It's like a music nerd's version of fantasy baseball (unless said music nerd also plays fantasy baseball, I suppose!)
I'm curious to see what kind of anthology you would put together were you given the opportunity to do so - particularly if you weren't hindered by things like convoluted rights ownership or destroyed/lost master tapes. Help guide us through the music of some of your favourite artists/labels/genres/countries/eras/etc.
I made a similar post in a different forum a few months back, so I'll start this thread off by revisiting that one.
It'll probably come as no surprise that I love me some Sun Ra, and I would very much love to put an anthology or three together exploring his catalogue. This one is meant to give a broad overview, so the out-est of the "out" material isn't necessarily represented here nor is it strictly the most accessible stuff either, as that wouldn't be an accurate representation of Sun Ra's sonic journeys. I've also steered clear of many of the more well-known releases as most of them are quite readily available in fairly definitive editions already.
Selections presented chronologically by recording date, though many were released at wildly different/later times:
Sun Ra and The Arkestra - Sound Of Joy
Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra - Interstellar Low Ways
Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra - Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
Sun Ra and His Astro-Infinity Arkestra - Strange Strings
Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra - The Night Of The Purple Moon
Sun Ra and His Arkestra - Some Blues But Not The Kind That's Blue
Haha, yeah, good memory. That was back in the days when we all used to go to work on a regular basis and had very little to do between the hours of 7-10am. Great days! I never saved any unfortunately and my company has moved building since so, they're probably sat on a hard drive in a landfill somewhere.
We already have a fairly solid Norah Jones anthology of sorts on out there with her first five albums given the AP/KG Treatment with a (great) covers album. Any Norah fan would probably be happy with that. However for me, I think there's an entirely different direction you can go which makes her so fun.
Collaboration with Norah: An anthology of projects that have Norah working in collaboration with other artists either as part of an established group, a loose collective, or with a series of featured songs. I generally aimed for pieces that Norah has a substantial role in (so no single song features on a wider album but albums without Norah on some or even most of the songs may be fair). Several of these don't currently have pressings or are prohibitively expensive so that had a minor influence too on the choices. I didn't go down the "create a custom LP to fill in the gaps" route but you could absolutely piece together another release or two of hers just from tribute concerts or soundtracks over the past twenty years or so.
The Peter Malick Group featuring Norah Jones - New York City (2003):
The early 2000s and songs about New York City, Norah was not immune. Although this came out after her Demos, Come Away With Me, and Live in New Orleans, it may be her first actual mainstream release in terms of recording date as it pre-dates her Blue Note Demos*. Six fairly solid soft jazz songs that gave a taste of what was to come. The value of this in the anthology is more of the "this is where it started" than anything too adventurous, though a Dylan cover and a beautiful voice is always welcome
*There are other arguments for Laszlo though I would argue the difficulty in finding readily available recordings of these outside of Youtube videos are tough, but Laszlo is a fascinating listen to her and honestly more interesting music from what I could find.
Highlights: New York City, Heart of Mine
The Little Willies - The Little Willies (2006)
The Little Willies, Norah's classic country tribute, has two albums and if I'm being honest I think the better one is probably For The Good Times. With that said, I went with the self-titled here as it fits better chronologically and in terms of telling Norah's overall story as part of this chronology. The group features some of her most common early collaborators and is in a distinctly different direction than any of her work to this point. Much like many ways Norah, it's a bit of a gateway drug to other genres, artists, and influences. The rollicking songs play really well with Jones' light touch on the keys and the faster pace (Roly Poly and I Gotta Get Drunk), but the whole thing really does work as a labor of love.
Highlights: Roly Poly, Lou Reed, Tennessee Stud
El Madmo - El Madmo (2008):
El Madmo is a bit of an incognito indie-rock-light punk band where you imagine the kind of music Norah Jones may have been involved in if she found her way down some different pathways. It's definitely a bit of a joke with a lot of theatrical elements but it's, genuinely, some of the most fun music Norah's ever been involved in and the perfect gateway drug for the indie-head who really hasn't tried Norah out.
Highlights: Carlo! , The Best Part, Head in a Vise
... Featuring Norah Jones- Norah Jones (2010)
This in many ways is the centerpiece of the concept and the album which caused me to build this out. At this point, Norah had been producing high quality music and working with nearly everyone for the past decade, and this is just a rock solid collection of songs with her collaborating with a slew of amazing artists. To me, the sheer variety of artists on this work and the different styles of music she slides into is one of her most enduring qualities. You also get the bonus of little teases of all of her other projects in this one.
Highlights: Here We Go Again (Ray Charles/Norah Jones), Court and Spark (Herbie Hancock/Norah Jones), Take Off Your Cool (Outkast, Norah Jones)
Foreverly - Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones (2013)
To be perfectly honest, this album never truly connected with me, but I'd be remiss to not include this in this kind of anthology. It's a full on collaborative album with another leader in his respective genre doing...a third genre neither of them really ever touched. It has some hits and misses but is a loving, appreciative, well thought out tribute to the Everly Brothers by two artists who showed a ton of versatility over the years. A good listen for those who really like the classics. I almost went with Rome (Luppi) but Norah is definitely more prominent on this choice.
