What a band, what a night!  Last night Prophets of Rage celebrated the release of their debut album at the Apollo Theater.  The self-titled disc will be unleashed on Friday.  The video above is the band’s official video for Radical Eyes directed & edited by D.J. Sing.  Before the pictures I snapped, take a peek at this setlist of doom chock full o RATM, PE, and Cypress faves and an Audioslave track (Like A Slave) to boot!  The new material sounded great but it was more a night to celebrate the legacies of Tom Morello, Tim Commerford , Brad Wilk, DJ Lord, Chuck D, and B-Real than to go deep on the fresh disc.

Prophets of Rage – Public Enemy
Unfuck The World – Prophets of Rage
Testify – Rage Against The Machine
Take the Power Back – Rage Against The Machine
Living on the 110 – Prophets of Rage
Hail to the Chief –Prophets of Rage

Guerrilla Radio –Rage Against The Machine

(Rock) Superstar – Cypress Hill
Fight the Power – Public Enemy
Hand on the Pump/Cant Truss It/Insane in the Brain/Bring the Noise/I Aint Going Out Like That – Cypress Hill/Public Enemy/Cypress Hll/Public Enemy Medley
Sleep Now in the Fire –Rage Against The Machine

Like a Stone – Audioslave 
Radical Eyes –Prophets of Rage

Know Your Enemy – Rage Against The Machine
Strength in Numbers – Prophets of Rage
Bullet in the Head – Rage Against The Machine

How I Could Just Kill a Man – Cypress Hill, also recorded by Rage Against The Machine on Renegades
Bulls on Parade –Rage Against The Machine

Killing in the Name – Rage Against The Machine

The show was a sort of homecoming for Tom Morello who was born in Harlem and featured Living Colour, who released their own new album Shade, opening up the festivities.  Living Colour and Public Enemy were both included in recent 10 Essential New York Artists post.

Musical Holiday Gift Ideas for 2015

So you need some musical holiday gift ideas for 2015 – no problemo!  I have donned Santa’s hat and sprawled many tasties on a table for your amusement and to make suggestions on what to buy for yourself or the music lover on your list.  From the king of Afrobeat Fela Kuti to Rage Against The Machine, we’ve got wax and discs of audio and video to inspire and delight.

The Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 12: The Cutting Edge certainly yields some treasures for Zimmy enthusiasts.  This set offers alternate takes and other bric-a-brac from the Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde sessions.  If you’re writing a book on Dylan focusing on that period, maybe you’d want every note available on 18 CD’s!  If you’re hardcore, you’d likely go for the version on half a dozen CD’s.  I’m satisfied getting the best bits which are available on 2 CD’s and/or what I got – the 3 LP set which is packaged with the utmost affection.  I could say the same about the Spoon 10th anniversary re-issue of Gimme Fiction. 

The Sly and The Family Stone set offers both early and late shows recorded at Fillmore East, the storied joint on 2nd Avenue around 6th Street, in 1968.  The Who box set offers a DVD along with 2 CD’s in what could be their final live album, but I think I said that about Who’s Last in 1984.  Same format for Eric Clapton with a DVD/2 CD’s captured at Royal Albert Hall for his 70th birthday celebration.  I was lucky enough to catch one of the two Madison Square Garden shows that he played two weeks before the Royal Albert ones so I was especially pleased that it was recorded and released as Slowhand was in such sparkling form.  The Queen DVD is worth a peek and as far as Jazz goes, I can’t speak highly enough about the Miles Davis set covering 20 years of performances at Newport Jazz Festival.  It’s phenomenal.  The Weather Report and Jaco Pastorius soundtrack I’m just scratching the surface on, but these promise many hours of rewarding listening.

The Big Band Holidays disc by Wynton Marsalis and the fellas hits the spot, as does the Johnny Mathis box which has a few Christmas songs among the singles released between 1956 and 1981.  It’s a worthy collection on Johnny’s 80th birthday.  The Them compilation includes all the tracks on Angry Young Them (1965) and Them Again (1966) along with demos and what have you and it sounds great in remastered form.  Happy holidays!

Tom was in great form at Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of the American Songbook Series and was generous with his time chatting before the show.