Saturday, June 06, 2020

Minus 5- Livin' It Up At The Hotel California 2013



Back on March 24, 2020, the music world lost another great musician, drummer Bill Rieflin who died of cancer at the age of 59. Caught up in the confusion and panic of the COVI-19 epidemic during that time, I didn't properly give tribute to Rieflin who played on many recordings I own and was a member of some pretty fabulous bands. He is best known for his work with Ministry, the Revolting Cocks, Swans, KMFDM, King Crimson and as a auxiliary member of REM. His connection with Scott McCaughey began when McCaughey (on short notice) needed a drummer to play a Minus 5 show in January 2000. This led Riefkin to play alongside McCaughey and Peter Buck (from REM) in many projects including (and maybe more?) the Minus 5, Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3, Peter Buck (the band) and Filthy Friends. In a touching piece, Our Musical Friend from Scott on the Minus 5 website he wrote, "I've gotta say Bill would be amused by all the kind and glowing things being said about him right now.  Don't get me wrong -- they are all deserved -- but those of us who knew him, would know also that he saw himself as a cantankerous, not-suffering-fools type of guy.  And it's true; Bill could seem difficult, off-putting at first, though he was also weirdly exceptionally polite.  He was an ambiguous combination of iconoclast on one hand, and a mannered, considerate gentile on the other."


Thanks to the combined efforts of Peter Buck and his wife and Journal Del Pacifico, they launched the Todos Santos Music Festival in January 2012. Many of the bands that performed for the first couple years were bands closely associated with Buck including many, the Baseball Project, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 and the Minus 5 he was a member of. This sounds like the perfect way to spend a chilly cold winter in January up in Canada watching great music in sunny hot Mexico. This Minus 5 set was recorded during the second annual edition of the festival and other bands (other than the bands mentioned earlier) that performed during the 2013 festival included, the Posies, Chuck Prophet,  Alejandro Escovedo, Joseph Arthur and others. The Minus 5 set is a fun mix of M5 "hits" and some very cool covers (I Can't Explain!) and they never disappoint. Fantastic sound, I don't have the source information, I'm sure I downloaded it on Dime, but I deleted the files and fortunately I had burned a disc years so this is ripped from that disc. This is a good one!
Enjoy!

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


Hotel California
Todos Santos, Mexico
January 10, 2013


01. With A Gun
02. Lies Of The Living Dead
03. Where will You Go?
04. Courage Is the Smallest Bird
05. You Don't Mean It
06. Fetus industry
07. Got You
08. Don't Look Back
09. Dear My Inspiration
10. Adios Half Soldier
11. The Town That Lost Its Groove Supply
12. Hotel Senator
13. I Can't Explain
14. Time Bomb High School
15. Revolution Blues
16. Over The Sea

Minus 5-
Scott McCaughey- vocals, guitar
Peter Buck- bass
John Ramberg- guitar, vocals
Bill Rieflin- drums


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