It's Been A Good Couple Of Weeks For Kathleen Edwards

Yes, the power of promotion for a new record! Well, for Kathleen Edwards there was no shortage of exposure especially from the mother corp, CBC who went all out to promote Kathleen's latest record, Voyageur, with appearances on CBC radio 1, 2, 3, and CBC -TV George Strouboulopoulos Tonight. To recap, she played a special invite-only show at CBC's Studio 11 in Toronto on January 14th that aired on CBC Canada Live (and CBC 3) the following week. She appeared on CBC 2's Drive on January 20th and performed 3 songs (acoustic) in studio with guitarist Gord Tough. On January 23rd, she was on CBC 1's Q with host Jian Ghomeshi for a short interview and 2 song performance. To complete the CBC tour, Kathleen and band appeared on Stromo's show that aired on January 27th. To top off the Kathleen Edwards mini-mania she also made another appearance on Late Show With David Letterman that aired on January 18 singing, Change The Sheets, not a bad two weeks!

It was a good week for me as well because last Wednesday I bought a pair of tickets on pre-sale to Kathleen's concert here on April 14th at the Garrick and the new CD arrived in the mail on Friday...oooh and it's autographed!

KATHLEEN EDWARDS
January 14th, 2012
CBC Studio 11
Toronto, ON

01. [dj introduction]
02. Empty Threat
03. Chameleon/Comedian
04. Pink Champagne
05. [banter]
06. Snowbird [Gene MacLellan]
07. Asking For Flowers
08. [banter]
09. Soft Place To Land
10. [banter]
11. House Full of Empty Rooms
12. Change The Sheets
13. [banter]
14. September Girls [Big Star]
15. [banter]
16. I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory
17. Going To Hell
18. [dj OUTRO]

KATHLEEN EDWARDS- 2012-01-14 (mp3)
2012-01-14 Empty Threat (video)
2012-01-14 Soft Place To Land (video)
2012-01-14 Change The Sheets (video)

2012-01-18 Late Show with David Letterman- Change The Sheets (YouTube)

Download these files directly from the great Haterhigh music blog (He has recorded some other excellent Kathleen Edwards shows from Toronto):
2012-01-14 FLAC/mp3
2012-01-20 FLAC/mp3- CBC Radio 2- DRIVE
2012-01-23 FLAC/mp3- CBC Radio 1- Q
2012-01-27 FLAC/mp3- CBC-TV George Strombo Tonight

Neil Young- Chrome Dreams

Even major artists have a slew of unreleased albums that for whatever reason never saw official release. Such is the case with (local legend) Neil Young who recorded a whole albums worth of songs (these versions) that wouldn't be heard for years. These tracks were thought to be the unreleased Chrome Dreams readied for release before rethinking his strategy. A document that accompanied the acetate gave the indication it would be called Chrome Dreams and outlined the same 12 tracks as listed below.

Here's more information about the record (Wikipedia):
Chrome Dreams features a large amount of still-unreleased material. The version of "Powderfinger" included is the original acoustic demo, while the "Sedan Delivery" featured is at a slower pace than the Rust Never Sleeps take and contains an additional verse. "Pocahontas" is the same version heard on Rust Never Sleeps without overdubs. "Hold Back the Tears" is a radically different take compared to the one that appears on American Stars 'n Bars, also featuring additional lyrics. "Too Far Gone" would not see release until 1989's Freedom. It is presented on Chrome Dreams with Crazy Horse's Frank "Poncho" Sampedro accompanying Young on a 1917 mandolin. "Stringman", a piano ballad, was (according to Shakey) written for Jack Nitzsche and is presented as a performance from Young's 1976 European tour with slight studio overdubs. Eighteen years later Young revived it for his Unplugged performance, never having released the song as a studio track. "Homegrown" here is a different mix than the version on American Stars 'n Bars. The rest of the songs are for the most part identical to their releases on subsequent albums.

