Beehive Recommends - Kittens Ablaze

Having just listened to their current album 'The Monstrous Vanguard' I have to say Kittens Ablaze deserve all the praise and recognition they have received to date.

OK here's the setting. I have some sort of virus and am running a fever. I am feeling sorry for myself, and am not really in the mood for music. If I want to hear anything it needs to be gentle and soothing, however there is an album in my inbox & I feel obliged to give at least one song a listen. Half an hour later I am still feeling groggy but am aware that some kind of tornado has just ripped through the room thanks to a six-piece indie rock band with cello, violin, guitars, bass, piano, and drumming lead singer. The energy, passion and sheer pace of this band is something else.

So in a couple of days or so from now I am quietly confident this band will be blasting from my car speakers when upbeat & loud music is back on the menu!

Listen:
'Gloom Doom Buttercups'



Website: MySpace. Official.
Buy: (mp3's at amazon uk) Kittens Ablaze or CD's at Insound.


The band was formed in 2007 among six friends from diverse musical backgrounds, spanning classical, folk-punk, indie rock… and metal. The Kittens released their debut album, a five-track EP in the fall of 2007. With help from producer Nic Hard (The Bravery), the band self-released its full-length album, The Monstrous Vanguard, in early 2009. The album has propelled them to be an official showcasing artist at 2009 events such as SXSW, NXNE, CMJ, and L Magazine's Northside music festivals as well as selling out venues around New York and out on tour.

The band has received mention in Vice Magazine, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, Paste Magazine, Oh My Rockness, Brooklyn Vegan, The Music Slut, Ear Farm, The New York Times (by Mick Jones of The Clash), and numerous other indie music magazines and blogs. They're known for their wild shows and tight sound and have been named Artist of the Month by both mtvU and The Deli Magazine, been on the cover of Starved Magazine, and, with their music video for “Strobelight,” they became one of a few unsigned bands to receive regular rotation on Vice’s internet TV channel, VBS.tv. The Kittens currently live in Brooklyn, New York.

Colosseum II - Germany 1977

We have decided to introduce a new occasional series under the banner 'Rarities and Collectors Items' where the audio might not be first class but the interest factor is likely quite high. There are many live recordings and demos to be found in varying degrees of quality and probable interest. These are just some that we are delighted to share.

Several years after the dissolution of Colosseum, Jon Hiseman recruited Gary Moore and Don Airey to form Colosseum II. The mandate this time, however, was not the jazz and blues inflected rock of the original band, but a full-tilt journey into hyperkinetic jazz fusion that stretched the players about as far as they could go.

This is the band live on WDR Radio Nachtmusik, Cologne, Germany from the 29th October 1977.

Source: FM Broadcast

Sound Quality: Good stereo mp3@128kbps some tape hiss between numbers.

Genre: Jazz Rock, Fusion.

Set: Edited set.

Set List:

01. Wardance
02. The Inquisition
03. Trilogy: Star Maiden - Mysterioso - Quasar
04. Lament
05. Desperado
06. Drum Solo
07. Fighting Talk

Comments:

Colosseum II were a British band formed by the former Colosseum drummer and leader, Jon Hiseman, following the 1974 demise of his band Tempest.

Hiseman announced his plan to form the band eventually named Colosseum II in November 1974, but only Gary Moore was named. Rehearsals were due to begin on January 1, 1975, but a permanent unit was not finalised until May 1975. Among musicians who almost made the group were Graham Bell, Duncan MacKay and Mark Clarke. The line-up was completed by Don Airey, Neil Murray and Mike Starrs.

The sound was oriented toward Jazz fusion, much of which was based around the guitar work of Moore, leading to a much heavier sound than the original Colosseum band. After disappointing sales of the first album, Murray and Starrs were unceremoniously sacked by the bands record label (Bronze) in July 1976.

The band continued with a new record label and a new bass player (John Mole), and recorded two further largely instrumental (and still commercially unsuccessful) albums. They also performed on Variations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, which also featured Julian Lloyd Webber on cello, Rod Argent on keyboards and Hiseman's wife, Barbara Thompson, on flute and sax. This album reached number 2 on the UK charts.

In August 1978, Moore left to rejoin Thin Lizzy for a fourth spell, and Airey's brother Keith Airey replaced him on guitar. Sadly plans for a fourth album fell through when Don Airey decided to join Rainbow in December 1978.

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

Buy: Mp3's at Amazon.co.uk - Colosseum II

Television - Double Exposure

This is two demo recording sessions from Television in 1974 & 1975. The bands highly acclaimed debut album 'Marquee Moon' was released in 1977 (Elektra Records) and was very successful in Europe however failed to enter the Billboard 200 in the USA.

Both sessions were included on the bootleg 'Double Exposure' which surfaced in Italy (No Label No. DE-92-SC), and was first released in 1992. The original bootleg included three live tracks from CBGB's in 1975, that are missing from this version.

The Television 1974 demos were recorded at Good Vibrations Studios in NYC with Richard Hell on bass, and produced by Brian Eno and Richard Williams of Island Records.

The August 1975 demos were recorded with Fred Smith on bass and were part of the session for Terry Ork of Ork Records which produced Television's first single "Little Johnny Jewel" (Ork, 1975, included on expanded re-issue of Marquee Moon).

