Young Fresh Fellows- Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR, May 25, 2024

 

Oh my, how time flies! Where has the summer gone?? I had a busy summer, at least I think I did, but believe it or not I haven't attended or seen any concerts since my last post. And what the heck is going on with all the concert and tour cancellations so far in 2024? At the top of my head, I can think of several high profile and popular acts that have cancelled or postponed for a variety of reasons. The Black Keys, Jennifer Lopez and Lauryn Hill and the Fugees cancelled tours before they even began mainly due to lack of ticket interest and local shows from Neil Young (illness), Paula Abdul (injury), Heart (illness/cancer) and Michael Franti & Spearhead (low ticket sales) were also cancelled. My son and his girlfriend spent a good chunk of time (and money!) in August travelling around Europe. Italy, Czechia, Germany and Austria. Can you guess what concert they planned (bought tickets over a year ago!!) to see in Vienna? Of all the cities in the world that Taylor Swift planned to play, would-be terrorists targeted Vienna and yeah it was cancelled. So travelling halfway around the world is NOT a guarantee the show will go on and it's only money, time and dashed hopes, right? At least, the whole trip wasn't a complete waste, they experienced a lot of cool things, though it was the hottest summer in history, especially where they travelled. As a consolation, they saw Coldplay in Munich, definitely not in my top anything list for my concert priorities, but at least it was a spectacle.

 

 

To be honest, the only band I was tempted to travel to see since May, was the Young Fresh Fellows who embarked on a mini-tour in support of the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest. They toured from West to East, with stops in Seattle, Portland, Madison, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York and North Adams for the Wilco Solid Sound Festival. I see they didn't cancel any shows due to illness, egos or poor ticket sales, though it appeared to be raining during their set at Solid Sound. Would love have seen the band live and I will regret I didn't do anything about it, but at least a lot of decent quality videos found their way on YouTube. Speaking of YouTube, there were a couple of incomplete videos of the show in Portland that if watched back to back they make up a complete concert. Since I can only really watch concert videos only so many times, I decided to take the audio from the videos (to watch, see links below) from sKiP sToNe (the main set) and Bob Rousseau (encore), pieced them together, split the tracks and it made a complete live audio recording. The sound quality is good enough and the differences between the two recordings isn't a factor, so it's a very enjoyable recording.

Enjoy!

 

Videos:

Young Fresh Fellows live at Mississippi Studios May 25, 2024 (main set) (sToNe)

Young Fresh Fellows with Peter Buck - Mississippi Studios Portland 5.25.24 (encore) (Rousseau)

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

 

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Mississippi Studios
Portland, OR
May 25, 2024

01. Two Guitars, Bass and Drums
02. November
03. When the Girls Get Here
04. Barky's Spiritual Store
05. Motorbroke
06. Young Mod's Last Ride
07. Searchin' U.S.A.
08. Becky Doll
09. Gear Summer
10. Carrothead
11. Taco Wagon
12. Picture Book (The Kinks cover)
13. Rock 'n' Roll Pest Control
14. All Messed Up
15. Think Better of Me
16. Power Mowers Theme
17. Empty Set Takes a Vacation
18. You Call That Lonely?
19. Big House
20. This Little Mystery
21. Down by the Pharmacy
22. Teenage Dogs in Trouble
23. That Letter
24. Young Fresh Fellows Theme
25. Telephone Tree
26. I Got My Mojo Working (And I Thought You'd Like to Know)
27. My Friend Ringo

Encore:
28. When Things Was Cheap (NRBQ cover) (with Peter Buck)
29. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite (Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart cover) (with Peter Buck)
30. I Want to Die in a Woman's Prison  (with Peter Buck) ((dedicated to Gary Norris))
31. Hillbilly Drummer Girl
32. Strychnine

 

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- 2024-05-25 Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR FLAC. rar

 

Nick Lowe- Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB. June 15, 2024

Better late than never!

Nick Lowe is a performer I had on my "must-see live" before I die list for a long while and had almost gave up hope thinking my only opportunity to see him might include a long car ride or flight to another city. Imagine my surprise when it was announced he would partake on a short tour of Canada with fellow song-smith, Ron Sexsmith. It's funny because I over-heard a guy seated a row behind me telling someone he drove in for the concert from Minneapolis and he had see Lowe many time previously, ha imagine that, Winnipeg has something worth visiting for! 

