Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock N Roll. This is their 2nd studio.album released this day 27th June in 1983. More refined than their debut album, it is still quinessential TS, full of edgy, rebellious, and defiant rock songs.
Bowmore 1988. Matured in 1st-fill ex-bourbon casks and bottled in 2017 at 47.8% abv. Sláinte 🥃
“You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll is my favorite. Of course, I wrote all of them so I love them all, but it was the most enjoyable recording experience. We were in there working with Stuart Epps, the band was in a great studio environment, we were never closer as a band, it was just an amazing experience, amazing recording. A very positive experience." - Dee Snider (Goldmine, 2011).
The title of this album is even more poignant with the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the livelihood of musicians. In a recent interview with Inlander, Dee Snider sums it up:
"You can’t stop rock ‘n’ roll — I’ve said it, and it’s true, whether it be in basements, garages or bedrooms. It’ll never die. But this is a very brutal blow right now. I hope we come out of it into some semblance of dignity and inspiration because we need young minds, fresh ideas.”
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Van Weezer is the 15th studio album by Weezer, released last year, and probably one packed with the most fun factor.
Smokehead 18yo Islay single malt Scotch whisky and bottled by Ian MacLeod Distillers at 46% abv. Sláinte 🥃.
Given that the band is a huge fan of 80s metal music, the album title would indicate some form of tribute to the late guitar hero Eddie Van Halen.
"It's a tip of the hat to probably the best known band in the mainstream public consciousness to represent guitar shreddage." - Rivers Cuomo (Guitar World).
This album really does take one back to the loud fun of the 80s, and really deserve to be cranked up🤘
“Lyrically and musically, this takes us back to what we grew up playing. We suppressed these impulses for many years, so it was like coming home. It was a real joy to open up that Pandora’s box of evil guitar tools and go crazy.” - Rivers Cuomo (Guitar World).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Eric Clapton - Live In San Diego with special guest JJ Cale. Recorded in March 15th in 2007. Very special indeed, despite their names being commonly associated with each other through songs since the 70s, this is in fact only the third time .they shared the stage.
Dunyvaig from the Silver Seal Whisky Company. A 23yo Islay Single Malt distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2013 at 55.1% abv. I have no idea which distillery, although the name suggests a Lagavulin. Sláinte 🥃.
Clapton holds JJ Cale to the highest esteem, with the latter writing songs made famous by EC, including Cocaine and After Midnight. The somewhat reclusive Cale agreed to join Clapton for part of a concert in San Diego.
“It’s well-known how John preferred to stay under the radar in most anything that had to do with the ‘big-time’ in the music biz. But I went with him to that concert, and when I see pictures of that night, I remember how much fun John had. It was so special for him to be there, and Eric is the reason. John just enjoyed him and liked it when they were playing music together. I think that warmth is captured in this gig...” - Christine Lakeland Cale.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Def Leppard's Diamond Star Halos 💎⭐😇 is their 12 studio album released last month. With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the album was recorded in several different countries: Joe Elliot in Ireland, Rick Savage in England, and the remaining members in the US (Phil Collen, Vivian Campbell, Rick Allen).
SMWS 70.41 . Orchard Beehives. A 29yo Balblair distilled on 25th Jul 1990, matured in refill ex-bourbon hogshead, bottled at 49.5% abv. Sláinte 🥃.
Although the earlier Def Leppard albums remains their best, one can't expect the same type of music 45 years down the track. The band is at a totally different age and mindset, and so am I, so this album is pretty awesome.
"If you're a Def Leppard fan, I would imagine there's always a need to listen to some new music, because as much as it's great to have this massive back catalog of music, new music is what keeps a band alive, so we wanna share that with our fans." - Joe Elliot.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
White Lion's Pride is their 2nd studio album released this day 21st June in 1987. This is really one of my fav rock bands of the 80s, and Vito Bratta rates as one of the top guitar players for me, with his signature melodic playing. Needless to say, pretty gutted when he exited the music scene 🥺
Lagavulin. The Lion's Fire 🦁🔥. A 12yo Special Release 2021 from exclusively refilled casks and bottled at natural cask strength with an abv of 56.5%. A fitting dram for this album. Sláinte 🥃🥃
"To me, Pride represents the coming together of White Lion. It’s the band at its core and the purity of the band. It’s the only album where we are the “true” White Lion.