It is fascinating listening to the early versions of these songs that eventually appeared on 'Marquee Moon'. Each session and versions are distinctly different the second having a 'harder edge' to them and closer to the final released editions.

Source: Studio Demos

Sound Quality: Very good stereo mp3@256 & 320kbps

Genre: Punk rock, post punk, new wave, art punk.

Set: Two studio sessions.

Track List:

1974 - Demo's

1. Prove It
2. Friction
3. Venus De Milo
4. Double Exposure
5. Marquee Moon

1975 Demo's

1. Hard On Love
2. Friction
3. Careful
4. Prove It
5. Fire Engine
6. Little Johnny Jewel (vinyl rip of Ork single)

Comments:

From wikipedia regarding the formation and early day's of Television.

Television's roots can be traced to the teenage friendship between Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine. The duo met at Sanford School in Hockessin, Delaware, from which they ran away. Later the two would move separately to New York in the early 1970s aspiring to be poets.

Their first group together was the Neon Boys, consisting of Verlaine on guitar and vocals, Hell on bass and vocals, and Billy Ficca on drums. The group lasted from late 1972 to early 1973. A posthumous 7-inch record featuring "That's All I Know (Right Now)" and "Love Comes in Spurts" was released in 1980.

In late 1973 the trio reformed, calling themselves Television and soon recruiting Richard Lloyd as a second guitarist. They persuaded CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal to give the band a regular gig at his club which had just opened on the Bowery in New York. Television was the first rock group to perform at the club, which was to become, along with Max's Kansas City, the center of the burgeoning punk scene. The members of Television reportedly constructed the first stage at CBGB's, where they quickly established a significant cult following.

Initially, songwriting was split almost evenly between Hell and Verlaine (with Lloyd being an infrequent contributor as well). However, friction began to develop as Verlaine, Lloyd and Ficca became increasingly confident and adept with both instruments and composition, while Hell remained defiantly untrained in his approach. Verlaine, feeling that Hell's frantic onstage demeanor was upstaging his songs, reportedly told him to "stop jumping around" and ultimately refused to play Hell's songs (such as "Blank Generation") in concert. This and probably the failure of a Brian Eno-produced demo to be picked up by Island Records led Hell to leave the group and take his songs with him, forming The Heartbreakers in 1975 with former members of the New York Dolls, and later forming Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Fred Smith, briefly of Blondie, replaced Hell as Television's bassist.

The 1974 demos were also released on two other bootlegs called Television with Bryan Eno and Fairland (Microphone Records (Italy) No. MPH CD 017 released 1994), which are of much lower quality than Double Exposure, being from a higher generation tape without the speed irregularities.

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

Buy: Mp3's at Amazon.co.uk - Television

The Cure - Vancouver Canada 1996

This is The Cure live at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Vancouver, B.C. Canada on Thursday, August 1st, 1996.

This is from a 'Kiss The Stone' (KTS618) silver disc that was curiously entitled 'Queen Elisabeth Parade', and although it's very good quality recording and apart from the typo's only tracks 1 - 12 are from the gig, and as the concert lasted for over two hours this is clearly only part of the show. Three 'bonus' tracks from a December 1995 London gig are included. All of which suggests that KTS were unable to get hold of the full Vancouver show, which incidentally was superb.

One review of the concert stated 'Robed in the away jersey of our beloved Vancouver Canucks (though I doubt he's a fan -- he wore Canadiens and Maple Leafs jerseys in Montreal and Toronto, respectively), Robert Smith and associates opened the show in fine form with "Want" and "Club America" off their latest effort, Wild Mood Swings. Amidst a stage set up to look like a post apocalypse circus tent and a light show that would make the Northern Lights Perry Bamonte seem like a Grade 2 science project, the Cure moved the crowd into a stage of spiritual ecstasy that Oral Roberts himself would be jealous of'.

Source: Soundboard

Sound Quality: Very good stereo mp3@320kbps.

Genre: Alternative rock, gothic rock, new wave, post-punk.

Set: Edited set.

Set List:

Queen Elizabeth Theatre:

1. Want (4:54)
2. Club America (5:07)
3. Lullaby (4:35)
4. Round & Round & Round (2:35)
5. Just Like Heaven (3:41)
6. Strange Attraction (4:16)
7. Return (3:40)
8. Trap (3:46)
9. Prayers For Rain (5:09)
10. In Between Days (3:18)
11. From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea (7:51)
12. Disintegration (8:48)

London December 1995 'Bonus Tracks':

13. Friday I'm In Love (3:39)
14. Mint Car (3:02)
15. Just Like Heaven (3:43)

Band Line Up:

Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Jason Cooper, Perry Bamonte, Roger O'Donnell.

Links: Official site HERE.

Comments:

Kiss The Stone Records was a bootleg recording company that released many famous bootlegs by bands such as The Waterboys, Van Morrison and Pearl Jam. The company was based in San Marino, where the law allowed the company to market bootlegs as long as it placed royalties for the artists in an escrow account. Most artists wouldn't bother collecting, either because they didn't want to legitimize the bootlegs or because tracking down escrow accounts in a foreign country was more trouble than it was worth. The label is now defunct.

Reloaded 2015 - see comments.