 

Anyways, both sets were solo acoustic, which meant it wasn't going to be a rowdy earplugs show or standing throughout. Ron Sexsmith played a solid set with songs from his long (though not nearly as long as Nick!) and respectable career and it's interesting how many songs he's had covered by other artists, Emmylou Harris, Feist, and Nick Lowe to just name a few he played. I've seen Sexsmith before and though he isn't the most exciting performer, he is sincere and he writes some pretty nice songs. Nick was his usual charming self, an interesting and funny storyteller and a pure joy to listen to. I have joined the ranks of the "easy listening" crowd with their polite applause, cushy seats and opportunity for a night out, I felt right at home with an audience where I'm not the oldest in the room. Lowe's set was fairly quiet (you can hear a pin drop during songs), but things started to get more upbeat when Nick brought Ron onto the stage to join him for the latter section of the show for the last five songs. The highlights for me, were the older "hits", Cruel To Be Kind, I Knew The Bride and the show closer, What's So Funny 'Bout (Peace, Love and Understanding) with Ron playing some surprisingly tasty leads on guitar. A thoroughly low-key concert, I'm glad I bought a ticket for. Since I'm been trying to live on a low budget (except my stupidly expensive Jets tickets!), I'm more selective on concerts I can afford or want to pay for. I feel kind bad I missed the Violent Femmes last month, but my rationale for buying Nick Lowe over VFs is because I haven't seen him (I saw the VFs once) and tickets were reasonably priced. Interesting to note, I actually bought a first row in the middle (balcony) seat the day after tickets went on sale. There were lots of empty seats in the first balcony, only the first three rows were filled and some scattered in the lower-priced upper section. Clearly, this wasn't a top draw as there was a 25% off sale in the weeks leading up to the show.

 

The opportunity to tape (record) the show was too good to pass up. Getting through security was a breeze, as there was no airport style-metal detectors, bag checks, wanding or pat-downs, as it was anticipated to be tame crowd. My seats were perfect, unobstructed view and no one in front of me to block the sound. Extra bonus was that the couple to the left of me didn't return after the intermission, so I was able to get some extra armrest action and no worries about them talking. Talking was to the minimum, so it was ideal. I always worry that security would get excited with audio recorders, but seriously, so many people pull out their phones constantly taking photos and recording videos. In fact three seats over from me someone recorded almost the whole show on their phone. There was a ledge in front of us, but they still had to lean it and hold it sturdy for over an hour. That's more work than I'd be committed to. Good for them, hope the video turned out good. The sound quality is pretty decent, my only regret was I should have set the volume levels higher, as it was a quiet show, so of course the audience applause is so much louder than the music. I considered boosting the volume with Audacity, but I didn't want the crowd to clip too loudly or use compression which might have altered the sound. The first song is too quiet, but I increased the levels for the rest of the recording and sounds nice. I didn't record Ron's opening set because of a post from one of his earlier shows that got removed by the request of someone from his camp (if you want to hear that show, PM me), so I don't need the potential hassle. Anyways, enough technical jargon...listen to the concert!

Enjoy!

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

NICK LOWE
Burton Cummings Theatre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
June 15, 2024
AUD Master

Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> SD card > 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC

01. Stoplight Roses
02. 12 Step Program
03. Long Limbed Girl
04. Lately I've Let Things Slide
05. I Live On A Battlefield
06. Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
07. Lay It On Me Baby
08. Heartbreaker (Bee Gees cover)
09. Somebody Cares For Me
10. Love Starvation
11. The Beast In Me
12. Trombone
13. Indian Queens
14. Without Love
15. Where's My Everything? *
16. Cruel To Be Kind *
17. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock 'n' Roll) *

Encore
18. My Baby's Gone (Louvin Brothers cover) *
19. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding *

* With Ron Sexsmith

 

NICK LOWE- 2024-06-15 Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB FLAC Master. rar

 

Rockpile- The Park West, Chicago 1978

 

Tonight, for the first time I'm seeing Nick Lowe live! It's hard to believe he hasn't played Winnipeg, though he came close several years ago at the Winnipeg Folk Festival (which technically is outside of Winnipeg), but I prefer the confines of an indoor concert venue to properly see and hear a performer. I've spent the past week "concert cramming", meaning I've listened to everything Lowe has recorded in his long illustrious career that spanned from the late 60's when he joined, Kippington Lodge (which later became Brinsley Schwarz), through his Rockpile days, right up to his current solo albums, which include his collaboration with Los Straitjackets. I have pretty much all his releases up to 1988's. Pinker And Prouder Than Previous, so I was somewhat surprised how many more albums he released since 1990. Admittingly, they're all good and worth a listen, with a mature, older Lowe switching gears slightly, but still has the energy and spark to keep touring and making new music. The show I'm seeing will be Nick and his guitar solo, i would have preferred to see his with Los Straitjackets, but I should just be happy he's playing. He's joined by Canadian singer-songwriter, Ron Sexsmith, who I've seen a couple of times, so it should be a good solid concert, though I'm expecting a mellow, seated show, which I'm fine with. I have a prime seat, first row balcony which will not only be perfect sight-lines, but also it should produce a excellent sounding recording (fingers crossed security looks the other way!). If it all works out, I'll be posting a review/live recording of the show soon!

