Saturday "Live" 10/27 The Band The Last Waltz Disc 4

Prog Thursday 10/25 Watcher of the Skies Genesis Revisited

Wayback Wednesday 10/24 Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

Saturday "Live" 10/20 The Band The Last Waltz Disc 3

Thursday Prog 10/18 Wind & Wuthering

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine from allmusic.com

Wind & Wuthering followed quickly on the heels of A Trick of the Tail and they're very much cut from the same cloth, working the same English eccentric ground that was the group's stock in trade sinceTrespass. But if A Trick of the Tail played like Genesis' attempt at crafting a great Genesis record withoutPeter Gabriel, as a way of finding their footing as a quartet, Wind & Wuthering finds Genesis tentatively figuring out what their identity will be in this new phase of their career. The most obvious indication of this is Mike Rutherford's "Your Own Special Way," which is both the poppiest tune the group had cut and also the first that could qualify as a love song. It stands out on a record that is, apart from that, a standard Genesis record, but quite a good one in that regard.

Wayback Wednesday 10/17 Axis Bold As Love

Review by Cub Koda from allmusic.com

Jimi Hendrix's second album followed up his groundbreaking debut effort with a solid collection of great tunes and great interactive playing between himself, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, and the recording studio itself. Wisely retaining manager Chas Chandler to produce the album and Eddie Kramer as engineer, Hendrix stretched further musically than the first album, but even more so as a songwriter. He was still quite capable of coming up with spacy rockers like "You Got Me Floating," "Up from the Skies," and "Little Miss Lover," radio-ready to follow on the commercial heels of "Foxey Lady" and "Purple Haze." But the beautiful, wistful ballads "Little Wing," "Castles Made of Sand," "One Rainy Wish," and the title track set closer show remarkable growth and depth as a tunesmith, harnessing Curtis Mayfield soul guitar to Dylanesque lyrical imagery and Fuzz Face hyperactivity to produce yet another side to his grand psychedelic musical vision. These are tempered with Jimi's most avant-garde tracks yet, "EXP" and the proto-fusion jazz blowout of "If 6 Was 9."

Saturday "Live" 10/13 The Band The Last Waltz Disc 2

Thursday Prog 10/11 Wish You Were Here

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Pink Floyd followed the commercial breakthrough of Dark Side of the Moon with Wish You Were Here, a loose concept album about and dedicated to their founding member Syd Barrett. The record unfolds gradually, as the jazzy textures of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" reveal its melodic motif, and in its leisurely pace, the album shows itself to be a warmer record than its predecessor. Musically, it's arguably even more impressive, showcasing the group's interplay and David Gilmour's solos in particular. And while it's short on actual songs, the long, winding soundscapes are constantly enthralling.

Wayback Wednesday 10/10 Help!

Saturday "Live" 10/6 The Last Waltz D1

The first in a series for Saturday "Live" of The Band's The Last Waltz. I will be posting the entire box set a disc a week so watch for disc 2 next week.

Thursday Prog 10/4 Trespass

Review by Bruce Eder from allmusic.com

Genesis' first truly progressive album, and their first record for the Charisma label (although Trespass was released in America by ABC, which is how MCA came to have it), is important mostly as a formative effort. Peter Gabriel, Tony Banks, and Michael Rutherford are here, but the guitarist is Anthony Phillips and the drummer is John Mayhew. Gabriel, Banks, Phillips, and Rutherford are responsible for the compositions, which are far more ambitious than the group's earlier efforts ("Silent Sun," etc.). Unfortunately, much of what is here is more interesting for what it points toward than what it actually does -- the group reflects a peculiarly dramatic brand of progressive rock, very theatrical as music, but not very successful. The lyrics are complex enough but lack the unity and clarity that would make Genesis' subsequent albums among the most interesting of prog rock efforts to analyze. Gabriel's voice is very expressive but generally lacks power and confidence, while the conventional backup vocalizing by the others is wimpy, and Phillips' playing is muted. Tony Banks' keyboards are the dominant instruments, which isn't that bad, but it isn't the Genesis that everyone came to know. The soft, lyrical "Visions of Angels" and "Stagnation" are typical, gentle works by a band that later learned how to rock much harder. Only one of the songs here, "The Knife" -- which rocks harder than anything else on Trespass and is easily the best track on the album -- lasted in the group's concert repertory past the next album.

Wayback Wednesday 10/3 The Byrds