Since I'm officially going to be laid off from my work starting April 1 (no joke!) because in my province, all non-critical and essential services and business will close at least for the next two weeks. I'm not too torn up about it yet, and though I'm no psychic, I'm guessing these closures will be extended longer. For how long, it's anyone's guess. The good news is it is allowing me more time to browse through my collection of shows to post new material on the blog. I also have a bit of a backlog of shows I've uploaded, but haven't posted yet. I might have lost interest or enthusiasm for the show or something more interesting or timely came up. Anyways, it should mean more posts in the upcoming weeks as I'll try to make time to write and listen to even more music. Fun times! I hope...at least until the money runs dry.
When you think of Vancouver's, Blue Shadows, country music comes to mind, right? Yes and no, and it isn't a bad thing. I'm not a huge fan of country music in general, but the Blue Shadows are in a wider genre: alt country, folk, rock. You can't help but think of the Everly Brothers with some amazing harmonies from vocalists, Billy Cowsill and Jeffrey Hatcher and a tight band with a touch of rockabilly and 50's rock. Everyone knows the story of Billy Cowsill who co-formed the Cowsills in the mid-60's and stayed active in the music scene through five decades. Cowsill considers his time in the Blue Shadows as his most positive experience as a musician to that point in his career. The driving and creative force of the Blue Shadows was Jeffrey Hatcher, a Winnipegger who relocated to Vancouver (but is back in the Peg) who brought his immense talent to the forefront with some great songs. Hatcher enjoyed modest success with his band, Jeffrey Hatcher and the Big Beat in the 80's and has more recently reunited with his brothers with The Fuse, a band that pre-dated the Big Beat. It really is a shame the Blue Shadows only released two albums due to Cowsill's addictions that broke up the band. I highly recommend you seek out those two albums, On The Floor Of Heaven and Lucky To Me. The deluxe edition of On The Floor Of Heaven features a bonus second disc of outtakes and covers the band recorded.
The live recording from the Horseshoe in 1994 captures the band in fine form that was professionally recorded and aired on CBC radio. The sound is outstanding and the performance is flawless with Hatcher and Cowsill at their harmonizing best. Thanks again to stevemtl who recorded this concert on the radio and transferred and posted the show to Dime. I have many CBC radio broadcasts from this time period on cassette masters, so thanks stevemtl for taking the time to post. There was talk and interest that (allegedly) this recording would be released as a bonus live disc packaged with the reissue of Luck To Me, but unfortunately the label folded so the project didn't happen. Such a shame!
Enjoy!
Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats (except for personal use)
Please share!
BLUE SHADOWS
Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, ON
May 16, 1994
FM Broadcast
Source recording by stevemtl: analogue FM to Fuji A/V PRO videotape at SP
Transfered by stevemtl: videotape > Proscan PSVR82 > D550 (SBM) > R40 (16/48) > HD
Mastered and posted to DIME by stevemtl on 2018-05-13:
HD > Soundforge (L2 dither to 24/48, trim, edit, L2 level adjust) > R8brain (downsample to 24/44.1) > Soundforge (L2 dither to 16/44.1) > CDwave (track cut) > TLH (flac level 8, ffp, md5) > TLH (torrent) > DIME
01. -radio host intro, etc.-
02. The Fool Is the Last One to Know
03. Heart of a Lion, Soul of a Dove
04. -talk-
05. A Little Bit Lonesome, A Little Bit Blue
06. Raised on Robbery
07. -talk-
08. Give, Give, Given
09. -talk-
10. Johnny's Guitar
11. -talk-
12. A Thousand Times
13. When Will This Heartache End
14. -talk-
15. Think It Over
16. The Seventh Son
17. If It Ain't Rockin'
18. -talk-
19. Born in Love
-encore-
20. What the Hell I Got
--------
21. -talk-
22. -interview-
23. -production credits-
51:02
note: CBC 'Hot Ticket'; above is broadcast date
Karen Gordon - radio host
BLUE SHADOWS- 1994-05-16 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON FLAC. rar
2 comments:
Many thanks for this! It's the first time I've seen a bootleg of this wonderful band. It's great to re-listen to their incredible harmonies in these songs.
I was their! Been looking for this forever!
Thank you so much & please take care.
Come back Billy! Deliver us.....
Johnny G
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