Ric Ocacek & Benjamin Orr- Pre-Cars Demo Sessions 1974-1975

 

Many years later, as members of a popular band called, The Cars.

 

In the early days of this blog, a semi-regular feature called, "Before We Was Famous" (...Before He/She) featured recordings from musicians before they gained wider success or attention. Sometimes there were demos (Lou Reed, Uncle Tupelo), independent, self-produced recordings (Kathleen Edwards, The Refreshments, Emily Haines), early ignored releases (Mary Lou Lord, Norah Jones) or before a name change (The Shins (Flake), Fountains of Wayne (Pinnwheel), Electrocutes (The Donnas), Bangles (The Bangs), just to name a few that I can remember. I've always been fascinated by artist's early works and how they may or not differ from later works. Sometimes the music differs a lot, maybe through a direction change or an attempt to have more commercial appeal. I often wonder if some artist's early works display their "true" sound and how and what influences their direction. Sometimes it's just a matter of polishing up their sound, with better production or a producer that can act as an editor that presents a more cohesive sound.

 

Benjamin Orr And Ric Ocasek had played in a variety of bands (Milkwood, released one album) before forming, The Cars and they recorded several demos with different lineups as, Richard and the Rabbits, Ocasek & Orr and Cap'n Swing. What we have is a sampling of some of the songs recorded during those sessions that included other future Cars, including Greg Hawkes (Richard and the Rabbits, Ocasek & Orr) and guitarist Elliot Easton (aka: Elliot Steinberg- Cap'n Swing). The info file includes the complete lineups of the groups that recorded these demos. My initial impression of these songs is that it sounds nothing like the Cars, even though the Cars would form in 1976. The sound of these demos are full band, fully produced songs and the sound quality is good. Their style sounds like the early 70's, slick, over-produced, something Todd Rundgren would put out. Interesting, but not overly original or anything that stands out. It's a respectable collection of songs and somehow Orr, Ocasek, Easton, Hawkes and former Modern Lovers drummer, David Robinson altered and revamped their sound to produce a much more unique and appealing sound on the Cars debut album, which is considered one of the best debut albums from the 70's.

Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

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Ric Ocasek
Benjamin Orr
Demo Sessions Circa 1974-75
Studio Unknown
Location Unknown but presumed Boston, MA

JEMS Transfer: 1970s Demo Cassette > Nakamichi CR-7A (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture 2496 > MBIT+ resample to 1644 > iZotope RX8 > iZotope Ozone 8 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC

01 Harlequin (Richard and the Rabbits)
02 Sam’s Decision (Richard and the Rabbits)
03 Mid Spring
04 Your Always Brighter (with guest vocals and different than the Cap'n Swing version)
(recorded as "She's Always Brighter" by Richard and the Rabbits at some time)
05 Never Gonna Get Over You (different than circulating Ocasek & Orr version)
06 Twilight Superman (different than circulating Richard and the Rabbits & Cap'n Swing versions)
07 Everyday (same as circulating Ocasek & Orr version)
08 Start It All Again (a Richard and the Rabbits version was recorded at some time)

RIC OCASEK and BENJAMIN ORR- 1974-1975 The Pre-Cars Demo Sessions FLAC. rar

Big Star- Live In Cambridge 1974

 

 

It's been over 11 years since Alex Chilton passed away and last month, I picked up an original pressing of The Letter/Neon Rainbow, the debut album from Alex's first band, the Box Tops for cheap and got me reminiscing about Alex and Big Star. I think I have most of their official releases (and some unofficial), but it's unfortunate there aren't a lot of live recordings of Big Star, at least in their earlier incarnation (1971-1975). The 1992 release of Live was recorded and broadcasted in 1974 in New York for WLIR was the only official live album until the more recent release of Live At Lafayette's Music Room recorded in 1973 and released January 2018. Both are excellent documentations of the band as a trio performing live. Not sure if there are any live recordings (or performances?) when co-founder Chris Bell was still in the band?

When a Big Star live recording surfaced on Dime a short while ago, it was very exciting! This is a re-mastered, cleaned-up version of a cassette recording that has circulated for a while and it remains one of their few non-officially released live recordings. Big Star played two sets (early/late) opening for Badfinger in March 1974. The taper recorded both Badfinger sets and only the early Big Star set, but we should be thankful it was recorded at all considering a lot of tapers (me included) sometimes don't tape the opening band. There literally sounds like there are a few dozen people in the audience which makes this an intimate performance with surprisingly excellent sound for a tape recorder from this time period. (Thank you Steve Hopkins for the recording and Captain Acid for the remaster!) According to the liner notes from Live, Jody Stephens remembers that later in this tour, they played two shows on the same night in Boston, opening for Badfinger. He recalls that for the first set, they played their worst ever, and for the second-their best. Well, we don't have the second set to compare, but the first set sounds pretty good to my ears...judge for yourself!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

 

Big Star
Performance Center
Cambridge, MA
March 31, 1974 (early show)
Steve Hopkins recording/Captain Acid remaster

recorded by Steve Hopkins on a Panasonic mono cassette recorder
Lineage: first-gen cassette > DAT > CD-R > .flac > Captain Acid remaster

