Saturday, May 18, 2024

Husker Du- Live From The Ritz, October 17, 1987

 
Note: Greg and Bob do NOT play left-handed. The photo is reversed...duh!

 I admit it, I still play CD's. Though I tend to stream music throughout the day when I'm working, I occasionally slip in a silver disc especially when driving or if I'm in the mood for something that's not available on the streaming app. I've started to buy CD's again too, though truthfully I didn't really stop, because nowadays you can get some super cheap deals on used CD's (obsolete? Ha!), but again it's usually something I can't stream or it's nice to own. One downfall is that in the city I live in, potholes are so plentiful and annoying, so car CD skipping is at an all time high. Anyways, I was listening to Husker Du's, The Living End, a live compilation from their final tour that was released shortly after they disbanded. It's a good documentation of their live show with a career spanning song list that will satisfy most Du fans, but I prefer a complete live concert recording, preferably from the same show. I remembered one of their shows I downloaded, it mentioned in the notes this show (see below) was considered for a live posthumous album.
 
Notes from the original post:
The story behind this tape is that it was that Grant Hart compiled this tape (full soundboard tape + audience encore) and wanted Warner Brothers to release this as a posthumous live album.  The label didn't like that it wasn't complete, so the band went back and compiled live tracks from the fall 1987 tour.  I got this tape from someone in the music industry who said it was 2nd gen.  Assuming it was Grant's master tape > tape compiled for WB > copy for me. 
 
The Ritz recording was a good sounding soundboard and the setlist is stellar, so I would highly recommend it. The vocals are a little low in the mix and it's a bit too bass heavy for the first few tracks, but it gets better as it goes on. Unfortunately, the last two songs are from an audience recording, but it sounds fine. This recording has been kicking around for years as a bootleg and I don't think it's been officially released, though track 23 (Keep Holding On) is not including in this file because this version was included on The Living End (I have the CD, so I rip the song if you're a completest). To be honest the sound quality on, The Living End isn't perfect either, it suffers from"larger room sound boom" on some tracks and doesn't have the continuity flow as a single show, but if you can find a copy of the CD, buy it.
Enjoy!
 
 
Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.
Please share!

 
The Ritz
New York City, NY
October 17, 1987 

Lineage: Soundboard Master > 2nd gen tape > Tascam 202MKVII USB out > CDWAV > Audacity (normalization, fades, merges) > CDWAV (splits) > DBPowerAmp (FLAC) [loughney xfer]
*audience recording

1 New Day Rising     
2 The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill  
3 Standing In The Rain    
4 Back From Somewhere    
5 Ice Cold Ice     
6 It's Not Funny Any More    
7 From The Gut     
8 Target      
9 Everytime     
10 She Floated Away   
11 Find Me      
12 Books About UFOs    
13 Chartered Trips   
14 Diane      
15 Hardly Getting Over It    
16 Dead Set On Destruction    
17 Eiffel Tower High    
18 Green Eyes     
19 Divide And Conquer    
20 Actual Condition    
21 Sheena Is A Punk Rocker    
22 Makes No Sense At All   
23 Keep Hanging On [The Living End]
24 Pink Turns To Blue*
25 In A Free Land*


Friday, May 10, 2024

Violent Femmes- Hallowed Ground Live 40 Years Ago- May 16, 1984

 

 Tonight, the Violent Femmes are bringing, "An Evening With Violent Femmes" tour to Winnipeg to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band's second album, Hallowed Ground. The setlist will consist of performing both the self-titled debut album (released 41 years ago) and Hallowed Ground back to back in it's entirety. Due to unfortunately, being out of town and living on a low budget (see lyrics from the Kinks song), I turned down the opportunity to buy tickets and though I'm not kicking myself in regret, it would have been a cool concert. Yes, I'm being cheap, but to help me ease my sorrows, I had a listen to a show from (almost) 40 years ago to this date when the Femmes embarked on the original Hallowed Ground tour. The album was released on May 14th, 1984 and though I now consider the record one of their best, at the time I wasn't so sure. The debut album was so good and if you read my recent post about that album's 40th anniversary show, you know what an influence that album had on my life musically and it's affect on my listening preferences. Hallowed Ground had a dark, gothic sound to it and I questioned how religious this album was meant to be. At the time, I didn't like it and didn't buy the album (fear not, I taped it from a friend). Jesus Walking On The Water and It's Gonna Rain have a Sunday school vibe to it, which is interesting...but it has some intense slow burning barn-burners, Hallowed Ground and the eerily creepy, Country Death Song, along with Never Tell, which would have fit in perfectly on the first record. Some of the other tracks teeter on filler, but overall it's solid and worth a listen.

The show I'm posting I snagged from archive (org) and though the sound quality isn't the best, it's an energetic and entertaining show. It's taken from a multi-generation audience cassette recording which sounds pretty typical for the time, a bit trebly with crowd noise, but it has that authentic sound of "being there", which I sometimes enjoy more than clear, but flat sounding board recordings. The setlist is made up of songs from the first two albums (if you excel in math, Hallowed Ground was released 2 days earlier) and the highlight is the last song, Kiss Off with a Pipeline jam in the middle of the song! Thanks to Milocampo for contributing the concert to the archive! Hopefully someone will record the show in Winnipeg tonight (often I'm the only taper at local shows) and if so, I'll post it. (if you record it, let me know!)
Enjoy!


Please do NOT sell or profit from the recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.
Please share!

 
VIOLENT FEMMES
Jockey Club 
Newport, KY.
May 16, 1984


HALLOWED GROUND tour

01. intro. - musical procession to stage
02. I AIN'T GONNA WAIT
03. PROVE MY LOVE
04. COUNTRY DEATH SONG
05. UGLY
06. HALLOWED GROUND
07. FAITH
08. CONFESSIONS
09. GONE DADDY GONE
10. GIMMIE THE CAR
11. PROMISE
12. IT'S GONNA RAIN
13. BLACK GIRLS
14. ADD IT UP
15. BLISTER IN THE SUN (encore)
16. KISS OFF w/ PIPELINE jam!!! (encore)
17. outro - musical procession leaving stage
- end of show-

source: 4th gen audience cassette
Taper: ROD/unknown equipment
4th gen aud. cassette>wav>flac(8)
transferred & uploaded by: MILOCAMPO

GORDON GANO: guitar/vocals
BRIAN RITCHIE: bass/vocals
VICTOR DeLORENZO: drums/vocals
with
THE HORNS OF DILEMMA:
STEVE MacKAY: saxaphones
SIGMUND SNOPEK III: various instruments

runtime:80:17
note: very end of track 10 is at beginning of track 11 due to tape flip.