Highlights: Roving Gambler, Lightning Express
No Fools, No Fun - Puss n Boots (2014)
Her collaboration with Catherine Popper and Sasha Dobson is still ongoing and, to this date, is still the only show I've been to where I've seen someone get ejected for punching someone else. This is another shift into the alternative-country realm and is a real sweet spot for Jones as she plays with two others who can share similar roles as she does. There were teases of this collaboration for years (Bull Rider is on the Featuring album above and several other appearances exists), but the first full length release is a really nice, more current entry into a collection that often can be a bit dated.
Highlights: Jesus Etc., Don't Know What It Means
Playdate - Norah Jones (2020)
This is the most recent entry and was a 2020 RSD release featuring collabs with Mavis Staples, Rodrigo Amarente, and Tarriona Tank Bell of some of her originals, and feels like a great closure to this anthology by ultimately having her songs be the ones being re-worked with some amazing partners.
Allow me to sell you on the idea of a Springsteen Live Anthology:
This set spans live shows from 1975 to 2016 covering the most important bases in Springsteen Live Archive. There isn't going to be any of that goatee 90's Springsteen in this box. Only the rollicking good time E-Street Band and Seeger Sessions Band shenanigans. I tried to capture what makes the Springsteen live experience so special; from the stories in between songs, the re-arrangments and re-imagining of classics, the spontaneity and fun of the band, and the epic 3 and 4 hour long marathons. I'm putting 10 shows in here, so that would probably be roughly 45 lps worth of music and cost somewhere in the $5000 dollar range if VMP Anthology got ahold of it.
I would love for something like this to exist with audio interviews with the man himself and those around him talking about each show.
1. Main Point - Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania - 2-5-1975
The coming out party for the E Street band. Born to Run was still half a year away and they played early versions of some of the songs at this show. It's well documented that the label had nearly given up on Springsteen and Born to Run was kind of his 'final chance' to make it. This live performance (being broadcast on a Philadelphia radio station) was the E Streeter's chance to show people what set them apart...and boy did they. There is a huge energy to this show and it opens with the single best rendition of Incident on 57th Street ever recorded. At one point the band covers I Want You by Bob Dylan and it transforms the song from one of young lust and adolescent want to one of aching yearning. They could have changed the name to I NEED You and it would have fit. Add to all of this an en fuego version of Kitty's Back and beautiful rendition of New York City Serenade with violins and this is a great jumping off point to show listeners what an early Springsteen show was about.
The Milwaukee Bomb Scare Show. This one needs the set-up, as the show itself seems less tight than other Springsteen shows. The story goes that the venue was evacuated due to someone calling and saying they put a bomb in the theater. Springsteen told the audience that the police had to secure the building and to come back at midnight for the rest of the show. Well, midnight came and the Boss held to his word as the band gave the audience a raucous, rambunctious (rumored to be beer fueled) performance. Starting with the story of how the band was back at the Pppppppp-fister telling the bartender "somebody tried to blow us up tonight!". This show sees Springsteen being the conductor of the best bar band to ever play a stinky stage and riffing fast and loose with stage-mate Steven Van Zandt. Are ya loose?!
3. Capitol Theater - Passaic, New Jersey - 9-19-1978
The Piece de Resistance. What many in the Brucelegs community deem the single greatest E Street Band show of all time. This is a great introduction to the live show that Springsteen became a legend for. Recorded on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour, all of the early hits are in place and the band is about as tight as any you've ever heard live. There are definitive versions of classics like Thunder Road and Racing In The Streets on here, as well as less-payed, elusive gems from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town period. There is a recording out there with pristine audio, so if I were to give a Bruce fan any show to start with in the live archive, it would be this one.
4. Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Uniondale, New York - 12-31-1980
3 hours 40 minutes of peak E Street. Recorded during The River Tour. The band left nothing on the table this night. This show covers Springsteen's career up to this point and captures a decade of live experience in a night. A long night. Hell, there's a point almost 3 hours in when they count down to New Years, then play for another hour! As if playing every single one of their own hits wasn't enough, they play CC Rider, This Land is Your Land, Good Golly Miss Molly and TWO different Christmas Songs. This is the kind of show that it would be hard to keep the energy up as an audience member, let alone a performer. It's these type of shows that make the E Street Band not just one of the best ever live, but THE best.
5. Brendan Byrne Arena - East Rutherford, New Jersey - 8-20-1984
Springsteen is a megastar and full-on arena rocker at this point. Born in the USA is the number 1 album in the country and everyone involved is having the time of their lives. With one exception. Long time bandmate and friend of Springsteen's Steven Van Zandt had left the band prior to the Born in the USA Tour. Bruce exclaims "Tonight's the night!" at the beginning of the show and means it. One of the very best concerts in E Street band history made all the better by Van Zandt joining the band for a few songs at the end of the show. The stand-out being a great rendition of Drift Away. This is the epitome of the marathon 80's Springsteen shows.
