Lenny Kravitz is so AMAZING

Have you listened to the new Lenny Kravitz album....."Black and White America"? This is one of the best records that I have ever owned. He is so far ahead of his contemporaries that it is almost laughable. Lenny has never followed the crowd and that is why I have always respected him and his music. There are not many "genuine articles" in today's music world, but Lenny is one of the VERY few. In my opinion this record puts him in the category of Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and The Reverend Al Green. Black and White America sounds like it could of been recorded at Stax studios in 1972. YOU HAVE TO CHECK THIS RECORD OUT. Jarvy gives B.W.A. a 10 and 1/2!!! It is so great to find a body of work like this from a real artist in the year 2012!!

Jarvy is IN LOVE!!!

WOW....I have always liked this guy...BLEU...but I never saw this video of his until today and all I can say is WOW!!! This is such an amazing video because it is not about "Sex", but instead these most beautiful girls stir up something completely past the hormonal part of being "male" and makes you remember what it was like when saw that girl who was your First Love. Sounds corny...I know. But tell me what you think after watching the video "Guys" 

One of Rock's Best Kept Secrets / Jellyfish

Jarvy usually has all kinds of stuff to say about the bands that are so great but the "masses" never knew about.  Well....in this case I am going to let this video speak for it's self.  Never heard of Jellyfish?  You are about to.  Take a listen my friend!

Birth 0f Joy........and Jarvy IS HAPPY!!

Birth of Joy is a REAL rock and roll band that hails from the Netherlands. From the Blog called "THE SODA SHOP", here is a short review of their new album called "Birth Of Joy"
The band is from the Netherlands and are a 3 piece who describes themselves as a “Power Organ Rock Trio.” Their description of their music is “Pumping drums, raw guitars and a supercharged organ makes Birth of Joy a chemistry you can’t deny.”
The album is a trip back in time to about the late 60′s throughout the mid 70′s. They have a sound that can be compared to The Doors. In fact, the song “Motel Money A Way,” vocalist Kevin Stunnenberg belts out the lyrics like a hyped Jim Morrison. The use of the organ throughout makes for an easy comparison. Listening to them though, they are far from being clones of The Doors. They are more of a garage rock band but play a lot of psychedelic blues.  “Drink The Cup” is a more mellow song and light hearted song but does have some belting out towards the end as the song speeds up to come to it’s end. “Make Things Happen” gets a little darker for the band with some deep bass and prominent organ. Kevin has another Jim Morrison episode here and the riffs from his guitars are just as mean. Easily my favorite song on the album. “Monster” takes a close second with it’s fast paced and almost poppy instruments.
The Soda Shop says this album caught them by surprise....well it did me as well.This is what Jarvys Cafe is about...turning you on to great bands like Birth Of Joy!

Jackdaw4 ....Another Great Band You Didn't Know About

Jackdaw4 is another great English band that's been playing and making albums for a lot of years and no one knows about.  But you do know, that is why Jarvys Cafe is here, to turn you on to bands like this.  Jackdaw4 should be HUGE!  And you know what? their Facebook page has only 600 followers.   They should have 600,000!!  If you like this go to their webpage and buy some music and the
TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
jarvy

Detroit Rock and Roll in 1969

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The Rock and Roll Band that changed everything for me was called SRC (The Scott Richard Case). I was 14 years old and I saw SRC at a small Catholic school auditorium with about 100 other kids. It was not the first time I had saw a rock band play.....BUT it was the first time I saw real rock and roll played by great musicians. In Kieth Richards biography he talks about hearing Chuck Berry for the first time and how it changed his life.....hearing music that reached down and touched his heart. Never had music done that to him before and that day he knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life! There are not many things that I can remember from when I was that young, but I can remember that night like it was yesterday. Seeing Scott Richards ( the lead singer) in front of that great band was just like seeing The Beatles or The Rolling Stones in a small club for a young English kid......SRC never were anywhere close to having that kind of success, but it wasn't because they weren't as good (THEY WERE)....it has to with management, timing and all the other things that make a great band huge. And it sure doesn't change how they effectrd me, when I saw them play that first time. I feel so lucky to have grown up in the Detroit area in the late 60's and seeing The MC5, The Stooges, Bob Seger, Mich Ryder and Detroit, and Alice Copper by the time I was 16 years old. Talk about timing!!!! Never again will there be a Rock Music Scene like there was here in Detroit in 1969!!!

Butch Walker / They Made a Documentary

This is a new documentary about Butch. I have been talking about Butch Walker for years here at Jarvys Cafe.....and now there is an amazing way to understand what I have been trying to say, all this time!

