Brian Wilson - Live In Denmark - 2005

Brian Wilson is one of a very few number of artists, that I feel comfortable about being referred to as, a musical legend or the like.

It's not just the fact that he overcame his personal health difficulties, that kept him out of the music scene for so long, that gives him the right to such accolades. For me it is the music. Pure and simple, just that - the music.

His contribution to the Beach Boys legacy in recent years, and the stunning recreation of so many classics live, along with some newer material, has been the proverbial 'breath of fresh air' popular music so often begs for.

This is Brian Wilson at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2005. The annual Roskilde festival has a number of synergies with the UK's Glastonbury festival amongst others, their web site is well worth a visit, I wonder if getting tickets is just as difficult?

Therefore it is no suprise that he played Glastonbury just a few days earlier, as part of the Smile tour from that year.

Recorded from an FM stereo broadcast of the show, this is a high quality production of Brian Wilson at the Roskilde Festival on the 3rd July 2005, performing on the Orange Stage to an audience of around 60,000 concert goers.

Set list:

1.Do it again.
2.Don't worry baby.
3.Then I kissed her.
4.In My room.
5.Surfer girl.
6.Do you wanna dance.
7.Sloop John B.
8.God only knows.
9.Sail on Sailor.
10.California girls.
11.Our Prayer / Heroes and Villains.
12.Good vibrations.
13.I get around.
14.Help me Rhonda.
15.Barbara Ann.
16.Surfin U.S.A.

Reloaded 11/June/2015 - link in comments.

Bootleg Originals Part Five - Led Zeppelin - Blueberry Hill

When I was a mere young lad in my teens, this Led Zeppelin bootleg was often talked of, in 'hushed undertones', however neither my friends or I ever owned a copy.

For a while it became something of a status symbol to have heard it, or even know of someone, that had a copy.

In reality as far as bootlegs go this really is something special.

Cutting and pasting shamelessly from Wikipedia, (where this boot has it's own entry!) here is a rough history of the bootleg.

Live On Blueberry Hill (also known as Blueberry Hill) is an audience recording.

It is well known for being one of the first ever Led Zeppelin bootlegs, and indeed one of the first ever rock and roll bootlegs ever released.

It was initially released on the Blimp label. The sleeve notes described it as "One hundred and six minutes and fifty three seconds of pure alive rock." The album was subsequently pressed on the Trade Mark of Quality label and shipped to England.

Live On Blueberry Hill derived its name from the fact that at this concert Led Zeppelin performed Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill" as a final encore.

The bootleg also features one of the few known live performances of "Out on the Tiles", a track from the group's third album.

From the 1980s the bootleg became available on CD as a 2-disc set, often under the alternative titles Blueberry Hill and The Final Statements.

I have to say as audience recordings from the early 1970's go the quality is very good. However what makes this so special apart from the historical element, is the whole upbeat mood of the show. You can just tell the band are enjoying the concert along with the audience.

Recorded Live at Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA, on the 4th September 1970.

Setlist:

CD1

1. Immigrant Song
2. Heartbreaker
3. Dazed and Confused
4. Bring It On Home
5. That's The Way
6. Bron Yr Aur
7. Since Ive Been Loving You
8. Organ Solo
9. Thankyou

CD2

1. What Is and What Should Never Be
2. Moby Dick
3. Whole Lotta Love (Medley - Boogie Woogie - Some Other Guy - I've Gotta Girl - I'm Moving On - Think It Over - The Lemon Song)
4. Communication Breakdown ( including: Good Times Bad Times, For What It's Worth, I Saw Her Standing There)
5. Out On The Tiles
6. Blueberry Hill

Comments:

This is the best quality version of the recording I have ever heard (hence larger files), highly listenable, all you have to do is ''Rock and Roll" ! The above picture is close to the original vinyl album bootleg cover, I hope to have more of the original artwork to post at some point soon.

