MCA Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys dies

Today the music world lost Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beasties Boys to cancer. He was 47.

I was never a big Beastie Boys fan, not because I didn’t like them but because I never acclimated myself with their work outside of the hits.

Yes, everyone knows “Sabatoge,” “No Sleep Til Brooklyn” and “Fight For Your Right” (the same songs that I’m familiar with along with a few others.

Starting in the late 80′s, Beastie Boys took the music world by storm with their rap/rock combination. Many tried to imitate the sound but no one sounded like the Beastie Boys.

RIP MCA, a music legend, humanitarian and one of the last greats in hip hop history.

Bruce’s “Wrecking Ball” Tour Crashes Through Philly

Rocker Bruce Springsteen dances with his mother, Adele, during "Dancing In the Dark" on Thursday, March 29, 2012 in Philadelphia. (Photo via NJ.com)

Seeing the E Street Band live must be checked off an avid concert-goers check list. And despite the loss of Clarence Clemons last June, the band hasn’t sounded any better than it has this year.

With new life breathed into the E Street Band, the backing musicians for rock legend Bruce Springsteen, they were set to bring down the walls of the Wells Fargo Center with their “Wrecking Ball” Tour.

Springsteen opened up with three of the first four songs off the new album, sprinkling in the “Born to Run” classic “Night” carefully in between “Wrecking Ball” and “Death of My Hometown.”

During “Wrecking Ball,” which is about the late Giants Stadium and growing up a New York football fan, the crowd booed mercilessly when Springsteen mentioned the Meadowlands and sang the line “and the Giants play the game.”

“Night,” the first song to feature The Big Man’s nephew Jake Clemons, was one of five songs played for the first time on this young tour. Clemons was on fire the whole show, keeping his uncle’s body of work well and alive during classic songs such as “Thunder Road,” “Kitty’s Back” and “Born to Run.”

Young Clemons’ playing wasn’t the only way The Big Man was kept a live all night.

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Album no. 22: “Jailbreak” – Thin Lizzy

Album: ”Jailbreak”
Band: Thin Lizzy
Year: 1976
Single: “The Boys Are Back In Town”
Best Song: “Cowboy Song”

Tracklist
1. Jailbreak
2. Angel From the Coast
3. Running Back
4. Romeo and the Lonely Girl
5. Warriors
6. The Boys Are Back In Town
7. Fight or Fall
8. Cowboy Song
9. Emerald

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Album no. 21: “Fleet Foxes” – Fleet Foxes

Album: ”Fleet Foxes
Band: Fleet Foxes
Year: 2008
Single: n/a
Best Song: “Winter White Hymnal”

Tracklist
1. Sun It Rises
2. White Winter Hymnal
3. Ragged Wood
4. Tiger Mountain Peasant
5. Quiet Houses
6. He Doesn’t Know Why
7. Heard Them Stirring
8. Your Protector
9. Meadowlarks
10. Blue Ridge Mountains
11. Oliver James

About the album — This is Fleet Foxes debut album from back in 2008. It’s a solid album, but nowhere near as good as their second effort “Helplessness Blues” that came out last year.

It’s still a very good effort and a must-listen.

Album no. 19 & 20: “American Beauty” – Grateful Dead & “Blizzard of Ozz” – Ozzy Osbourne

Busy again. Here are the last two albums I listened to.

Album: ”American Beauty”
Band: Grateful Dead
Year: 1970
Single: “Truckin’”
Best Song: “Friend of the Devil”

Album: ”Blizzard of Ozz”
Band: Ozzy Osbourne
Year: 1980
Single: “Crazy Train”
Best Song: “Crazy Train”

Album no. 18: “We All Raise Our Voices to the Air” – The Decemberists

Album: ”We All Raise Our Voices to the Air” [Live album]
Band: The Decemberists
Year: 2012
Single: n/a
Best Song: “The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3”

Tracklist
1. The Infanata
2. Calamity Song
3. Rise To Me
4. The Soldiering Life
5. We Both Go Down Together
6. The Bagman’s Gambit
7. Down By the Water
8. Leslie Ann Levine
9. The Rake’s Song
10. The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3
1. Oceanside
2. Billy Liar
3. Grace Cathedral Hill
4. All Arise!
5. Rox In the Box
6. June Hymn
7. O Valencia
8. This Is Why We Fight
9. The Mariner’s Revenge Song
10. I Was Meant For the Stage

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Album no. 17: “When I Woke” – Rusted Root

Album: “When I Woke”
Band: Rusted Root
Year: 1994
Single: “Send Me on My Way”
Best Song: “Send Me on My Way”

Tracklist
1. Drum Trip
2. Ecstacy
3. Send Me On My Way
4. Cruel Sun
5. Cat Turned Blue
6. Beautiful People
7. Martyr
8. Rain
9. Food & Creative Love
10. Lost In A Crowd
11. Laughs As the Sun
12. Infinite Tamboura
13. Back to the Earth

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Album no. 14 & 15: “Back in Black” – AC/DC & “Desire” – Bob Dylan

Sorry, busy weekend so I’ll be half-assin’ it. Yesterday I listened to an 80′s classic “Back in Black” by AC/DC. Today, I’ll be thoroughly enjoying a classic folk album, “Desire” by Bob Dylan.

Album: “Back in Black”
Band: AC/DC
Year: 1980
Single: “Rock n Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution”
Best Song: “You Shook Me All Night Long”

Album: “Desire”
Band: Bob Dylan
Year: 1976
Single: n/a
Best Song: “Hurricane”

Album no. 13: “Junta” – Phish

Album: “Junta”
Band: Phish
Year: 1988
Single: n/a
Best Song: “You Enjoy Myself”

Tracklist
1. Fee
2. You Enjoy Myself
3. Esther
4. Golgi Apparatus
5. Foam
6. Dinner And A Movie
7. The Divided Sky
8. David Bowie
9. Fluffhead
10. Fluff’s Travels
11. Contact
12. Union Federal [Live]
13. Sanity [Live]
14. Icculus [Live]

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