Tammy & The Amps- Maxwell's July 1, 1995

 

 

In 1995, after Kim Deal put her band, The Breeders on hiatus, she formed a new band, Tammy & The Amps. They played some shows and recorded and released an album, Pacer in October 1995. The band featured Kim on lead vocals and guitar, Luis Lerma on bass; Nate Farley on lead guitar; and Jim Macpherson of the Breeders on drums. The band was named when Kim began calling herself Kim Ampersand, so they became Tammy and the Amps, though the name was shortened to just The Amps. The band's sound wasn't dissimilar from the Breeders, with a more lo-fi, unpretentious, sloppy sound, a fun project to keep Deal busy and engaged in performing live that seemed to energize her. The Amps were a one-off side project that eventually evolved themselves to become the Breeders again a short time later in 1996. Their only album, Pacer is an underrated and sometimes brilliant record that fits nicely in the Kim Deal/The Breeders discography. Personally, it's one of my favourite Deal-related albums.

Despite only playing live shows for only about one calendar year, the Amps played well over 50 shows with dates in North America, Europe and Australia. The only live recording I have might be their first ever show at Maxwell's in Hoboken. A very nice sounding recording, it sounds like a lot of fun and the band has a punk energy that sounds great. I love audience recordings from small venues, there's a raw enthusiasm you don't hear in larger concert halls or theater's and it really gives you the feeling of "being there" in the audience. A rare opportunity to hear Kim Deal outside of the Breeders and the Pixies, definitely a must-hear!

Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

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

Please share!

 

Tammy & The Amps
Maxwell's

Hoboken, NJ (USA)
July 1, 1995

Equipment: Sony 909 mic > Sony D7 DAT
Lineage: Master DAT > First generation cassette > Tascam 202MKV > Edirol R09 (16/44) > Adobe Audition 5.5 (level boost/hiss reduction) > CD Wave Editor (track) > flac8
Taper: Stonecutter15: Stonecutter Archives
Transfer & Tracking: Smores
 
1. Pacer
2. Breaking The Split Screen Barrier
3. She's A Girl
4. Empty Glasses
5. Hoverin
6. Bragging Party
7. Full On Idle
8. Mom's Drunk
9. Tipp City
10. Just Like A Briar [The Tasties]

 

TAMMY & THE AMPS- 1995-07-01 Maxwell's, NJ FLAC. rar 

Neil Young Tribute- Live In Winnipeg 1995

With most everyone practicing social distancing, it is an opportunity to sort your record collection and an opportunity to listen to music you have been meaning to listen to. These days, streaming is the popular form for listening and discovering music and there are endless possibilities for making playlists. Presently, a cliche playlist would be about isolation and loneliness (maybe even depression) as it has become the norm for people around the world to avoid any social gatherings or the possibility of being within a meter of an another human being. When I think of artists and songs that meet that criteria, I often turn to the "loner" himself, Neil Young. Neil isn't always anti-social and though I'm thinking he prefers to perform solo, he does have Crazy Horse as his backing band and he has played in other groups such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, Buffalo Springfield, The Squires and even made a record and toured with Pearl Jam! Though his songs have taken on an increasingly critical opinion of politics, the environment and war he has still maintained a certain reputation as a solemn loner. A perfect thing to be during these times.

Instead of a playlist, how about a tribute to Neil Young in the form of a concert. There have been many albums and concerts that have paid tribute to Neil Young (despite being very alive!) so there are many to choose from with many popular artists participating. Today's post is unique to me because this was recorded in my hometown (and Neil's) with local bands all performing the music of Neil Young. This concert was to celebrate Neil Young's 50th birthday on the eve of his birthday, and yes, they sing Happy birthday at the beginning. The strange thing is the radio announcer says the date of the concert is September 27th, but Neil's real birthday is November 12th...??