Michael Davis / June 5, 1943 – February 17, 2012.....You Will Be Missed

The MC5 were the reason I fell in love with Rock and Roll. When I was 13 years old, when I bought Kick Out The Jams the very first day it was released. When I got home after riding my bicycle back from the record store and dropped the needle on the first cut, Ramblin Rose............it changed my life forever. I was lucky enough to meet and get know Michael later in my life and he was a true gentleman. Always a warm smile and I never heard him say a bad thing about anyone. Below is a statement about Michael's passing from a man that knew him well. And I thought who better to tell us about Michael than a man who embodies rock and roll Iggy Pop.
For me, Michael was the original cool guy. He was a tall, handsome man who looked great on stage with his bass strapped on, and I always admired his poise and showmanship. He played with a fluid, effortless style that rolled under the beat. The lines he played were always distinctive, like somebody singing. He had a lot of positive energy. Michael had a wonderful smile, and a kind of unflappable manner. I never saw him too upset about anything. He was a nice guy, and although he had plenty of attitude, he wasn't a prick about it like so many musicians can be. Check out his playing on Looking At You (Original 'A-Square' Single Version). Especially the bass note he plays just before the end. Wow. He belongs in the Hall Of Fame, along with his whole group, for their contributions to American music and its politics. He was and they were hugely charismatic and influential. Their beliefs and approach had to do with things much larger than music and these things are coming to light more and more today on the world revolutionary stage. There is no band that I know of as dangerous as the MC5 and their manager, John Sinclair. I loved Michael. My condolences to his family, friends, and group and my thanks to him and the MC5 for their generosity and inspiration to me and The Stooges.

Iggy Pop

Jarvys Cafe' is About Music Education!

I have been writing in this Blog for over 3 years and I still do not have many readers. One reason is that there are so many choices of blogs to read, that finding an audience is a very difficult task. And number two is that the title of the Blog post usually contains the Artist the Blogger is talking about and titles are a very big part of how Google rates your page.....so if you are talking about Rihanna, then you have a shot of a lot of dumb kids clicking on your link, but if you talk about a great band like Watershed, then forget it, you will be lucky to have 5 people visit your Blog. But you know what, that does not deter Jarvy.......we are going to keep writing and trying to educate people (especially young people) about what GOOD MUSIC really is. Watershed is a band from Columbus Ohio who has been banging out some of the greatest Rock and Roll of the 20th

Century and has been doing it for over 20 years!! Talk about preserverance!!
You must check them out. They have a Brand New Album called "American Muscle" YOUR EDUCATION STARTS HERE!!!

The Redwalls / Another of Rock's Best Kept Secrets

In this day of digital everything it's rare to find the real deal. As I heard John say in an interview, you don't make records anymore, you assemble them. Well....The Redwalls are thr real deal. The problem is, they made 3 amazing records and never really found success. The biggest break they had was when they were invited to join Oasis on their Summer 2005 UK tour. Chicagoans Logan Baren, his bassist brother Justin started the band in 2001. I would start with their first record "Universal Blues".... as your introduction to this amazing band. It just pisses me off that the music biz is so fucked up that a band like this never "made it" and then you guys like Justin BEAVER' making millions and kids have no idea whats really good music. It is not all like that....there are young kids who know what the real deal is. And the internet is a place where you can find bands like The Redwalls if you know where to look. Check this out! Logan Baren could be the illegitimate love child of Lennon and Dylan (if that was possible). Jarvy gives all 3 albums 5 stars!
The Redwalls- "Game of Love"
MAD Dragon Records | Myspace Music Videos

Do You Know: BUTCH WALKER?

If you do not......YOU SHOULD! I have followed Butch Walker's career since I first heard his band called Marvelous 3 in about 2001 (the same year they disbanded). They were what the "press" labeled "Power Pop", but to me it was just good plain ole' Rock and Roll".
Butch Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia. Right out of high school, Butch took his band, Byte the Bullet to LA and they were signed to Virgin Records within the year. They changed their name to SouthGang and released two albums, Tainted Angel in 1991 and Group Therapy in 1992. Butch had 2 more bands with record deals, before forming Marvelous 3 and making 3 albums, 2 of them on Elektra records. Starting his solo career in 2002, I had the amazing luck to have seen him play on his first solo tour at Alvins, the Iconic Music Bar on Cass Ave., downtown Detroit....my home town. In fact, there were 2 little bars wich Mitch Ryder loved to play at, when we were home off tour and Alvins was one of them. I think the capacity is about 150....but on many nights that we played there.....I think 150 people alone...were just on the dance floor in front of the stage. Alvins is just one of those places that has the "magic"..it just sounds right, looks right, and most of all "feels right". Anyway....seeing Butch play there with only about 75 people was a once in a lifetime experience.

This first ( Left of Self-Centered ) album and tour was his "Heavy Rock" period and I remember that it was REAL loud....even for me (who stood next to a Marshall amp for 13 years). But it was amazing!!! I remember leaving there, that night thinking how great it was that here were still "Real Rock" bands left on the planet! Butch's second solo effort (Letters in 2004) took a complete 180.....and still is one of my favorite albums of all time. You have to hear this record. If you do not know about this amazing writer, producer, and performer......start with "Letters" for it is a good cross section of what he does. I had not written a post in quite a while and thought...."who should I write about" and I asked myself..."who is your favorite band/musician"? No Hesitation!!! Butch Walker. He has been recognized as a producer (Once named "Producer of the Year" by Rolling Stone), working with everyone from, Weezer, to Avril Lavigne. But as a rock and roll icon....well, it is a crazy world we live in today. The "Music Business" has changed so much from when I was in it, that there really isn't a "Music Business".....not like there once was. And I cannot say if that is a "Good Thing" or a "Bad Thing"....I just know that finding "GREAT" rock and roll, is not like it use to be. Sure...go ahead and say..."Yea, that Jarvy is just an old fart and just likes the music from when he was a kid. But if that's true, then why do young teens love Jimi Hendrix still.....after 40 years! I don't remember hanging posters of Benny Goodman on my wall when I was 14.
Butch Walker has a band again and they are called "The Black Widows". They have done one album and a new one called " I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart" and have a new album coming out August 30th, called "The Spade"
Do yourself a favor......if you "Do Not Know Who Butch Walker" is: FIND OUT!!!!
Jarvy...Aug. 21, 2011

John Lennon Rock God / Lennon and Cheap Trick

I never knew that Rick Nielsen Bun E. Carlos played a track on Lennon's last recording sessions for Double Fantasy. I stumbled across a video on YouTube of this track. The amazing producer Jack Douglas, who produced the last Lennon albums...brought in Rick and Bun E. one day to try something different from the normal band they were using for the tracks. The result is what you see and hear below. It is said that even though John loved the outcome of this session, he thought the sound was to different from the rest of the tracks. Still....you can really understand what a GREAT ROCK VOICE John had....especially when being backed up by Real Rock musicians. As a side note, Tony Levin on bass. Here is the story direct from Rick Nielsen:
As Nielsen remembers it, before Cheap Trick achieved worldwide fame in the 1970s, they first needed to record an actual album and were seeking a rock culture giant to bring the release credibility. “We wanted John Lennon. This was in 1976, and he hadn’t done anything in so long.” But the rising artists got nowhere with that request, and the acclaimed first album was produced by Jack Douglas, a longtime studio master whose work over the years has included classic recordings by Aerosmith, Miles Davis, Alice Cooper and even Lennon, on his comeback album, “Double Fantasy.”
As Lennon hung out in his home at the Dakota in New York, famously tending to his new son, Sean, and making bread, Cheap Trick vaulted to worldwide fame with the stunning success of the triple-platinum “Cheap Trick at Budokan.” When Lennon dusted off his Rickenbacker and exhumed his legendary songwriting skills, he recruited Douglas to work on “Double Fantasy.” Recording commenced in the summer of 1980 in New York, and soon Douglas told Nielsen the sessions were “too studio musician-ish.” Lennon wanted some real, rough-around-the-edges rockers, and Nielsen was thrilled at the chance to record with a true rock legend. Problem was, his wife, Teresa, was about to give birth to their son, Daxx. “We were actually on tour, in Toronto, going to Japan the next day, when we heard about this, and the day of the session was the due date for Daxx. I asked (Teresa) about it, and she said, ‘C’mon, he’s your hero, you have to do it.' So on Aug. 12, we had a baby boy, and I was in Montreal. I smuggled a bunch of Cuban cigars out of Canada and flew into New York, showed up at The Hit Factory. After about an hour of setting up, in walks John Lennon.” After the clumsy introduction, Nielsen realized Lennon was a big Cheap Trick fan and started showing him some of his old tools. “He was playing this old Veleno guitar with dirty strings. He opened this case with an old Rickenbacker in it, and the set list from the Shea Stadium concert was scotch-taped to the back.” Lennon showed him a truly rare instrument, the Mellotron he played on “Strawberry Fields Forever” for soundscapes on “The White Album.” Nielsen was privy to conversation between Lennon and Ono as they planned arrangements for “I’m Moving On.” “She was asking him, ‘Should I do it fast or slow?’ He says, ‘Do it however you (bleeping) want, Mother!” “I’m Losing You” was knocked out in two takes but did not fit with the slicker material throughout the rest of the album and was left off the final printing of “Double Fantasy.” “It never fit with the continuity of the rest of the album. It’s like a lounge band, then this grungy song (“I’m Moving On” with Nielsen and Carlos also was left off). It was sort of embarrassing when people heard we were going to play on the album, then we weren’t on the album.” But the version surfaced on “John Lennon’s Anthology” in 1998, and Cheap Trick recorded a video to accompany the song several years ago. At the end of the session, Nielsen passed around his ill-gotten Cubans. Lennon joked with Carlos, “Hey, Bun E., I’ll see you at the hop,” and also told the Cheap Trick drummer, “I wish (Rick) had played on ‘Cold Turkey.’ Eric choked on that.” The “Eric” is Eric Clapton. “The whole time, it was just guy-to-guy, musician-to-musician,” Nielsen said. “Funny, I never got anything signed by him or anything like that.” Nielsen and Carlos did mention to Lennon the idea of him recording “Cheap Trick” years earlier. “We tell John this, and he says, ‘I would love to have done that.’ We wanted to kill our manager, of course. It was one of those what-if, never-happened things.”
Ain't that the truth!!! I was watching the Beatles Anthology the other night and heard The Beatles version of "Twist and Shout" 1964!!
Listen for yourself....God Love John Lennon!

Celebrate Band On The Run / Paul McCartney at His Best

Paul's first real band after leaving the greatest rock group in history was a band called "Wings". The GRAMMY winning, smash # 1 album - originally released December of 1973 - yielded the immortal title track and world-wide hit “Jet” becoming Wings’ most successful and celebrated album ever. Paul McCartney personally supervised all aspects of the Band on the Run reissue. The remastering work was done at Abbey Road using the same team who recently remastered the complete Beatles’ catalog. If I had to take only 10 albums to a desert island, this would definitely be on the list!

The "RECORD COMPANIES"

Here is an amazing commentary about how the record companies came to be and how they were originally just selling furniture (not music). Even in the beginning the rich big company only cared about making money not music. What is really ironic about this video is how in the present, the "Record Companies" have lost their way and now they have been put out of business by the internet and file-sharing. If they were really concerned with the actual "art" and "artist"......maybe they could have survived in some other capacity. Jarvy would like to know ......"WHAT DO YOU THINK?"

The Strokes Have a New Album / Angles

If you love or hate them, you can't take away the fact that the Strokes are one of the most important bands in rock and roll in the last decade. They have single-handedly kept real rock and roll alive in the new miilineum! (Jarvy's opinion only....of course) But let's really take look at what has happened to not only the "Business of Music", but pop culture itself. In 2001, when The Strokes eponymous album "This is It" was released, the record business was basically dying a slow death. The years Top 10 songs on the Billboard Chart, included; Eve featuring Gwen Stefani , Peaches & Cream, Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, and Pink - Lady Marmalade, Nelly featuring City Spud , Destiny's Child, and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot. That list in it's self could trigger a 3 page post.....but my point here is along come these kids from the NYC art college scene and have capture the masses by playing music that could of come straight out of Andy's Warhol's factory in 1968. As my life has always been about music, I can remember that time so clearly and that the first time I heard the record. It was the first time since I was 18 years, that I actually felt "that feeling" that a great new rock band could provide......and that is knowing that everything was "going to be ok", because you had a new friend. One that would help you through the dark hours....just by putting that piece of vinyl on the turntable and turning it up to 10!! No, they are not the most prolific players, but they understood....what it was really about. Just as The Velvets, The Stooges,The MC5, The New York Dolls, and The Ramones all had. The new record is officially to be released March 22nd, but I had a chance to here an advance copy and "Jarvy's Take" is The Strokes are still the BEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND in America today!!!

Iggy and the Stooges Live On!!

In a recent interview with Crawdaddy! magazine, James Williamson talked about rejoining the Stooges, working on Raw Power and Kill City, and mixing and songwriting. He also spoke about the possibility of recording new singles with the Stooges, and said: "We’re continuing to work on new material, even though we haven’t had much time off the road yet. So this is the period when we’re starting to do that. But we have to have new riffs that capture our imagination, and the lyrics have to match that, and finally the performance has to be such that we can feel proud of it. The bar is set pretty high ... we don’t want to release something that’s not up to par with the Stooges material, but I think we can do it."

Iggy and the 70 year old Stooges have released a live version of Raw Power from their sold out World Tour! Amazing!! To see these guys playing their hearts out at "going on 70 years old" is simply INCREDIBLE! Here is a link to the live album and a link to the Limited Deluxe Edition of Raw Power. This 40 year old album is a great lesson for anyone yearning to be educated in the "School of Rock"

Rock is not Dead / Beady Eye Lives!

Beady Eye was formed by the other three core members of the 1999-2009 incarnation of Oasis, namely singer Liam Gallagher, guitarist Gem Archer, and bassist Andy Bell,who switched back to guitar in Beady Eye, together with live drummer Chris Sharrock, who became a full time member of the new group. Jeff Wootton and Matt Jones will perform live bass and keyboard duties.

The band began writing and recording new material in November 2009, and offered a preview of their upcoming album with the release of "Bring the Light", on 15 November 2010 as a free download. It charted at number sixty-one on the UK Singles Chart, topping the Indie and Rock charts.

This guy Liam.....has single handledly saved rock. He may be a little conceited, but doesn't he deserve to be?

Welcome To My Nightmare II

After 35 years it’s a bit risky, some would say desperate, to have a sequel to you’re most successful album. Alice decided the only way for him to recreate the magic of that album was to get together with Dick Wagner and Bob Ezrin. Now it’s the first time Alice, Wagner and Ezrin have all worked together since 1983’s Dada. Dada was a commercial and critical failure at the time, but has come to be regarded as a hidden gem. Alice was noted saying:

It feels great to be working with Bob again and the entire Bigger Picture team have been tremendously supportive. Lightning has struck more than once in the past with Bob’s involvement, so we feel great that we’re onto something really electrifying now that we’re together again. The album we’re crafting is, in some ways, a ‘shriekquel’ to what’s gone before and there’s no better guy to oversee things than Bob.

According to Gail Worley, Alice and Bob Ezrin have already written more than 10 songs for the new album. This includes the ballads “I Am Made of You” and “Something to Remember Me By”. Alice has also written a few tracks with Desmond Child, who brought Alice success in the late 80’s/early 90′s, with the albums Trash and Hey Stoopid.

Possibly the biggest news is that for the first time in over 35 years, Cooper has done three new songs with the original Alice Cooper group. The line-up includes Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neal Smith (drums) and Michael Bruce (guitar). Unfortunately original member Glen Buxton (guitar) died in 1997, so the reunion can not be a complete one. The reunion might have something to do with their possible induction into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.

The fact that the original Alice Cooper Band has reunited to record is a long awaited wish for many of us old rockers.....who remember that first AC album "Pretties for You"

When Johnny was ON!!!!!

Take a look at this video.....1987 and Johnny was playing with Jerry Nolan and Arthur Harold "Killer" Kane Jr. at the Roxy in Hollywood. This is what rock and roll is all about!!! There is a lot of crap performances of Johnny Thunders out there on the net and many of those attributed to what brought about his own demise at such an early age. But after watching this, I hope you understand that losing Johnny was a tragic loss to rock and roll!!!

Will Owsley....Gone but not Forgotten

I had been thinking about Will Owsley one night while surfing the web....and thought I would Google him.....to see what he was up to. Here is what is really sad....One of my favorite musicians of all time was gone and I never even new anything about it. Will was definitely an "Insider's Musician" but what a loss to the music world.... and the fact that most people have no idea who he was.....is a REAL Tragedy!

Will Owsley died April 30, 2010 at Williamson County Hospital in Franklin, Tennessee; he was 44. The Tennessean reported the cause of death as "an apparent suicide.

I loved his first album, entitled "Owsley" I think one of the great Power Pop albums of all time. If you can find this CD....BUY IT!

With the money he earned working with Amy Grant and Shania Twain, he bought a house in Green Hills, Tennessee and in it built a home recording studio.In 1998, it led to the release of his self-titled solo album on Not Lame Recordings. It was co-produced by Millard Powers and Jeff Balding. Doug Morris of Universal Music Group picked it and proposed the album to be rerecorded, but Owsley insisted that it simply needed to be remixed by either Tom Lord-Alge, Bob Clearmountain or Andy Wallace. Tom Lord-Alge signed on,together with J.R. McNeely. The eponymous album Owsley got re-released on March 23, 1999 under Giant Records.

Recorded almost entirely on a vintage Studer 2-inch 16-track tape machine in his home studio on Hobbs Road in Nashville, Tennessee, it garnered him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album. The album would be labeled one of the best pop records of the '90s.
RIP....Will. I will miss you!
Jarvy....10-12-2010