Hootie and the Blowfish - Acoustic

Hootie and the Blowfish originally formed at the University of South Carolina back in 1985, the line up being, Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Jim "Sonny" Sonefeld and Mark Bryan.

This is an acoustic gig, with some extras, that having listened to earlier today, sounds really good. I am not that familiar with their music, however having enjoyed this, I will be checking out some more!

The concert was recorded on 'home turf' at the Horeshoe, University of South Carolina, and consists of:

Set List:

1. Time
2. Sad caper
3. Running From An Angel
4. She Crawls Away
5. The Earth Stayed Cold At Dawn
6. Gravity Of The Situation
7. I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You
8. Let Her Cry
9. So Strange
10. Hold My Hand

Plus recorded at GLR (BBC Radio) London on the 1st May 1996 (acoustic session).

11. Sad Caper
12. The Earth Stayed Cold At Dawn

Finally Live at The Ed Sullivan Theatre NYC on the 23rd May 1996

13. Old Man and Me

Sound quality is very good throughout, so please enjoy!

Official Hootie and the Blowfish material HERE.

Reloaded - 21/May/2015 - download link in comments.

Thanks to Chris again, for sourcing this.

Kate Bush - Butterfly Kisses

I have always liked Kate Bush. She epitomises every thing that is good about a creative artist & musician. I could go on and on, I guess you know all this. She has been, and remains one of the best female artist's in popular, and contemporary music. This is a compilation of live TV appearance soundtracks, 70's & 80's charity contributions, and limited live material that has been circulated under the title ' Butterfly Kisses'. I am not sure if this was originally one of those cynical 'rip off' Cd's traded as an official release, or just a collection of fans material (hopefully it is the latter).

Track listing:

01 - Wuthering Heights (3:00) BBC TV, Top of the Pops - 16 Feb 1978.
02 - The Man with the Child in His Eyes (2:51)
03 - Them Heavy People (2:48) TV (New York), Saturday Night Live - 09 Dec 1978.
04 - Under the Ivy (2:13 Studio, Abbey Road, March 1986.
05 - Breathing (3:07)
06 - Do Bears? (3:49) BBC TV, Comic Relief - 04 April 1986.
07 - Running Up That Hill (4:58)
Amnesty International Concert - 28 March 1987.
08 - The Long and Winding Road (1:42)
09 - She's Leaving Home (1:32)
Japan 1978 - No further details.
10 - Moving (2:41) Budoken Tokyo - June 1978.
11 - Room for the Life (3:54)
12 - Strange Phenomena (3:12)
13 - Violin (2:54)
14 - In the Warm Room (3:35)
15 - Kite (4:25)
16 - Wuthering Heights (4:23) Germany May 1979 - No concert details.

Audio quality: Very good.

Reloaded 11/June/2015 - link in comments.

Bootleg Originals Part Four - Jefferson Airplane - New York 1967

Am I glad I was just a minor in 1967. The whole hippie, summer of love, flowers in your hair, psychedelic thing would surely have sucked me in.

These day's, I'd be recounting tales of just how 'far out' I really was, in that boring monotonous way that only old stoners can. Hmmm maybe...

This is another moment in rock music history.

First of all the venue, the 'Cafe Au Go Go'.

The Cafe au Go Go was a Greenwich Village night club located in the basement of 152 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. The club was the first New York venue for the Grateful Dead, and has a veritable whose who, of 1960's artists that played there.

Jefferson Airplane performed for two weeks at the Cafe au Go-Go, with supporting act Richie Havens, from February 1967. This recording was from 4th March 1967.

As far as the Jefferson Airplane go, they had formed in 1965, in San Francisco, with their debut show on August 13th 1965, at the Matrix nightclub (San Francisco).

Vocalist Grace Slick joined in October 1966, and when this bootleg was recorded, they were playing some material from the second album 'Surrealistic Pillow', which charted at number three in June 1967.