Anyways, this would have been one of his strongest albums of the 70's. With all the genres and styles Young tried to recreate in the his career, Chrome Dreams stands out as one of his highlights...Highly recommended!
Enjoy!

NEIL YOUNG
Chrome Dreams (Rust Edition) 1977

01. Pocahontas
02. Will To Love
03. Star Of Bethlehem
04. Like A Hurricane
05. Too Far Gone
06. Hold Back The Tears
07. Homegrown
08. Captain Kennedy
09. Stringman
10. Sedan Delivery
11. Powderfinger
12. Look Out For My Love
Neil Young- Chrome Dreams FLAC. rar

Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers- S.O.B. (Re-up)

By request, I'm re-upping another download from a few years ago, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, S.O.B. This post is still receiving some views and I've been informed (thanks!) the file doesn't download properly. I've disabled the link from the original post and posting new links at the end of this post, so please let me know if there are still any problems. If you don't have this CD already (or download yet) and if you're a Heartbreakers fan, this is rare Japanese bootleg that was limited to only 250 copies. It consists of 4 live concert recordings from 1976 and 1977 that range in sound quality, but are a nice document of the Heartbreakers in their prime.

(Please note, there are two discs for download and the track listings are included in the disc 1 rar.)

Enjoy!!

JOHNNY THUNDERS and the HEARTBREAKERS- S.O.B. disc 1. rar
JOHNNY THUNDERS and the HEARTBREAKERS- S.O.B. disc 2. rar

Dave Davies- The Album That Never Was

When you think of the leader of the Kinks, Ray Davies is immediately thought of because he was after all the principal songwriter and front man for the band. Without a doubt, I consider Ray's songs an inspiration for my own songwriting and the music of the Kinks is an important part of the soundtrack of my life. More often than not, his brother Dave is in the shadows of Ray, but the Kinks wouldn't be the Kinks without Dave. He is the driving force behind the band and his catchy, guitar riffs have been the foundation to some of the most memorable rock songs of the sixties. Though a majority of the Kink's songs were penned and sung by Ray, Dave has sung lead on a lot more songs than you might think. After the success of Death Of A Clown (on the Something Else LP), there was talk of a Dave Davies solo album to be released in 1968 or 1969. Even though Dave recorded several other solo singles, the proposed project never happened due to a number of circumstances. Eventually, a collection of Dave Davies solo singles and B-sides from the sixties were compiled together and released in the UK and an expanded Japanese release as, The Album That Never Was. Essentially it was a Kinks album that featured Dave on lead vocals with most of the tracks already available on compilations and Kinks albums. Another great "lost" Kinks album!
Enjoy!!

DAVE DAVIES
The Album That Never Was (originally 1987)
(This version is the Japanese reissue released in 2002)

1. Death of a Clown
2. Love Me Till the Sun Shines
3. Suzannah's Still Alive
4. Funny Face
5. Lincoln County
6. There Is No Life Without Love
7. Hold My Hand
8. Creeping Jean
9. Mindless Child of Motherhood
10. This Man He Weeps Tonight
11. Come on Now
12. Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight
13. I Am Free
14. What's in Store for Me
15. I'm Not Like Everybody Else
16. Party Line
17. You're Lookin' Fine
18. Mr. Reporter
19. Wicked Annabella
20. Mr. Shoemaker's Daughter
21. Strangers
22. Rats

DAVE DAVIES- The Album That Never Was. rar

Still Here!