 

To get in the mood, I'm posting a vintage Rockpile live show from 1978. It's a great sounding broadcast and the lads are smoking hot! This would be circa, Jesus Of Cool (Pure Pop For Now People)/Tracks On Wax 4).

Enjoy!

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

ROCKPILE

(billed as: Dave Edmunds Rockpile featuring Nick Lowe)
The Park West
Chicago IL.
November 12th, 1978
 

Late Show
WXRT Unconcert FM Broadcast
R.J.P. Reel to Reel Master
Transferred and Presented By Krw_co

LINEAGE WXRT CHICAGO FM BROADCAST>REEL TO REEL @ 3 & 3/4 IPS TEAC A-7300 REEL TO REEL>
W/MANUAL AZIMUTH ADJUSTMENT>CREATIVE SOUNDBLASTER X-FI HD MODEL #SB1240 WAV (24/96KHZ)
MAGIX AUDIO CLEANING LAB FOR KRW TRACK MARKS VOLUME ADJUSTMENT AND EDITS>WAV 24/96>
TRADERS LITTLE HELPER FLAC LEVEL 8

SETLIST
1 Bobby Skafish WXRT intro
2 Down Down Down
3 So It Goes
4 I Knew The Bride
5 Deborah
6 Trouble Boys
7 I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
8 You'll Never Get Me Up In One Of Those
9 Bye Bye Johnny
10 Love So Fine
11 Here Comes The Weekend
12 The Promised Land
13 I Hear You Knocking
14 They Call It Rock
15 JuJu Man
16 Heart Of The City
17 Let's Talk
18 WXRT outro

 

 THE BAND
Dave Edmunds guitar vocals piano organ
Nick Lowe bass vocals
Billy Bremner guitar vocals
Terry Williams drums

 

ROCKPILE- 1978-11-12 Park West, Chicago, IL FLAC. rar

The Replacements- Lake Compounce, Bristol, CT 1989

It's not often I hear a live Replacements soundboard recording I haven't heard before and in this case, I have heard it before. Recently, someone posted on Dime the soundboard recording from a Mats show when they opened up for Tom Petty back in 1989. The sound is excellent and the set is complete (they were the opening set, so short), and if the date and setlist sounds familiar, it's because the show appears on the live compilation (unofficial aka: boot), Shit, Shower and Shave. Actually, the recording below is NOT sourced from Shit, Shower..., but it does sound similar, though the version below includes a few extra seconds at the beginning with Paul and Tommy talking to the crowd before Talent Show. Anyways, this is a must-hear show, not only is the sound quality amazing, the performance is fantastic, especially rare during the Petty tour and the band plays it pretty straight throughout. Which means no drunkenness, sloppy playing and a good solid later era setlist. Very enjoyable!

Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

The Replacements
Lake Compounce, 

Bristol, Ct.

August 31, 1989
(Opening act for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

The Recording:
Low generation soundboard recording from sound engineer's archive

The Set List:
01 Talent Show
02 Around and Around
03 The Ledge
04 Can't Hardly Wait
05 September Gurls
06 Another Girl, Another Planet
07 Within Your Reach
08 Left of the Dial
09 Alex Chilton
10 Nightclub Jitters
11 I'll Be You
12 Bastards of Young

 

The Performers:
Paul Westerberg        guitar, lead vocals
Tommy Stinson        bass, vocals
Chris Mars        drums, vocals
Slim Dunlop        guitar, vocals

REPLACEMENTS- 1989-08-31 Lake Compounce, Bristol. CT FLAC. rar

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!

 

HUSKER DU

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*

HUSKER DU- 1987-10-17 NYC FLAC. rar

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. 

VIOLENT FEMMES- 1984-05-16, Jockey Club, FLAC. rar

The Jam- Live At Rockpalast 1980

 

This week, our old house is under-going a thorough updating of our ancient knob & tube to modern electrical systems. This means, at least for a couple of days, that most of the electricity is unavailable and it prevents me from functioning like a typical 21st century drone. The loud drilling, banging and lack of lighting (and internet!) has driven me from the house to my local library, laptop in hand to get some "work" done. Libraries are one of the few places you go to use internet, use their electricity (to charge stuff), use their ultra-clean unisex toilet facilities and hang out for hours without buying anything. They even allow you bring in your own food and drink, so I can chill with headphones on while checking emails, searching the web and updating my website and this blog...way better deal than Starsucks! A bonus is that I can actually make multiple blog posts in one week. I probably would if I got paid, but it's something you gotta do, right? Yay!

