Blake Babies- 15 Years Ago...Philadelphia 2001

http://www.getoffyourknees.com/pix/julesings.jpg

http://www.getoffyourknees.com/pix/kickitjules.jpg

If you're a fan of the Blake Babies, this is a big week. Yesterday, the band digitally released a collection of songs, the Earwig Demos for those that pre-ordered the album on Pledgemusic (yes, I did!) and yesterday, the band reunited for a pair of shows in their hometown of Boston. The demos are officially available for the first time ever, a nice complement to the original album, Earwig released back in 1989.


The Blake Babies haven't performed together since their last reunion tour 15 years ago in 2001. They previously disbanded in 1992, they first united in 1999, played some shows in 1999 and 2000 and embarked on their last U.S. tour in 2001. During their last run, the band released the album, God Bless The Blake Babies which I think stands up well to their earlier albums. Before they split their very last recording, Epilogue was released in 2002. The return of the Blake Babies is a very pleasant surprise and right now I feel regretful I didn't travel to Boston and Evanston, IL (July 23) to see them live one more time. Hopefully they feel rejuvenated and enthused to tour outside these cities in the near future, but I feel I blew another chance. I regret I didn't see them in Minneapolis in 2001, but some decent live recordings from the tour made the bad decision less painful.

http://www.onlyeverything.dk/PhilGallery/index.htm

To coincide with the Blake Babies latest reunion shows, I'm posting a show from their final leg of the 2001 tour with the third last (?) show in Philadelphia. It's a great sounding recording and the band is in good form. I can't get enough of Juliana live, but there's some sort of musical magic when she performs with John and Freda.
Enjoy!

**Hopefully someone is taping the shows (Boston, Evanston), please let me know and I can post here! Thanks!**

BLAKE BABIES
North Star Bar
Philadelphia, PA
July 19, 2001
AUD

01. Cesspool
02. Until I Almost Died
03. unknown jam (Hospital)
04. Baby Gets High
05. From Here To Burma
06. Nothing Ever Happens
07. Star
08. Civil War
09. Lament
10. Picture Perfect
11. Severed Lips
12. Walk A Thin Line
13. talk
14. Disappear
15. Out There
16. Rain
17. On
18. Girl In A Box
19. Let Me Roll It
20. Downtime

BLAKE BABIES- 2001-07-19 North Star Bar, Philadelphia, PA FLAC. rar

Blake Babies- Live On WERS 1989

Another hotbed for talented bands in the 80's was in and around the Boston area. If you've frequented this blog you'll know I have a keen interest in many bands from this region. I should also clarify I don't live in this area, nor do I even live in this country. It's just that there is a lot of bands for whatever reason I enjoy and still follow from the state of Massachusetts. Some favourite bands that I have (or haven't yet) featured on TDIT from include: Pixies, Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom, Belly, Big Dipper, Scruffy The Cat, Mission Of Burma, The Breeders, Volcano Suns and Juliana Hatfield. Juliana's first band was the Blake Babies who formed in 1986 and gathered a modest following during the late 80's and early 90's and like many of the previously mentioned bands didn't receive much in the way of mainstream radio play, but instead relied primarily on college radio stations to spread the music. And speaking of comebacks, pretty much all the bands I listed have reunited or reformed in recent years and the interest in their earlier works has introduced their music to wider audiences that may have missed them the first time or have only heard them now for the first time.

After disbanding in 1991, the Blake Babies reunited in late 1999 (New Years Eve?) and they toured the U.S. in 2001. I still regret not travelling to Minneapolis in June of 01' to see the Babies (for the last time ever?), but I hope to see Juliana Hatfield again sometime in the future. The show I've posted is the earliest Blake Babies (or Juliana Hatfield) I have and it's a gem of a recording! The band was just hitting their stride with the release of  Earwig and they were still a couple years from their breakthrough album, Sunburn. I received this in a trade over 10 years ago and I've been hoarding it ever since, but I want to share it because it's one of my personal favourites. I don't recall seeing this available anywhere else online, but I'm sure there must be others that have heard or own this recording. This is an in-studio live radio session followed by an interview with the band. The sound quality is excellent and it's another in a series of recordings from Metrowave on WERS at Emerson College that I have previously posted. This is a must listen for any Blake Babies/Juliana Hatfield fans!.
Enjoy!

BLAKE BABIES
WERS "Metrowave"
Emerson College
Boston, MA
May 9, 1989
FM Broadcast

01. Outta My Head
02. Lament
03. Look Away
04. Your Way Or The Highway
05. Dead & Gone
06. From Here To Burma
07. Grateful
08. Alright
09. You Don't Give Up
10. Don't Suck My Breath
11. Tom & Bob
12. interview

(note: the date in the info file incorrectly lists the date as May 5, oops sorry)

BLAKE BABIES- 1989-05-09, WERS, Boston, MA FLAC. rar

Juliana Hatfield- Live Covers

The financial backing for Juliana Hatfield's last release, There's Always Another Girl was helped in part by the cash contributions of her fans thanks to PledgeMusic, a wonderful concept that helps artist fund their own projects through donations in exchange for incentives (product and services). Juliana's album to date has received 1174 pledges and well exceeded her goal to fund the album and a portion of the proceeds was donated to Save A Sato project, a non-profit organization dedicated to easing the suffering of Puerto Rico’s many homeless and abused animals. I donated money twice and in exchange received a signed copy of the CD and original artwork painted by Juliana. I figured I would buy the CD anyways, so it was like buying a pre-sale and the chunk of change for the art would help contribute to the expensive task of recording and producing the CD. As well, she keeps you updated on the recording process and posts audio and video clips throughout the process, an insider's access to the making of. A brilliant idea, especially if you're a fan!

