Friday, November 29, 2019

Paul Westerberg and The Replacements- A Couple Upgrades and Updates



A couple months back I posted the Replacements, Pleased To Meet Me Sessions. Thanks to reader Will, he recognized the version of Tommy Stinson's, If There's Trouble On The Way (track 17), as the copy he had trouble with in his tape deck that crunched the tape. The flaw appears as a momentary gap that apparently I didn't notice or I felt this is as good as it got. He sent me a non-crunched version to post, so if you downloaded the file, substitute in this track as an upgrade. (see below for download)

Will is also offering up an upgrade for Paul Westerberg's solo track, 33rd of July. A 160 kbps version of the song that has been around since 1999 has a glitch at 1m 40s. I sourced a lot of mp3's around that time via file sharing and downloading and I have a disc of Westerberg non-album tracks on a burned cdr. I checked my version and it sounds fine, but Will was tired of the flaw and actually bought the Japanese version of Suicaine Gratification just to get the 33rd of July track.

He has provided the flawless versions of both tracks in Apple lossless m4a format and also I converted the files to FLAC a format I'm more familiar with, so you have a choice. (I used to use box.net for linking single song files, so let's see if it still works. Let me know if there are any problems downloading or playing.)
Enjoy!

REPLACEMENTS- Trouble on the Way (m4a)
REPLACEMENTS- Trouble on the Way (FLAC)

PAUL WESTERBERG- 33rd of July (m4a)
PAUL WESTERBERG- 33rd of July (FLAC)

Please do not sell!
Please share!

Today is Black Friday here in North America, is this a thing worldwide as well? Sounds like another excuse for a over-hyped shopping day or as I like to call it Boxing Day part 1. Today is also Record Store Black Friday which includes a special release, the first vinyl release of Paul Westerberg & Grandpaboy, 2002's double CD, Stereo/Mono. I'm not sure if I'll buy the vinyl version because I have the original double CD release, but in tribute I'm listening the discs as I write this. This album has special meaning to me because I traveled to Minneapolis to see Westerberg (for the first time) play one of his solo shows at the Guthrie Theater on June 30th in support for this album. It was a incredibly intimate concert that I was thrilled to attend and even recorded the show to relive the show whenever I want.


p.s. An update about my Replacements- Dead Man's Pop order: It finally arrive on Tuesday, November 26th! The boxset looks amazing with a nice gatefold that holds the CDs and a album-size booklet with photos and information and history about the recordings. It includes one LP record with the remixed version of Don't Tell A Soul. What it didn't include was the limited cassette of the album with two bonus songs not found elsewhere in the set. I don't want to harp of this too much, but this raises a lot of questions. I started writing a timeline about my wait for arrival (a day before it actually arrived)...indulge me if you dare.
  1. July 21, 2019, placed order with Rhino for presale of Dead Man's Pop boxset. The first 500 presale orders would include a limited edition cassette with some tracks not included in the boxset.
  2. I received a message a day before the release date Sept. 26, that the shipping was delayed with issues with their warehouse. As a consolation, they sent a "courtesy" download of the release with the physical boxset to ship the next week.
  3. I emailed Rhino on October 28 and inquired if it was shipped and when I might expect delivery. 
  4. They responded on November 7 with the usual "it has always been and always will be, our mission to provide the best service to fans of our artists. However due to a complex warehouse move we have significant backlog of both customer inquiries and shipments..." They had no idea when the order would be shipped.
  5. Nov. 16, received email saying the order is on the way. In the order summary, the item shipped is  1 QTY- 4 CD/1 LP Deluxe and  0 QTY- Dead Man's Pop cassette. With no indication if the cassette is B/O-ed or if I won't receive one since it is limited. 
  6. Nov. 26, arrived! Nearly 2 months after the album was officially released and for sale in local retailers.
The point is I bought this as a presale, I expected to receive it before or when the stores would sell them. When I returned from my trip on October 12th, I saw the boxset in my local bookstore. In fact it is priced about $25 less than I paid for it, plus exchange. So in reality I paid $138 CDN ($104.13 US), in the store it is $89.00 CDN. (That's almost an extra $50). I've been told by friends I should get a refund, but the main attraction of the presale was the extra cassette and is the reason I didn't get it because it shipped so late or was I not one of the first 500 that ordered? I will follow up with Rhino/Warner Music and see if I can get an answer, I doubt it. I'll keep you updated. 

Monday, November 25, 2019

Art Bergmann- Live on Granville Island: Day 7


Art Bergmann by James O'Mara (1990)
One of the joys of running this music blog is actually knowing someone out there is reading the blog and hopefully share a similar taste in music. Another joy would be money and income, but that was never a goal or reason to start this site. In an offbeat way I compare it to when I volunteered coaching hockey (many, many years ago!), where you weren't paid to do it, in fact it cost more money than I could afford, but it was rewarding because I loved it and I learned even more about the sport and the people involved. This blog is an opportunity to share music you might not otherwise discover while relying on commercial radio and mainstream media. Because I love it so much, I constantly listen to live concert recordings, music new and old and of course, records I buy on impulse at record shops.

