The Stranglers - New Jersey, USA - 1981.

This is The Stranglers back in 1981 on tour in the USA, having just released the first of two albums that year, 'The Gospel According To The Men In Black' or 'Men In Black', as it was entitled in some countries.

This then is The Stranglers live at Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA, on the 11th, April, 1981.

This is from a broadcast on Philadelphia's WMMR 93.3.

Source: FM broadcast WMMR 93.3, first generation copy.

Sound Quality: Very Good stereo @192kbps mp3.

Genre: Post Punk, New Wave, unique sound identity.

Set: One hour recording, may have been other songs on the night, if so, this would have been the latter part of the gig.

Set List:

01. Waltzinblack (intro)
02. Threatened
03. The Raven
04. Toiler on the Sea
05. Just Like Nothing On Earth / Thrown Away
06. Who Wants the World
07. Second Coming
08. Meninblack
09. Shah Shah A Go Go
10. Hallow To Our Men
11. Tank
12. Nuclear Device
13. Genetix

Links: Official site HERE. Useful informative Wikipedia entry HERE.

Comments: The Stranglers formed back in 1974, near 'reasonably' prosperous Guildford, Surrey, England.

It is sometimes forgotten that they originally built up a strong following through performing across the London and surrounding suburbs, pub rock scene.

Their initial commercial success was on the punk, new wave, bandwagon, however they have always been an 'ill fit' in those categories.

Far more 'thought out' messages, and causes, often surfaced in their music.

This is prior to their second album that year 'La Folie' which included 'Golden Brown', which gave the band renewed commercial success.

As was often the case some 28 years ago Hugh Cornwell was vocally spontaneous, and a key part of the gig, which in no small part was down to the excellent musicianship of his fellow band mates.

Download link in comments below and by clicking on the picture.

Purchase: MP3's (DRM free) through Amazon.co.uk - The Stranglers

Mark Knopfler - AVO Session Switzerland 2007

This is Mark Knopfler live in concert (AVO Session), the venue was Festsaal, Messe, Basel, Switzerland, and the concert took place back on the 12th November, 2007.

This is a more complete version of the gig, using two different radio broadcasts for compilation. I am not sure if it is the full show, however I am yet to find any additional songs elsewhere.

There are also a couple of more tracks recorded a week after this show for the BBC in London.

Source: Main Source: Swiss radio DRS3 Broadcast, December 24, 2007.
Second Source: Swiss radio DRS3 Broadcast, November 13, 2007.

Sound Quality: Very Good stereo (from FM analogue cable) @192kbps mp3.

Genre: Rock, Blues, Country.

Set: Full set (unable to confirm), plus two additional tracks.

Set List:01 Donegan's Gone
02 Song For Sonny Liston
03 Rudiger
04 Let It All Go
05 The Fizzy And The Still
06 True Love Will Never Fade
07 Done With Bonaparte
08 Postcards From Paraguay
09 Brothers In Arms
10 Our Shangri-La

Additional Material.

11 Local Hero ***
12 So Far Away ***

*** The Music Club presented by Simon Mayo, BBC Maida Vale Studios, London, England, Broadcast: BBC Radio 2, 19th November 2007.

Band Line Up:

Mark Knopfler: guitars and vocals
Richard Bennett: guitars
Danny Cummings: drums
Guy Fletcher: keyboards
Matt Rollings: keyboards
Glenn Worf: bass
John McCusker: fiddle & cittern

Links: Official site HERE. Comprehensive Wikipedia HERE. MySpace HERE.

Comments: To be honest I was not that bothered about Dire Straits or Mark Knopfler's subsequent solo career, until he worked with Emmylou Harris, and leaped on to my personal radar.

That he was a superb guitarist was never in question, however I guess I found Dire Straits over played on the radio, and a little 'laid back' for my personal taste, mind you all that is a long time ago now.

In fact listening to this material and some of his live stuff with Emmylou Harris, I reckon I may have missed out on something very good in recent years, and am now back tracking through some great music. 

More on Mark Knopfler and his Guitar playing / style at Beginner Guitar HQ (here).

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

Purchase: MP3's (DRM free) through Amazon.co.uk - Mark Knopfler

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