Band line:

Grace Slick - vocals, piano, recorder
Marty Balin - vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul Kantner - rhythm guitar, vocals
Jorma Kaukonen - lead guitar, vocals
Jack Casady - bass guitar
Spencer Dryden - drums

Set List:

01 - It's No Secret
02 - Let's Get Together
03 - White Rabbit
04 - Your Bringing Me Down
05 - My Best Friend
06 - Jorma's Blues
07 - This Is My Life
08 - She Has Funny Cars
09 - Somebody To Love
10 - Tobacco Road
11 - Around The World
12 - Instrumental - Blues
13 - Today
14 - High Flying Bird

The source was the venue soundboard - and the recording is very good, the performance pure 1967.



You can buy some Jefferson Airplane memorabilia HERE.

Official site HERE.

Replacement download link in comments below (8th February 2012).

The Black Crowes - Live In London - The Following Evening

Celebrating the 100th post on this still very young blog, I can think of no finer band than The Black Crowes.

Back on the 26th July, I put up the full concert from the 19th March 2006 at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire.

The following evening (yep - I make that the 20th) they played a second concert, and here is where you start to learn just how cool, unique, talented, and other thingies the Black Crowes are.

They play a very different set, different songs, unique jams, and a stonking performance.

Now the 19th March gig can still be downloaded, so if you are new to the band, why not download the first part of the 19th and compare it to the first part of the 20th March performance.

If you are not a fan at the end of both, do the following. Go and stand in front of a full length mirror, look yourself up and down (no touching) and say out loud, "I am not a rock'n'roller".

There is no known cure for this condition, however a quick dose of James Blunt, or five minutes in front of MTV (sorry it needs to be switched on), may cause sufficient reaction to try again.

Here in absolutely crystal clear stereo soundboard, is the full 20th March 2006 concert, by The Black Crowes, at London's Shepherds Bush Empire.

Buy some Black Crowes music HERE.

I am sitting on (OK - not literally) eight Cd's of live Black Crowes covers, of other artists material going way back in time, along with a lot of other studio and live performance nuggets, so be patient, I will start to work my way through these soon for sharing.

Remember The Black Crowes have always been pretty cool about boots, so please think about the official stuff as well.

(Edit 01/Aug/2010 - I must have been in a bit of a flippent mood to say the least,  when I originally posted this, still the Crowes are one fine live band and I will try and get round to sharing some more).

Reloaded 20/May/2015 - download link in comments.

Whats Up Doc? - Second Helping

Time for another bout of Whats Up Doc? Plenty of very good new music, some brand spanking new, some recent.

Not long now before the record industry starts the season of inevitably dodgy repackaged compilations...

So whats on my play list right now? Lets start with the new album from Siouxsie namely 'Mantaray'. If you like anything by the Banshees, or The Creatures, it's a must to check out. Have a listen to:

Links Removed - MP3 Policy.

Siouxsie - Into a Swan (radio edit).mp3

Official site and more info HERE.

Radiohead have announced the release of a new album - 'In Rainbows', as I am sure all their fans already know. For full details go to their site HERE. Two options, one - pre-order to download the single album, you choose the amount you want to pay, and two - order the comprehensive Cd & vinyl package, that will be dispatched in December.

Some of the songs from the new album were played on their tour last year. Whether they are like the finished article, will become clear soon. The following are live versions of the first three tracks on the new album:

Radiohead - 15 Step (Live 6.04.06).mp3

Radiohead - Bodysnatchers (Live 8.26.06).mp3

Radiohead - Nude (Live 8.17.06).mp3

Tegan and Sara, are in my opinion absolutely wonderful. From Canada Tegan and Sara are identical twins, and have also been very busy producing excellent music in recent years. From their most recent album 'The Con' here are a couple of tracks:

Tegan and Sara - 03 The Con.mp3
Tegan and Sara - Like O, Like H.mp3

Visit their site to find out more and buy this superb album HERE.