I welcome emails with your questions and suggestions, and though sometimes I'm not very helpful, I am encouraged by your input. I recently received an email from a reader (Rick) with a live recording from Vancouver's, Art Bergmann he recorded off the radio and recently converted to mp3 from cassette. I must admit I haven't thought about Art Bergmann for a while, probably in the mid-90's, but I was a big fan of his first three solo albums and his previous bands which include, Young Canadians (previously know as the K-Tels), a great band I posted about previously (No Escape). Art was a key figure in the late 70's Canadian punk scene and his solo material had that "heart on your sleeve" feel to it. Though Art enjoyed modest commercial success in the late 80's/early 90's, he never quite got his due or reached that pinnacle of success he deserved. Art has been active recording albums and playing the odd show. He took a break through most of the 2000's due to health issues, but more recently in 2016 he released an album with new material, The Apostate. Right now, he's working on his latest album due for release on his new label home, Porterhouse Records in 2020. The album, Late Stage Empire Dementia is seeking funds to help cover the recording and mastering process with the goal to provide digital downloads of the album. You can help out by donating to the Gofundme fundraiser for Art Bergmann's new album.

 The Art Bergmann show Rick sent me (he says he was at the show too!) is from 1994 (or 1993?) recorded at the Arts Theatre Backstage Lounge on Granville Island in Vancouver. It is a live radio broadcast for the station's, 101 Unplugged Series, this is not an unplugged concert! Art has a full electric band, but the cover charge for the show was $1.01...get it? The onstage radio host interrupts a few times, but it doesn't take away from the energy and intensity of the band on stage. This is a smoking hot show, the sound quality is excellent and Bergmann is a little snarly, but goes with the flow as they run through several songs from their then-upcoming album, What Fresh Hell Is This?, released at least a year later. After listening to the show I regret not seeing him live back in the 90's (I'm positive he toured through here) and wouldn't turn down an opportunity to see him now. Thanks again to Rick for the show, fine choice.
Enjoy!

#13yearsoftrouble 
  • This recording is in mp3 format 
  • Please do NOT sell!
  • Yes, share!

ART BERGMANN
Arts Theatre Backstage Lounge
Granville Island
Vancouver, BC
1994?

CFMI-FM Vancouver Broadcast

FM> cassette master> mp3> Direct WAV splitter> rar

01. My Empty House
02. Sexual Roulette
03. Bar Of Pain
04. American Wife
05. Guns And Heroin
06. Ruin My Life
07. Dive
08. Message From Paul
09. Contract
10. Beatles In Hollywood

ART BERGMANN- Arts Theatre Backstage Lounge, Vancouver, BC mp3. rar

Monday, November 04, 2019

More Muffs! The Muffs- Live 2015: Day 6



 After I posted an older Muffs show last week I thought I should follow it up with a more recent concert as a tribute for the untimely death of Kim Shattuck from the Muffs. The night I made my last post, I listened a show from 2015 from Davis, Ca that I downloaded on Dime a few weeks earlier, it brought a smile to my face and I knew this had to be shared further. This concert is a couple years after Kim's short-lived stint with the Pixies in 2013 and only a couple weeks after participating in the Pandoras reunion (July 2, 2015) in Oakland. I chose this particular show mainly because the sound quality is really good (an audience/soundboard matrix mix), but also the performance is fabulous. Kim's trademark wailing screams are incredible and if you have the time, you can witness this for yourself (almost like being there) with a great multi-camera video of the complete show up on YouTube. You'll be glad you did!
Enjoy!

#13yearsoftrouble
Please do NOT sell!
Do NOT trade this in lossy format.
Convert to lossy for personal use only.

The Muffs
Oddfellows Hall
Davis, CA
July 17, 2015

MK4 pair >> Nbob active cables >> Tinybox (w/OT) >> M-10 @ 24/48
-plus-SBD >> memory stick >> MP3 @ 16/44

TLH to convert SBD file to WAV format, then upconverted SBD file to 48khz with R8brain >> Reaper 5.01 >> time align >> SBD/AUD mix >> Ozone 5 VST >> exciter, stereo image, compression >> dither to 16 bit (MBIT+ algorithm) >> WAV >> tracked in CD Wave >> FLAC conversion with TLH

01 (intro and Happy Birthday for Kim)
02 Big Mouth
03 Saying Goodbye
04 Take A Take A Me
05 Ethyl My Love
06 (talk)
07 Weird Boy Next Door
08 My Crazy Afternoon
09 Honeymoon
10 Another Day
11 (talk)
12 Every Single Thing
13 Where Did I Go Wrong?
14 On And On
15 Oh Nina
16 (talk)
17 I Get It
18 Sad Tomorrow
19 Lucky Guy
20 Agony
21 (crowd)

encore
22 Kids In America (Kim Wilde cover)
23 I Need You

THE MUFFS- 2015-07-17 Davis, CA. mtx. FLAC. rar

thanks to dmonkey @ Dimeadozen for posting/taping the concert and the photo from the show.
TAPER REQUEST:
Support the artists! Buy their records, tickets and merchandise. Share this recording freely and never for profit.