C&O – Walk on the Ocean

This week’s cover and original is one that I’ve been looking for for a long time now for a favorite song of mine, Walk on the Ocean, originally by Toad the Wet Sprocket, whom I’ve recently rediscovered. This was one of the songs that’s been jumping around in the back of my head for a long time now, but the name and band had eluded me for ages. Thus, I’ve finally tracked it down, and along with that, found a couple of covers for it.
The covers here are some good imitations, although neither surpass the original, nor do they really deviate from it. Mayer’s version of the song is a good one, with a pretty similar sound (he sounds like the band anyway), while Brian’s isn’t nearly as good, which is a shame, because he’s a fine singer. The original, in this case, remains the best version, and it’s a fantastic song to boot.

Walk on the Ocean (Toad the Wet Sprocket)- Brian Dolanzi
Walk on the Ocean (Toad the Wet Sprocket) – John Mayer & Guster (? – Not 100% sure this was them)
Walk on the Ocean (Acoustic) – Toad the Wet Sprocket

Hype – Buy

New England Rock

I’d like to take a moment and examine a couple of bands from my neck of the woods – New England. For those of you who can’t remember US geography from school, or never learned of it, New England is in the far North East section of the US, comprised of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. We’ve got a long and very proud history within the states, and some fantastic musicians have come from here. Here’s a couple that I could come up with. Sorry Rhode Island…


Vermont – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals / Phish

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals originated in New York, where Potter went to school at St. Lawrence, but she’s from Vermont, and the band is currently still based in Waitsfield Vermont, a town over from where I grew up – I actually went to high school with Grace, even though I really didn’t know her personally. The Nocturnals got their name from their all night rehearsals at the school, and they released their first album in 2004, then their second in 2005, with their latest this year.

Crazy Parade – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals








Phish, well known for its live concerts rather than their studio works, formed at the University of Vermont when John Fishman, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth got together to play in Fishman’s dorm room in 1983. They were later joined by Mike Gordon and Page McConnel. The band released their first album in 1988 and they got really popular shortly after, filling a void that the Grateful Dead left when they disbanded. The band broke up in 2001 after a long tour, but most of the members are still active in the music world.

Heavy Things – Phish

Massachusetts – The Dropkick Murphys / Guster

The Dropkick Murphys originated out of Quincy, Massachusetts, and have become huge favorites in the region with their punk/Irish sound. Annually, they play in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day. The group formed in 1996, releasing a couple of EPs before their 1998 record Do or Die. They’re recently released their latest, entitled The Meanest of Times.

State of Massachutetts – The Dropkick Murphys

Guster

Guster is based out of Boston, Mass, and was founded at Tufts University there when Adam, Ryan and Brian met while in attendance. They released two albums prior to 1999 that were sleeper hits, but gained traction with the 1999 album Lost and Gone Forever and have recently released their latest album, Ganging Up On The Sun.

Hang On – Guster

Connecticut – The Alternate Routes / Rane

The Alternate Routes formed a couple of years ago, out of Bridgeport, Connecticut and released their first album, Good and Reckless and True in 2005, which was later re-released earlier this year. The band started when two of the members, Eric and Tim met at Fairfield University in the state. They relocated to Boston and New York for a little while, and now they’re back in Connecticut. Hopefully recording new music…

Time Is A Runaway – The Alternate Routes

Rane

Rane is a band that’s still pretty small, based out of Hartford Connecticut with a sound that they describe as ‘progressive pop’, that’s quite good. I got hooked on them right away, and their first couple albums are very fun to listen to. They started their own record label, Tides Records, and have released 8 albums in the last couple of years. Haven’t heard much from them lately, hopefully we’ll hear from them soon…

From The Vine – Rane

Maine (And New Hampshire)- Ray LaMontagne

Ray Lamontagne is the big artist out of Maine at the moment, and is one of my favorite folk/rock singers out there. He’s got a deep and gravelly voice, not too unlike that of Sam Beam, (Iron & Wine). LaMontagne was born in New Hampshire, and moved around a lot as a child before settling in Maine. Now based there, he’s been singing since 1999. His latest release is the fantastic ‘Till The Sun Turns Black.

Trouble – Ray Lamontagne

Rhode Island – I couldn’t find anyone from there. Anyone know of any?

Hype – Buy

Weekend Mix

Nothing really planned today, so here’s a random list of things to listen to for this weekend:

I Know the Reason – Carbon Leaf, Echo Echo
Is There A Ghost – Band of Horses, Cease to Begin
Manifest Destiny – Guster, Ganging Up On the Sun
Mean Mad Margaret – Spoon, Get Nice!
Ooh La La – Goldfrapp, His and Hers
Raindrops – Regina Spektor, Soviet Kitsch
Seen It All Before – Amos Lee, Amos Lee
Simple Twist of Fate (Bob Dylan Cover) – Jeff Tweedy, I’m Not There Soundtrack
Speed Dial No. 2 – Zero 7, When It Falls
We’re Going To Be Friends – The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
You Don’t Like Me Anyway – Joe Purdy, Sessions from Motor Ave.

Have a good weekend!