Back in 1986, shortly after the Fight To Survive album, we recorded a version of Pride over in Germany. But after coming back to America and giving it a listen, we weren’t satisfied. So Vito and I started re-writing and went to LA to record it again." - Mike Tramp (Guitar World).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Chet Atkins CGP was BOTD 20th June 1924 🎂. Known as "Mr Guitar", Atkins is truely the guitarist's guitarist, and remains one of my favourite.
SMWS 33.138. A Thigh-Slapping Dram. This is a 12yo Ardbeg distilled on 24th May 2007, matured in 2nd-fill ex-oloroso butt, bottled at 60.9%. This is one of the finest Ardbeg I have come across, and just bottle-killed ... really sad to see this one go. Sláinte 🥃🥃.
Chet's thumb👍 and two finger✌️ style of picking was heavily influenced by Merle Travis whom he heard playing live on Cincinnati station WLW. Atkins of course went on to influence whole generations of guitar players, no less than Mark Knopfler and perhaps the best of them all, Tommy Emmanuel CGP.
"As a guitarist, Chet was without parallel. He played the guitar the way Fred Astaire danced. His fingers glided across the strings and the frets of his instrument so smoothly, so apparently effortlessly, that it seemed easy until you tried to replicate his movements. His intricate finger-picking style, in which his thumb supplied a bass line while his fingers created endless variations of melody and harmony, has influenced nearly every guitarist who picked up the instrument for the past sixty years. The Chet Atkins’ style might have been easy listening, but it was challenging playing." - Alan Cackett.
As a guitar player, this description is spot on 💯
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Dire Straits - Making Movies from 1980. Lovely way to end the weekend. All their studio albums are superb and it is really too hard to pick the best one.
Macallan 23 yo distilled in 1979. A McGibbon's Provenance single cask bottled at 51.9% abv. Sláinte 🥃🥃
"The album was just to feature just seven songs, and only one of them was shorter than four minutes. It was no surprise that the best loved tracks turned out to be "Romeo and Juliet" and "Tunnel of Love". They are beautifully crafted songs, songwriting at its best. I have never tired of playing them, even today, forty years on .." - John Illsley
I can't do everything but I'd do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you
Songwriting at its best indeed.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Joe Pass' For Django, released in 1964, is a tribute to the legendary gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who passed away 11 years prior to this recording.
Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival 2015 from refill American oak casks and European oak Bodega casks, bottled at 55.4% abv. Sláinte 🥃🥃
The small combo of two guitars, bass, and drums – Pass with John Pisano, Jim Hughart and Colin Bailey, keeps the album focused without being too cluttered.
Aside from the two tributes to Reinhardt (Django and For Django), all the tunes on this album were either written by Django or were an important part of his repertoire.
"It's refreshing to hear them done again, and done so tastefully by Joe Pass, who, in spite of his obvious devotion to Django, still maintains his own personality." - Mort Fega (WEVD, New York City, 1964).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Great White's Twice Shy, their 4th studio album released in1989, and perhaps their best album IMHO. I can still remember buying the CD when it came out during a quick roadtrip stop at a music store on the main street of small town Stratford, NZ.
SMWS 3.139. Treacle and Iodine. A Bowmore 10yo distilled in Feb 98 and bottled in Apr 08 at 56.5% abv 🥃🥃
Their cover of Ian Hunter's Once Bitten Twice Shy landed them their biggest hit. Their manager came to them with this song.
"Way before we ever decided to cover the song, he (Ian Hunter) actually rode on our tour bus with us to one of our shows and was just hanging out. I believe it was around 1979 in New York. Then we ran into him again in 1984. We were touring with Judas Priest, and we needed a drum riser. Our sound guy knew Ian and said that he had a drum riser at his house. So, we went over and picked it up. What’s funny is that neither of these meetings had anything to do with us covering that song." - Mark Kendall (Ultimate Classic Rock).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Liquid Tension Experiment 2 was released today 15th June in 1999. LTE is an American instrumental progressive metal supergroup, founded by Mike Portnoy, then Dream Theater's drummer, in 1997.
