Scott McCaughey- Lounge Ax, Chicago, August 16, 1997

 

It's a double play!

As promised, here's the opening set for the Minus 5 show at the Lounge Ax in 1997. The Young Fresh Fellows & Minus 5 front man, Scott McCaughey performs an acoustic solo set that includes mainly Fellows songs, as well as a Replacements (Westerberg) track, If Only You Were Lonely. I personally love hearing the "stripped down" version of songs, especially from such a great (and underrated) songwriter such as McCaughey and they hold-up well without the full band treatment. For the full concert experience (well, minus the Jon Langford's Skull Orchard set), listen to this solo set followed by the Minus 5 set, close your eyes and crank it. Another must-hear for fans of the Fellows!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

 

SCOTT McCAUGHEY

 Lounge Ax
Chicago, IL
August 16, 1997
(Opened for Jon Langford's Skull Orchard & Minus 5)

Master recording generously loaned from the Aadam Jacobs Audio Archive

Source:  Unknown mic & recorder > .WAV @ 16 bit/44.1 kHz
Mastering:  .WAV's > clidoe.com (merge .WAV files into one) > iZotope RX11 Advanced v11.0.1.3871 (De-Click) > Sound Forge Pro 14.0 Build 140 [minor edits, normalize, & fades, Boz Digital Labs
T-Bone2 plug-in (tilt EQ)] > CDWav (tracking) > Trader's Little Helper (level 5) > FLAC > TagScanner 6.1.17 (tagging)
Recorded by:  Aadam Jacobs
Transferred by:  Avery
Mastered by:  Dennis Orr

Setlist: (32:30)
01 Intro
02 Beer Money
03 Deep Down And In Between
04 Sittin' On A Pitchfork
05 Hank, Karen & Elvis
06 Hillbilly Drummer Girl
07 Somewhere We Went Right
08 Middle Man Of Time
09 If Only You Were Lonely
10 When The Girls Get Here
11 Rock 'N' Roll Pest Control
12 Chat
13 Back Room Of The Bar
14 The Telephone Tree

Scott McCaughey - vocals & guitar

Recording 00841 from the Aadam Jacobs Collection Project, coordinated by the Live Music Archive at the Internet Archive
Contact info: aadam.jacobs.project AT gmail DOT com

 

SCOTT MCCAUGHEY- 1997-08-16 Lounge Ax, Chicago, IL FLAC. rar

 

Minus 5- Live At the Lounge Ax, August 16, 1997

 In a previous post, I talked about Aadam Jacobs a music collector and archivist who has amassed an incredible collection of live concert recordings he recorded in Chicago from the 80's to mid-2010's. He is such an interesting character I'm glad someone has documented his unique (and very cool) life in a film released in 2023. Chicago filmmaker, Katlin Schneider made a documentary about Jacobs called, Melomaniac is a fascinating study of obsession and "abnormal fondness and intense devotion to music". We hear from club owners and musicians that have interacted with Jacobs through the years and how important he was to the local scene to document and promote bands through his live recordings. Personally, I feel a connection not only as a person that tapes every show he goes to, but also the intense love of music in all aspects. I don't think I'm anywhere near Aadam's level, as we tape not for profit (yes, never made any money with our shows), but for the pleasure of the ultimate souvenir of the memory of the show, because if no one else is documenting this, it will be lost in time and forgotten. 

 

Since I wasn't at the Chicago Underground Film Fest for the world premiere of Melomaniac in September 2023, I found the film online for viewing on the filmmaker's Vimeo page (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Well worth the watch, I thought it was very well done and for being Kailin's first full length feature, this was an outstanding effort. If you liked it, drop her a message on her page.

 

 There are so many interesting shows in the Jacob's archive I would love to post, but I'll restrict my enthusiasm to a select amount of live recordings that might be of interest to readers on this blog. A show from the Minus 5 at the Lounge Ax in Chicago from 1997, is a concert I've been keeping an eye out for a while. So glad Aadam attended the show and even the Minus 5's Wikipedia entry mentions the show.

 "While R.E.M. was in Georgia recording demos for what would become Up, The Minus 5 played its first two shows without Buck: at Chicago's Lounge Ax on August 16, 1997, the band consisted of McCaughey, Stringfellow, Jason Finn and Dharma Bums' Jim Talstra. The raucous gig was by far the band's longest to date: an 11-song McCaughey solo set followed by a 22-song Minus 5 powerhouse that included unreleased songs, several nuggets from My Chartreuse Opinion and covers of John Lennon and The Modern Lovers."

