Just To Satisfy You

Just To Satisfy You- Waylon Jennings MP3


Gentle On My Mind- Waylon Jennings MP3

5/25/11

beeradvocate.com- A-

Cigar City Jai Alai IPA- Euro Market, 31 St. Astoria, NY- 12 oz. Bottle into a Tall Pub Glass- 7.5% ABV- I was excited to find this beer. I had been wanting to try something from this brewery which based out of Tampa, Florida for a bit. I have never come across it so I was happy. I don't really come across to many "southern" beers in this part of the country and reminds me that despite the wealth of beers I have the opportunity to try there are geographical limitations to what I can get my hands on. This is also an issue when it comes to buying records. I am generally limited by what the local record used record guys are able to come acquire. I would love to come across some record sellers from the south or even out west...but that is a whole other post. This beer reviewed very well on beeradvocate.com. A fingers worth of head which receded quickly. Not to dense. I was actually expecting a more impressive. Very smooth fruity aroma. Real pleasant. Little to no lacing on the glass. Orange amber in color, with a translucent but not hazy appearance. Medium bodied with some lively carbonation. As for the taste...not quite what I expected. I am tasting quite a bit of what I identify as malts in this beer and some piney bitterness. I think I was expecting the characteristics of a Hop Wallop or Goose Island but this may be closer to the Stone Arrogant Bastard which people really seem to like but not completely my bag. This is a smooth drinker though. I finished a bottle at a fairly quick clip and there is little indication of the 7.5 abv. So this was a good beer and I am glad I finally got to try a Cigar City brew but not one I would be psyched to see in a bar. I will be looking for other offerings from this brewery and will give them a try.

On the turntable is Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town- Waylon Jennings- Pickwick Records compilation of Waylon Jennings RCA material dating to the late sixties. We are going to see Willie Nelson in concert in Philadelphia on Friday and I am really excited. After a few missteps I am finally going to get to see a true American music legend. Unfortunately I don’t have any Willie Nelson vinyl accessible at the moment. What I do have is one of Waylon Jennings records, Willie's long time partner in crime, music and brotherhood, within reaching distance to put me in the mood. Before Waylon Jennings was the long haired, guitar pickin outlaw we have come to recognize he looked a bit more like a long-haul trucker. Albeit a long haul trucker with a counter cultural bent. The mid sixties were a fruitful period for Mr. Jennings at RCA records and he recorded close to a dozen albums long before his mid seventies heyday. These albums were mostly composed of covers and the powers at be at RCA were trying to get Mr. Jennings to fit the more traditional role of male country singing star of the era. There are some real gems in this part of Mr. Jennings catalog and for those interested they should seek out the Omni Recordings compilation The Dark Side of Fame found at at http://www.worldwentdown.com/omni/omni135.php. These songs filled with the production elements of the day ranging from vibraphones, organs and finger-picked nylon string guitars alongside Jennings familiar edgy drawl.

I featured two MP3’s above. The first is Just To Satisfy You from 1969. I have the original LP but it’s packed away at the moment. This is a nice little ditty that starts off with what sounds like a boomy, 12 string guitar and chugs along with some minimal percussion, organ and a tight little guitar break towards the end of the song. Mr. Jennings guitar style, is often overlooked since he was such a powerful vocalist but he was an accomplished axe man. His style style is more hardened compared with Willie's acoustic, slightly Latin influenced finger picked passages or Merle Haggard’s western swing leaning jazz runs. But Jennings could hang with many pickers and towards the mid seventies he even developed a signature tone in his phased out, outlaw licks. Also included as an MP3 is the John Hartford penned, Glen Campbell popularized Gentle On My Mind. The most popularly known version of Gentle On My Mind was recorded by Glenn Campbell in 1968 recorded with Al Casey (guitar), Joe Osborn (bass), Leon Russell (piano), Jim Gordon (drums), and Doug Dillard (banjo). Another Jim Gordon assisted track. Jennings version is fairly conservative and sparsely produced in comparison with Campbell's and doesn't quite capture the originals rambling essence.