Earth and Fire - Holland & Germany 1972 & 74

This is Dutch band Earth and Fire performing live on two occasions in the early 1970's.

Earth & Fire were commercially popular in Holland, with a number of hit singles, which were played to a larger audience through offshore radio station Radio Northsea International (RNI) and subsequently Radio Caroline upon their return to air in the early 1970's.

These platforms developed a growing British following, it is also clear the band were enjoyed in other neighboring country's.

Earth & Fire were primarily a 'prog' rock band, that crossed over into the popular mainstream, because basically they made some superb individual songs.

I occasionally describe some music as 'timeless' in other words the music sounds as fresh today as when it was first conceived, some of Earth & Fires songs fall comfortably into this bracket.

The following material is from two separate gigs, the first live in Ijmuiden, Nederland (Holland), on the 17th June 1972.

The second part is best described as a semi official bootleg (apparently it had limited 'official' circulation somewhere, in 1999, I have no idea where), anyway the concert was recorded live at Zur Grille, Germany, on the 21st March 1974.

Source: 1972 concert: audience recording or mono soundboard. 1974 concert: soundboard or FM recording.

Sound Quality: 1972 concert: good quality (if audience - very good). 1974 concert: very good quality, both concerts are highly listenable the second is however the better of them. (both MP3 @ 320kbps).

Genre: Prog Rock, Classic Rock, Quality Pop.

Set: Two concert recordings, I cannot confirm if either are entire sets.

Set List:

Live in Ijmuiden, Nederland, 17 June 1972.

1. In the mountains (3:49)
2. Storm and thunder (7:17)
3. Memories (4:03)
4. Song of the marching children (21:38)
5. From the end til the beginning (4:31)
7. Semi touch (5:13) unreleased.
8. Schluuss parts 1-4 (instrumental) (21:31) unreleased.

Live at Zur Grille, Germany, 21 March 1974.

1. Atlantis theme / In the mountains / Atlantis reprise (7:06)
2. Song of the marching children (22:06)
3. Fanfare (6:21)
4. Memories (4:44)
5. Storm and thunder (8:45)

Band Line Up:

Jerney Kaagman (voice)
Chris Koerts (guitar, voice)
Gerard Koerts (organ, mellotron, piano, keyboards)
Ton Van der Kleij (drums)
Hans Ziech (bass)

Links: Dutch (official?) site HERE. English language fan site HERE.

Comments: The first concert was cleaned up, clearly as a labour of love from a fan, who unfortunately did not include his name with the accompanying notes to the recordings.

The notes are:

First show came to me labelled "Ijmuiden 1974" but this is very doubtful because they only play tracks from their 1972 album ("song of the marching children") and none from their 1973 "Atlantis" album. Plus the band is heard introducing : "In The Mountains from the last LP...." which was released on "song of the marching children" in 1972. And last, I was able to find pictures of Earth and Fire live in Ijmuiden in 1972 on the official earth & Fire website. So, this should be it, a vintage early Earth & Fire show from 1972. Probably recorded from the audience, but the sound is so good...
This show is also special for the unreleased instrumental pieces, with much jamming, very unusual for this band when you think Jerney's voice was its most famous element. But hey, without Jerney's, they're still rocking ! you may even hear some ELP's influences...

There were big issues with this recording :

- speed was much too slow. Jerney, the wonderful singer, seemed to struggle to sing the right notes as if she caught bronchitis. By restoring the right speed, you can hear she was a real good live singer.

- There were so many little dropouts with the sound. Every two or three seconds, the sound went down and up very quickly, as if there was a "hole". This was probably due to damages on the original tape. I corrected every dropout, which took me hours, but the result was worth it.

Second show is the semi official bootleg "Storm and thunder" live in Germany 1974 which was issued in 1999. Sound is also very good (claims to be soundboard but the sound is as good as the preceding 1972 concert).
Notable for the sensational extended rendition of the title track !

My thanks and credits to the provider of this material!

Reloaded - 29/May/2015 - download link in comments

Purchase: CD's through Amazon.co.uk - The Ultimate Collection (3 CD Box Set).

May Music Selection - 2009

Having failed in April to present any new music recommendations, I will try and make up for that this month, so hopefully this is just part one.

I first came across The Mummers late last year, and thought to myself, I must keep an eye on this act, and promptly forgot all about them.

To my delight I was reminded with their appearance last month on Later With Jools Holland (BBC2 TV). Since then I have listened to everything available from them, and cannot recommend them highly enough.

Fronted by the delightful Raissa (Khan-Panni), and with a superb collection of musicians , I would be surprised and very disappointed if The Mummers do not get much wider recognition this year. From Brighton, England check out The Mummers !

Listen:



MP3: March Of The Dawn.
Web Link: Official Site, MySpace.
Buy: The Mummers

Descending Ivory are an three piece all girl group from Uppsala, Sweden, who I discovered through Swedesplease, a site that continues to throw up so many great new and not so new acts, and fantastic music.

They list a lot of influences, but I have to say, have a distinct sound and loads of great raw energy.

Listen:



MP3: Blast From The Past.
Web Link: MySpace.
Buy: No direct link check HERE for more.

Cymbals Eat Guitars were also featured not to long ago on another site (MP3 Hugger), and again struck a chord with me.