 

The show was also referenced in the Minus 5's song, The Night Chicago Died Again (The Death of The Minus 5). On the Lounge Ax recording, McCaughey even mentions the flood incident that occurred that day at the Ax: (excerpt from the song):

 

Well they came to Chicago
The new slaughterhouse four
Jimmy Talent, Puffy and Strings
I couldn't get one more
Then we went to Comiskey
Old man fell on my head
Then their was a terrible flood
10.000 people dead

That was the night
That was the night that Chicago Died
Again, again
Again, again

 

Water came from below
Rats and babies are floatin'
And water came from above
Yeah the Lounge Ax stayed open

 

Now some of Sue Miller's husbands
Were not performing very well that night
They had somehow been severely overserved
And then out went the pilot-light
And when Puffy and I started throwing matches down there
The water heater blew
Then there where two less husbands
That was alright with Sue

 

.... That's right, that was the night that Chicago died
I guess I feel pretty fortune to have been there

 

...and we are pretty fortunate this was recorded! For the encore, the band performs portions of a few "butchered" Young Fresh Fellow songs which was very cool! Scott opened the show with a solo set of mainly Fellows songs, which is always appreciated! I'll post the solo set (which was also recorded) next.

Enjoy! 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy versions, except for personal use

Please share!

 

 

Minus 5
Lounge Ax
Chicago, IL
August 16, 1997

Master recording generously loaned from the Aadam Jacobs Audio Archive

Source:  Unknown mic & recorder > .WAV @ 16 bit/44.1 kHz
Mastering:  .WAV's > clidoe.com (merge .WAV files into one) > iZotope RX11 Advanced v11.0.1.3871 (De-Click) > Sound Forge Pro 14.0 Build 140 [minor edits, normalize, & fades, Boz Digital Labs
T-Bone2 plug-in (tilt EQ)] > CDWav (tracking) > Trader's Little Helper (level 5) > FLAC > TagScanner 6.1.17 (tagging)
Recorded by:  Aadam Jacobs
Transferred by:  Avery
Mastered by:  Dennis Orr

Setlist: (1:07:28)
01 Boeing Spacearium
02 Find A Finger
03 Chat & Tuning
04 Wicked Annabella
05 Popsycle Shoppe
06 Vulture
07 Band Intros
08 The Rest Of The World
09 Chat & Tuning
10 Real True Tragedy Incident
11 How Many Bones
12 I Still Miss Someone
13 You'll Never See My Face Again
14 Chat & Tuning
15 Evolution >
16 Echos Myron
17 Chat & Tuning
18 My Mummy's Dead > Power To The People
19 The Real Prime Directive >
20 All The Time
21 Chat
22 Government Center
23 Encore Break
- Encore -
24 Taco Wagon
25 Aurora Bridge
26 Mighty Mighty Bosstones Riffs
27 Amy Grant
28 My Friend Ringo
29 Chat & Tuning
30 Wasted Bandage
31 Chat & Tuning
32 Power To The People
33 Outro

Scott McCaughey - lead vocals & guitar
Ken Stringfellow – guitar
Jimmy Talent - bass
Jason Fidler – drums

Recording 00766 from the Aadam Jacobs Collection Project, coordinated by the Live Music Archive at the Internet Archive
Contact info: aadam.jacobs.project AT gmail DOT com

 

MINUS 5- 1997-08-16 Lounge Ax, Chicago, IL FLAC. rar

 

Liz Phair- Whitechocolatespaceegg Sessions

 

 I used to consider myself not much of a reader, sure, I read the newspaper everyday and read articles in magazines and on the computer, but when I really think about it a lot of my day is spent reading (in some form). We read more than we give ourselves credit for, you need to have at least basic skills of literacy to survive day to day life and our mind is busy processing information all the time. To sit back and open a book to read for pleasure has become a enjoyable leisure activity to allow ourselves to imagine other peoples lives or fictional accounts of experiences we wish we can participate in...or not. I prefer non-fiction, but I have been trying to balance my palate as I seem to alternate between biographies of athletes and musicians, graphic novels (and comics), pop culture (music, art, film etc.) and classic novels. Biographies (and auto biographies) fascinate me to explore the story behind the music and the game and this usually leads to more respect for the subject. 

 

 

 

I checked Liz Phair's memoir, Horror Stories out the library back in July and finally finished it last week. I read the first couple chapters, and at first found it a difficult to read as memoirs are different from straight-up auto biographies. I renewed the book four times and finally connected with the narrative and cruised through the rest of the book and found it an enjoyable read. This wasn't an ordinary story that bios cover, but she shares stories and experiences of uncomfortable, awkward and dis-empowering moments in her life that most authors avoid when they write about themselves. The writing is honest and unpretentious and a very intimate and unique self-portrait of her life.