• The recording: Recorded in 1995 and was aired nationally on CBC-FM "Real Time" broadcast. Thanks to Stevemtl who recorded it off the radio and posted the show to Dime. Each band performs a short set of Young covers each, but I'm assuming there were other songs that weren't aired on the broadcast.
• The bands: All Winnipeg bands, mainly indie and I'm slightly familiar with most of these bands though I have to admit haven't seen any of them live. The Blue Meanies, who became the New Meanies shortly after due to another band with the same name, gained modest success and even had airplay. Buick Six, I remember because Mike Koop also played in the band, The Bonaduces and they had a violin player, Julie Penner that was really good that went on to perform and record with many well known Canadian musicians. Zen Bungalow had Rod Slaughter in the band who went on to form Duotang and plays in Novillero. Grand Theft Canoe had a cool psychedelic sound I like a lot and all I know about Not Going To Vegas is that Phil Deschambault in the band co-formed the duo, Ash Koley with Ash Koley.
• The sound: The sound quality is excellent, FM broadcasts always sound great. All the bands do a commendable job in their own way and style. Very enjoyable!

Though this concert and the bands may only have only regional interest, Neil Young's music is celebrated and appreciated world-wide and the fact he spent many of his formative years in Winnipeg is something to be proud of. The concert is from almost 25 years ago and at the time I believe Young was touring with Pearl Jam. Most of the bands that performed on this night are no longer together (New Meanies still perform occasionally), but Young continues to record new music and tour. If your wondering what Young is doing to keep busy during these grim times, Young has shared his Fireside Session show on his archives site. He has filmed (with the help of his wife, Daryl Hannah) two sessions consisting of some deep tracks and some classic tunes. “Because we are all at home and not venturing out, we will try to do a stream from my fireplace with my lovely wife filming. It will be a down-home production, a few songs, a little time together,”says Young. The sessions have been filmed from Young and Hannah’s home in snowy Telluride, Colorado. Indeed!
Enjoy!!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats (except for personal use)
Please share!

NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE
West End Cultural Centre
Winnipeg, MB 
September 27, 1995

Recorded by stevemtl: at a later date - CBC 'Real Time' broadcast > analogue cable FM > Yamaha RX586 > Fostex D5 or Sony R500 (DAT @ 16/48)
Transferred by stevemtl: DAT > Sony R500 > Roland R44 (16/48 wav) > SD chip > HD
Mastered by stevemtl: wav > Soundforge (L2 dither > 24/48: L2 level adjust, trim, edit) > r8brain (vhq downsample > 24/44.1) > Soundforge (L2 dither > 16/44.1) > CDwave (track cut) > TLH (flac level 8, ffp, md5) > TLH (torrent marker)
Posted to DIME by stevemtl on 2019-12-15.

01.  -radio host intro-
02.  -Happy Birthday, talk-
03.  Southern Man
04.  -talk-
05.  No More   >>>
06.  Cortez the Killer
07.  -radio host talk-
08.  Albuquerque
09.  -talk-
10.  Walk On
11.  -radio host talk, talk-
12.  The Sultan
13.  -talk-
14.  Burned
15.  -talk-
16.  Expecting to Fly
17.  -talk-
18.  Harvest
19.  -radio host talk-
20.  Mr. Soul
21.  -talk-
22.  The Loner  >>>
23.  Tonight's the Night
24.  -radio host talk-
25.  Look Out for My Love
26.  -talk-
27.  Cinnamon Girl
28.  -radio host outro-

[57:10 m.]
note:
Leora Kornfeld - radio host
t03>06: Blue Meanies (now called New Meanies)
t08>10: Buick Six
t12>18: Grand Theft Canoe
t20>23: Zen Bungalow
T25>27: Not Going to Vegas

NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE- 1995-09-27 WECC, Winnipeg, MB FLAC. rar

Back From Europe! R.I.P Kim Shattuck: Day 5

It's been a couple of weeks since I returned from my European vacation, we spent a week in Prague in the Czech Republic and almost a week in Barcelona, Spain. The main idea of the trip was originally revolved around the NHL Global series game between the Blackhawks and Flyers in Prague on October 4th. We extended our vacation to Barcelona for another week of sightseeing and more tropical-type weather before I returned to my snow covered city in Canada where the two previous days before our return was declared a state of emergency because of heavy snowfall, fallen trees and citywide power outrages. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled to return.