Just noticed my last post was my 400th, yay!! Hopefully this site will be around for another 400, but in the past the week with news about Megaupload falling and many blogs taking a hit because they lost some or all their links from Megaupload (and other storage sites), scares me. I recently registered with Megaupload, since I have decided to post some FLAC files (larger files) for live recordings because I wanted more space in case my present storage became filled, but I had yet uploaded to Megaupload. I've spent the last few nights browsing around other music blogs and have read stories of closed blogs, locked out access and the challenge and struggle to find affordable, reliable storage sites to post music from. It should be noted these blogs share music, not sell and provide an invaluable service to guys like me that are always looking for new, otherwise unheard music who listen and write about it. Many of these music blogs have been around for years and the amount of work and time these guys have dedicated into their site is amazing and I feel for them. I spend a huge chunk of my online time downloading and listening to music, so it would be a huge setback for music lovers if this witch-hunt by the entertainment industry and the US government continues to threaten and unfoundedly close sites and shut down anything they feel is a threat. The SOPA/PIPA legislation would have had a huge impact on bloggers like myself, especially since I'm based outside of the U.S.

This site will continue on, business as usually (hopefully) because writing about and sharing music is the reason operating this blog is fun and a constant joy in my life. I'm not too worried about being shutdown, I will continue to post live recordings and albums and other recordings that are out of print or hard to find, but I will be careful not to post any copyrighted material from any of the major labels. If I post anything you think is an infringement (or any artists that object), please let me know and I'll immediately remove the offending material. Sometimes it's hard to tell.
Thoughts or opinions?

BKITW- YBR

Back in my tape trading days, one of my favourite acquisitions was a copy of the unreleased album Seven Days A Week from Tommy Stinson's band, Perfect. Stinson formed Perfect after his first post-Replacement's solo project, Bash and Pop disbanded. This led to Perfect recording an EP, When Squirrels Play Chicken which showed much promise and wetted the appetitite for a full-length. In 1997, the band recorded the album, tentatively titled, Seven Days A Week with Jim Dickinson producing and despite completing the record it was shelved. It had more to do with the record label being acquired by another label, you know that kind of bullshit, rather than the quality of the music, I think. Advance copies of the record were sent out, which is why copies of the album circulated (hence my copy). I thought this album was one of the best albums by an ex-Replacement and it was definitely the best thing Tommy Stinson has produced (so far).

Not knowing the biz at that time, I couldn't understand how a band couldn't get their product into the hands of their fans, but in those days it seemed a band was made or broken by their label and distributors. Nowadays, indie bands have more options to be heard, but it's still challenge to make a real living, recording, selling and performing. Eventually, Seven Days A Week was remixed, resequenced and retitled, Once, Twice, Three Times A Maybe and released by Rykodisc in 2004, years after the band broke up.

A band that has a similar story is Best Kissers In The World and their unreleased album that was to be the follow-up to their first full length, Been There. I first discovered the band when I bought a used cassette of Been There for $3.00. Not knowing anything about the band, I bought it souly on the fact that they were from Seattle and I was pleasantly impressed by their noisy guitar sound and their surprisingly catchy melodic songs. Their sound is not unlike Perfect and reminded me of an amped up Posies or Model Rockets, probably the best 3 bucks I've ever spent on a tape. For the next record, Yellow Brick Roadkill, BKITW recorded, mixed, mastered and sent out advance copies only to be dropped by their label and never see their album released. Fortunately, some advance copies are floating around on eBay and the web which give fans a listen to what could have been. Listening to these tracks makes me wonder if the band might have continued on longer if Yellow Brick Roadkill was released, much like Perfect, both bands disbanded shortly after their failed releases....talk about deflating!

Have listen, as far as I know YBR hasn't been released yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does because this album is even better than Been There...and since it was completed (promo released) the sound is flawless. A great, great sounding album!
Enjoy!

BEST KISSERS IN THE WORLD
Yellow Brick Roadkill (1996)

01. Hit Parader
02. I Suppose
03. They Give Each Other Diseases
04. Diary
05. Dance Of the Spanish Fire Weasel
06. Roadside Attraction
07. Worried About It
08. Royal Pain In The Ass
09. Lonely Enough To Lie
10. I Fucked Up Again
11. Dead Have Everything
12. Countin’ Out Dexedrine
13. One Of These Daze

Sorry, I had to remove the link (see comments).

