Spotify Playlist: Mellow Like a Rabbit in Clover

Figured I'd try some new ways this summer to put a little of that Preston and Katy vibe out there into the world, hence, this new feature. Every week I'll give you a little mix handpicked from the music I love so much, based around a really loose theme. Hope you enjoy it.

Top Nine: Best Beards in Rock!

Beards come and go, but the nine groups listed below have done their part to make sure the beard is more than just an accessory. We've heard from the Lepsches, but I get the last word? Is it definitive? Read their posts below and decide.

Yonder Mountain String Band

Somehow YMSB missed the Mumford/'New Banjo Revival,' which is a shame, because Yonder brings it. Hard. They are as much at home with John Hartford and Ralph Stanley as they are with The Misfits and Pink Floyd. And if you don't know who Ralph Stanley is, you should be ashamed to call yourself a music fan.

Band of Horses 

SGs AND Les Pauls? They ain't playing. They are more Seventies than Mr. Neil Young himself.  For BoH, the beard ain't a phase, it's a way of life. I bet they drive Chevy Novas, too. 

The Civil Wars

Any time 50% of the band has a beard, you're in legit territory.  And covering The Jackson Five? Well that's just showing off. (Civil Wars--get your shit together and make some more music!!)

Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl is facial hair x2. Even though he didn't rock the beard in Nirvana, Kurt did. So having Cobain as a stubble mentor is like having The Dalai Lama as your personal therapist. (Dave is rocking the mini-beard here.)

 Middle Brother

Flannels, beards and thumb picks! It's a hipster trifecta, and I don't even care. (Is that a red Solo cup?) They rock so hard, they require members from three different bands (Dawes, Delta Spirit, Deer Tick) just to make music. They are the hipster Beatles, and I love them.

Bob Marley 

Beards were (literally) his religion. So don't come at me with your white dreads, telling me about how you're Rasta because you like to burn one because this man lived it. He took bullets for his faith. And he died because he wouldn't cut any of that lovely hair.

Bruce Springsteen

The Boss didn;t always rock facial hair. But when he did, he owned it. From 70 to 83 he carried the beard torch. Beard + knit hat + leather jacket = hipster savior. Throw in a gold earring, and you're seeing God. 

The Allman Brothers

When At Fillmore East was recorded, the Allman Brothers were batting 1000%. Duane Allman--facial hair. Gregg Allman--facial hair. Dicky Betts--facial hair.  Berry Oakley--facial hair. Butch Trucks--facial hair. Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson--facial hair. Don't believe me? Take a look.

To top it all off, At Fillmore East, is ranked #49 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of all Time. My boys weren't playing. They lived it. The fact that two of the band's members died in motorcycle accidents (a year apart and three blocks apart) tells you these fools were for real. They are so far removed from bearded hipster shit, that bearded hipsters don't even know to look to The Allman Brothers for guidance. I mean, we don't look AT the sun when we want light, do we?    

The Beatles

Were the Fab Four known for their beards? No.
Were they the first? No.
Did they do it better than anybody else, before or after? Most definitely.

When The Beatles reinvented themselves, they did so in a big way. They were the forerunners of the beard. They invented retreating (India) and reemerging with a whole new look. Post Sgt. Pepper they owned the look. Zeppelin, The Who and the rest just copied. Check out "Something" to see what I mean. Paul, George and Ringo rocked beards. For some reason, John didn't (and we all know how he could pull off a beard) but he was rocking a cape (that matched Yoko's) so he gets points for that. 

Bruce Springsteen and Friends, Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ, December 17, 2000

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK: There’s no place where loneliness feels worse than in bed. Waking up with her made me want to erase those last few lonely months, pretend like Dani and I’d been together forever. I wanted to forget about New Year’s Eve by myself. At midnight, when everybody was exchanging kisses, me and Paulie and Stu exchanged sympathies. And I wanted to forget about Christmas morning. Paulie and me in this apartment exchanging unwrapped boxes after eating leftover Kung Pao chicken and eggrolls. I got him a few bass pedals and a bottle of Jack and he got me a nice hand-tooled leather guitar strap. I outspent him, but that was beside the point.

