Genesis - Live In London - 1980

There was a time when Genesis would have automatically been included in my top favorite five bands.

When Peter Gabriel left, like many I thought it was the end, however although the sound and style gradually developed, it was still Genesis, and some good music was produced.

In 1980 the album Duke was released, and I was really impressed ! With hindsight this was the beginning of the end of my Genesis 'must buy - must have' era. After that for whatever reason only the odd song here and there appealed to me.

As regards Phil Collins solo material, sorry I have tried, but it ain't for me. I think early on, he made to much of an effort not to sound like Genesis, but with respect was never going to be a crooner.

To the point - This is Genesis towards the end of my 'Top Five Favorite' era.

The details - Genesis live at The Lyceum London (second night) on the 7th May 1980. The Lyceum was one of the smaller venues they played on this tour.

Set List:

CD 1:
01 - Deep In The Motherlode
02 - Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (Intro)
03 - Carpet Crawlers
04 - Squonk
05 - One For The Vine
06 - Behind The Lines
07 - Duchess
08 - Guide Vocal
09 - Turn It On Again
10 - Duke's Travels
11 - Duke's End
12 - Say It's Alright Joe

CD 2:
01 - The Lady Lies
02 - Ripples
03 - In The Cage And Slippermen
04 - Afterglow
05 - Follow You Follow Me
06 - Dance On Volcano
07 - Drum Duet
08 - Los Endos
09 - I Know What I Like
10 - The Knife

Sound Quality: From the BBC master recording of the show (pre FM, no static at all - if you excuse the pun). Put simply it is a professional recording, that merits superlatives such as awesome. It also helps that Genesis were really playing well that night!

Reloaded - 11/June/2015 - link in comments.

Elvis Presley - Greensboro - 1972

This is Elvis Presley Live at Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, on the 14th April 1972.

I am not an Elvis aficionado, probably not even up to amateur standard, by any Elvis Presley fans measurement criteria.

I do not impersonate him though, surely this gets me some street credibility back ?

I tried to get some background on this concert and failed miserably. I know Elvis toured in 1972, he sold out Madison Square Gardens for four consecutive nights, and a video of him touring won a Golden Globe for best documentary that year.

What is curious for me, is that the very limited notes that accompanied this concert say it was his first performance of 'Burning Love' on stage.

This was released in 1972 and was his last top ten hit in the U.S. single charts, so from that perspective there is a little bit of Elvis history here.

Oh well onto the main reason I am posting this, easy one as usual, not being a major Elvis fan, I swallowed the hype, and decided to give it a play, next thing I know, I am enjoying the whole concert, and as the audio quality ticks all the 'Beehive Boxes', so I thought ho hum, lets share it!

It goes like this:

2001?
SEE SEE RIDER?
PROUD MARY
NEVER BEEN TO SPAIN
YOU GAVE ME A MOUNTAIN
UNTIL IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO
POLK SALAD ANNIE
LOVE ME
ALL SHOOK UP
TEDDY BEAR/DON'T BE CRUEL
HOUNDDOG
HEART BREAK HOTEL
A BIG HUNK 'O LOVE
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
LOVE ME TENDER
BAND INTRODUCTIONS
FOR THE GOOD TIMES
AMERICAN TRILOGY
BURNING LOVE (1st TIME PLAYED ONSTAGE)
RELEASE ME
FUNNY HOW TIME SLIPS AWAY

Apologies if the set list is appallingly wrong, like I said limited info, not an Elvis expert...

This was a stereo soundboard recording.

Replacement link in comments below or 'click on the pic' - 13th December 2009.

Always happy to learn, if you can add to this please leave a comment.

Elvis Cd, options HERE.

Kraftwerk - Live In London 1981

This is Kraftwerk live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, on the 3rd July 1981.

This is one of those annoying 'I was there' posts, yep that may be me somewhere in the crowd cheering, applauding or yelping, and why not, it was one of the best live concerts I have ever attended - not a comment I make lightly!


Everything about them was refreshing.

Ralf Hutter's occasional ad lib's and his sheer intensity at times as he sung.

The use of electronic drum pads, and the whole tightness & rhythm of the band.

The simpler & very different lighting for that period, a generous helping of neon would you believe?

The uncanny resembling dummies, or was that robots?

Letting the audience join in during the encore using handheld devices (circa pocket calculator).

Most of all it was the underlying humour, the knowing smiles between each other that became laughter if one of them got something wrong. I expected technical efficiency, I got a band playing live and rocking in their own style.

