Scruffy The Cat- TT The Bear's Place August 8, 1987

My prized autographed Tiny Days album cover

Here's another fine Scruffy the Cat live recording I've been meaning to share for a while. This recording boasts excellent sound and this show (not necessarily this actual recording?) was recorded for the Boom Boom Boom Bingo EP. The versions of Shadow Boy, Runaway and Happiness To Go from this show appear on the EP. I received this in a trade and take note this is the late show and not to be confused with the early all-ages show from the same date that was posted on the old Scruffy the Cat page mp3 section (check it here through archive.org Wayback Machine) which believe it or not are still active!

For all you Scruffy the Cat fans this is a must "listen to" live recording! A classic!
Enjoy!

SCRUFFY THE CAT
TT The Bear's Place
Cambridge, MA
August 8, 1987
Late Show
soundboard

01. hello
02. Betty Drops In
03. banter #1
04. Thomas Doubter
05. banter #2
06. Shadow Boy
07. Blue Russian
08. introduce guest: Burns Stanfield- keys
09. Time Never Forgets
10. You Dirty Rat
11. banter #3
12. You Are My Sunshine
13. My Friend Ringo
14. Moons Of Jupiter
15. Places
16. 2Day 2morrow 4Ever
17. Beg, Borrow And Steal
18. Buy A Car
19. Runaway
20. Never, Never
21. Nova SS 1968
22. My Baby She's Alright
23. My Fate Was Sealed With A Kiss
24. Matchbox
25. Upside Down
26. Happiness To Go
encore
27. Little Bit O' Soul
28. Life Is Fun
29. Tiny Days

SCRUFFY THE CAT- 1987-08-08 (late show) TT The Bears, Cambridge, MA FLAC. rar

Charlie Chesterman- TT The Bears April 30, 1986

Here's a rare Charlie Chesterman solo acoustic show when he was in Scruffy the Cat from 1986. He performs some STC songs along with lots of new material I don't even know the titles of. If you can help out with some titles of the songs with question marks (?), let me know. Without a band, the performance is a cool up-close and personal show and though he has trouble remembering songs and having difficulty choosing songs to play, this show is special because I'm not sure if Charlie did a lot of solo shows when he was still in Scruffy? (maybe you fans from MA might have better insight on this?)

I got this disc in a trade many years ago and I thought it would be of interest because I haven't seen this posted online. The last show I posted (WERS 1984) along with several other Scruffy The Cat live recordings have recently been re-seeded and posted on Dime, but if you want me to post any of those shows here (especially if you aren't a Dimeadozen member), I can. Regardless, I'll post some more Chesterman/Scruffy The Cat shows that haven't been shared yet to continue my week long tribute to Charlie.
Enjoy!

CHARLIE CHESTERMAN
TT The Bears
Cambridge, MA
April 30, 1986
AUD

01. Time Never Forgets
02. My Fate Was Sealed With A Kiss
03. The Late Risers Club
04. Big Fat Monkeys Hat
05. ? / Lovers Day
06. ?
07. Tiger Tiger
08. ? / New Home Of The Blues
09. Hole In My Heart
10. The Boy Scout Song / Thomas Doubter
11. 2day 2morrow 4ever
12. ?
13. xx (silence)
14. ?
15. Beer Please, Not Politics
16. ?
17. ?
18. outro

?= title unknown

CHARLIE CHESTERMAN- 1986-04-30 TT The Bears, Cambridge, MA FLAC. rar

Scruffy The Cat- WERS, May 20, 1984

 Sad news as I found out earlier today that Charlie Chesterman, frontman for the band, Scruffy The Cat lost his battle with cancer. If you've been following this blog for the past many years, you'll know how much this band meant to me and how influential their music has been in my life. They sit firmly in place in my personal top 5 alongside bands such as YFF, The Replacements, The Kinks, Velvet Underground and Wilco. Though their recorded input was small and consisted of only 2 full length albums and a couple of EP's (plus a split with YFF), their live shows and the live recordings (that I've heard) were outstanding. Charlie Chesterman's output post-Scruffy led to further fine recordings either solo or with his band, Chaz and the Motorbikes. If you have a chance to grab some of his solo recordings, you won't be disappointed. From The Book Of Flames, Studabakersfield and Dynamite Music Machine are highly underrated and Hit This & Kick That is a cool comp of the first three. Recently released (last week) is a collection of hard to find compilation tracks and previously unreleased rarities from Charlie between 1992-2012 called, Solid Gold Electric Chestnut Despenser. This is available for download now at charliechesterman.bandcamp.com. Proceeds go directly to the Friends of Charlie Chesterman Fund.

