

Nicky Hopkins also made his way across the Atlantic to the West Coast, playing with bands such as The Jefferson Airplane, The Steve Miller Band and New Riders of the Purple Sage where he helped define the “San Francisco Sound.”

Along with performing on many of the Rolling Stones albums from the 60’s, Hopkins joined the Stones on several tours in the early 1970’s and contributed heavily to The Rolling Stones classic album Exile on Main Street. In 1975 he found himself on tour with the Jerry Garcia Band.

Other famous rock music moments Nicky Hopkins can be found on:

Joe Cocker: “You Are So Beautiful” (1974)
Cat Stevens: “Matthew and Son” (1967)
David Bowie: “Early On” (1966 sessions with the Lower Third)
Led Zeppelin: “Rock and Roll” (1969)

Back when I was a young lad, in my “obsessed with every typical classic rock artist phase”, I was a big fan of The Who. I regarded Tommy as one of the greatest albums of all time and Who’s Next came in a close second. Now when I listen to these albums they come across as overblown and semi cheeseball. One thing I didn’t do was give early Who the listen it deserves. After hearing “I Can’t Explain” on the radio recently, I finally realized how bad ass early Who is and how underrated it tends to be.

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“Images Of A Woman”, a painting produced by all four Beatles during their 1966 Japan tour.

I was in a Barnes and Nobles recently waiting in the checkout line. In front of me were the typical “bargain books” that bookstores sells near their lines. I found a Beatles picture book documenting their 1966 tour and started to browse through it. There are hundreds of different Beatles photos books, so I was expecting to see the same old photos I have always seen of the Fab Four. I came across a section of pictures of The Beatles sitting around a table, painting a picture. I had never seen these pictures before and was intrigued. Not only had I never heard about this, but I also really liked the painting. It turns out The Beatles were so bored holed up in the Tokyo Hilton that they decided to paint a picture.

Someday I am going to buy this painting. Oh yes, it shall be mine.

Read more about it and see more pictures here.

Also, it looks like the entire Beatles catalog has been remastered and will be released in September!

This never before released version just recently surfaced on youtube. It starts out normal then turns into a freakout.

UPDATE: It looks like EMI has decided to strike down upon the youtube streams. If you are still interested in hearing it, you should be able to find a way to download it here.

“Personal” might not be the best term to use, as the following photo streams are available to the public if you know how to find them. For the most part, the images we see of our favorite bands are usually limited to promotional photos and fan photos.  It is always a nice surprise to see photos taken by the actual artists that give us a little insight into their world as they travel around the globe on tour, record a new album or hang out with their friends.

1.  Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes guitarist Skye Skjelset has his own flickr photostream featuring images of the band visiting barn yard animals while on tour in Australia, hanging out with Beach House and much more.

Fleet Foxes Flickr Photostream

2. Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste has taken it upon himself to join the social networking craze by starting a twitter account. He also has a photostream over at www.twitpic.com displaying some pictures of everyday life and also a couple photos of the band recording their new album.

Grizzly Bear Twitpic Photostream

3. Deerhunter

Deerhunter’s Brandford Cox has his own Flickr photo account where he shares with us photos of just about everything. From his escapades around 2008’s Pitchfork Music Festival to BBQ’s with the Black Lips, interesting photos await.

Deerhunter’s Flickr Photostream

Before Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon and became big rock stars, a couple of their albums were actually soundtracks to late 60’s early 70’s crazy hippie movies. One of my favorite Pink Floyd albums is Obscured By Clouds which is actually the soundtrack to a 1972 french film called La Vallée (The Valley) about a woman “who goes on a strange and accidental voyage of self-discovery through the New Guinea bush.”

Says Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason:

“After the success of More, we had agreed to do another sound track for Barbet Schroeder. His new film was called La Vallée and we travelled over to France to record the music in the last week of February… We did the recording with the same method we had employed for More, following a rough cut of the film, using stopwatches for specific cues and creating interlinking musical moods that would be cross-faded to suit the final version… The recording time was extremely tight. We only had two weeks to record the soundtrack with a short amount of time afterwards to turn it into an album.”

More, the movie in which Mason refers too, is the first movie they composed a soundtrack for. More is about a young couple dealing with a heroin addiction on the island of Ibiza. With abstract instrumental compositions juxtaposing between rock and pop songs, More definitely feels like it is a soundtrack. On the other hand, while Obscured by Clouds was composed for a film, it has the feel of an actual album.

The other film Pink Floyd recorded music for was 1970’s Zabriskie Point which “sympathetically tells the story of a young couple — an idealistic young secretary, and a militant radical — to put forward an anti-establishment message.” Unlike Obscured by Clouds and More, Pink Floyd did not compose the whole soundtrack. They contributed songs to it along with The Youngbloods, The Kaleidoscope, Jerry Garcia, Patti Page, and the Grateful Dead. Only the music by Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia and The Kaleidoscope were written for the film.

A scene from More with the song Green is the Colour (beware, contains a brief shot of a male nipple being awkwardly poked by a blade of grass). This is also Jay W’s favorite Pink Floyd song:

A Scene from La Vallée with the song Mudmen:

A Scene from Zabriskie Point with the song Come in Number 51, Your Time is Up ( This song is pretty much Careful With That Axe, Eugene)

HIs prediction can be applied to a handful of dj’s, artists, etc over the last couple decades or so, but the follow video is relevant and I love it.

I saw this last month but forgot to post about it. Memories and nostalgia of jamming out in a suburban home basement, covering Phish, Grateful Dead and classic rock tunes flood my mind. Or how about the half an hour space freak out jam over A minor? Or recording a psychedelic sound collage for english class inspired by Walt Whitman?

Some of my best high school memories were playing in a high school band and we had our moments, but The McLovins are on a whole new level in regards to technical ability. I believe both basslovin and drumlovin are high school sophomores, while guitarlovin is still in middle school! Ahhh, playing phish covers in the basement. Gotta love it.

Check out the McLovin’s channel on youtube where they have some original songs and more Phish and classic rock covers.