the end is the beginning is the end
Taylor Hicks and company are coming off the road. This configuration of the band/tour finished up with a concert Saturday night at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. Hicks will be playing again in a few weeks with his pre-Idol band, now known as the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra, and other guys from the tour band are off to their own projects. I’ll be doing a tour wrap up of sorts later this week, but first want to give last night’s show a look.
Earlier this year, Hicks did an absolutely seering, naked version of Bill Withers’ “Hope She’ll be Happier” - a song long hoped for from fans who’d heard his pre-Idol recording of the same (check out the “look:listen” page for audio). Last night he reprised the song - a strong performance, though without quite the brutally voyeuristic feeling that the July performance evoked:
Hope She’ll Be Happier, 10/13/07
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=U-yJCizYWr4]
(here’s the July performance, for those who haven’t seen it, both videos thanks to “collins316″)
But from what I’ve seen and heard, the stand out performance was the stand-out song of his album, the Right Place. I’ve written about this song before here, so I won’t go into it again. But this performance had a strong vocal performance with a best-in-tour instrumental interlude - Josh rips the slide guitar solos to new levels, and the harp addition we’ve heard since mid-summer now trades off with Gallagher’s sax. This song will be in his rep a long time, I’m thinking.
The Right Place, 10/13/07
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Se5uDS7V_5Y]
(video by “skeeter”)
That’s that.
Something meta: with the tour over, we’re going with a more relaxed schedule here, too. T&Jam will be posting about other artists on Wednesdays, and I’ll be shooting for one or two posts each week, probably Mondays and Fridays. Check out our message board, ..the speakeasy.., for further conversation.
categories: music
posted by what at 01:00 am
would it be too much to ask to upload a streaming .mp3 of this same song from Smith’s Olde Bar from a few years back? Just thinking of the members of this community who haven’t heard that particular version. Musically, it comes in a lot clearer than the YT clip.
Out of this world,wow if this is the ending I can not hardly wait
for the new begining.Taylor you simply blow me away and that my friend is putting it mildly.
Spoons - the Smith’s version is available for listening on the “look:listen” page - I’ll edit in a more direct pointer when I get the opportunity
I’m waiting for the acousitc, organic CD.
This performance was definitely a taste of where he’s heading with that. Those “amorphous balls of music” are coalescing…
We now have three versions of Taylor performing this song (one audio and two video). Each is amazing, but the original audio from Smith’s Atlanta with Jon Cook is still the ultimate vocal gut wrencher. It’s just haunting.
Ah, Orca. Couldn’t agree more. That old Atlanta recording of Happier With Him is absolutely beautiful. And gut-wrenching is a perfect description of it as well. I never tire of hearing Taylor perform this song. He really does make it his own.
Love this new video.
Wow, The Right Place just keeps getting better and better. That had to have been a spontaneous exchange between Brian and Taylor. Magic!
The performance of Happier With Him from this past July is the one that rips me up. I seldom watch it, it leaves me spent.
Also agree with Orca, this one and Hagerstown each have something to offer but Smith’s is my favorite - of course taken as a whole that is just about my favorite set of Taylor’s period.
The Right Place - appreciate and enjoyed the interplay between these brilliantly talented musicians but am not sure it is going to make it onto my favorite versions list.
Both the Smith’s and Hagerstown renditions convey raw emotion. I hope that the yet unwritten cd will include at least one tune with similar spare instrumentals and depth of feeling. For me, his talent is very clear on “Happier with Him”.
Before today, I had not heard Taylor’s version of “Happier with Him”. The July version just drew me in then blew me away. This is the Taylor we all want to see featured on his next album.