Weezer- Songs From The Black Hole

Recently there has been a renewed interest in Weezer, more specifically their first two albums, Weezer (The Blue Album) and Pinkerton. Many bands have been performing their classic albums in their entirety live and Weezer is no exception. A recent release on their webstore showcases such a show and the reissues and expanded deluxe editions of both albums are now available. Even a (Rivers Cuomo approved) Canadian Weezer-tribute band, Sheezer is playing material only from the first two records. I'm just a casual Weezer fan, but I do regard Blue and Pinkerton as their essential recordings, the rest of their catalogue isn't as required, but they're still better than most of the newer bands today.

It came as a bit of a surprise when I was digging around researching information about "lost" albums and discovered (why didn't I know this?) that Weezer have a lost album. Songs From The Black Hole was a concept conceived by front-man Rivers Cuomo that was to be the follow-up to their debut album, The Blue Album. This concept album was a space themed rock opera/musical that Rivers wrote and demo-ed, but in the process the concept was scrapped and the album evolved into Pinkerton instead. To read about the history of the recordings and the plots of the concept there's a huge wikipedia entry dedicated to this recording that remains unreleased and unfinished. There has much interest in the Weezer community to try to coax the band into releasing the album. To feed the interest, Rivers Cuomo has posted the lyrics and music for some of the SFTBH tracks. Also Cuomo has released 3 solo albums of home recordings, Alone: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo, Alone II: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo and Alone III: The Pinkerton Years that included many tracks that were intended for SFTBH. Cuomo considered releasing the entire Songs From the Black Hole, "I knew 'Blast Off' and some of these other Songs from The Black Hole had to be on there, because for years Weezer fans have been wanting to hear these songs, and I knew if I put out the album without these songs on there, they would hunt me down and kill me." He also added, "I thought about it for a long time. I thought maybe I should release it as The Black Hole and put the demos in the right order, but like I said, it was never finished, so it wouldn't really stand up, like it wouldn't be a very good listen... It was a very tough decision".

Instead of the space-theme opera of SFTBH, Weezer recorded an album that is named after B.F. Pinkerton from the opera Madame Butterfly as the album is loosely based on around the opera. The album includes references to Japan, Japanese people and Japanese culture from the perspective of an outsider who considers Japan fragile and sensual. Many consider Pinkerton to be Weezer's best record and I would agree, it's darker in tone and sound than the first record, but the songs are more solid and still stand up well today.

The tracks I have posted were compiled by a fan who combined both track listings from the original SFTBH demos to recreate the plot Cuomo might have intended. The songs are edited to flow seamlessly into each other as there are pieced together demos, b-sides, and other tracks to create what he felt was the concept Cuomo had in mind. The result is a enjoyable cohesive album that provides a glimpse of what might have been. Thanks for the effort and this is something every Weezer fan (or casual fan...) should listen to, as this may in fact be, the greatest lost album hardly anyone has ever heard!
Enjoy!!

WEEZER
Songs From The Black Hole (1995)

1. "Countdown" - [0:53]
2. "Blast Off!" - [1:58]
3. "Who You Callin' Bitch?" - [0:44]
4. "Oh Jonas"* - [0:27]
5. "I Do" - [1:56]
6. "Come to my Pod" - [1:29]
7. "Oh No, This Is Not for Me" - [0:45]
8. "Tired of Sex" - [2:54]
9. "She's Had a Girl"* - [0:46]
10. "Dude, We're Finally Landing (Good News!)" - [0:51]
11. "I Don't Want Your Lovin'" - [3:02]
12. "Getchoo" - [2:49]
13. "I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams" - [2:40]
14. "Superfriend" - [3:16]
15. "Superfriend (Reprise)" - [0:27]
16. "O Lisa" - [2:31]
17. "You Won't Get Me Tonight" - [3:26]
18. "Why Bother?" - [2:00]
19. "Waiting on You" - [3:55]
20. "No Other One" - [2:44]
21. "Devotion" - [3:05]
22. "Purification of Water" - [3:55]
23. "Longtime Sunshine" - [3:06]
24. "Longtime Sunshine (Reprise)"* - [1:13]