Richard Lloyd perhaps known to many as the guitarist in Television, (whose album 'Marquee Moon' has to be towards the top of my all time favorite list), is releasing a new album this month.

It's called 'The Radiant Monkey' and to quote Richard - "I feel by far that it is the best record I have ever made short of being involved in the making of Marquee Moon".

Check out: Richard Lloyd - Monkey.mp3

More details and release schedules HERE.

Annie Lennox has just released 'Songs Of Mass Destruction', which is a really good album, with a full range of musical styles, and her voice as powerful and classy as ever.

From the album (released October 1st):

Annie Lennox - Dark Road.mp3

Annie Lennox - Love is Blind.mp3

Annie's new(ish) website and purchase options HERE.

Bruce Springsteen has a new album out today (Wednesday 3rd) called 'Magic', and do you know what? I think I am going to have to get hold of a copy!

It's Bruce's fifteenth studio album, and it sounds like a gem. He is back with The E Street Band, and to give you an idea of what I am rambling on about check out these to songs from 'Magic'.

Bruce Springsteen - Livin' In The Future.mp3

Bruce Springsteen - Terry's Song.mp3

Here for more details etc.

Babyshambles new album was released in the UK on Monday. I think it's out elsewhere later this month.

I personally hope Pete Doherty gets over his addiction problems, it detracts from the music, and I cant think of anyone more boring than your average 'coke head'.

If only the abject misery of so many millions of people in lands where cocaine & opium are produced, could be transferred to the users for a month or two, maybe then, the message would get through?

Anyway off of my soapbox, the new Babyshambles album 'Shotters Nation', is like alot of his and their material, actually quite good. I like the rough and ready, and at times quite lose sound, and the mistakes are surely a little bit rock'n'roll anyway. Here are three songs from the new album:

Babyshambles - Unstookie Titled.mp3

Babyshambles - Baddies Boogie.mp3

Babyshambles - Carry On Up The Morning.mp3

Heres a link to the official website where at the time of posting this, no details of the new album are available - now that's a shambles.

And finally as it is now October, here's a song to remind us all of last month !

Frank Sinatra - September Song.mp3

Just fancied some Frank Sinatra - that's all for now folks...

Bootleg Originals Part Three - The Waterboys - Glastonbury 1986

When is a bootleg, not a bootleg?

"I think 1986 was a peak", states The Waterboys founder Mike Scott, "We never really came back to where we were in 1986."

How good was their concert at Glastonbury in 1986?

So good that in 1998, Mike Scott released a live album of The Waterboys including the Glastonbury performance, despite the fact it had been bootlegged from the radio broadcast twelve years earlier!

It's all a bit of a conundrum, when you consider the 'official release', and what has subsequently happened, it goes like this.

According to Mike Scott, the album was put out by New Millennium Records (although Amazon.com credits it to "Msi", and All Music Guide credits it to "Pilot" and "Griffin").

Mike Scott claims that New Millennium stopped paying royalties to the band but continued to sell the album. The album is not listed on the band's own 'official' discography.

Whatever the actual facts are, the Glastonbury concert was unique, capturing the whole essence of the festival, indeed the official Waterboys website refers to the 1986 bands line up as the "Raggle Taggle band", influenced by traditional Irish music, as well as by country and gospel.

Put simply they were superb, and this concert captures them at an all time peak.

Track listing:

1. Be My Enemy
2. Old England
3. The Thrill Is Gone & The Healing Has Begun
4. The Pan Within
5. The Whole Of The Moon
6. Spirit
7. Savage Earth Heart
8. Saint and Angels
NEW *(9. An extra Waterboys live recording from this era).* NEW

Audio quality: excellent, FM stereo sourced, with some clean up editing.

Some Waterboys CD releases from around the Glastonbury era HERE.
My thanks to Chris for replacing my old cassette copy of this, with such a fine example.
When is a bootleg, not a bootleg? You tell me...

Reloaded 25/May/2015 (with a little extra) - download link in comments.

