Category Archives: Bob Dylan

The Band – Best of The Band

With the passing of Garth Hudson THE BAND is no more. I was listening to The Band well before I started listening seriously to Dylan. I encourage you to seek out or stream a collection and enjoy America’s finest Canadians bottling the spirit of the States in a way no one else has been able to do. Musically they had few if any peers as a collective group of musicians.
The Band – yes, THE band. Enjoy their legacy as with Garth Hudson’s passing we will not see their like again. TAKEN FROM MY BOOK ‘Tracks of our Years’ bit.ly/bookneal

Musical Reflections: Uncovering the Stories Behind My Vinyl Collection

Today, as I listen to the Bruce Springsteen ‘River’ album, I am wondering what it is that shapes our love of music and particularly a genre that we seem to stay with for life. To be fair I did come to Springsteen a little later in life although the seeds were already there for him to step into my collection. My reason for starting this journey through my past, to paraphrase Neil Young, was my father’s vinyl collection. My father died recently, and he left a vast collection of vinyl including 78’s which I suppose are technically shellac. His CD collection was even more extensive, but it was the vinyl that fascinated me.

Fairport Convention – Unhalfbricking

I appreciate Liege and Lief is considered the most important album Fairport produced but Unhalfbricking is my favourite. It is difficult to imagine that there was a finer group of British musicians at this time. The whole album has moments of sheer perfection. In the case of Sandy’s immortal ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ the perfection holds throughout the track.