Prague was beautiful and quite historically fascinating, while Barcelona was crowded, dirtier, exciting and just as fascinating. We did the usual rounds of tourist attractions, but I was anxious to visit some record stores. It was easy to navigate, as many of the stores fortunately seemed to be clustered in a small area downtown, off the La Rambla branched off onto small backlane-like streets. Before leaving on my trip I read an article at the Vinyl Factory.com, The definitive guide to Barcelona's best record stores, which gave me a preview of some stores I should check out. I managed to visit Daily Records, Wah Wah Records, Discos Revolver and Revolver Records. I should note if you visit stores in Spain to check their hours ahead of time because some stores close during some of the afternoon (e.g. 1:00-4:00 or 1:30-4:30?) and I missed a couple stores because they were closed. At the Discos Revolver store I bought 3 lp's and a 7" er. Ironically, two of the records (Bum- Shake Town! and Stand GT- They're Magically Delicious) are Canadian bands, but Spanish label vinyl releases. This store is so cool, they wrote a nice post about me on their Instagram page.

At Wah Wah records I bought this nifty orange record carrying bag to transport my vinyl on the airplane. I picked up record from the Dishrags, an almost forgotten punk band from Vancouver (formed in Victoria, BC), circa late 70's. It's a loud, fast and smokin' record that was well worth the huge Euro price. I also bought a reissue of France Gall's, Baby Pop a fine ye-ye French pop singer from the 60's.

When I was in Prague during the first week of vacation I was shocked by the news that Kim Shattuck of the Muffs had passed away. She died at her home on October 2, due to complications from ALS. Personally, I've been a fan of the band since their first album, The Muffs released in 1993 and frequently listen to their live recordings and most of their records. One of my fav albums is Hamburger, released in 2000, that compiles demos, outtakes, covers, singles and compilation appearances up until that time. Of interest, is their earliest material recorded on 4-track and their first releases. Two weeks following Shattuck's death, the Muffs released their final album, No Holiday that compiled songs written from 1991 to 2017. I've always felt Shattuck's writing was underrated and that the Muffs deserved more commercial success, but then again I may have not liked them as much if they made it huge. I was always attracted to Shattuck's oversized, sometimes snarky attitude, but sweet personality. I found her funny, hilarious even at times and I always admired and respected the talent she had and she could rock with the best of them.

I have several live Muffs shows I could share, but one of my favourites is still a show I shared in 2011 from a CBC-FM radio broadcast from 1995 in Toronto. This is sort of a re-seed, but back then I posted the lossy mp3 version on the blog, but this time I'm posted the lossless FLAC version in case it matters to anyone. If you haven't heard this concert yet with fresh ears, it's a good one! Excellent sound quality and as usual an amazing Muffs concert. A fitting tribute to Kim Shattuck and the mighty mighty Muffs!
Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell!
#13yearsoftrouble

THE MUFFS
 Lee's Palace
Toronto, Ont.
Aug. 30, 1995
FM Broadcast

01. intro
02. Agony
03. Lucky Guy
04. Saying Goodbye
05. Ethyl My Love
06. Sad Tomorrow
07. Laying On A Bed Of Roses
08. What You've Done
09. Beat Your Heart Out
10. Red Eyed Troll
11. End It All
12. I Don't Like You
13. Right In The Eye
14. Big Mouth
15. I Need You
16. Oh Nina
17. encore break
18. Just A Game
19. From Your Girl
20. New Love
21. outro

THE MUFFS- Lee's Palace, Toronto, ON Aug. 20, 1995 FLAC. rar

Original post link for lossy mp3 version:
THE MUFFS- Lee's Palace, Toronto, ON Aug. 20, 1995 mp3. rar

Day 7: Cub- Saturday Night Live At the Starfish Room 1995

Actually, the date of April 21, 1995 was a Friday, but I'm pretty sure this Cub concert was broadcast on RealTime on CBC radio which aired on Saturday night. I spent a lot of my Saturday nights at home taping live concerts on the radio from RealTime and it's successor (also Saturday night time slot), RadioSonic (1997-2003). They broadcast complete concerts from a lot of good indie Canadian bands as well as bigger international names and the sound quality was excellent. I taped a lot of shows onto cassette and I've been gradually converting these tapes to digital files and have started posting them here. I actually didn't tape this broadcast, I received it in a trade, but this is a fine example of the excellent broadcast quality of these broadcasts. This show shouldn't be confused with the recent series of officially releases, CBC Brave New Waves albums that featured bands live in (CBC) studio sessions. Brave New Waves was another great CBC FM radio program (late night) that played "left of the dial" stuff, lots of indie and alternative bands that you usually didn't hear on commercial radio. The Cub session on Brave New Waves was recorded May 19, 1993 almost to the day of their 1st anniversary. Hey, Neko Case fans, Neko plays drums on this session! This album is available at the Cub Brave New Waves Bandcamp page, very cool pink & black effect vinyl is for sale, as well as digital download, CD and boring black vinyl.