SMWS 38.23. Kissing a pear. A lavender bush delicately embraced papaya and pears poached in syrup and rhubarb crumble, lychees and peach sorbet on a creamy texture. It's actually a 26yo Caperdonich distilled in 1993, matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel and bottled at 51.4% abv 🥃🥃
Portnoy first invited keyboardist Jordan Rudess and progressive rock icon Tony Levin of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel's band to join him. Portnoy said that his first choice for the guitar was Dimebag Darrell, but he was unable to join because of conflicting schedules. Two other primary choices, Steve Morse and Jim Matheos were also unavailable. Portnoy then turned to fellow Dream Theater member John Petrucci to fill the position. Rudess was asked to join Dream Theater largely because of the success of Liquid Tension Experiment, and the chemistry of the three working together.
For those eagle eye readers who made it thus far would have spotted I posted the same album a while ago, and coincidentally matched it with the same whisky!
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Elton John's Live In Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was released today 13th June in 1987. This concert, on 14th Dec 1986, before 11,000 people in the Sydney Entertainment Centrr, was the last in a series of 27 performances covering all of Australia.
SMWS 29.265 . Skippers and kippers. A 21yo Laphroaig distilled in 1998 and matured in 2nd-filled ex-bourbon barrels, bittlrd st 55.3% abv. Just cracked this one open tonight 🥃🥃. Small puffs of smoke from a fishing boat joined bandages before marrying with liquorice, toasted pine nuts and smoked kippers with milk.
The first half of show featured Elton and his thirteen-piece band - and you are joining the concert, after the interval. Just as the 88-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is heard and seen for the first time on this, the last night of the tour. The whole show was also being televised live via satellite to an estimated audience of 10 million.
This album has a very special place in my heart. It was the first Christmas down at Wellington NZ with your folks and I got this album on CD for you (and I got a pair of Raybans 😎).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Elton John's Live In Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was released today 13th June in 1987. This concert, on 14th Dec 1986, before 11,000 people in the Sydney Entertainment Centrr, was the last in a series of 27 performances covering all of Australia.
SMWS 29.265 . Skippers and kippers. A 21yo Laphroaig distilled in 1998 and matured in 2nd-filled ex-bourbon barrels, bittlrd st 55.3% abv. Just cracked this one open tonight 🥃🥃. Small puffs of smoke from a fishing boat joined bandages before marrying with liquorice, toasted pine nuts and smoked kippers with milk.
The first half of show featured Elton and his thirteen-piece band - and you are joining the concert, after the interval. Just as the 88-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is heard and seen for the first time on this, the last night of the tour. The whole show was also being televised live via satellite to an estimated audience of 10 million.
This album has a very special place in my heart. It was the first Christmas down at Wellington NZ with your folks and I got this album on CD for you (and I got a pair of Raybans 😎).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (See all posts here)
Chick Corea was BOTD 12th June in 1941.
“What making music for people does, I’ve observed, is it stimulates what’s natural in all of us. It’s native sense, in every person. You don’t have to be a professional anything — all you need to do is be a living human being, and open to the play of imagination.” - Chick Corea (Jazz Times).
Lagavulin Jazz 2020 bottled at 52.6%, this 22 Year Old was matured in refill American and European oak casks, some of which were wine seasoned. Just finished the Jazz 2019 so this is next up 🥃🥃.
In the early Sixties, Corea established himself as an A-list pianist, working with Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, and others. Later in the decade, he joined Miles Davis’ band and played a key role in helping the trumpeter make the transition to a more contemporary, plugged-in sound on albums like Bitches Brew. Following his work with Davis, he formed his own groundbreaking electric band, Return to Forever, which played some of the most vibrant and dynamic music of the fusion era. In the ensuing decades, Corea threw himself into countless projects, showing off his limitless range — from a refined duo with vibraphonist Gary Burton to his trendsetting Elektric Band. - Rolling Stones
I have seen Corea play in Hong Kong a couple of times, the second clip is from the 2017 show. The most memorable show was at the Blue Note in New York City with the Spanish Heart Band. I was in Boston for several days and caught the train for a whirlwind trip to NYC. Corea sadly died in 2021 after a short illness.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Skid Row's Slave To The Grind, release this day 11th June in 1991, making history when it became the first heavy metal album during the SoundScan era to debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200.
The Single Malts Of Scotland Director's Special. A Laphroaig 20yo from a single oloroso sherry butt aged for 20 years and bottled at 53.8% abv. This is the pinnacle of a single cask aged peated sherry whisky 🥃🥃.