01 In The Street
02 Baby Strange (T. Rex cover)
03 Mod Lang
04 Candy Says (Velvet Underground cover)
05 Till The End Of The Day (Kinks cover)
06 O My Soul
07 Motel Blues (Loudon Wainwright III cover)
08 Thirteen
09 Way Out West
10 September Gurls
11 Come On Now (Kinks Cover)

 

BIG STAR- 1974-03-31 Cambridge, MA FLAC. rar 

New York Dolls- Montreal 1974: R.I.P. Sylvain Sylvain

 

 

There are few bands that have been as influential and important in the early punk scene in the early 70's. The first New York Dolls album debuted in 1973 to mixed reviews, in a Creem Magazine poll, they were elected the best and worst new band. Their look and musical style were all over the place, some called them proto-punk, they were basically a hard rock band with heavy metal, punk, glam and girl group influences mixed together for an original sound. Their glam look with spandex and platform boots set them apart, at the time, but their sound (to me) was like a sleazier (if that's possible), Rolling Stones. David Johansen definitely had a "Jagger"-thing happening and Johnny Thunders as the Keith Richards, with a sound not dissimilar to the Stones. Unfortunately, some good things don't last as the band only released two original albums during their original 1971-76 run, but the music from the members of the band continued with solo projects. Thunders left to form The Heartbreakers with drummer, Jerry Nolan, Johansen formed the David Johansen group and released many solo albums including reinventing himself with his Buster Poindexter alter-ego and Sylvain Sylvain had a solo career, and performing with others including the reunited New York Dolls in the 2000's.

On January 13th of this year, sadly Sylvain Sylvain passed away after a battle with cancer, he was 69. With his death, David Johansen remains the only living member of the original New York Dolls and though another New York Dolls incarnation may not be in the near future, the Dolls music is still prominently significant today.

 

I don't have many NY Dolls live recordings, so when I saw this one posted on Dime in tribute to Sylvain Sylvain, I jumped at the chance. It's an excellent sounding recording taken from a radio broadcast in Montreal and the post includes a newspaper review about the concert (included in the download folder), a photo and the ad for the show. This recording is too good not to share and it's proof the New York Dolls were a great live band. Too bad (according to the article) the turnout was so small, if they knew then what they know now, it should have been packed! Thank you to the person that recorded this concert off the radio, thanks to the original poster on Dime and to Borzage who re-seeded the post after Sylvain's death. A must-hear for any New York Dolls fans!

Enjoy!

Do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Please do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

NEW YORK DOLLS

Palais du Commerce 

Montréal, QC
September 27, 1974
FM Broadcast

01 Lookin for a kiss
02 Mystery Girls
03 Something else
04 Pills
05 A Great Big Kiss
06 Subway Train
07 It's too late
08 Trash
09 Bad Girl
10 Chatterbox
11 Puss n Boots
12 Stranded In The Jungle(cut)

Broadcast by CKVL 96.9 FM radio on 28-Sep-74

(With Peter Jordan on bass, instead of Arthur and Buddy Bowser on saxophone)

NEW YORK DOLLS- 1974-09-27 Palais du Commerce, Montreal. QC FLAC. rar

The New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz

An over-looked band in the early 70's was the influential band, Brinsley Schwarz whose first exposure to America came at the expense of the infamous incident that became known as, "the Brinsley Schwarz hype". The band's manager flew a plane full of British journalists to New York for a show as the band was opening for Van Morrison on April 3rd and 4th, 1970. The band was to arrive in NY a few days before the gig to rehearse, but instead were delayed because of visa problems and only arrived shortly before the gig with rented equipment. The journalists were due the next day, but the flight was delayed for four hours and with a free bar the journalists eventually arrived drunk or hung-over. The band received negative reviews from the critics for the show and panned their debut album. So much for the hype and this drove the band into seclusion before coming back with a different sound and a follow-up album. The band played a more loose, pub rock sound and went on to release six records in total (not counting compilations etc.) before disbanding in 1975. The members of the band went onto other projects, guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and Bob Andrews to the Rumour with Graham Parker and Ian Gomm and Nick Lowe both pursued solo careers. Brinsley Schwarz's final album, The New Favourites Of, was produced by Dave Edmunds and this was as close to a hit as the band came. It received positive reviews and the slicker, more polished pop sound provided a glimpse of the brilliance of Nick Lowe as a songwriter and performer. This album contained the original version of the Nick Lowe-penned, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, which became more identified with Elvis Costello (he recorded it for the Nick Lowe produced, Armed Forces album), than Brinsley Schwarz. Lowe and Costello recently played a pair of shows where they both performed each others songs, of course they closed with Peace, Love and Understanding. This album is one of my favourites from the 70's that shouldn't be overlooked when you talk about the whole pub rock, new wave, punk movement of the 70's because without the Brinsley Schwarz band, the careers of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello may not have existed. Enjoy! BRINSLEY SCHWARZ The New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz (1974) 1. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? 2. Ever Since You're Gone 3. Ugly Things 4. I Got the Real Thing 5. Look That's in Your Eye Tonight 6. Now's the Time 7. Small Town, Big City 8. Trying to Live My Life Without You 9. I Like You, I Don't Love You 10. Down in the Dive 11. I've cried my last tear (bonus track) 12. (It's gonna be a) Bringdown (bonus track) 13. Everybody (bonus track) 14. There's a cloud in my heart (bonus track) BRINSLEY SCHWARZ- The New Favourites Of. rar