Hype – Buy

Weekend Mix

I didn’t have anything planned to throw up here today, so here’s a random smattering of songs that I really enjoy. So, some good stuff for listening this weekend:

Apologies – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Fa Fa – Guster
Fall Apart Again – Brandi Carlile
Freedom – Sara Wheeler
Lovesong of the Buzzard – Iron & Wine
On The Radio – Regina Spektor
Sister Jack – Spoon
Small Planet – Ferraby Lionheart
Torn To Tattered – Carbon Leaf
Who You Are – Cary Brothers

Hype – Buy

More Images

For more images from the past weekend – Brett Dennen, Guster, A Fine Frenzy and Brandi Carlile, I’ve got them all here.

Concert 2 – Brett Dennen & Guster

Brett Dennen Set

1 – Darlin’ Do Not Fear
2 – The One Who Loves You The Most
– Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
3 – Desert Sunrise
4 – Ain’t No Reason
5 – When I Go
6 – She’s Mine
7 – Blessed?

Brett Dennen opened for Guster on Saturday night at the UVM Patrick Gymnasium, to a fairly large group of students and Burlington residents. He played a fairly short set of his songs to a fairly good response. I found him to be a little bit of a letdown from my expectations. While he wasn’t bad, he wasn’t that great in person. I found Dennen to be pretty relaxed on stage, almost a little wooden. His presence on stage was a little stiff, and his fellow band members hardly moved from their original pose.
However, Brett Dennen’s music was good. While I’ve always thought of his music as a sort of pop-folk, his live show seemed to have more of a reggeae influence than I had picked up on earlier while listening through his songs. His set was solid – there were most of his recognizable songs there. His sound carried over pretty well from his albums, and there wasn’t much in the way of surprises there. Overall, it was a decent show, but not terribly memorable.

Guster Set
1 – Unknown (Careful?)
2 – Happier
3 – Backyard
4 – Satellite
5 – Beginning of the End
6 – I Spy
7 – Manifest Destiny
8 – Homecoming King
9 – Airport Song
10 – Ramona
11 – Hang On
12 – Amsterdam
13 – Improved Vermont Song
14 – Barrel of a Gun
15 – Come Down Stairs and Say Hello
16 – G Major
18 – Fa Fa
19 – Two Points for Honesty
20 – I Hope Tomorrow is Like Today
21 – Unknown
22 – Demons
23 – Where Everbody Knows Your Name (Countdown Cover)

Guster, on the other hand, really made the night. Taking off shortly after Brett Dennen, they opened up with a fantastic set of music that really got the crowd going. They had one of the longer sets of music that I’ve ever watched, and it was certainly a fun one. I came to this concert a little aprehensively. Brett Dennen, I sort of knew and listened to a bit, but Guster has been a relatively unknown band to me. I’ve listened to just a couple of their songs, and had heard some rather negative things about them from some crew people that I’ve worked with.
Guster wasn’t bad on stage. While they’re not automatically a favorite of mine, I definently got into their music and had a good time. They got into a good sound (and really energetic) and started off right away, and didn’t really talk a whole lot, which is always good (I’d rather listen to a musician sing than talk).

I was really impressed with the amount of interchangibility that these guys had with their insturments. It seemed like each one could play at least one or two others, and they brought in some cool things, like a trumpet, which you don’t see often. On stage, they really brought the audience a good sound, something that I think is best described as College-Pop or alternative. It seemed like a very appropriate type of music for a college campus. They weren’t without faults here and there. Overall, I thought that their lead singer shouldn’t necessarily be the lead singer – Adam Gardner, the second lead singer, seemed to me to have a better voice.
Overall, it was a fun show. Guster was certainly much better than Brett Dennen, but it was a good pairing.

Next up, A Fine Frenzy and Brandi Carlile.

Hype – Buy

Three Days, Three Concerts

So, this weekend should be fun and full of sound. As things lined up, I’m going to hit three concerts this weekend.

Friday -
Avi & Celia are out of Vermont, having formed a couple years ago at the University of Vermont (where other notable acts such as Phish formed), and have recently been named the best act of the month by Higher Ground, the best music place in Vermont. They’re doing a show at the Langdon Street Cafe, a small music venue in Montpelier.

Saturday –

Up at the University of Vermont, two bands are playing for the school, Guster with Brett Dennen opening for them. I’ve only listened to a limited number of these guys songs, but I’ve enjoyed them. Guster recently released their latest album, Ganging Up on the Sun, which has some good songs on it. Brett Dennen’s got a folk-ish sound that’s quite good. I’m looking forwards to this show, even though I just found out about it about a week ago.

She’s Mine - Brett Dennen
Satellite – Guster

Sunday –

This is a show that I’ve really been looking forwards to for the past month or so, Brandi Carlile with A Fine Frenzy opening. Both women are fantastic singers, each with a fantastic sound. They’re playing up at the Higher Ground Music Hall in South Burlington, and this should be a good one.

Rangers – A Fine Frenzy
The Story – Brandi Carlile

I’ll most likely be posting up reviews of each of these concerts on Monday, when I get back to my computer, so stay tuned.

Hype – Buy