The unofficial Dirty Windshields live soundtrack wouldn't be complete without a recording from Cub. Cub is another band that figured significantly in Grant's book as Cub and the Smugglers often shared bills together and touring together during the Smugglers second North American tour. Both bands were on the Mint Records label in Vancouver (Smugglers would later on Selling The Sizzle) and it was Cub that topped the charts of campus radio and helped drive up sales for Mint. "Cub's sound and attitude would prove highly influential for scores of young indie musicians seeking a new alternative to the new alternative" (Grant Lawrence). Another connection between the bands is that Cub's drummer, Neko Case dated Smugglers guitarist, Dave Carswell during this period, I didn't know that. This concert recorded at the Starfish Room in Vancouver is a sampling of some of Cub's best known songs and some extra cool covers that are better than the originals. If you're not familiar with Cub's brand of "cuddlecore", check their Bandcamp page for downloads, streams and information about purchasing a real CD. Hell, they only have 3 full length albums, it's well worth the purchase. Or if you want their collection of oddities, Mauler is a good place to start.
Enjoy!
 #12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or convert to lossy format (except for personal use)
Please share!

CUB
Starfish Room
Vancouver, BC
April 21, 1995
FM Broadcast

trade> CDR> FreeRip> Flac> rar

01. Intro
02. Flaming Red Bobsled
03. Life Of Crime
04. Little Star
05. Green Eyes
06. Cast A Shadow
07. Runaway
08. Lucky 7
09. Pillow Queen
10. Sweet Pea
11. Voracious
12. A Picnic
13. Your Bed
14. Tell Me Now
15. The Day I Said Goodbye
16. New York City
17. Surfer Girl
18. Motel 6
19. Find A Way
20. My Chinchilla
21. Vacation
22. My Best Friend's Girl
23. Go Fish

CUB- 1995-04-21 Starfish Room, Vancouver, BC FLAC.rar

Day 6: The Donnas- Wednesday Night Live in Palo Alto, CA 1995

Another band the Smugglers frequently toured with were Lookout label-mates, the Donnas. The Donnas were an all-girl punk rock band from Palo Alto, California who attended school together and before they became the Donnas, they're first band was known as Ragady Anne before changing their name to the Electrocutes (I posted about them here in 2008). They created the Donnas as a separate band simultaneously with the Electrocutes and distinguished the bands from each other by each member taking the name Donna and their surname would be the first letter of their last name (Donna A,R, F, C) when they were performed as the Donnas. The Electrocutes were a raw fast
hard edge-metal band while the Donnas had a garagey punk sound, not unlike the Ramones (in some ways they were the reverse Ramones). The Smugglers played shows and toured with the Donnas around 1998-2000 and check out chapter 41 "Hot Boxin" in Grant Lawrence's tour diary/rock bio, Dirty Windshields for some very interesting road stories with the Donnas. Around this period, the Donnas were starting to create some buzz and attention from the major labels, their albums were selling and their tours were gaining more fans. Think of what a PR dream they would have been when they first started out, they were young (high school young), they wore matching "letter shirts" and spandex pants (later skin-tight leather and t-shirts), they were good looking with a persona that suggested a rebellious edge (can we say, female Ramones or think, Nikki & the Corvettes or Leather Tuscadero from Happy Days), they sang about boys, hooking up and 40 boys in 40 nights, say no more. They progressed from a high school punk/metal band(s) to cool indie label rebels to a cleaned up polished image with commercial success on a major label band as they performed on TV talk shows, and their music was used in movie/video game soundtracks and played main stage at Lollapalooza.

I was trying to decide which Donnas show I would post, because I have a couple great sounding soundboard/FM recordings from the early 2000's. Unfortunately a recording from when the Donnas performed in town didn't turn out too good. I saw them at the Pyramid Cabaret in 2005 and I was using some new Sound Professional mics (with a battery pack, the most money I've spent on sound recording equipment) with my minidisc recorder. For every recording I used these mics, the sound was overly bassy and it affected the overall sound noticeably. For the Donnas show, the sound coming from the stage already had too much bass in the mix, it's the kind of bass you can feel your pant legs flap against your leg because the bass was blowing way too hard towards you. Usually my (other) mics sounded okay because my body seems to absorb a lot of the high and low end of the sound. This recording though was completely unlistenable, with the bass brickwalling the sound to such an extent you could not hear the vocals or any guitar. Just a booooming blast of bass and drums! I only have a handful of live recordings that are impossible to enjoy and most of them were with these microphones. Fortunately, I only used them a couple years before I found a better (and cheaper) alternative.