6. First Union Center - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 9-25-1999
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The E Street Band Reunion Tour. During the dark period of the early 90's Springsteen had called the members up in the middle of the night and broke up the band, grew a bad Don Johnson goatee, then went on to release two of the worst albums in his discography. This show is a return to form with original members of the band playing a blistering show like they hadn't missed a beat in 15 years. Springsteen had just turned 50 and you can hear the age in his voice on this tour and forth, but he still puts in 3 hours of work for the Philly crowd.
Full concert successful this time, featuring Bob Dylan, Willie Nile, Gary U.S Bonds and Jon Landau, A 30-song blowout that lasted nearly 3 hours and 10 minut...
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The last show on The Rising Tour. A good all-around set list from The Rising era that captures the band one album into their reunion. This show has an infamous appearance by none other than Bob Dylan! Dylan mumbles his way through a version of Highway 61 Revisited that sounds like a Ben Stiller parody of itself. It's bad in a very good way. This concert shows us what the gospel-inspired "Music as Salvation" tone of a Springsteen show would be for the next.....oh 20 years or so.
8. Van Andel Arena - Grand Rapids, Michigan - 8-3-2005
Devils & Dust TourI Wish I Were Blind2005 Grand Rapids, MIMusic is the property of the original artist.Music Video is for exhibition and educational purposes.
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This is part of the Devils and Dust Tour where Springsteen set off on his own with some acoustic guitars and a piano for a One Man Show across the country. I chose this one because it has the single greatest version of I Wish I Were Blind on it and because his performance of Darkness On The Edge of town has an emotional weight to it that nearly made me choke up as I sat in the arena that night. One of the most special concerts I've ever been to. Springsteen shows his mastery of the stage and presence with small banter and stories between songs.
9. New Orleans Jazz Festival - New Orleans, Louisiana - 4-30-2006
Bruce Springsteen performing an intro into "O Mary Don't You Weep", live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006Listen to Bruce Springsteen: https:...
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This show is during the Seeger Sessions period, so there's not much in the way of E Street classics here, but the performance doesn't suffer for it. A rollicking set of mostly traditional songs and covers set against the backdrop of a city trying to recover from the devastation of Hurrican Katrina (which hit 8 month prior). The energy is apparent in the performance. There's an anger boiling under even the most jubilant songs from the night and it makes for one hell of a concert. Many of the songs have themes of loss and some could have a minor lyrical tweak or two and be about the tragedy that had occurred less than a year before, such as their version of How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live. It's not just an important concert in the Springsteen catalog it's and important concert in the history of American music.
10. MetLife Stadium - East Rutherford, New Jersey - 8-30-2016
An Epic night in NJ! Set the record for the longest US show ever at 4:01. Many rare songs played! See my other videos.
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A career spanning 34 songs of hit after hit after hit after hit. This is the culmination of one of the greatest career's in rock history. I don't know how long this show is, but I'd have to imagine it's longer than 4 hours. This could be a box set in itself.
Okie dokie, here's one from America Records (France):
Archie Shepp feat Chicago Beau - Black Gipsy
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Certain Blacks
Noah Howard - Space Dimension
Clifford Thornton - The Panther and the Lash
Max Roach Quartet - "Speak, Brother, Speak!"
Archie Shepp feat Chicago Beau - Black Gipsy
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Certain Blacks
Noah Howard - Space Dimension
Clifford Thornton - The Panther and the Lash
Max Roach Quartet - "Speak, Brother, Speak!"
...featuring Paul Chambers, Vol. 1: Blue Note Sessions
Paul Chambers is one of my favourite bass players and he played on so many hot sessions I didn't see myself being able to pare things down to a single anthology, so here's the first of what will likely be a trilogy.
The Slow Rise of Kranky:
Episode 1:
Labradford - A Stable Reference
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - lift yr skinny fists
Episode 2:
Stars of the Lid - Tired sounds of.. (or maybe winged victory for the sullen because I love that is album.. but this is probably the more important release.. might move tired sound to episode 1 and winged victory here)
Windy and Carl - Consciousness
Episode 3:
Low - Things we lost in the fire
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Episode 4:
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972
Grouper - dragging a dead deer
The Slow Rise of Kranky:
Episode 1:
Labradford - A Stable Reference
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - lift yr skinny fists
Episode 2:
Stars of the Lid - Tired sounds of.. (or maybe winged victory for the sullen because I love that is album.. but this is probably the more important release.. might move tired sound to episode 1 and winged victory here)
Windy and Carl - Consciousness
Episode 3:
Low - Things we lost in the fire
Deerhunter - Cryptograms
Episode 4:
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath 1972
Grouper - dragging a dead deer
I feel like a Keith Jarrett Anthology would be an absolute banger, but I can't bring myself to pick a bunch among his huge discography (and before that, listen to the records I'm not familiar with).
...been a hot minute since this thread has seen any action - but I've been having fun speculating and daydreaming about the Willie Nelson anthology VMP teased today. Here is my dream set:
Country Willie: His Own Songs
The Party's Over and Other Great Willie Nelson Songs
...been a hot minute since this thread has seen any action - but I've been having fun speculating and daydreaming about the Willie Nelson anthology VMP teased today. Here is my dream set:
