Some years ago I was sitting in the summer in the oh-so-calmy 2 Mai resort and listening all day long to, for example, Joan Baez. I was then thinking that her version of Blowing in the Wind sounds quite as good as Dylan’s. Actually, the best version is theirs, singing together, probably.

Joan Baez was – and still is – one of the most notable figures of the 60s and 70s folk / rock scenes. And she was also one of the most well-known and powerful pacifist fighters.

Even though she is a songwriter herself, she was also playing a lot of other people’s work – Dylan, Beatles, Rolling Stones and such. Still, she released over 30 albums and is playing for about 50 years now !

A great music to listen for chillout and not only. A classical overall, out of which some of my prefered songs are (with links to download): Gracias a la vida, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and, probably the best, Diamonds and Rust.

As I was thinking it’s just one month left till the seaside season starts – and the weekly trips to there -, one of the tracks which can get you in a summer-enthusiastic mood comes from The Kooks – Ooh La.

Even though I am really not a fan of the entire indie-pop trend, this sounds quite nice, specially because of the nice rhythm and the good voice of Luke – maybe he was inspired by his ex-girlfriend, Katie Melua :)

Overall a good track, would go well for getting into some party mood or something. Here is the download link: The Kooks – Ooh La.

It’s probably old news already, as Vodafone even started promoting it on TV, but it’s still worthwhile to announce probably the greatest musical event in Romania this year – Rolling Stones comming to play in Bucharest.

As it is already published on the Rolling Stones website – tickets.rollingstones.com – , they will be here in 17th of July to play on Lia Manoliu stadium.

The Rolling Stones name says it all – over 40 years of carrer, over 50 albums released and record sales all over the world. Albums like Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Tatoo You, Voodoo Lounge and many other became platinum and made Rolling Stones one of the greatest bands in musical history.

It’s awfully hard to choose just a few Rolling Stones songs to mention, but here are some of my top favourites – so you can prepare for the concert

Songs:

• Satisfaction – ranked as one of the best songs of all time, it’s one of the most representative Rolling Stones hits.
• Angie – again a classic Rolling Stones and one of the best ballads ever.
• Brown sugar – great rock song, very representative for the Rolling Stones sound

Videos:

• Rolling Stones live in 1969.
• Rolling Stones playing together with Bob Dylan.
• Rolling Stones – Get Off Of My Cloud.

See you there, for sure !

P.S. The credits for organizing the whole thing should go to Events company. Vodafone is just sponsoring the thing.

Since about 2 weeks it’s really been a very busy and stressful period at work – this is one of the reasons for the low posting that’s been going on around here.

Another reason is that the latest releases in the musical industry are not at all inspiring – Except for an Air album, I was not able to find too many interesting news around.

Therefore, here comes the track of the day – K’s Choice – Busy (click to listen / download), which goes just quite well with the mood nowadays.

You’re so busy these days
Rearranging your place
Can you still find some space for yourself 

I was writing back in mid-2006 that The Who are back. And they are, but it seems age takes it toll as they had to cancel a show during the first song in one of their recent concerts.

It was in Tampa, these days, when the lead singer felt so bad due to bronchitis that he had to go off stage as he could barely speak.

Still, it seems they are not off for good, as the show is going to be rescheduled in about 10 days.  You can see The Who playing at Live 8 here.

Air, the French electronic music duo, recenlty released their seventh album, Pocket Symphony. This is one of the most well-balanced works since Moon Safari and should be a delight to the Air fans. Overall, the album gives a dreamy and atmospheric feeling and most of the tracks are built on the love theme.

A great album as a whole, I was quite fascinated by the second track, Once Upon a Time, as it is one of the more alert songs on the album and features some excellent vocals. Can be downloaded here.

It seems impossible to find a decent online music service to provide payed mp3 or wma downloads in Romania… I tried Yahoo, iTunes, MSN, Rhapsody, Allofmp3 and others – none of them seems to work for us.

Is Romanian money not good enough for this ? Do you have any suggestions ?

One of the best metal and trash bands of the 80s and 90s, Megadeth, is preparing for the release of a new studio album. Originally scheduled for end of 2006, United Abominations is going to be released in May – a nice present for my birthday most likely :). This is one of the most awaited comebacks, after their reforming in 2004.
An even better news is that, as a preview, they recently released for download a song from their new album. Sleepwalker is the title and it can be found for download – for a limited period, here: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/sleepwalker/.

The song is an excelent one, very powerful and fast, and also featuring one of the typical Megadeth guitar solos. A real must for listening to !