Instead, we're going back to when the Donnas were just starting out, a couple years before their first full length album was released. Since the band members were all born in 1979, the girls would be around 16 years old at the time of this concert. This is a decent sounding FM broadcast on local radio in their hometown that captures their raw talent and how unflappably good they already were at this time. Many of the songs they play in the set are from singles they had recently released that later would appear as bonus tracks on the re-release version of their first album, The Donnas. As a bonus for this live recording, there's an interview with the band members! A rare and early glimpse of a band that would continue to grow up and mature with every release. Another must listen for fans of honest to goodness no frills all-girl rock' n' roll!
Enjoy!
#12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or convert to lossy format (except for personal use)
Please share!

THE DONNAS
KZSU Wednesday Night Live
Palo Alto, CA
October 4, 1995
FM broadcast

01. Da Doo Ron Ron
02. High School Yum Yum
03. Boy Like You
04. Let's Rab
05. Let's Go Mano
06. Last Chance Dance
07. I Wanna Be A Unabomber
08. Get Rid Of That Girl
09. Interview (The songs from their 1st 45's are cut during the interview since they are released material)

THE DONNAS- 1995-10-04 Palo Alto, CA FLAC. rar

Propagandhi- Gilman St. 1995

Last Friday and Saturday night, Winnipeg's West End Cultural Centre celebrated it's 25th anniversary with a pair of shows featuring several prominent Manitoba performers. On Saturday, over a dozen performers took the stage to play covers by other Manitoba singers or bands. The sold out show on Friday night featured local punk icons, Propagandhi who kicked off the celebrations with their usual brand of intense hardcore punk/thrash/metal-core sound. The WECC has seen a wide array of acts over the years, everything from rock to country, folk and punk, practically every style of music and since it's not a bar often shows are all-ages, offering kids, adults and old people a place to watch and listen to music. The venue is a comfortable size (300-350-ish?), the sound is always good and the semi-recently renovated lobby makes for a clean and friendly venue to see a concert. It ranks up there as my favourite live music venue in the city.

Recently, I've been transferring some of my live shows on cassette to the computer, so I thought it would be good timing to share an early Propagandhi show from Gilman St. in Berkeley from 1995. I received this tape back in my tape trading days in the early-late 90's, but I noticed recently it might have been the same show as a bootleg that was released in 1999, titled, Curse of The MTV Punks. I'm almost positive I had this cassette a few years before the bootleg came out. The sound is great, probably a soundboard recording and the show is intense with the band at their confrontational best.

both photos by Chris Bellew

Here are the reasons this recording is essential to any Propagandhi or Winnipeg music fan:

• John K. Samson (pre-Weakerthans) is in the band and plays bass. This is the earliest live recording I have of Samson who leaves the band in 1996 to form the Weakerthans. This recording is historic for this reason alone, but also gives us a listen to one of the songs he penned, Gifts with Samson on lead vocals. It's apparent that Samson's songs didn't really fit the sound and musical direction of Propagandhi and these musical differences are what prompted Samson to split from the band.
• The crowd baiting and political rants by the band are met with much hostility with fans spitting and screaming at the band. They even allow members of the audience to participate in an "open mike" to vent their hate and anger towards the band. I must admit despite the threats and craziness, the members of Propagandhi (mainly Chris Hannah) hold it together, they push the envelope, but don't let it get out of hand. Man, these guys are brave, cocky as hell, and they get their message out to their audience (fans) without any compromise...gotta admire them. There's more talk, than rock, but it's entertaining and at times scary!

In the most recent issue of Exclaim magazine (a free giveaway paper in Canada), there's an excellent "timeline" article about Propagandhi. The story tracks the band year by year from their forming in 1986 to the present with the release of their new album, Failed States. A well written, detailed article with much information I didn't know. Read it here @ exclaim.ca.
Enjoy!