 

(quote from Horror Stories) Horror stories is my effort to slow everything down and take a look at how we really become who we are. It's more than just my personal story. It's about the small indignities we all suffer daily, the silent insult to our system, the callous gestures that we make toward one another. Horror isn't necessarily the big, ghoulish waiting to pounce on you in the dark. Horror can be found in brief interactions that are as cumulatively powerful as the splashy heart-stoppers because that's where we live most of lives.

The stories are interesting, no real order, both chronologically or of importance. Each chapter is a glimpse of a certain episode in her life such as, navigating through a blizzard in NYC, going into labor, blackout in NYC, a crush on a guy that worked at Trader Joe's (who later killed himself) and her #metoo moment. The #metoo chapter is especially interesting because the accused was to produced her next album at the time. They were working on what would have become a double album and then the New York Times published an article about his inappropriate interactions with young female artists, sexual harassment and communicating with an underage girl online. Phair doesn't name him, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out who it is (click to NY Times link). Obviously, the project was scrapped and the album wasn't released. 

  Since this isn't a book review blog, I'm posting tracks from her Whitechocolatespaceegg sessions. Apparently, there were a lot of tracks recorded and these demos were uncovered by sheer luck with the discovery by a former roommate of some original studio tapes left behind by Jason Chasko, who produced some of the songs on WCSE. (read the notes for a full breakdown of all the tracks in the file). This turned out to be 7 cassettes that the poster purchased and converted the tracks to two CD's. The tracks are fascinating, some are rough mixes, early versions, alternative mixes and unreleased. If you're a fan of demo and session tracks, like I am, this is the holy grail of Liz Phair unreleased tracks. I had earlier posted the original version of WCSE that was rejected by the record label that had to be re-recorded and mixed, so this is a nice companion piece. Extra bonus, these tracks are all lossless!

Enjoy!

 

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

 

LIZ PHAIR

WCSE Sessions (1996-1997)

Disc One
1996 Studio Recordings (taken from tape 7)

  1. Oh My God
  2. Headache
  3. Desperado Theme
  4. Ride
  5. Hurricane Cindy
  6. Rocket Boy
  7. Perfect World
  8. Fantasize
  9. Russian Girl
10. Stuck On An Island
11. Tell Me You Like Me
12. Girls' Room
13. I'm Like That
14. Waiting For The Bird (White Bird Of Texas)
15. Freak Of Nature

Sidenote 1: I only used the Studio Recordings
portion of this tape.  If you are interested
in the Demos portion...

1997 Studio Recordings
16. White Chocolate Space Egg (tape 1)
17. Big Tall Man (tape 1)
18. Tell Me You Like Me (tape 2)
19. What Makes You Happy (tape 2)
20. Bars Of The Bed (tape 3)
21. Blood Keeper (tape 4)
22. What Makes You Happy (tape 5)
23. Big Tall Man (tape 5)

1998 whitechocolatespaceegg Rough Mixes
24. Johnny Feelgood
25. What Makes You Happy

Disc Two
1997 whitechocolatespaceegg Running Order (tape 6)
1. White Chocolate Space Egg
2. Fantasize
3. Headache
4. Big Tall Man
5. Baby Got Going
6. Only Son
7. Bars Of The Bed
8. Oh My God
9. Ride
10. Waiting For The Bird
11. Perfect World
12. Desperado Theme
13. Tell Me You Like Me
14. What Makes You Happy
15. Freak Of Nature
16. Girls' Room
17. Russian Girl

Bonus Tracks
18. Blood Keeper (tape 4 - same as disc 1 track 21)
19. Greased Lightning (from Japanese Polyester Bride CD EP)
20. Hurricane Cindy (from Japanese whitechocolatespaceegg CD)

(Tracks 19 & 20 are not included because they were "officially" released and were removed...sorry)

LIZ PHAIR- '96-'97 WCSE Sessions FLAC. rar

Halloween Special- Local H As Nirvana 1997

 

 

 

Actually this is a post-Halloween special as I was too busy yesterday preparing for the onslaught of costumed kids by carving pumpkins and bagging up treats. Despite our efforts, by spreading bags on a table outside and social distancing sitting outside in costume for over 2 hours, we had a whopping 11 people at the house. Half of those took candy after we retreated inside after 8pm, because it is cold and windy enough to still have snow on the ground. Damn you Covid! Oh well, the night wasn't a total loss...more candy for me! We live in a region that is in a "code red alert" lock-down so Halloween parties and concerts are definitely not happening, so the next best thing is listening to or watching some Halloween themed concerts.