 

This has given me an opportunity to listen to a backlog of music on my computer. The Jam is one of those ear-candy bands I like to listen to while writing, so here's a show that's been around for a while and probably popular enough to have been heard already, but it's so good not to share if you haven't. There are at least a couple live DVD's of the Live at Rockpalast concert from 1980, including a Japanese version from 2006 and a compilation video from 2015, About The Young Idea, which featured the full Rockpalast show. One of the versions of About The Young Idea, includes an audio version CD and this is the source for the show I'm posting below. The sound quality is near perfect and since most live concert videos bore me, the audio only is an excellent addition. This is the Jam at their peak, with an amazing setlist, before Paul Weller became too self-aware, went solo and began to write boring songs. Get it while you can!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

THE JAM
Live At Rockpalast
Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany
November 30, 1980

1 Dream Time
2 Thick As Thieves
3 Boy About Town
4 Going Underground
5 Pretty Green
6 Man In The Corner Shop
7 Set The House Ablaze
8 Private Hell
9 Liza Radley
10 Dreams Of Children
11 Modern World
12 Little Boy Soldiers
13 But I’m Different Now
14 Start
15 Scrape Away
16 Strange Town
17 When You’re Young
18 In The City
19 To Be Someone
20 David Watts
21 The Eton Rifles
22 Down In The Tubestation At Midnight

 

THE JAM- Live At Rockpalast 1980 FLAC. rar 

 

If you are having trouble with the above link, Try this one from my DropBox:

The Jam- Live at Rockpalast 1980 FLAC. rar

 

Weezer- Opposite Sides Of The Same Good Ol' Fence (Aka: The Kitchen Tape)

 

A couple months ago, I was scrolling news stories on my phone and came upon a click-bate looking article, "100 most valuable cassette tapes" (or something like that?). It listed several pedestrian bands from the 80's and 90's, as well as cool stuff like, Prince's, The Black Album cassette (advance promo copy of withdrawn album) and U2's 1979 demo, with Bono's personal information. Surprisingly, Nirvana's, Nevermind was on the list and if you have an early pressing (which I own) before they made a gazillion copies after it broke, it's worth a bit (aka: not a lot of cash). What caught my attention was an extremely rare copy of Weezer's, The Kitchen Tape demo which Rivers Cuomo made a personal copy to give to sound engineer, Paul De Gru. There were only 15-20 copies made and that particular copy sold in auction for $4350.00, partially crowd-sourced via donations from Weezer forum members. The fan promised to rip a copy of the tape and share it with fans. (Thanks!)

Instead of writing in my own words about the tape or rely of AI writing (haha! never!!), I'll quote from the notes in the music file. By the way, this copy of the tape is available for download (in 24-bit) also on archive.org, a truly amazing source for live music recordings and rare recordings.

 

The Kitchen Tape is the name of Weezer's second demo tape and first proper album. It was recorded in an attempt to create a "serious" demo to hand around local clubs in attempts to generate "a buzz."

Rivers Cuomo made a personal copy of The Kitchen Tape (a demo of which only 15-20 were made) for an engineer named Paul DuGres. He recently auctioned the tape off on ebay. The labels of the tape reveal that Rivers named the tape Opposite Sides of the Same Good Ol' Fence as a reference to his previous band Zoom, serving as an introduction to the sound of Weezer before the first chords of Say It Ain't So begin.

The Kitchen Tape was mostly recorded on August 2, 1992 in The Garage, but the drums were recorded in the kitchen of the Amherst House. Accordingly, it was nicknamed The Kitchen Tape. The demos were recorded using frontman Rivers Cuomo's 8-track tape recorder. According to Karl Koch's article in Weezine Issue #3, the recordings of "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me", "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" and "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" originate from Weezer's first demo and were simply added to the tape. Bootlegs of this demo have surfaced, however only five were surfaced through a copy of the original. Two other songs from the tape (Undone - The Sweater Song and Only in Dreams) were released officially on The Blue Album Deluxe Edition bonus disc, Dusty Gems And Raw Nuggets. The Kitchen Tape's versions of "Say It Ain't So" and "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" have not been bootlegged or officially released. 

Definitely worth a listen, especially if you're a hardcore Weezer fan. An interesting comparison to what was released on their debut album.

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy format, except for personal use.

Please share!

To be perfectly clear, I do not own this cassette, not my photo.

 WEEZER
Opposite Sides Of The Same Good Ol' Fence (1992)
(Aka: The Kitchen Tape)

A1        Say It Ain't So
A2        The World Has Turned And Left Me Here
A3        Paperface
A4        Undone (The Sweater Song)
A5        Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me
A6        My Name Is Jonas
A7        Let's Sew Our Pants Together
A8        Only In Dreams

 

WEEZER- Opposite Sides Of The Same Good Ol' Fence (16-bit) FLAC. rar 

 

Weezer Plays The Blue Album- The Lodge Room, LA, CA, March 15, 2024

 

 

Yet another "classic" album is getting the anniversary tour treatment with Weezer celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album, the self-titled, the "Blue Album". The band is embarking on a huge arena tour with the Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr., starting in September and running until mid-October ending in L.A. The band will play the album in it's entirety followed by favorite's from the band's long successful career. Sounds like an epic event, so if you live select cities in the US or two cities in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), tickets are on sale (maybe, might be sold out already?). 