A nice Friday download for yinz. OR, a really cheap Christmas gift for that special someone.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Bruce Springsteen and Friends 2000-12-17 - CONVENTION HALL, ASBURY PARK, NJ

Disc One:
01 Jingle Bells Intro (Max Weinberg 7)
02 For You
03 Blue Christmas
04 Powerhouse (Max Weinberg 7)
05 Run Run Rudolph
06 Luckytown
07 E-Street Shuffle
08 Kitty's Back
09 Rose (Patti Scialfa)
10 As Long As I Can Be With You (Patti Scialfa)
11 This Time It's For Real (SSJ, Little Steven & Bruce)
12 Good Is Gone (Little Steven)
13 All I Needed Was You (SSJ, Little Steven, Bruce)

Disc Two
01 Shine Silently (Nils Lofgren)
02 Merry Christmas Baby
03 So Young and In Love
04 Roll of the Dice
05 Bobby Jean
06 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
07 My City Of Ruins
08 I Don't Want To Go Home (SSJ, Little Steven & Bruce)
09 Rosalita
10 Santa Claus is Coming to Town


TheBoots.net synopsis:
The material from the second album all sounded great with the addition of the horns from the Max Weinberg 7. "Blue Christmas" was done in a basically bluegrass arrangement. "Lucky Town" featured Bruce and Jimmy Vivino trading off guitar solos and the horns added some great punch to it. The Southside songs also benefitted from the horns, as did "So Young and in Love." Patti's new song, "Rose," was about her experiences working in a New York City diner, where she said she was the world's worst waitress.
Bruce's new song, "My City of Ruins," is very powerful and very gospel-esque, sounding very similar to Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." Bruce dedicated the song to the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce and mentioned all the charities that each night was benefitting.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Main Point, Bryn Mawr, Pa, 02/05/1975

Hard to believe this show is almost 35 years old. The sound is exceptional--sounds like it was taped last night. The soft opening of INCIDENT ON 57th STREET demands an absolutely silent audience, something that'd be hard to come by in arenas. This is Bruce-the-icon at his best.

My first Bruce record was BORN IN THE U.S.A.. So when I had extra money
for records I could only go back in time--THE RIVER was a double album, leaving me with GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK, NJ, BORN TO RUN, THE WILD, THE INNOCENT AND THE E STREET SHUFFLE. I played those tapes out, and the songs in the setlist for this show, are to me, the Golden Era which I could never be a part of. By the time I got to this music the era had already passed and arenas were the norm.

It's a beautiful radio broadcast. Enjoy. The debut of THUNDER ROAD (who's Angelina?) alone makes this a download worth keeping.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
The Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA
February 5, 1975

source: Soundboard (WMMR FM Broadcast)

Liberated Bootleg, "You Can Trust Your Car to the Man Who Wears the Star"

CD's -> EAC (secure, w/ logs) -> FLAC (6)

Disc 1: (75:20)
01. (10:38) intro -> Incident on 57th Street
02. (03:21) Mountain of Love*
03. (04:47) Born to Run
04. (12:57) The E Street Shuffle
05. (06:54) Thunder Road "Wings for Wheels"*
06. (06:29) I Want You
07. (06:23) Spirit in the Night
08. (06:37) She's the One
09. (03:18) Growin' Up
10. (04:07) It's Hard to be a Saint in the City
11. (09:49) Jungleland

Disc 2: (73:38)
01. (11:43) Kitty's Back
02. (19:57) New York City Serenade
03. (11:24) Rosalita
04. (06:44) 4th of July, Asbury Park
05. (08:32) A Love So Fine
06. (08:30) For You
07. (06:48) Back in the U.S.A.*

*debut

---

Disc 1
Publisher: Labour Of Love
Reference: Love 022
Date: 1997
Quality: Vg/Ex
Total duration: 75:33

Disc 2
Publisher: Labour Of Love
Reference: Love 023
Date: 1997
Quality :Vg/Ex
Total duration: 75:27

Bruce Springsteen Live at the Main Point, Bryan Mawr, Pennsylvania, February 5th, 1975 FM Broadcast WMMR - Main Point benefit show. This was the premiere of Thunder Road, actually called Wings For Wheels at this time and of both Back In The USA and Mountain Of Love.
Also with early live versions of Born To Run and Jungleland, and a amazing cover of Dylan's I Want You.