One band that always delivers on Halloween is Local H, who have performed almost every year at the Double Door in Chicago for their annual Halloween bashes, which began in 1996. Local H would perform as other bands and play a complete set with that band's music. They have performed as Nirvana several times, in 1997, 2016 and last night for an outside drive-in concert (because of epidemic) in the parking lot of Booomers Stadium in Schaumburg, Illinois. They have also performed Halloween shows at the DD as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Hall and Oates, AC/DC, The Doors, Sex Pistols, Tom Petty and more, all with their amazing likenesses that would make most tribute bands jealous. Not only are the songs worthy covers, but the mannerisms and movements of the performers are uncanny. A couple nights ago, I fell through the rabbit hole and watched many of these complete shows on YouTube. Thanks to all that uploaded these great videos!

 

The first time Local H played as Nirvana was the Halloween show at the Double Door in 1997. I plucked the live audio recording off archive.org (where they have well over 500 Local H shows!) and they remarkably sound pretty convincing, and if you watch the video, Scott Lucas does a pretty good Kurt Cobain impression. If you're a fan of Nirvana, Local H or good clean fun, this is well worth a listen. 

Enjoy!

#14yearsoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

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

Please share!

Local H
Playing as Nirvana for Halloween
The Double Door
Chicago, IL

October 31, 1997

01. Intro/School
02. Aneurysm
03. Breed
04. About a Girl
05. Serve the Servants
06. Sliver
07. Been a Son
08. Negative Creep
09. Love Song?
10. Rape Me
11. Tourette's
12. Lithium
13. Smells Like Teen Spirit
14. Territorial Pissings

LOCAL H (as Nirvana)- 1997-10-31 Double Door, Chicago, IL FLAC. rar

Ho Ho, Wilco Is Coming Back To Town! Day 8: Live From The Horseshoe 1997

It's been over ten years since I've seen Wilco live and a lot has happened since 2008. They have since released 5 albums as Wilco and Jeff Tweedy has 3 solo records, a memoir book and an album as Tweedy, a side project with his son, Spencer. The band personnel is pretty much the same (which is good!) and they sound as strong as ever especially on their brand new album, Ode To Joy. I somewhat regret not buying tickets to their shows in St. Paul last month, but ode to joy they announced new tour dates for the new year a couple weeks ago. I was lucky enough to purchase tickets within the first few minutes of the first presale for the show in Winnipeg in March. They are prime seats close up (not too close) and dead centre. Looking forward to seeing the band closeup with the excellent sound quality at the Concert Hall.

Another interesting option to see Wilco live starts tonight for a four night run (Dec. 15, 16, 18, 19) at the Chicago Theater in their hometown of Chicago. The setlist of multiple night shows often unearth some deep cut gems and the band has such an expansive song selection it would be worth attending multiple nights.

An even better road trip would be in January when Wilco hosts, Wilco's Sky Blue Sky, a series of shows at the Hard Rock Resort Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico. What better way to get away in the middle of winter than to enjoy sand, sun and Wilco! Not to mention all-inclusive which includes accommodation, food, drinks and the concerts with Yo La Tengo, Courtney Barnett, Calexico, Sharon Van Etten, Autumn Defense, Tweedy solo and Wilco three times. As tempting as this sounds, I'll pass as my funds will be running a little dry during this month, but hopefully this might become a semi-annual event? If so, I'll start saving soon!

To get you in the mood, I'm posting a Wilco show from over 22 years ago when they were touring their then new album, Being There. This was the album that broke Wilco to a mainstream, a masterpiece that landed on many critics "Best of" lists. Personally, this is the album that confirmed to me that Jeff Tweedy was the real deal as a gifted songwriter and dependable performer. I previously knew of Tweedy as a member of Golden Smog and of course, Uncle Tupelo, but he proved he could be a frontman with Wilco. This concert from the legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto was broadcast on CBC radio is an excellent of a Wilco show from that era which included Bob Egan on pedal steel that gave the band a country-rock sound. The "Dueling Banjos" segment during Casino Queen is priceless. The show is edited for time, it omits 5 songs from the concert (Why Would You Wanna Live, Kingpin, Outtasite, The Lonely 1, Gun), but the sound is impeccable and the performance is amazing! Seeing Wilco in such a intimate venue would be something to see, they were on the verge of future greatness at the time, so this is a very memorable show! A must-hear!
Enjoy!