This was part of the Computer World tour, and is summarised well from the current Wikipedia entry - "the band effectively packed up its entire Kling Klang studio and took it on the road with them. The band also developed an increasing use of visual elements in the live shows during this period. This included back-projected slides and films, increasingly synchronized with the music as the technology developed, an experimental light-beam activated drum cage allowing Flür to trigger electronic percussion through arm gestures, use of hand-held miniaturized instruments during the set, and, perhaps most famously, the use of replica mannequins of themselves to perform onstage during the song "The Robots."

I actually only received a copy of this specific concert recently, I am delighted with the sound quality. The set list is:

1 Intro - Numbers
2 Computer world
3 Computer love
4 Home computer
5 The model
6 Neon lights
7 Radioactivity
8 The voice of energy
9 Ohm sweet ohm
10 Autobahn
11 Hall of mirrors
12 Showroom dummies
13 Trans Europe Express
14 Pocket calculator
15 The robots
16 It's more fun to compute

I do not have details of the source, its very good audio quality - click on the links to download.

Some Kraftwerk Cd options HERE.

New file link in comments below - Re-uploaded 2012 (Stealth project).

Frank Sinatra - Oakland Coliseum USA 1968

I first got hold of this particular concert recording a few months back, because I thought my dad would appreciate it.

What surprised me, was how much I enjoyed it myself !

I know very little about Frank Sinatra's music, beyond what I heard being played around my home as I grew up.

It was a generation gap thing.

I associated Frank Sinatra with my 'out of touch' parents back then, and could not understand why they failed to appreciate The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and so on...

OK this was the sixties, a long time ago.

Enough about my personal Sinatra growing up thing. This is a really good concert musically and sound quality wise. I find it a little bizarre, that according to some mainstream websites, this is still considered a rarity, and yet I obtained it without effort, whatever the case, here it is!

A little background:

MAY 22, 1968: Frank Sinatra headlined at a fund raising rally and concert for the then presidential candidate, Hubert Humphrey at the Oakland Coliseum, California, USA.

Set List:

1 Day In Day Out
2 I Get A Kick Out Of You
3 Moonlight In Vermont
4 The Lady Is A Tramp
5 I Have Dreamed
6 I've Got You Under My Skin
7 That's Life
8 O'l Man River
9 All I Need Is The Girl
10 Willow Weep For Me
11 Goin' Out Of My Head
12 Nancy (With The Laughing Face)
13 Fly Me To The Moon
14 It Was A Very Good Year
15 My Kind Of Town
16 Frank Says Goodbye

Put simply, this is a really vibrant performance, a really tight and on form orchestra, and obviously a professional recording crew, despite the fact this was never intended for full public release. (Stereo Soundboard).

Replacement link in comments or click on the picture (8th January 2010).

Buy The Platinum Collection HERE.

A Trip With The Beatles - The Esher Demos

Also known as Acoustic Masterpieces, I am very pleased to be able to share the Esher demos from 1968.

These were recorded in late May 1968, at the home of George Harrison, and how is this for detail, his home was Kinfauns, a bungalow-style house, located at 16 Claremont Drive, Esher, Surrey, England, KT10 9LU, on the Claremont Estate, and only a short drive from the homes of John Lennon (Kenwood) and Ringo Starr (Sunny Heights).

Hmmm - I need to get out more...

These demo recordings would eventually develop, with a few exceptions, into 'The White Album'. (Seven of the actual demos also appear on The Beatles Anthology, Vol. 3).

They were made on George Harrison's Ampex four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder.

The songs are performed by John, George and Paul, recording some of the material, they had written during their time in India, along with other recent numbers.

Track listing as follows:

1. Back In The USSR
2. Blackbird
3. Child Of Nature (eventually Jealous Guy on Imagine).
4. Circles
5. Cry Baby Cry
6. Dear Prudence
7. Every body's Got Something To Hate
8. Honey Pie
9. I'm So Tired
10. Julia
11. Sour Milk Sea
12. Mother Nature's Son
13. Not Guilty
14. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
15. Piggies
16. Revolution
17. Rocky Raccoon
18. Sexy Sadie
19. Junk
20. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
21. What's The New Mary Jane
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. Yer Blues

Total duration: 67:18

These as far as I can establish, are all of the recordings, made at that time, and are sourced from an older boot (tape) of good quality. With the exception of those songs that made it on to 'Anthology 3', my understanding is that these, are as good as you can get.

If you have more songs, or better quality versions, please, please let me know!

Replacement link in comments below or click on the picture (11th January 2010).

Worth a thought? Considering these are (very nearly) forty year old demo tapes, never intended for more than an early run through, pre studio, a chance for the other band members to get a feel for the songs, why are we so interested? I guess whatever you may think of The Beatles, they certainly left their fans wanting more!

Check out Anthology Three HERE, along with other Beatles Cd's.

More Beatles material will follow in due course.