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bands from the 80's and 90's, as well as cool stuff like, Prince's, The Black Album cassette (advance promo copy of withdrawn album) and U2's 1979 demo, with Bono's personal information.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 

 

WOW! It's Been 14 Years!! Day One: Nova Mob- Live At The Royal Albert Arms 1992, Winnipeg

 

 

Well well well, time does seem to fly by! This month marks the 14th year the Teenage Dogs In Trouble music blog has been online. I have to admit, it's been a struggle at times to find the energy and enthusiasm to write posts, but so far in 2020 with this post, I've already equaled the number of posts in 2018 and 2014 (yes, I've been slacking the last few years). I am excited to be still doing this and as I've said previously it's not about the money or the fame, because there are none, but as a way to contribute in some way for fans that like to listen to live concert recordings, like I do. For the past four months or so, live music performances have been almost non-existent with online concerts a poor (but adequate) substitute for the real thing. There is nothing quite as exciting as hearing and feeling the thumping bass of a live band with sweaty hyper bodies pressed up against you on an overcrowded floor at a concert venue or club. That scenario may become a rare sight, but live music is already starting to comeback. More shows will be performed and tour dates will soon be booked. When we are back to full capacity in concert halls, arenas, music festivals and clubs is anyone's guess. 

To celebrate the 14th anniversary, now is as good a time as ever to look back at concerts that have significance either historically or personal to me in some way. I was browsing through boxes of live discs looking for ideas to post and I selected a bunch of random shows that are interesting and/or cool. I'll be jumping between decades and style of music in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

 

 Last September, I wrote a post about Husker Du playing a show at the Royal Albert Arms in Winnipeg back in 1984. I recalled attending another show at the same venue with Grant Hart's (then) band, Nova Mob in my pre-taping days and wished I had a live recording of the show. Well, guess what? As luck would have it someone did tape the show and the live recording was posted on Dime by Loughney, not sure who actually recorded it. This rarely happens, when a concert I actually attended is recorded (besides myself), especially in the 90's. There are definitely more people that record concerts in the city now, but this is a true find and it sounds better than I expected. I personally think Nova Mob was a high point of Grant's post-Husker Du projects and the album, The Last Days Of Pompeii was his best record. If you're a fan of Huskers or Grant Hart this is a good one!

Enjoy!

#14yearsoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats (except for personal use)

Please share!

Nova Mob 

Royal Albert Arms,

Winnipeg MB

November 21, 1992

Sony WM-D3 Master > TDK SA 90 > Onkyo TA-RW311 > Headset Jack > Sound Blaster external Sound Card > CDWAV > Audicity for fades, normalization, noise reduction, light editing of dropouts

01. Puzzles

02. Old Empire
03. Oh! To Behold
04. Evergreen Memorial Drive
05. Ballad #19
06. Admiral Of The Sea
07. Come, Come
08. Anything
09. Where You Gonna Land?

10. Over My Head

NOVA MOB- 1992-11-21 RAA, Winnipeg, MB FLAC. rar

Golden Smog- First Avenue 1992

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. There was a major heatwave here for the past two weeks (or more) and it's been difficult to stay cool here at home without air conditioning. It's not that I'm not using my computer, it's that it's hard to think and write when all I want to do is drink a few cold ones and veg on the couch. For the last couple of days the heat has broken (more heat/humidity coming at the end of the week) and I'm ready to get back at this because I'm feeling somewhat guilty neglecting my (unpaid) job of writing about music (which I love!). I spent part of Sunday browsing through boxes of CD's choosing material to rip to the computer to post in the near future. The next week and half my schedule is pretty busy because the Fringe Theatre Festival starts on Wednesday and my son is in a play almost every night (late night show), so my blogging will be with less talk and (hopefully) more music...we'll see.

In my last post I said it would be the last Tweedy-related post for a while, that is true and not true. Today's post is a rare early Golden Smog show that pre-dates Jeff Tweedy's participation in the project and when Chris Mars was still in the band. David Pirner from Soul Asylum plays a larger role singing lead on at least 3 songs including a pre-Soul Asylum version of Keep It Up. Golden Smog was a loosely connected group of musicians, kind of an Minneapolis all-star band with members from well-known Twin Cities bands; Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Gary Louris, Marc Perlman (Jayhawks), Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Chris Mars (Replacements) and later Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Noah Levy (Honeydogs) and Jody Stephens (Big Star). Later in 1992, the band released their first EP,  On Golden Smog, an album entirely of covers. In the early days they played covers as a reaction to the punk and hardcore scene that was popular in town and even when they released albums of original material, the covers in concerts was always a mainstay. Country-rock and classic rock covers seemed to be their favourites. This early show is a perfect example of the spirit and fun the band conveyed without playing any material from their own bands and the tongue-in-cheek cover versions that must have been hilarious and very entertaining...the way it should be!

I received this show in a trade many years ago (over 10-12?) and I have never seen it shared online or anywhere else, except on trade lists. I was tempted to post it on Dime, but I know there are fans of the Smog here, so this is an TDIT exclusive.
Enjoy!

GOLDEN SMOG
First Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
January 29, 1992

01. Superstar
02. We're An American Band
03. Handbags And Gladrags
04. Tarpit
05. Spooky
06. Wild Fire
07. Keep It Up
08. You're So Vain
09. Backstreet Girl
10. Son
11. Help Me Make It Through The Night
12. Shooting Star
13. Most Beautiful Girl In The World
14. Easy To Be Hard
15. No More No More
16. Bell Bottom Blues
17. Almost Cut My Hair
18. Revolution Blues

GOLDEN SMOG- 1992-1-29, First Avenue, Mpls FLAC. 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