*Covers not performed by Weezer
An interpretation by Kyle K - Chitown, IL, USA

WEEZER- Songs From The Black Hole. rar

Velvet Underground- VU

Last weekend I began to think about "lost albums", records that may have been recorded and for whatever reason never was given a proper release. The album could have been a concept that was intended, but because of record label bottom lines and lack of commercial potential may have been shelved for later release or never at all. One record that comes to mind is Juliana Hatfield's, God's Foot which was recorded in 1996 and never released officially by her label, and instead Atlantic elected to drop her from their label. She made ill-attempts to buy back the rights, but to this day it has only seen the light of day through bootlegs and the songs circulated on the Internet.

I've always been interested in outtakes and unreleased material because it sometimes shows the artist in a different light. Sometimes the songs aren't up to the standard of the label or what they feel their fans wouldn't want to hear. It's always interesting to listen and think to yourself, "What's wrong with this?" or "why don't they release this?". A lot of the time it's obvious, but the odd time you shake your head and wonder. I've spent the past week searching online and looking through my CD's to find records that fall into some of these categories and I've uploaded some cool items. The first album I'm posting is actually a record that was eventually released even if it was 16 years after it was recorded.

The Velvet Underground's, VU was intended to be the band's 4th release, between Velvet Underground (third album) and Loaded, but because MGM records was purging their less profitable acts, the band was released from their contract. The band had previously recorded 14 songs that were possibly intended for their second album on MGM, but instead the tracks were shelved and weren't rediscovered until Verve/MGM was re-releasing their first three albums and the unreleased "lost" tracks were found. These tracks were remixed and cleaned up for release as VU along with some John Cale-era songs. The result is the missing link between Velvet Underground and Loaded which explored the band's evolution to a more pop-rock sound from their art-rock, experimental sound especially on their first two albums. Personally, overall my favourite Velvet Underground record is VU, it's loaded with some truly great songs that might have changed the perception of the band in 1969, as it might have had commercial potential, so it's too bad it took so long for these tracks to become available in their more or less original form. Some of these songs appeared on 1969 Live and many were re-recorded on Lou Reed's early solo albums, but the Velvet Underground versions are much better.
Enjoy!!

VELVET UNDERGROUND
VU (1985)

1. I Can't Stand It
2. Stephanie Says
3. She's My Best Friend
4. Lisa Says
5. Ocean
6. Foggy Notion
7. Inside Your Heart
8. One Of These Days
9. Andy's Chest
10. I'm Sticking With You

VELVET UNDERGROUND- VU. rar

Mary Lou Lord- Real

Here's kind of sequel to a post I wrote about Mary Lou Lord last month about her self-titled CD and this one concerns her first recording, Real, a cassette tape only release. I thought I would never come across a copy of the tape (I still actually haven't), but I have the next best thing, mp3's from the tape I found online at another music blog. Thanks to the poster for transferring the tape to digital and I hope you don't mind me spreading and sharing this rare and very hard to find gem. I've always had a fascination with early recordings of artists that have gone on to "stardom" because I figure these recordings shouldn't embarrass or come back to haunt the artist because if they are the real deal they should think of these recordings as a record of their growth and progression as a recording artist. The material on the tape is fairly typical MLL, just her and her guitar, more like a demo than a polished finished product and features a few originals and some interesting covers. MLL covers probably one of the most recognizable songs from the past 20 years, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana, which is interesting considering her connection and involvement with Kurt Cobain. Throw in some covers by Big Star, Dylan, Allman Brothers, Billy Bragg and Zeppelin and you have a sampling of some of the songs she must have performed busking in the subways and streets of Boston around this time. If you're a fan, this will be of interest, if not I have some Velvet Underground coming up next, stay tuned. Enjoy!! MARY LOU LORD
Real (1992)