 

As a warmup for the tour, Weezer played their first pre-tour show in March in front of a small (500) enthusiastic crowd at the Lodge Room in LA. The idea for this tour kick-off show was to recreate the first ever Weezer show 32 years ago, at Raji's in Hollywood. They opened (actually they played the closing set after most of the fans left after Keanu's band's set) for Dogstar (Keanu Reeves band), it was also Dogstar's first show. Interestingly, Weezer played only 2 songs that would appear on Blue. Thirty two years later to the date, Weezer once again played with Dogstar with a short set of only the Blue Album in it's entirety. Not the same venue, but at least it was an intimate smaller room. Would have been amazing to have been there! Below is Weezer's set from the show, recorded from the crowd and the sound is outstanding and an excellent document of the concert.

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

Note: The music FLAC files are 24-bit, so it's larger (better quality?) than usual. To respect the taper/original poster, I left the files as they were originally offered. It's playable, but if you want to burn to disc they might need to be converted to 16-bit. There are many good file conversion apps/software online, but in a pinch I can convert it for you on request.

WEEZER
Lodge Room
Los Angeles, CA, USA
March 15, 2024
 

-- Source --
DPA 4081 > MMA-A > 24bit/48kHz

-- Processing --
iZotope RX (editing/mastering) > CD Wave (tracking) > Trader's Little Helper (encoding)

-- Setlist --
01 - intro
02 - My Name Is Jonas
03 - No One Else
04 - The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
05 - Buddy Holly
06 - Undone — The Sweater Song
07 - Surf Wax America
08 - In the Garage
09 - Say It Ain't So
10 - Holiday
11 - Only in Dreams
12 - outro (Mykel & Carli)

-- Notes --
Performing the blue album. Dominic Fike joins on guitar and vocals during Say It Ain't So. Dogstar opened.

Length: 47m00s

 

WEEZER- 2024-03-15 Lodge Room, LA FLAC24. rar

 

Trans-Canada Highwaymen- Club Regent Event Centre, Winnipeg, MB, March 22, 2024

 

 

I still have it, my actual copy!

One of the first record albums I bought (with my own money) was in elementary school and for whatever reason they were selling K-Tel records. I can't remember if there were other choices, but I bought, Sounds Spectacular, a compilation with "20 original hits" and "20 original stars", including hits such as Kung-Fu Fighting, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, Crocodile Rock and I Got The Music In Me, along with 16 other songs jam packed on one LP. The sound quality of all K-Tel records had the quality of a super low-bit mp3 and a visual inspection of the grooves on the vinyl has you wondering, how the hell can they squeeze so many tracks on here? Anyways, for many kids my age at the time, it was the gateway to hearing a variety of different artists all at once. Yes, the sound sucked, but what did I know at the time. 

 

When I first heard the album by the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, Explosive Hits Volume 1, I had an instant flashback to that K-Tel album. I guess that was the point, to a certain demographic (and Canadians), the band included, we shared that feeling of familiarity. Explosive Hits Vol.1 is basically a covers record, except for the origin story theme song, with recognizable songs from well-known Canadian bands, circa late 60's to the mid 70's. The "super group" consists of front-men from some truly great Canadian bands from the 90's to present. There's Steven Page, originally from the Barenaked Ladies, now solo, Chris Murphy, singer-songwriter, bass player from Sloan who primarily is the drummer in TCH, Craig Northey from the Odds and Moe Berg from the Pursuit of Happiness. I haven't had much desire to go to live concerts lately, but when I heard they were coming to play in Winnipeg, I made a priority to get tickets during the presale and was fortunate to get some prime seats.

Since the pandemic, I've only attended a handful of concerts, both indoors and outdoors, and I've taken a hiatus from recording shows, except for a Cheap Trick show last summer. The Trans-Canada Highwaymen concert is the first indoor concert I've recorded in almost exactly 4 years (Wilco in 2000), and I must admit I was hesitate. Since I've last attended a concert, "enhanced" security at larger venues is now the norm with airport-style metal detecting technology and wanding, so I'm not sure exactly what can or can't be detected, so dealing with the extra security is another challenge. Anyways, I made it through unscathed and accomplished a good sounding recording. The concert venue within a casino is actually pretty nice. The sound quality is amazing, the sight lines were really good (they even had video screens scattered around the room), the seats are comfy and the crowd was well behaved. Recently, when I've gone to shows I've felt like the oldest person in the crowd, but here the average age of the crowd must have been over 50, as there were many, many white-haired fans a lot older than me. I guess, there's a reason the concert was held in a casino. Overall, the show was great and the banter from the band was highly enjoyable and funny, mainly Chris Murphy and Steven Page. Here are some other highlights and notes:

• Along with the many cover songs from the album, each member of the band took their turn with songs from their own bands. It felt like a greatest hits showcase and it really was a smart format. As much I wish I had previously seen the Odds and Pursuit of Happiness live, I heard the songs I wanted to hear from each group, Someone Who's Cool, She's So Young and I'm An Adult Now, are some of my favourite songs by a Canadian band, ever.
• As mentioned during the show, it was Moe Berg's birthday, so a unrehearsed, impromptu version of Birthday by the Beatles was an added bonus.
• The retro look of their album, Explosive Hits Vol. 1 is no doubt a tribute to K-Tel records, as acknowledged by the band. K-Tel of course, proudly (or shamelessly) rose up from Winnipeg.
  