The album cover was painted by Sebastian's Bach father David Bierk. Inspired by Caravaggio's Burial of St. Lucy from 1608, and despite its medieval setting, it features a cell phone , TV, and John F. Kennedy in the crowd. There is also somebody swigging a bottle that looks like a whisky. Consistent with the album cover, Slave to the Grind is an album that explores various themes of control and the ongoing struggle waged against authoritarian rule.
"When my father passed away, in 2002, on his deathbed, I held him. "Dad. We had a Number One Album!!!". In his opiate-induced haze he burst into tears and held me close. These words made a dying man laugh with joy. We smiled through the tears. It was one of the pinnacles of my life, and my father's life. He knew that his art would live on, forever, on the cover of that record." - Sebastian Bach (18 and Life on Skid Row).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Howlin' Wolf was BOTD in 1910 in White Station, Mississippi. Born Chester Arthur Burnett, something spooked young Chester, sending him howling upstairs, and he was given the nickname of Howlin' Wolf by his family.
Laphroaig 33yo. The Ian Hunter Story Book 3. Vintage 1987, ex-bourbon barrel matured. This is a lovely aged fruity Laphroaig 🥃🥃
In 1952, Wolf drove to Chicago to join Chess Records, bringing the music of the Mississippi Delta to Chicago. The current album The Super Super Blues Band is a collaboration between Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, & Bo Diddley, a meeting of blues titan.
Wolf's final live performance was in Nov 1975 at the Chicago Amphitheater, sharing the bill with guitar greats B.B. King and Albert King. Suffering from kidney disease requiring dialysis, Wolf died in Jan 1976. Without the blues there would be no rock and roll. And Howlin' Wolf was the blues.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Cinderella's debut album Night Songs was release this day 9th June in 1986. First discovered by Gene Simmons, their record deal was secured through the help of Jon Bon Jovi. Time for some glam metal.
I still remember getting the CD Video of Somebody Save Me and Nobody's Fool circa 1988. I doubt if many would have heard of or seen a CD Video before.
SMWS 29.234 from The Vault Collection. Smoked and salted toffee apples. A 27yo Laphroaig distilled in 1989, matured in a refill butt/ex-oloroso, and bottled at 54.9% abv. One can never have enough 29s. 🥃🥃.
“The most leftover songs are from the first record. That is why they warn you about the sophomore jinx, because you spend your entire life writing for that first record. There were 60 songs going into Night Songs, and we picked ten. We never went back to that pool except once for “Hot And Bothered”, which was on the Wayne’s World soundtrack. I’ve always moved forward with my writing" - Tom Keifer (Sonic Perspectives).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits. A great humpday spin with so many fantastic songs. Truly one of America's songwriting greats.
Smokehead 18yo. Islay single malt bottled by Ian MacLeod Disilleries at 46% abv. Its still a mystery which distillery this is from, if anyone knows please tell me. My guess is Ardbeg 🤷♂️🥃
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Tragically, Petty died of an accidental drug overdose in 2017, at the age of 66, one week after the end of the Heartbreakers' 40th Anniversary Tour.
“It’s kind of a lonely work, because you just have to keep your pole in the water. I always had a little routine of going into whatever room I was using at the time to write in, and just staying in there till I felt like I got a bite. I compare it to fishing: There’s either a fish in the boat or there’s not. Sometimes you come home and you didn’t catch anything and sometimes you caught a huge fish. But that was the work part of it to me. I just remember being excited when I had a song done, and I knew I had a song in my pocket, I always felt really excited about it.” - Tom Petty (LA Times).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears. Just feel like some Ozzy tonight and this is one of his best album from 1991. The title track is the standout track 🤘 Monster riff and solo from Zakk 🔥
SMWS 38.26. Treasure Hunt. A 27yo Caperdonich distilled in 1992, matured in 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel, and bottled at 49.8% abv. 🥃🥃
“I was wondering how I could sound like me and no-one else. I made a grocery list. If you don’t want to sound like Yngwie, who was still at the height of his dominance, don’t do any harmonic minor or classical arpeggios and sweeps. Cross that off the list. If you don’t wanna sound like Eddie, don’t do any taps, harmonics, divebombs or whammy bar stuff. .. I was looking at the list and figured the only thing left would be pentatonic scales ... So it was like taking all the crayons out of the box, leaving myself just four to play with and seeing what I could draw with that. It forces you to come up with something, when you are working with less. That’s how I approached it, anyway!” - Zakk Wylde (Music Radar).