#13yearsoftrouble
Please do NOT sell!
Do NOT trade this in lossy format
Convert to lossy for personal use only

WILCO
Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, On
February 19, 1997
CBC-FM Broadcast

01. Misunderstood
02. Far, Far Away
03. Forget The Flowers
04. That's Not The Issue
05. Someday Soon
06. New Madrid
07. Pick Up The Change
08. Red-Eyed And Blue
09. I Got You (At the End of the Century)
10. Someone Else's song
11. I Must Be High
12. Passenger Side
13. Hotel Arizona
14. Monday
15. Box Full Of Letters
16. Casino Queen / Dueling Banjos
17. Outtro

63:42

WILCO- 1997-02-19 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON FLAC. rar

Day 9: Teenage Fanclub- Phoenix Festival 1997

Another band rapidly approaching the 30th anniversary milestone is Scottish band, Teenage Fanclub. The band formed in 1989 and released their first album, A Catholic Education in 1990. They hit their stride with 1991's classic, Bandwagonesque and continued an incredible run through the 90's of some great albums. As recently as this month, TFC re-released on vinyl and digital their five Creation label era albums (Bandwagonesque, Thirteen, Grand Prix, Songs From Northern England and Howdy!) remastered with a 7" of rarities included with each record. To celebrate these reissues the band is touring in October and November, Songs From Teenage Fanclub: The Creation Years playing in four cities, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London performing three nights in each with a setlist from different periods of the Creation era (night one: songs from 1991-93, night two: songs from 94-97, night three: 98-00). As well, the band announced tour dates to Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand in February and also the news that founding member bass player, Gerald Love will not accompany the band on that tour and beyond. Love explained he was reluctant to fly frequently around the world and that the split was amicable, that he didn't quit the band nor was he fired. Sparky's Dream might just be the greatest song ever! He will be surely missed.

Originally, I wasn't planning to include a Teenage Fanclub show for the 12 Days of Trouble series, but I was spinning this disc the other night while reading the news about Gerald's departure and thought it would be a timely post. I chose this show from the Phoenix Festival in 1997 because the sound quality is flawless, their performance is spot on and the setlist is from my favourite TFC era. It is without doubt my best-loved TFC live recording as all but one song from the set is from their trio of their greatest albums (my opinion, but I don't think I'm alone with that statement), Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix and Songs of Northern England. An absolutely perfect recording that I'm surprised it hasn't been officially released yet. Trust me, this is a good one!
Enjoy!!
#12daysoftrouble

Please do NOT sell of convert to mp3 or any lossy format (except for personal use)
Please share!

TEENAGE FANCLUB
Phoenix Festival
Stratford Upon Avon, England
July 18, 1997
Source: FM Broadcast
Lineage: Unknown, but the sound quality is amazing

01. Start Again
02. Don't Look Back
03. I Don't Care
04. Alcoholiday
05. Mellow Doubt
06. Ain't That Enough
07. About You
08. Starsign
09. Neil Jung
10. Sparky's Dream
11. He'd Be A Diamond
12. The Concept

TEENAGE FANCLUB- 1997-07-18 Phoenix Festival FLAC. rar

Superchunk- Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg, MB October 20, 1997

A while back, let's say about 7 years ago, I posted a Superchunk show that previewed new songs from their then new release, Majesty Shredding. I mentioned I had recorded Superchunk in Winnipeg while they toured through here back in 1997, but I had never transferred the recording or posted it on the blog. I had a request last week from Caroline who reminded me about the recording and wanted to know if I had ever gotten around to transferring and posting the show. I have since converted and transferred the original tape to my hard-drive, split the tracks, wrote a setlist (hope I got it right?) and uploaded the file.

I recorded Superchunk with my old (my first recorder) Sony Walkman cassette recorder with small stealthy mics that lack the warmth and richness of my more recent mics, so don't get your hopes too high sound quality-wise. The sound is thin and trebley and it doesn't help that the sound at the Pyramid was always shitty (I recall the sound was loud and somewhat distorted), but once your ears adjust you'll be treated to an excellent concert and would believe it was almost 20 years ago! My brother has been bugging me to hear this show, he was at the show with me and he's a huge Superchunk fan. Since Superchunk has yet to return to Winnipeg, I treasure this recording quite a bit and was glad to finally upload the tape. I worry my cassette masters might deteriorate and degrade in sound quality over time as most of my taping was from 1993-2000, many are over 20 years old. Thanks Caroline for coaxing me to post this show and I will try (really!) to upload more shows in the future I have on tape.
Enjoy!

SUPERCHUNK
Pyramid Cabaret
Winnipeg, MB
October 20, 1997
AUD Master

Sony mic> Sony WM-GX35 Recording Walkman> Maxell XLII 90 Cassette> Aiwa tape deck> ADS Instant music> usb> Nero SoundTrax> WAV> Direct WAV splitter> FLAC> rar

01. Driveway To Driveway
02. Skip Steps 1 and 3
03. Watery Hands
04. New Bruises
05. Marquee
06. Iron On
07. Question Is How Fast
08. Precision Auto
09. Burn Last Sunday
10. Sunshine State
11. Seed Toss
12. Unbelievable Things

Encore
13. Hyper Enough
14. Throwing Things

SUPERCHUNK- 1997-10-20 Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg, MB FLAC Master. rar 

Sleater-Kinney- Crocodile Cafe, Seattle 1997

If 2014 was considered the year of the reunion, 2015 may be even a better year for more anticipated reunions, at least for my fav bands I've followed through the years. Juliana Hatfield has reformed, the Juliana Hatfield Three group that recorded (under the "Juliana Hatfield Three" name) , Become What You Are, back in 1993, to record a new album and a tour that begins very shortly. I even contributed some PledgeMusic cash to help fund the new album, Whatever My Love and as much as I would like to see the JH3 live, I'm not up for a mid-winter road-trip to Minneapolis for a live tour date.

Also on tour (and hitting Minneapolis) is the reunited Sleater-Kinney who really didn't break-up, but we're on extended hiatus while the band members explored other projects. Drummer Janet Weiss performed on two Stephen Malkus and the Jicks albums and some tours, Corin Tucker released two solo albums and Carrie Brownstein formed Wild Flag who recorded an album in 2011. Carrie has been the most active, post-Kinney, writing an excellent column, Monitor Mix for NPR and has found much mainstream fame and received accolades for her work on the TV series, Portlandia, she co-created with Fred Armisen. Portlandia has just begun it's 5th season and while it's quirky and unconventional, it's also very smart and very very funny! I'm a huge fan of Carrie's, casually following her career since I first heard Sleater-Kinney and through her so-called acting career. I remember watching her and Armisen's internet sketch comedy videos as ThunderAnt (pre-Portlandia) and instantly thinking, she's a little raw and inexperienced, but she does have comic skills and is comfortable acting. I was very happy to see this lead to the more widely-known project, Portlandia.

Sleater-Kinney this week (January 20, 2015) will be releasing their first album in 9 years, No Cities To Love and from what I've heard through an advance listening, they haven't missed a beat. This could easily could have been a follow-up to The Woods, as the songs rock and though they are as accessible as their later albums, they are intense and relevant and definitely not just a nostalgic reunion album. The tour begins February 8th in Spokane and keeps the band on the road until a three show finale in Seattle, May 7-9. S-K plays Minneapolis, February 14th, and like many of the shows on the tour, it's sold out.

Any band that pays homage to the Kinks is cool with me.

The recording I'm posting is from a tape trade I received in the late 90's. I transferred it from cassette and to be honest, I hadn't played this tape since I got it. When the news of the reunion was announced, I dug up my S-L tapes and burned cdr live recordings and had a re-listen. I chose this show because the sound is pretty good (audience recording) and captures the band in a smaller venue, the Crocodile Cafe with enjoyable results. The first Sleater-Kinney album (CD) I bought was Dig Me Out, which remains my favourite S-L album and this show was from the tour for Dig Me Out, so for obvious reasons I like this. I'll try to post more S-L shows before the tour and if they come to your town...see them!
Enjoy!

SLEATER-KINNEY
Crocodile Cafe
Seattle, WA
June 8, 1997
AUD

Trade> Maxell XLII-90 Cassette> Aiwa tape deck> ADS Instant music>
usb> Nero SoundTrax> WAV> Direct WAV splitter> FLAC> rar

01. Intro Instrumental
02. Dig Me Out
03. Call The Doctor
04. Little Babies
05. The Drama You've Been Craving
06. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
07. One More Hour
08. Instrumental
09. Heart Factory
10. One Song For You
11. It's Enough
12. Jenny
13. Turn It On
14. Words & Guitar
15. I'm Not Waiting

Encore
16. Stay Where You Are
17. Be Yr Mama

SLEATER-KINNEY- 1997-06-08 Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, WA FLAC. rar

Juliana Hatfield- Live In NYC 1997

Speaking of new releases, I received my digital download for the new Juliana Hatfield album, the Covers Album. Actually, the cover of the album indicates it's self-titled, so officially I'm not sure what it's called, but throughout the Pledgemusic updates it's been referred to as The Covers Album. I haven't listened yet, but there's an interesting selection of cover songs she's chosen. I'm saving my first listen for my road trip and a quick reminder I won't be posting anything new until the last week of August (feel free to check out my past posts). The official release late of the album is August 28th, as one of the benefits of supporting the project on Pledgemusic is the advanced copy of the record. Look for it on iTunes and according to Juliana, it will be a very limited release.

Here's a vintage Juliana Hatfield show from 1997 with her performing solo acoustic. This show was between the releases of Only Everything and Bed and around this time the unreleased record, God's Foot was schedule to be released...as you know it never has been released officially. This is a great sounding audience recording I received in a trade maybe a bit less than 10 years ago and as far as I know hasn't been shared on Dime (or anywhere?).
Enjoy!

JULIANA HATFIELD
Knitting Factory
New York City, NY
February 14, 1997
(Audience recording)
solo acoustic

01. Charity
02. Waves
03. Universal Heartbeat
04. What Have I Done To You?
05. My Sister
06. My Darling
07. Nirvana
08. Make It Home
09. Spin The Bottle
10. Blue
11. Fleur De Lys
12. Where Would I Be Without You?
13. Feed Me
14. I Got No Idols
15. Outsider
16. Ugly
17. Take Your Head Off My Shoulder
18. Perfection

JULIANA HATFIELD- 1997-02-14 NYC. rar

Young Fresh Fellows- Live At The Crocodile Cafe 1997

Mark August 21st on your calender because the Young Fresh Fellows, new album, Tiempo De Lujo hits the street on that date. If you're a fan like I am, there is reason to celebrate, it's only their third album of new material since 2001 and it's great to see them still making music together (when they have off-time from their other projects). It would be wishful thinking to expect a tour besides gigs in the Seattle and the Portland area and of course another jaunt to Spain, but any new material from the Fellows gets me in a good mood. I'll also be in an extra good mood starting next week when I start a 2 week vacation to relax and get the hell away from work and it will be a bonus to return home to a package from Yep Roc with the new LP and shirt I pre-ordered. To pre-order go to the Yep Roc store and take advantage of some presale bundles.

As a tribute to the Fellows, I have some live shows to share. I'll try to squeeze a few more in before I take a break, but if not I'll post more later in the month. This show is from 1997 and features the Fellows dipping back in their catalog with a set heavy in material from their early albums (Topsy Turvy/The Men Who Loved Music), along with a (then) new song, Barky's Spiritual Store which appeared on Tribute To Music, released in 1997 and re-recorded on the Because We Hate You album in 2001. In this set they opened for Robyn Hitchcock whom they later opened for on their 2001 tour with his band, the Soft Boys.
Enjoy!

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Crocodile Cafe
Seattle, WA
June 13, 1997

01. Ted, Woody And Junior
02. When The Girls Get Here
03. Hank, Karen And Elvis
04. Mr. Salamander's Review
05. The Sharing Patrol
06. "If A Picture Paints A Thousand Words" (excerpt)
07. Where Is Groovy Town?
08. Barky's Spiritual Store
09. How Much About Last Night Do You Remember?
10. Rollercoaster By The Sea
11. Teenage Dogs In Trouble
12. "Old Man Down The Lane"
13. Beer Money
14. "Take Me Down To the Rivers Edge"
15. My Friend Ringo
16. Backroom Of The Bar

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- 1997-06-13, Seattle FLAC. rar

The Rolling Stones Live At The Double Door 1997

Last week the Rolling Stones celebrated the 50th anniversary of their very first gig at London's, Marquee Club. The lineup for the gig was vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Brian Jones, bassist Dick Taylor, pianist Ian Stewart and Mick Avory on drums. Taylor (Bill Wyman replaced him) and Avory (joined the Kinks) soon left the lineup, while Stewart switched to a backup role; drummer Watts joined in 1963 and guitarist Wood in 1975. There is talk of a tour this fall or 2013 and this might be your last chance to see the living legends live in concert. I've never seen the band live, I have all their albums, pre-Steel Wheels and had my chance to see them when they came here for stadium shows in 1997 and 1994, but for whatever reason I didn't go. I think my feeling at the time is that they were past their prime and I wasn't too keen on any of their albums after Tattoo You which was released in 1981. If they did tour again, I'm sure I would have to travel and since I've been feeling more nostalgic and have been re-listening to all their reissues and special edition versions of their earlier catalog, I might consider making the effort...this could be the last time.

A gig I definitely would have loved to be at was when the Stones played at the Double Door in Chicago in 1997. It's funny cause I walked past the Double Door when I was strolling down Milwaukee Avenue in the Wicker Park area when I visited Chicago last month. I commented to my wife that the Rolling Stones played in this bar as we peeked in and thought how cool it would have been to see the Stones in such a small venue. The place's capacity is less than 500 and with a $7 ticket price it would have been insane to be there. This pre-tour gig wasn't confirmed until midnight the night before and there was a rush to buy tickets (for an arm wrist band) with only 230 tickets sold to fans and another 170 to VIP's with some other last minute tickets at the door.
For more about the gig and a review, read this: www.iorr.org

This is a great sounding soundboard/aud matrix recording that captures the energy of the crowd and intimate feeling of the venue. It's raw sounding and with so many Stones arena/stadium live recordings out there, I prefer the bar shows that make it seem so much more real, if that makes sense. This is a good one, more Stones next post!
Enjoy!