• You can't overstate the talent on stage. Each member took their turn on the drums and the trading of instruments showcases their versatility and amazing musicianship. Chris Murphy is the bass player in Sloan, but it quite competent at drums (I've also seen him play drums with Tuns). Along with the other members of Sloan, he can sing and can write some pretty great songs. I've underestimated Steven Page, he truly is a excellent entertainer and incredible singer and the fact he can play guitar, keyboards and drums amazes me. I've never been a fan of the BNL's, but Page is a talent beyond that band.
  
• As far as the recording, it turned out great. It has to be one of my best sounding recordings! I was situated about 14 rows back, dead centre, there was no one sitting directly in front of me and the sound at the venue was amazing. The levels are adjusted a couple of times and there's a bit of chatter between songs, but nothing that takes away from the experience. Hmmm, I predict I might have to attend more casino shows? Well, the next night was Reveen...

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

 

TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAYMEN
Club Regent Event Centre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
March 22, 2024
AUD Master

Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> SD card > 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC

01. Intro (Kevin McDonald)
02. It's All Been Done
03. Someone Who's Cool
04. Hard To Laugh
05. Lovin' You Ain't Easy
06. Theme From Trans-Canada Highwaymen
07. Birthday
08. It Falls Apart
09. Jane
10. Pretty Lady
11. Underwhelmed
12. Tonight Is A Wonderful Time To Fall In Love
13. Undun
14. She's So Young
15. The Other Man
16. The Old Apartment
17. Make You Mad
18. Brian Wilson
Encore
19. Rock Me Gently
20. The Rest Of My Life
21. I'm An Adult Now

Band:
Steven Page
Chris Murphy
Craig Northey
Moe Berg

 

TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAYMEN- 2024-03-22, Club Regent, Winnipeg, MB FLAC Master. rar

Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper- The Chime, Baton Rouge, LA, 1987- R.I.P. Mojo

 

 “August 2, 1957 — February 7, 2024 Mojo Nixon. How you live is how you should die. Mojo Nixon was full-tilt, wide-open rock hard, root hog, corner on two wheels + on fire…,” his family shared in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Passing after a blazing show, a raging night, closing the bar, taking no prisoners + a good breakfast with bandmates and friends.

“A cardiac event on the Outlaw Country Cruise is about right… & that’s just how he did it, Mojo has left the building,” his family’s statement continued. “Since Elvis is everywhere, we know he was waiting for him in the alley out back. Heaven help us all.”

 

Love him or hate him, Mojo Nixon was a one of a kind guy. Straight shooting, straight talking, Mojo often took things to the extreme, as his songs were often social commentaries and in an interview with Rolling Stone last year he said, “I firmly believe you can make fun of anything as long as your joke is funny. And I also believe that you can say anything, as long as you’re willing to suffer the consequences. We don’t need a thought police.”

 

This is what I loved about Mojo and you have to admit, he was always entertaining! I saw Mojo Nixon perform three times, Twice at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, where he was a hit, in a totally off-beat, anti-hero type of way, especially amongst the Folkies. His first appearance was just before the "Elvis Is Everywhere" craze hit and shortly after he exploded in popularity on MTV. His second time at the WFF in 1990, without Skid, I remember hearing, Don Henley Must Die and Destroy All Lawyers for the first time and it was hilariously enjoyable. I even posted a snippet of one of his performances from that weekend (no, I didn't record it) on the blog in 2015, I must hear for Mojo fans! https://teenagedogsintrouble.blogspot.com/2015/07/mojo-nixon-winnipeg-folk-festival-1990.html The third time was later the same year on October 30, 1990 at the long departed, Le Rendez-vous with his band the Toad Lickers. A great rocking show, at an indoor venue which is so much better than an abbreviated set at a music festival. I don't believe he ever returned to Winnipeg.

