We would be remiss if we went through the month of JAMuary without featuring at least one jam by modern-day jam-band exponents Phish, so…
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Jan 132009
Jan 132009
Jan 122009
Even hardcore guys need to jam, sometimes.
Gone, “Fifth Force Suite: Hypercharge-The Wait”
I saw Gone open for Rollins Band on a double-bill. It was pretty cool and confirmed some suspicions I’d long had about the hardcore scene. In fact, seeing the two sides of the splintered Black Flag helped me eventually go back and better appreciate Black Flag, in reverse order of their releases.
Jan 122009
Jam on it!
Rock Town Hall, here’s your chance to share your most memorable jam session, as a participant or a witness. It doesn’t matter if it took place at a huge festival or a musty high school mate’s basement. It doesn’t matter if the jam, in retrospect, was actually great or not. The only things that matter are you had to be there and it had to be the most memorable jam session in your life (to date, of course).
If you have a recording of this legendary (at least in your mind) jam session and feel brave enough to share it with your fellow Townspeople, by all means let me know. We’ll get it up here for the world to jam along with. It is JAMuary, after all.
Jan 122009
Today’s Mystery Date presents you with a unique take on a classic jam. Unlike the better-known versions of this song, this one clocks in at a reasonable 6+ minutes, so you won’t, like, jam your entire afternoon away when there are so many jams in the sea. Take a listen to the track. If you know who it is, please refrain from posting. If you don’t know who it is, tell us what feel about this particular jam and how it stacks up against the classic versions you grew up, like, jammin’ along to.
Mystery Date, JAMuary’s Dream?
Jan 112009
The two-chord jam, as perfected by Neil Young on his Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere album! This version of one of that album’s primo jams is from a 1970 concert at the Fillmore East. Neil can’t wait to get jammin’! I’m sure you can’t wait yourself, so hey man, don’t let me hold you back.
Neil Young, “Cowgirl in the Sand”
Jan 102009
One of the wisest things my compadre and bandmate, Townsman Andyr, said during a rehearsal, as we discussed an instrumental passage in a new song, was “I don’t mind jamming, as long as it’s planned out.” Andyr is a man who values concise structures in his music – and he’s not prone to digging long instrumental passages let alone rockin’ jams, but I like to think that if something in his brain ever clicked and he found a way to appreciate long, rockin’ jams, he’d dig the intensely structured, heavy jams of Glenn Branca and his guitar army.
Following is a really long, heavy jam, although not a hippie/blues/jazz-based jam. Some might question whether it’s really a “jam,” because Branca’s, like, a dictatorial composer/conductor, man, but I’ve seen him conduct this stuff in person. His suit’s rumpled, he’s got 3 days of scruff, he’s gesticulating like John Cale, and he’s got rockin’ bedhead. This may get filed under Classical, but it’s got a rock ‘n roll heart. Play loud!
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