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
RIP Alec John Such - one of the founding members of Bon Jovi. He was instrumental in bringing the band together, being a childhood friend of Tico Torres, and brought Richie Sambora to see the band perform. He left Bon Jovi in 1994, with Keep The Faith being his last album with the band.
"It felt like work and I didn't want to work. The reason I got into a band to begin with is because I didn't want to work." - Alec John Such. It doesn't get more rock and roll than that, quitting one of the biggest rock band at the time.
SMWS 29.262. A 20yo Laphroaig distilled in 1998 and bottled at 55.6% abv. So long and thanks for all the medicine. Bad medicine 🥃🥃
New Jersey from 1988 is one of their best albums, and IMHO better than Slippery. My fav track is Blood On Blood, it just takes me back to the days of growing up in a small town hanging out with the coolest mates @skinzz73
I have seen Bon Jovi many times, but only once with Alec John Such when he was still in the band back in 1989 at Western Springs Stadium in New Zealand.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Eric Clapton's Unplugged from 1992. This is the Mofi Ultradisc One-step Pressing that arrived last week. I must have listened to this album hundreds of times and it has never sounded so good.
Bowmore 26yo French Oak Barrique. First 13 years in ex-bourbon barrels, then for another 13 years in wine barriques. Bottled at 48.7% abv.🥃🥃
All the tracks on this album are fantastic, and many of them play an important part of my guitar journey, including Signe, Before You Accuse Me, Running On Faith, Layla, Tears In Heaven, and Circus, which is not on the original release.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
The Rolling Stones - Stripped 🐜. Ronnie Wood BOTD 1st June in 1947, has been with The Rolling Stones since 1975.
SMWS 29.268. Essence Of Gelfling. A 22yo Laphroaig at 50% abv. A stunning 29 🥃🥃.
Prior to the Stones, Wood joined the Jeff Beck Group as bassist in 1967, released two great albums, Truth and Beck-ola. The group split in 1969 and Wood departed along with lead vocalist Rod Stewart to form Faces. After the departure of Mick Taylor from the Stones, Keith Richards invited Wood to join them.
I first saw The Rolling Stones in 2005 in San Francisco on their "A Bigger Bang" tour, when Metallica opened for them. I saw them again in 2014 at the Cotai Arena in Macau. The second photo is a shot of Ronnie Wood from that Macau show.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Whitesnake - Slip Of The Tongue from 1989, is their 8th studio album. Best thing about this album is they got Steve Vai to play on it.
Talisker 30 years old at natural cask strength. Bottled in 2008 at 49.5% abv. This is one bottle waiting to be cracked open 😋
"Something very interesting about that record is that's when I got the first 7-string guitar. With Ibanez, I had the Jem and then I asked them to make a Jem with a seventh string.
And they made me this guitar and I got it and I took the first prototype and I recorded the whole Whitesnake album – not one song I didn't use it on.
So that record if you listen, that’s the first rock record that has a seven-string guitar throughout the whole thing. A little bit of trivia for ya.” - Steve Vai , Guitar World.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Wes Montgomery's Greatest Hits. It's late here and perfect for some late night jazz.