As a tribute to Charlie, I have some Charlie Chesterman/STC-related live shows to share. I've been collecting Scruffy The Cat live recording since the days of tape/CD trading and I've been downloading any shows I see posted on Dime. I've previously posted a couple of the better Scruffy recordings already and I'll dig around the hard-drive and my multiple "orange boxes" of CD's and see what I have of interest. Stay tuned.

Previous posts:
WERS- July 27,1986
Live at the Ritz- 02-04-1989
Spit and Paulish #9- live compilation (mp3)

This WERS recording is an interesting early Scruffy in-studio with a track from the first EP, High Octane Revival (Happiness), some early compilation tracks (Oldest Fire, Monkey's Hat), some unreleased and early versions of Moons Of Jupiter and Everything.
Enjoy!

SCRUFFY THE CAT
WERS Studio - Emerson College
Boston, MA
May 20, 1984
2nd Gen Cass>Sony Stand Alone>EAC>FLAC 08

01. Oldest Fire In The World
02. Little Mister Blues
03. Watusi Weekend
04. Everything
05. Happiness To Go
06. Burning Cross
07. Graveyard Of Love
08. Change In Life
09. Momma Killed Hate
10. Swearing Off The Women And Swearing On The Booze
11. I Feel Like A Spy
12. The Ghost Song
13. ??
14. Moons Of Jupiter
15. Big Fat Monkey's Hat
16. DJ
17. Lullaby
18. DJ outro


SCRUFFY THE CAT- 1984-05-20, WERS Studio, FLAC. rar

Velvet Underground- Original 1966 Acetate

As a tribute for the late Lou Reed, I thought it would be appropriate to re post tracks from the 1966 acetate from the first Velvet Underground album. I wrote extensively about this rare disc when it was posted on eBay in 2006 after being discovered by Warren Hill at a Chelsea, New York street sale in 2002. You can read about this incredible story on my blog posting from December 2006, along with descriptions of the track differences from the released album. I also posted the tracks to listen to, but only mp3 files. Below are the uncompressed FLAC files from the acetate and not ripped from the more recently released vinyl version or the 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe edition.
Enjoy!

VELVET UNDERGROUND
Norman Dolph Acetate
4 Scepter Studios
1966
FLAC

1. European Son (alternate version)- Completely different version. Guitar solo is much bluesier. Less noisy and experimental. Longer by 2 minutes or so.

2. The Black Angel's Death Song (alternate mix)- Same take as released version. Different mix.

3. All Tomorrow's Parties (alternate version)- Same take as released version. Different mix.

4. I'll Be Your Mirror (alternate version)- Same take as released version. Radically different mix. No echo in Nico's vocals. Background vocals on end of song are more subdued.

5. Heroin (alternate version)- Completely different take than released version. Guitar line is different. Vocal inflections different and a few different lyrics. Drumming is more primitive & off kilter. There is a tambourine dragging throughout the song.

6. Femme Fatale (alternate mix)- Same take as released version. Radically different mix. Percussion more prominent. Alternative take on background vocals. Much more "poppy".

7. Venus In Furs (alternate version)- Different take than released version. Vocal inflections completely
different. Instrumentation more based around Cale's violin than the guitar as in the released version.

8. Waiting For The Man (alternate version)- Different take than released version. Guitar line is
guitar solo.

9. Run Run Run (alternate mix)- Same take as released version. Different mix.
completely different. Vocal inflections different and a few different lyrics. No drums, just tambourine. Bluesy

VELVET UNDERGROUND- Norman Dolph Acetate FLAC. rar