PROPAGANDHI
Gilman St.
Berkeley, CA
June 17, 1995
soundboard
(tranferred from my cassette copy)

01. Apparently, I'm A P.C. Fascist
02. Nailing Descartes To The Wall (Liquid meat is murder)
03. ...And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea
04. Less Talk, More Rock
05. Middle Finger Response
06. Resisting Tyrannical Government (It's dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it)
07. Gifts / open mike
08. America Rules
09. Stick The Fucking Flag Up Your Goddamn Ass, You Sonofabitch
10. Mutual Friend

PROPAGANDHI- 1995-06-17 Gilman St. FLAC. rar

Juliana Hatfield- Live At Fort Apache 1995

photo by Andrew Kieschnick (Houston 6-15-95)

As I hinted at earlier, here's a Juliana Hatfield show taken from a radio broadcast in 1995. This was a very fruitful time for Juliana who reached alterna-rock stardom with her first two albums and her (then) latest album, Only Everything which would go on to be one of her all-time top selling albums (? or Hey Babe).. Personally, this was my favourite Juliana Hatfield record as she "turned up the volume and the distortion and had a lot of fun", but this album set the bar high for her next project which turned out to be the God's Foot record that never got released. Her songs appeared on soundtracks in popular movies/tv shows, she appeared on magazine covers, countless interviews and she was embraced as a role model for teen girls due to the positive way she addressed serious issues. Though she reached a high point of her popularity, she was never comfortable with the attention and the pressure for her to continue to succeed must have been overwhelming. Her tour for Only Everything was halted and cancelled two weeks in, citing nervous exhaustion and according to her memoir she was in fact suffering from depression. The tour resumed and Only Everything was a hit, but I don't think she ever reached the mainstream attention she did during this period. Which in some ways is a good thing. More recently her career has been a little more low key and off the radar with the hipsters nowadays, but she has released some of her best music since the early days and has done it on her own terms and on her own label. Her true fans have followed her career during her ups and downs and have helped support her through fan contributions with projects like Pledgemusic and have been rewarded with interesting and creative material.

I had an earlier request for the "You Don't Own Me" boot from 1993 (Backstage Tavern, Ballard, WA), but it turned up on Dime so it can be downloaded here. It is a definite upgrade from the cassette copy I had and the sound quality is pretty good considering it sounds like an audience recording. Today's post is from a 1995 show at Fort Apache and was broadcast on WFNX Boston which means the sound is excellent. Not sure if they broadcast the entire concert, but it doesn't matter, get it!
Enjoy!

JULIANA HATFIELD
Live At Fort Apache
Cambridge, Massachusetts
WFNX, Boston
May 18, 1995

FM radio broadcast

01. -intro-
02. What A Life
03. I've Got No Idols
04. Dying Proof
05. -introductions-
06. Universal Heartbeat
07. Fluer de Lys
08. Spin The Bottle
09. My Sister
10. Supermodel
11. Ok Ok
12. Congratulations
13. Bottles And Flowers
14. -Happy Birthday-

JULIANA HATFIELD- 1995-05-18 Fort Apache, Boston FLAC. rar

Radish- Dizzy

The second album by Radish was called Dizzy, released in 1995. Ben Kweller sent a copy of Dizzy to Nils Lofgren, who grew up with Ben's father in Maryland and from there it was passed to his producer, Roger Greenawalt who took the band into the studio to record demos that would be shopped around to labels. After a bidding war there was much hype for the band and it's signing to the majors with Mercury Records. This led to the release of Restraining Bolt and appearances on Letterman, Conan and The Weird Al Show (check out their appearance on the show!!). Dizzy was yet another forward step in Ben Kweller's career, but like Hello it was an independent release that was released with very limited supply. Though I've never seen a copy of Hello or Dizzy, I did find a cover scan of Dizzy to post, but if you have a copy of either album, let me know. Enjoy! RADISH Dizzy (1995)

1. Chrysalis
2. Too Personal
3. Dizzy
4. Doesn't Know It
5. Bedtime
6. All Night
7. Uncle Jimmy's Theme
8. I'm Still Here
9. The Way
10. Swallow
11. I Know A Girl
12. Uncle Jimmy's Theme (Drum Solo)

RADISH- Dizzy (1995). rar

Before They Was Famous- The Shins (Flake)