I wish I had a live recording from Le Rendez-vous, so instead I had to dip into the Mojo Nixon live archives to find a good sounding recording. I chose the show below because: 1. It's a nice clear sounding soundboard recording, 2. It's a sweet spot album-wise with a lot of tracks from the brilliant, Frenzy album from 1986 and a few choice songs from the soon-to-be released (in a couple of weeks), Bo-Day-Shus!! An amazing performance, with the usual Mojo Nixon shtick and definitely worth a listen!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper
The Chime
Baton Rouge, LA
July 27, 1987

 

sbd cass > wav > speed corrected > wav > flac

Disc 1:
01. Get Outta My Way
02. Stuffin' Martha's Muffin
03. I Hate Banks
04. I Ain't Gonna Piss in No Jar
05. I'm in Love with Your Girlfriend / The Amazing Bigfoot Diet
06. Skid
07. Rutabaga
08. Gonna Eat Then Words

Disc 2:
01. Be My Lover
02. Elvis is Everywhere
03. Gotta Have More Soul
04. Mushroom Maniac
05. Jesus at McDonalds / Burn Down the Malls
06. Amsterdam Dogshit Blues
07. Gin Guzzlin' Frenzy

 

MOJO NIXON & SKID ROPER- 1987-07-27 FLAC. rar

Liz Phair- Exile In Guyville 30th Anniversary Show, Chicago, November 18, 2023

 

There are certain albums that are career-making for artists that are best known for that record even years later. For Liz Phair, it was her debut album released 30 years ago (technically 31 now in 2024), Exile In Guyville that placed her on the rock 'n 'roll map with a brilliant debut and without argument, her best album. When Guyville came out it was a time when alternative music was gaining the attention of mainstream audiences and Grunge was already converting listeners to non-commercial music, as Nirvana's, Nevermind came out two years earlier. 

 

I was thinking about Exile In Guyville a few weeks ago, as I was preparing to submit a grant proposal for an art project that will focus on portable cassette players (Walkmans) and cassette culture. Recently, I've been a bit obsessive about Walkmans and older, obsolete technology (and my minidisc recorder recently died), so I've been painting and drawing these game-changing machines and using them to listen to tapes again. The grant will allow me to expand deeper on this theme both in quantity and quality (more on that later, if I get it). Anyways, the connection here is that Liz Phair's, Girly-Sound tapes preceded Guyville, recorded in her bedroom on a 4-track cassette recorder and those tapes, which were circulated to early fans in Chicago, helped get her record deal with Matador.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album, Phair and her band toured the record and played the album in it's entirety and for the encore a couple of her best known songs. For the hometown show in Chicago, Liz performed all six songs she rotated in and out of the encores in other cities. She was warmly welcomed at the sold out show at the Chicago Theatre and it would have been amazing to be there. I left the recording notes and comments from the taper, to give you more details about the sound quality and the concert.

Taper Comments: Liz brought her 30th anniversary "Exile in Guyville" tour to the sold-out Chicago Theatre and the results are what one might have expected -- the fan base that all own "Vs.", "In Utero," and various Cranberries albums were rapturous at seeing "Exile in Guyville" in its entirety. Four backing singers appeared in strategic spots in the audience (spread across the main floor and balcony) for "Flower" and "Johnny Sunshine," in what I suspect was a one-off for Chicago -- it was very cool having spotlights on singers throughout the auditorium backing the songs. The encore featured *all six* of the songs that she's been rotating in and out of the encores throughout the tour, presumably making this the longest show of the tour. She paused before "Go West" to apologize for adding songs as a nod to her hometown fans, for those who would be late for commitments they'd made after the show. :)

The performance was great, and Liz frequently noted that the show was a dream come true for her.

The recording itself is very good. There are moments that the enthusiastic crowd impinges on the music, although mostly this is manifest in loud bursts of applause between songs. The women next to me were chatty, but you can't really hear them because I had a solid line on the left stack and the music drowns out nearby audience chatter. The guy to my right had a few enthusiastic outbursts that I can't really do anything about, but it just accentuates the excitement of the crowd.

Enjoy!

 

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

Liz Phair
Chicago Theatre
Chicago, Illinois
November 18, 2023

Source:  DPA 4060 => Tascam DR-2d
Conversion:  WAV => Audio Cleaning Lab => FLAC (16-bit)

Location: 6th row, left side

Track listing:

CD1 (58:44):
(1)  Intro (1:08)
(2)  6' 1" (3:04)
(3)  Help Me Mary (2:43)
(4)  Glory (2:00)
(5)  Dance of the Seven Veils (2:37)
(6)  Banter (1:04)
(7)  Never Said (3:26)
(8)  Soap Star Joe (3:14)
(9)  Explain It To Me (3:02)
(10)  Canary (3:43)
(11)  Mesmerizing (4:28)
(12)  Fuck and Run (3:42)
(13)  Girls! Girls! Girls! (2:20)
(14)  Divorce Song (4:12)
(15)  Shatter (5:11)
(16)  Flower (2:44)
(17)  Johnny Sunshine (5:02)
(18)  Banter (0:41)
(19)  Gunshy (4:14)

