Tears For Fears - Live In Cleveland USA 1990

This is Tears For Fears on the American leg of their 1990 world tour.

The picture is from their programme for this significant tour of the band (the printed material may have varied along the way).

Somewhere (I hope) I still have a pristine copy of the tour programme from the UK leg of the tour.

I got to see them in London, and they were incredible, I guess you could say at the peak of their game.

This is a superb recording of the band back on the 12th February 1990, as I understand in the Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Source: First generation soundboard recording.

Sound Quality: Excellent direct stereo soundboard.

Genre: Forerunners of Indie Rock-Pop, Oh! just seriously and consistently great songs and albums.

Set: Full unedited set.

Set List:101. I Believe
102. Head Over Heels - Broken
103. Change
104. Woman In Chains
105. Advice For The Young At Heart
106. Mad World
107. The Working Hour
108. Famous Last Words

201. I've Got To Sing My Song **
202. Badman's Song
203. Band introductions
204. Sowing The Seeds Of Love
205. All You Need Is Love
206. Everybody Wants To Rule The World
207. Encore break
208. Year Of The Knife
209. Shout

** Oleta Adams performs a song from her 1990 debut album 'Circle of One' (which subsequently went Platinum in the USA).

Band Line Up:

Roland Orzabal - vocals, guitars
Curt Smith - vocals, bass
Adele Bertei - backing vocals
Biti Strauchn - backing vocals
Andrew Davis - keyboards
Carole Steele - percussion
Jimmy Copley - drums
William Gregory - saxaphone, keyboards
Neil Taylor - guitar
Oleta Adams - vocals

Links: Official (TFF) sites are out of date, however Wikipedia is informative HERE. Official fan site HERE.

Comments: Whats great about this recording is the incredible clarity within the sound. It's rather like being up on stage surrounded by your own musical input, and hearing the overall band output from the monitors, and the audience somewhere in the background as you perform.

This really does capture Tears For Fears as they play live, the audience can be heard their in the background, but this is a direct recording of the band, warts and all, and it is so very, very good.

The originator of this material was the live concert sound engineer who sadly passed away in 2005.

For some reason the details of this person are still limited to their initials (R.S.) which seems rather bizarre, that said I am sure there are plenty of people 'in the know' who can appreciatively nod their approval and enjoy this super recording.

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

Purchase: MP3's through Amazon.co.uk: Tears For Fears

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Paris, France - 1998

This is Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds performing live for the Black Session, a radio show broadcast on France Inter (French radio station) on this occasion recorded at Le Reservoir, Paris, France, back on the 19th May 1998, with a studio/location audience.

Source: Live 'Black Session' recorded for France Inter in Paris, re-broadcast on the 30th May 2006.

Sound Quality: Very good FM stereo @192kbps mp3.

Genre: Alternative rock, post-punk, roots rock, and above all, Nick Cave with one of the best bands to surface in Australia.

Set: This is the full Le Reservoir live session.

Set List:

01 Lime Tree Arbour
02 Let Love In
03 Stranger Than Kindness
04 Red Right Hand
05 Nobody's Baby Now
06 Do You Love Me (Pt 1)
07 Into My Arms
08 The Ship Song
09 The Mercy Seat
10 Brompton Oratory (Encore).

Links: Official My Space site HERE.

Comments: This is very good audio quality, that demonstrates just how good Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are live.

I have collected most of their releases, (I am an unashamed fan of their music), and to the left of me right now, are a couple of boxed sets of their material, to my right most of the individual CD releases (I kid you not).

It's strange but when I really like an artist or band, I think quite seriously as to whether I should share the material, not particularly selfishly, more along the lines, does it do them justice, will it be deleted by their label, does the band object to bootlegs and so on, at the end of the day we are all just human.

Looking at their official site & the fact they catalogue known bootleg releases hopefully this is not the case with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

On this occasion, the Black Session host Bernard Lenoir, who for this re-broadcast had his comments added some eight years after the original performance, has been edited out.

Download link in comments below, or click on the picture above.

Purchase: MP3's (DRM free) through Amazon.co.uk: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

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