Remember The Shins? They really haven't released anything in almost 3 years now and I just read that front-man James Mercer wants to take a break from The Shins until 2011 when they're next album will be released. As you're anxiously anticipating their next album, take a look way back before The Shins were The Shins. The Shins were known as Flake (later Flake Music), they formed in 1992 and released a whole bunch of 7''ers, a EP and a full-length album. Initially The Shins were a side-project for James Mercer and Neal Langford and when Flake Music disbanded in 1999, it's former members became The Shins. The Spork EP was released in 1995 and this lo-fi recording shows a much different sounding band than 5 years later. The Shins soothing lush indie-pop sound is replaced by a more rockier crunchy, fuzzy guitar sound and Mercer's vocals have a more uncontrolled urgency. Their sound reminds me a bit like Superchunk or early Buffalo Tom. Personally, I'm kind of enjoying this EP, I'm sure you won't find this CD at your neighborhood Walmart or Starbucks and you'll be still hard pressed to find it at any indie record stores (try eBay or download it here). If you're a Shins fan this is an interesting listen and stay tuned as I'll post the Flake Music's full length album as well. Now you don't have to wear out your copies of the first two Shins albums as these should tide you over until the new album arrives. FLAKE MUSIC Spork EP (1995)

1. Pull Out of Your Head Size
2. Dying Lack of Spit
3. Totto
4. Nuevo
5. Dilly Dally
6. 6.

FLAKE MUSIC- Spork ep. rar

Slips, Tangles And Little Pictures

When John K. Samson was still a member of Propagandhi (and years away from when he formed the Weakerthans), he released a 15 track solo cassette entitled, Slips and Tangles. Basically it's just John and his acoustic guitar, but it's interesting to see the beginnings of his song writing style. It was a prelude of things to come, considering his then present band was mainly hardcore. This rare hard-to-find demo tape was released in 1993 and the title track was later re-recorded by the Weakerthans on their Left and Leaving CD in 2000.

Six of the tracks were also re-recorded and released in 1995 as Little Pictures, a split album with Painted Thin's, Small Acts Of Love and Rebellion. Following the success of Samson's Weakerthan's, in 2006, both recordings were re-released separately by G7 in mp3 format.

JOHN K. SAMSON
Slips and Tangles (1993)

1. Slips and Tangles
2. Greenest Eyes
3. Airport Lounge
4. Unearthly Refrain
5. Happy Song
6. Sunday Afternoon
7. Summer Rain
8. Farewell Faded Memory
9. Velveteen
10. Maryland Bridge
11. Sympathetic Smile
12. Saint Cecilia
13. Little Pictures
14. A Story You Have Heard Before
15. Agonistes

Download: John K. Samson- Slips And Tangles. rar


Little Pictures (1995)

1. Maryland Bridge
   
2. Sunday Afternoon
   
3. Sympathetic Smile
   
4. Farewell Faded Memory
   
5. Saint Cecilia
   
6. Little Pictures

Download: John K. Samson- Little Pictures. rar

Jale- Closed EP

This is my very first blog entry written on my brand-new laptop I purchased yesterday. Having the portability and availability (instaed of having to share the desktop with my wife and daughter), I now have the freedom to post new entrys from anywhere and hopefully more often.

Two of my co-workers are presently on the East Coast on vacation (with a third following next week) and it got me thinking of the great Canadian bands that have come from out East, specifically Halifax. Sloan, Superfriendz, Thrush Hermit, Plumtree and Jale, but to name a few.

The late great Jale formed in 1993 and released two fine full-length CD's, a handful of 7"ers and an EP. Their EP, Closed was released between their first album, Dreamcake and their last, So Wound. It still featured their original lineup of Jennifer Pierce, Alyson MacLeod, Laura Stein and Eve Hartling, if you take the first letter of their first name, you have JALE. I never had the chance to see Jale live, but I almost did during their last tour when they were scheduled to play our town, but the tour was abruptly cancelled when guitarist Eve Hartling announced she was pregnant and unable to complete the tour, the band soon after disbanded in 1996. The other three members of the band reformed as the Vees, but more on them later.
Enjoy!

JALE
Closed (1995)
1. Nine Years Now
2. Wash My Hands
3. Jesus Loves Me
4. Long Way Home
5. Double Edge

Download: Jale-Closed EP. rar