CD2 (33:34):
(1)  Stratford-on-Guy (3:07)
(2)  Strange Loop (4:24)
(3)  Encore break (1:54)
(4)  Supernova (3:09)
(5)  Johnny Feelgood (4:04)
(6)  Go West (3:48)
(7)  Polyester Bride (4:14)
(8)  Extraordinary (3:39)
(9)  Band introductions (0:30)
(10)  Why Can't I? (4:21)
(11)  Outro (0:18)

LIZ PHAIR- 2023-11-18 Chicago, FLAC. rar

Jayhawks- Live At Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN, December 16, 2023

 

 

As promised, here's the rest of the Palace Theatre show with the headliners, the Jayhawks. Though this wasn't necessarily a "Christmas" concert, the on-stage set had a festive look to it. The band is tight and play a typical Jayhawks set with the usual crowd favourites and closed with the Golden Smog "cover", Until You Came Along, bringing back Dan Murphy and Steve Gorman from the Smog and Gary's wife for a festive sing-a-long. Though they didn't play Father Christmas, Run Rudolf Run or 2000 Miles, like they did last year, but they did include a couple Christmas songs, the Kitty Wells cover, Christmas Ain't Like Christmas Anymore and the Band's, Christmas Might Be Tonight. The sound is exceptional and the Jayhawks, as usual put on a great show. Get this while you can, highly recommended!

Enjoy

p.s.: For those asking, I'll try to re-seed previous shows that aren't working (downloading), specifically the Golden Smog show from 1992. Leave your other requests in the comments section. Thanks for your patience!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

If you ever have an opportunity to see the band live, see them! If you like the band, support them and buy a CD or LP.

 

JAYHAWKS
Palace Theatre
St. Paul, MN
December 16, 2023
SBD>Livestream master
laptop> Tascam DR-07> 16 bit wav> tracksplitter> FLAC> rar

01. Jesus Christ
02. The Man Who Loved Life
03. Angelyne
04. Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces
05. Nothing Left To Borrow
06. Bitter Pill
07. Christmas Ain't Like Christmas Anymore
08. Save It For A Rainy Day
09. Tampa To Tulsa
10. Leaving The Monsters Behind
11. Waiting For The Sun
12. Sixteen Down
13. Settled Down Like Rain
14. River
15. This Forgotten Town
16. Smile
17. Kingston Girl
18. Christmas Might Be Tonight
19. All The Right Reasons
20. Dogtown Days
21. Trouble
22. I'd Run Away
23. Blue
Encore
24. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me
25. Tailspin
26. Until You Came Along

 

Gary Louris- vocals, guitar

Karen Grotberg- vocals, keyboards

Marc Perlman- bass

Tim O'Reagon- vocals, drums

Kraig Johnson- guitar

 

JAYHAWKS- 2023-12-16, Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN FLAC. rar

 

Golden Smog- Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN, December 16, 2023: Happy New Year 2024!

 

 

Happy New Year!!

To begin the new year, I have an excellent concert to end 2023 with! (well, halfway through December, close enough) The Jayhawks annual (seems like it?) December holiday hometown show took place at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, on December 16th. Opening was Golden Smog, which is pretty much the Jayhawks, without Karen Grotberg and adding Dan Murphy and Steve Gorman, who is a first time Smogger. For fans that couldn't attend or couldn't get tickets, the show was also live-streamed, which is a bonus to see and hear the band up-close with exceptional sound. I had the opportunity to watch the stream and get a good audio capture of the concert. I'm of the mindset that I can watch a concert, either live or a video once or twice, but I can listen to live recordings multiple times no problem. No real surprises during the Golden Smog set with a typical setlist for a Tweedy-less lineup of the band, so obviously there aren't any songs sung by Jeff. The band closed the set with a tribute to the late, great Shane MacGowan with a cover of the Pogues', Dirty Old Town. I'll post the Jayhawks set next!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from the recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share! If you enjoy the band, support them by purchasing their albums, CDs and related items!

 

 

GOLDEN SMOG
Palace Theatre
St. Paul, MN
December 16, 2023
SBD>Livestream master
laptop> Tascam DR-07> 16 bit wav> tracksplitter> FLAC> rar

01. Yesterday Cried
02. Won't Be Coming Home
03. To Call My Own
04. Looking Forward To Seeing You *
05. Starman
06. Ill Fated
07. He's A Dick
08. If I Only Had A Car
09. Glad and Sorry #
10. Red Headed Stepchild
11. Revolution Blues
12. Corvette
13. Dirty Old Town

 

Gary Louris- vocals, guitar

Dan Murphy- vocals, guitar

Kraig Johnson- vocals, guitar

Marc Perlman- bass

Steve Gorman- drums

Special guests:

Ava Levy- backing vocals *

Tim O'Reagon- guitar #

 

 GOLDEN SMOG- 2023-12-16 Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN, FLAC. rar