I have sat here now for a few minutes trying to think how to describe their sound and am struggling. It is also distinct, however having used that for the last band, lets just say give them a listen, if you like your music loud, energised, with swirling melodies and more.

Listen:



MP3: Indiana.
Web Link: MySpace.
Buy: InSound.com

I deliberately separated The Mummers from Bat For Lashes, with a couple of other tracks, for good reason.

For a start Brighton, England is home town for both acts, and I have noted comparisons between the bands on a number of reviews, however in my opinion they are both quite different, and have very unique elements.

Bat For Lashes is Natasha Khan with some great musicians, I got to see them last summer (supporting Radiohead), and with a new album just out, thought I would give her a justifiable recommendation.

Listen:



MP3: Pearl Dreams.
Web Link: Official Site.
Buy: Bat For Lashes

Finally for this time around, for some time I have been after an old Four Tops song 'Still Water (Peace)',

I have the original on vinyl, however it was rather crackly to say the least. Recently a decent copy of the original album came my way, so I have decided to finish this round up off with the song, for no other reason than it's wonderful.

Listen:



MP3: Still Water (Peace).
Web Link: Classic Motown.
Buy: Four Tops

Bob Dylan - Live In Canada 1962

Having just released his thirty third solo album 'Together Through Life', which has received some very positive reviews, I thought it would be interesting to wind the clock back some 47 years!

This is Bob Dylan back on the 2nd July 1962, live at the Finjan Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a venue that I have no further details of, however judging from the audience, I would imagine it was quite an intimate affair.

This is taken from the Yellow Dog, CD version (Cat No YD010), probably the best bootleg version of this show.

Source: Soundboard recording

Sound Quality: Very good, this version 192kbps (MP3).

Genre: Bob Dylan (early, acoustic, folk period).

Set: Full set (cannot confirm).

Set List:

Death Of Emmett Till
Stealin' (Trad - Memphis Jug Band arr)
Hiram Hubbard (Trad)
Blowin' In The Wind
Rocks and Gravel (Brownie McGhee)
Quit Your Lowdown Ways
He Was A Friend of Mine (Trad )*
Let Me Die In My Footsteps
Two Trains Runnin' (McKinley Morganfield)
Ramblin' On My Mind (Robert Johnson)
Muleskinner Blues (Jimmie Rodgers)

* Traditional song that was registered to Bob Dylan in the US copyright office

Links: Official site HERE. Highly informative 'Bobs Boots' site HERE.

Comments: Bobs Boots summary of this recording is spot on, they say:

The incredible Finjan tape belongs in every collection. Period. This particular CD release is the one to own. Few if any other releases of Finjan can compare to this gem. Some of the other releases have edited out the in between song talking, mistakes, and false starts (which sometimes seem as long as the songs themselves). Nothing is edited here.

The CD captures the moment the recorder was turned on and left to run. This has always been a nice quality soundboard recording, but Yellow Dog has brought it to pure perfection. The audience is pin drop quiet. So much so that this could be a studio recording. The tape is so clean that several times you can hear the guitar case snaps etc. when the stage hand opens it to retrieve harmonicas and a capo. Turn up the stereo, and suddenly Dylan is in the room with you.

This really is a great historical time capsule of Bob Dylan, enjoy.

Reloaded 23/02/2016 link in comments.

Bonnie Raitt - Wolf Trap 1977

This is Bonnie Raitt live at Wolf Trap (1645 Trap Road, Vienna, Virginia 22182 USA), way back on the 20th July 1977.

However a CD version of this gig, gives Washington DC as the location, and puts the show back a month to August.

You can often spot a money orientated boot, I guess that was one, however keeping with the Beehive Candy tradition, we share free every time, and withdraw any material if officially requested (we occasionally like to restate that fact, out of personal interest).

Source: WLIR-FM Broadcast Reel Master (digital copy).

Sound Quality: Extremely good stereo MP3 @192kbps.

Genre: Blues, Country, and Rock (unique crossover of styles).

Set: Full set (sorry cannot confirm).

Set List:

01 Concert Introduction
02 What Do You Want The Boy To Do
03 Under The Falling Sky
04 Walk Out The Front Door
05 My Opening Farewell
06 Love Has No Pride
07 Kokomo - Walking Blues
08 Give It Up Or Let Me Go
09 Women Be Wise
10 Too Long At The Fair
11 About To Make Me Leave Home..
12 Sugar Mama
13 Three Time Loser
14 Home
15 Runaway
16 Bluebird

Links: Official site HERE. Wikipedia HERE.

Comments: Bonnie Raitt remains a superb singer and musician, consistently surrounded by extremely good fellow band members.

She should be recognised for a considerable amount more as well.

Bonnie has been environmentally conscious for decades and, also aware of the importance of preserving her American musical heritage that has inspired her own music.

I think we can safely call her an activist on many fronts, this site is however all about the music, an area I feel on more comfortable ground with, therefore I am more than pleased to recommend Bonnie to anyone yet to discover her music.

Oh and she has won Grammys and other awards on a very regular basis.

I am sometimes puzzled as to why this side of the Atlantic (Europe), Bonnie has not gained the same amount of recognition.

Probably because when you check out her track record, she could be mistaken as one of us, or is that just wishful thinking?

Whatever this is one fine recording, and hopefully garners some new fans for Bonnie outside of the USA.

link in comments 23/02/2016.