Lagavulin 21yo Islay Jazz Festival 2019. This bottle I got from the distillery shop in the same year, and finally bottle kill tonight 🥃🥃
Montgomery’s influence on jazz guitar cannot be understated. Joe Pass said, “To me, there have been only three real innovators on the guitar—Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian, and Django Reinhardt.” It is not just jazz guitarists that recognise Montgomery’s talent, among the rock fraternity; Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Satriani and Jimi Hendrix have all acknowledged his influence. Lee Ritenour, who recorded the 1992 album Wes Bound, also named his son Wesley. Words: Richard Havers
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Yes - 90125. RIP Alan White, long-time drummer of the band after joining in 1972. He also played on George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’ and John Lennon’s “Imagine” and “Instant Karma”. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
SMWS 53.322. Carpe Diem. A 30yo Caol Ila distilled 1989 and matured in a refill ex-sherry butt, bottled at 51.7% abv. 🥃🥃
White received a phone call from John Lennon in 1969 and his life changed forever. “I thought it was a friend trying to joke with me, so I put the phone down. Eventually I got a call back and he told me he was doing a gig in Toronto and was I available to play drums and can he send a car to pick me up the next morning." - Alan White
White also played on the legendary track Imagine. “I remember at one point the song started with the drums at the very beginning of the song and the band playing. John played it so good by himself on the piano I said, ‘Why don’t you do the first verse like that?’ He said, ‘That’s a good idea.’ He said, ‘What do you think, Phil [Spector]?’ The next thing you know, we tried it like that and John kept it.” - Alan White
He last played with Yes in July 28th, 2019 at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga Springs, California. The encore that night took his career full circle: a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” - Rolling Stone.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Alien Weaponry, the name derived from the film District 9, is a New Zealand thrash-inflected, Māori infused heavy metal band from Waipu, formed in Auckland in 2010. Tū is their debut album from 2018 🤘🇳🇿
Thomson Whisky 21yo Single Malt Single Cask from New Zealand. Distilled at Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin 🥃🇳🇿
The band incorporates the culture of their Māori heritage, combining English with te reo Māori.
“I feel it is a language where you can do so much more with the words. You can use symbolism, metaphors, much more with Māori, and I think that makes for some very nicely written lyrics. Usually when we write songs in Māori it is very much a collaborative process. Henry is the most fluent in the band. I wouldn’t consider myself fluent. It is definitely much more challenging writing in Māori than in English.” - Lewis de Jong.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Joe Robinson was BOTD 25 May in 1991, and coming from the school of the mighty Tommy Emmanuel, is another phenomenal fingerpicker from Downunder. He borrowed $10,000 from his grandparents to travel to Nashville to meet up with Tommy to kickstart his career. If you haven't heard of him yet, check out his clips online.
SMWS 9.176. A 24yo Glen Grant bottled at 53.6% abv. Buttery and sweet.🥃🥃
The album playing is Borders, released in 2020. “I recorded the album during lockdown, which was quite a fun experience, honestly. And I recorded it, start to finish, in 30 days. I knew I wanted to make an album of songs about missing my fiancée, who was in Canada [while I was in Nashville]. So, you know, the border has been closed for most of the year from Canada to the US. " - Joe Robinson.
I really dig his playing style, and thats my feeble attempt on my story post today at playing his version of Can't Buy Me Love.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited released in 1965, was Dylan's 6th studio album. Born Robert Zimmerman this day 24th May in 1941, Dylan is regarded as one of American's greatest songwriters.
SMWS 35.228. Cigar Juice. A 31yo Glen Moray full of woody, fruity, and spicy flavours. 🥃🥃
Dylan built his early career in the folk circuit. Infamously, at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he was booed and met with hostility when he went onstage with an electric guitar. In the space of 15 months he recorded three of the most important and influential rock albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited (both 1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966).
"I change during the course of the day, I wake and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else." - Bob Dylan
I saw Bob Dylan in Hong Kong in 2011. I'm not sure if it was the same Bob Dylan that woke up that morning.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Muse - Black Holes & Revelations, their 4th studio released in 2006. Just feel like blasting some Muse today 🤍
Lagavulin12yo Special Release bottled at 56.5% abv. Deceptive with its inviting golden hue, at first taste this rare beast growls gently, teasing with lemon, salty-sweetness and roasted tea. Intense blacked wood stalks the palate befire a long, warm and dry finish, roaring with chilli pepper and great waves of smoke 🥃🥃
The standout track for me is Invincible. But in fact there are probably too many great tracks on this album to choose just one. I saw Muse twice in Hong Kong, both at the AsiaWorld Expo, in 2007 and 2015.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)
Eric Clapton's Backless is his sixth studio album released in 1978. With a career spanning over half a century, already cementing his guitar God status in the 60s from The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Cream. His solo career started in the 70s and remains my favorite period. This album wraps up the decade perfectly, albeit a difficult follow-up to Slowhand. Not to mention the lovely analog sound of the recordings from this period.
Port Ellen single malt from 1982 and bottled in 2007 from Berry Bros & Rudd. This is a single cask with abv of 46%. When I visited Islay in 2019 Port Ellen was used for malting only after being closed down in 1983. It is scheduled to be reopened in 2023. I can't wait to crack this one opened.
James 🇳🇿 🇭🇰 (@sicklehut)