THE ROLLING STONES
The Double Door
Chicago, IL
September 18, 1997
(SBD/Matrix)

1. Little Queenie
2. 19th Nervous Breakdown
3. You Got Me Rocking
4. Crazy Mama
5. The Last Time
6. Anybody Seen My Baby
7. Out Of Control
8. Let It Bleed
9. Shame Shame Shame
10. Honky Tonk Women
11. Start Me Up
12. Jumping Jack Flash
13. Brown Sugar

THE ROLLING STONES- 1997-09-18 Double Door, Chicago FLAC. rar

The Super Friendz- Sticktoitiveness

Happy Canada Day!!
When you think of great albums recorded by Canadian artists, of course names like the Guess Who, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, or Blue Rodeo always seem to come out. Though all those artists are good in their own right, I personally have listed some of my favourites (in no particular order):

• Sloan- Twice Removed
• New Pornographers- Mass Romantic
• Bum- Wanna Smash Sensations
• Stand GT- They're Magically Delicious
• Chixdiggit- Chixdiggit
• Plumtree- Predicts the Future
• Weakerthans- Left and Leaving
• The Nils- The Nils

...and I'm sure there are many more I can't think of right this minute, but if you have any fav Canadian albums, please list them in the comments.

Definitely one of my favourite bands from the 90's was Halifax's, Super Friendz who recorded only 3 full-length albums. Their first two albums, Mock Up, Scale Down and Slide Show in my mind are over-looked Can-Con classics. The band was active from 1994-1997, but reformed in 2003 for a tour and recorded a third record, Love Energy. The band released their early albums (and 7" and 10"ers) on Murderecords, Chris Murphy of Sloan's label and were part of the renowned East Coast scene of the early 90's. This scene discovered other great bands that gained attention and exposure such as; Jale, Thrush Hermit, The Inbreds, Eric's Trip, Plumtree and Sloan.

Super Friendz's only release in the U.S. was a CD compilation of Mock Up, Scale Down and their rare 10", Play The Game, Not Games repackaged as Stickoitiveness. This release was the band's attempt to gain some exposure in the States. For some weird reason this was also the title of an independent cassette made by the band in 1994 and if anyone has more information or a copy of this recording, please let me know, I would love to post it here.

THE SUPER FRIENDZ
Sticktoitiveness (1997)

1. 10 Lbs.

2. Karate Man

3. Undertow

4. Rescue Us From Boredom

5. One Day

6. Fireflies

7. Machine Green

8. Kiss The Land

9. Landing Light

10. Green Hand

11. Half-Mast

12. Restricted

13. Better Call

14. Down In Flames

15. Boots

16. Come Clean

17. When They Paid Me THE SUPER FRIENDZ- Sticktoitiveness. rar

Lemonheads- Fan Club CD

One person that was of great influence in Ben Kweller's solo career was Evan Dando from the Lemonheads. It was one of his ep's, Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller, that caught the attention of Dando and he invited him on tour with him. Jeff Tweedy, Juliana Hatfield and the band Guster also took notice and asked Ben to open for them. The feeling was mutual as I have some live recordings with Kweller doing Lemonheads covers in concert. The Lemonheads are a band that have been around since 1986 with various incarnations and line-ups with the only constant being Evan Dando. Because of these constant changes to the line-up, the band has taken a few hiatus and rumours of their impending breakup are understandable, but with these breaks Dando has continued to perform live, then he eventually records another Lemonheads record. Just before their longest hiatus from 1998-2004, a promo CD available only through their fan club was released consisting of covers, live tracks and acoustic versions of Lemonheads songs. Some of these songs made it onto b-sides, while others were exclusive to this release. For any Lemonheads fan this is a fine collection of songs, though this isn't a proper "official" release, but kind of a odds and ends disc of goodies. LEMONHEADS Fan Club CD (1997) 01. Pin Yr Heart 02. If I Could Talk I'd Tell you (live Madrid) 03. Ride With Me (live Boston) 04. Down About It (acoustic) 05. Live Forever 06. Little Black Egg 07. Fade to Black (live Milan) 08. Divan 09. How Will I Know? 10. Confetti (acoustic) 11. Keep On Loving You (live Maison Rouge) 12. Losing Your Mind LEMONHEADS- Fan Club CD. rar