A Trip Before The Beatles - The Quarrymen 1960

If you are not familiar with The Quarrymen, John Lennon's 'skiffle' group, that eventually became The Silver Beatles, and then of course The Beatles, the Wikipedia article HERE is really interesting.

I thought of just providing some selected parts within this posting, but the whole article provides excellent background to this recording.

This rehearsal recording was made just four weeks before they changed name to The Silver Beetles, and John Lennon's friend Stuart Sutcliffe made up the quartet.

This recording was made at Paul McCartney's home early in 1960, prior to Pete Best joining as drummer, and of course the Hamburg, Germany era.

This is obviously a wonderful piece of musical history, and the audio quality reflects the historical aspect, home taping circa 1960, likely on one microphone, and with a muffled sound and hiss, that an old tape would retain however much you try to clean it up.

That said I find it fascinating, and a must have for any Beatles fan, and for anyone who values rock and pop musics heritage.

Track listing:

1 I Love Her So - vocals Paul McCartney
2 The One After 909 - vocals John Lennon and Paul McCartney
3 I'll Always Be In Love With You - vocals John Lennon
4 You'll Always Be Mine - vocals John and Paul
5 Match Box - vocals George Harrison
6 You Just Don't Understand - vocals Paul
7 Some days - vocals Paul
8 Thinking Of Linking - Instrumental
9 I'll Follow The Sun - vocals Paul
10 The One After 909 - Version Two vocals John & Paul
11 Hey Darling - vocals George and Paul
12 You Must Lie Everyday - vocals unknown
13 Guitar Bop - Instrumental
14 That's When Your Heartaches Begin - vocals John
15 Hello Little Girl - vocals John and Paul
16 That'll Be The Day - vocals John

OK so the audio ain't brilliant, but as collectors items go this has to be right up there - enjoy!

The Beatles merchandise HERE

Reloaded - 25/May/2015 - download link in comments.

Aretha Franklin - Live in Jamaica - 1982

OK lets get the all important 'Queen Of Soul' reference stated, and out of the way!

From the mid 1970's Aretha Franklin's musical career was struggling, not surprisingly as her personal life was troubled by family tragedy and a big problem with tax debt issues.

In 1980, Aretha Franklin's career was given a much-needed boost thanks to a cameo appearance on The Blues Brothers, singing 'Think' as Mrs. Matt Murphy. That same year, Clive Davis signed Aretha, to his Arista Records.

'United Together' and 'Love All The Hurt Away', a duet with George Benson, returned her to the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B charts.

Her 1982 release, 'Jump To It', produced by longtime admirer Luther Vandross, gave the singer her first R&B chart-topper and pop success since '(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel'.

The Jump To It album enjoyed a long run at Number One on Billboard's R&B Albums chart.

Aretha was back on form, as this live recording demonstrates. Recorded at the Jamaica World Music Festival in 1982, as part of a live FM broadcast, this is Aretha Franklin, doing her stuff.

This performance was recorded on November 26, 1982 at the Bob Marley Performing Arts Center, Freeport Zone, Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Unedited it includes introductory announcements and so forth - the concert comprises of the following:

01 - Announcer Talk
02 - Instrumental Intro & Announcer
03 - Hold On I'm Coming
04 - Love Me Forever
05 - It's Your Thing
06 - Make It Up To You
07 - Talk By Aretha Over Intro To Golden Moments Medley
08 - Daydreaming
09 - Rock Steady
10 - Say A Little Prayer
11 - Respect
12 - I Hurt Myself (I'm Guilty)
13 - Ain't No Way
14 - Instrumental Outro To Set & Announcer
15 - Band Intro
16 - Because Of You
17 - Jump To It
18 - Announcer & Jump To It Finale
19 - Announcer & Crowd Noise

Put some soul, some energy, and some Aretha on your hard drive!

Sound quality: Original FM stereo source - very good.

Reloaded August 2015 see comments.