1. Andalucia (John Cale)
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
3. Thirteen (Big Star)
4. Not Necessarily The Bubonic Plague
5. St. Swithens Day (Billy Bragg)
6. Eternal Circle (Bob Dylan)
7. Memories of You
8. Can You Fool (Allman Brothers Band)
9. Please Be With Me (Scott Boyer)
10. Only Business (Rain Parade)
11. Walkin’ On Air (Schulman)
12. That’s The Way (Led Zeppelin)
13. London Bridges

MARY LOU LORD- Real. rar

Reliving New Years Eve One More Time With The Young Fresh Fellows in 1987

We're already into the first week of 2012, but I have one more New Year's eve show to share. This one's for the Fellows fans, a rare vintage show from 1987/1988 with original guitarist, Chuck Carroll. This is taken from a tape I received in a trade close to 20 years ago and this was the first Young Fresh Fellows live recording I had in my collection. The good news is that the recording sounds pretty good despite the fact I transferred it from a 20 year old cassette, not sure if it's a really good audience recording or a soundboard. It was and remains one of my favourite shows, but...The bad news is that it's incomplete and unfortunately cuts off during Ain't It Alright. This recording is from one side of a cassette (45 minutes) and I'm sure the complete concert was twice as long. If anyone has any idea of the source or if the rest of the show is available anywhere, please let me know! A classic New Years eve type-show complete with the countdown and an impromptu singing of Auld Lang Syne and a (original?) song called Happy New Year. The Fellows even cover the Replacements (On The Bus) whom they toured with earlier in 1987 (the reason for the photo), but the above photo with both bands is NOT from this show.

Here's to hoping 2012 is even better than 2011, at least musically anyways. Thanks so much for reading and TDIT will be around to bring more to you in the upcoming year with hopefully a few surprises along the way. Just a reminder, please leave a comment and/or offer up suggestions of what you'd like to hear this year.
Enjoy!

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
The Backstage
Seattle, WA
December 31, 1987
Audience recording?

01. How Much About Last Night Do You Remember?
02. On The Bus
03. Get Outta My Cave
04. Hank, Karen And Ringo
05. new year's countdown/Auld Lang Syne
06. Happy New Year
07. Trek To Stupidity
08. Gus Theme
09. Togetherness
10. Amy Grant
11. Fuji-a-ma Mama
12. Young Fresh Fellows Theme
13. Hang On Sloopy
14. Why I Oughta
15. Ain't It Alright

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- 1987-12-31 Backstage, Seattle, WA. rar

Happy New Year With The Kinks

photo: Thomas Besson

Happy New Year and what better way to bring in 2012 is a classic Kinks concert from over 30 years ago. It's from a FM broadcast so the sound is perfect and the era is circa, One For The Road on the later part of the Low Budget tour. The setlist includes 2 songs from Dave Davies first solo album (AFL1-3603) and the title track of their next album, Give The People What They Want. This is another show that has been available as a bootleg in various carnations with edited tracks, but to my knowledge this is the complete show.
Enjoy!

THE KINKS
Palladium
New York City, NY
December 31, 1980
FM Broadcast

DISC 1
01. Opening instrumental/The Hard Way
02. Where Have All The Good Times Gone?
03. Catch Me Now I'm Falling
04. Bird Dog
05. New York City Blues
06. Lola
07. Dead End Street/Til The End Of The Day
08. Low Budget
09. Imagination's Real/Nothing More To Lose

DISC 2
01. I'm Not Like Everyone Else
02. Come On Now
03. You Really Got Me
04. Give The People What They Want
05. Gallon Of Gas (cuts)
06. Celluloid Heroes
07. All Day And All Of The Night
08. All Day And All Of The Night (reprise)/Stop Your Sobbing/
David Watts/Pressure
09. Superman

KINKS- 1980-12-31 FLAC (disc 1). rar
KINKS- 1980-12-31 FLAC (disc 2). rar