Rock

Cover Art: The Band

Editor’s Note: This is the first of an occasional feature focusing on covers of — and sometimes by– a band or artist. Check out The Covers Project for more interesting information about covers.

The cover above is a 1968 performance of the Bob Dylan/Rick Danko song “This Wheel’s on Fire” by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & Trinity. Auger is best known for Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, which still is a touring band.

This cover did well enough to rate a Wikipedia entry:

This Wheel’s on Fire” reached number five in the United Kingdom in June 1968. With distortion, the imagery of the title and the group’s dress and performance, this version came to represent the psychedelic era in British music. Driscoll recorded the song again in the early ’90s with Adrian Edmondson as the theme to the BBCcomedy series Absolutely Fabulous, whose main characters are throwbacks to that era.

It always seemed like an odd choice for the “Absolutely Fabulous” theme. The show, by the way, indeed was absolutely fabulous.

Below is Gomez’ version of Up on Cripple Creek. The band has 10 albums — and a website that’s not so great. So here is the Gomez’s AllMusic landing page. The site SongFacts offers a great bit of trivia: The song was recorded at Sammy Davis’ house, which the band had rented to record its eponymous named second album. A commenter at the site disagrees with the claim, however.

Our New Things: Links to Music Sites and Info on Analog Tech and Vinyl

TDMB has focused on music and musicians. We will continue to do that, of course. We're also expanding our coverage to include vinyl and analog equipment.

More specifically, we'll look at this huge and interesting world from the perspective of music lovers who want a better experience, not committed non-audiophiles.

Check out is some of what we've written so far:

-- Assessing the Value of Vinyl Records: An Overview

-- 7 Quick Tips on Optimizing Your Turntable Cartridge

-- Why Vinyl Records Continue to Thrive

-- Finding the Best Amplifier

-- Finding the Best Phono Preamp

-- What Speakers Do I Need for My Turntable?

Check out more articles on analog equipment and vinyl.

The site also is home to The Internet Music Mapping Project, an effort to list and describe as many music-related sites as possible.

Our Music

--A Tribe Called Quest to The Dick Hyman Trio (In other words, A to H)

--Indigo Girls to Queen Ida (I to Q)

--Radiohead to ZZ Top (R to Z)

Reading Music

The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.

Here are some books to check out.

Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.

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What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.

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