Her latest project was launched on PledgeMusic last weekend and by the time I heard about it the project had already hit 99% of it's target. Many of the special items for sale were already bought, but I once again pledged for a signed CD and a signed handwritten lyric sheet (and bonus drawing/doodle) of my choice. Of course, I agonized over which song to choose, but I finally chose, Live On Tomorrow, from the Only Everything album. I've always thought it was the perfect pop song and the words are so beautiful I couldn't resist. The new record will be an all-covers album and a percentage of the money raised will be donated to IMPACT Boston, which teaches self-defense and self-empowerment to people who really need it. Not sure yet of the song list, but I suspect maybe the Stones, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll might be on it since she performed it for the Daytrotter session a few years back.

I thought it might be interesting to post a sampling of some live covers Juliana performed through the years with the Blake Babies, Some Girls and solo. I grabbed these songs from a site in the mid-2000's and since the links aren't available anymore, I'll post 'em here. Be forewarned, the sound quality varies as they are from different sources and the bitrate is low quality (128 kbps). The songs are roughly in chronological order with the exception of some songs on disc 3. Let me know if you want more live Juliana Hatfield live shows, I have some of these and more.
Enjoy!

JULIANA HATFIELD (w/BLAKE BABIES/SOME GIRLS)
Live Covers (1989-2002)

Disc 1 (64:18)
1. I Am A Rock (Simon & Garfunkel) (Apr 17th, 1990)
2. Farmer John (Harris/Terry) (May 13th, 1991)
3. Drinkin' My Blues Away (Robert Johnson) (May 13th, 1991)
4. All I Need (Dance Mix) (J. Strohm, D. Summer) (July 30th, 1991)
5. Over And Over (Neil Young) (August 1991)
6. Taxman, Mr. Thief (Cheap Trick) (Sept 12th, 1991)
7. Temptation Eyes (Grass Roots) (Sept 12th, 1991)
8 Walkin' With Jesus (Spacemen 3) (Sept 12th, 1991)
9. Outdoor Miner (Wire) (Sept 12th, 1991)
10. Raisans (Dinosaur Jr.) (July 17th, 1992)
11. It's A Shame About Ray (Lemonheads) (Oct 17th, 1992)
12. You Don't Own Me (Leslie Gore) (Sept 17th, 1993)
13. Bring It Down (Madder Rose) (Nov 30th, 1993)
14. He'd Be A Diamond (Bevis Frond) (Dec 17th, 1993)
15. Her Shovel (Jason Hatfield)
16. Pink Moon (Nick Drake) (1995)
17. Ride With Me (Lemonheads) (Feb 16th, 1997)
18. There's Always Tomorrow (Johnny Marks) (Feb 16th, 1997)
19. So I Fucked Up (Lemonheads) (Feb 21st, 1997)

Disc 2 (67:14)
1. Say It Ain't So (Weezer) (Apr 3rd, 1997)
2. Every Breath You Take (Police) (1997)
3. The Unheard Music (X) (1997)
4. Hope (Descendents) (Nov. 1997)
5. Come Back DA (Lemonheads) (Dec 20th, 1997)
6. Blue (Jayhawks) (Apr 25th, 1998)
7. Cheap Sunglasses (ZZ Top)/Baby Gets High (Madder Rose)(Oct 23,1998)
8. Loose (Stooges) (New Years Eve, 1999)
9. Severed Lips (Dinosaur Jr.) (New Years Eve, 1999)
10. Goddess on A Hiway (Mercury Rev) (June 9th, 2000)
11. Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (June 17th, 2000)
12. No Feelings (Sex Pistols)/My Sister (Juliana Hatfield) (June 30, 2000)
13. Drive (The Cars) (2000)
14. Heart Shaped Box (Nirvana) (2000)
15. Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)
16. Passionate Kisses (Lucinda Williams)

Disc 3 (73:41)
1. I Didn't Like You Anyway (Donnas) (Oct 12th, 2000)
2. Walk A Thin Line (Fleetwood Mac) (Mar 9th, 2001)
3. Barstool Blues (Neil Young) (Mar 17th, 2001)
4. I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones) (Mar 17th, 2001)
5. Gone (Madonna) (May 1st, 2001)
6. Let Me Roll It (Wings) (Jun 6th, 2001)
7. Tomorrow Never Comes (Dot Allison) (2001)
8. Love Went Away (Tania Bowers) (Studio recording)
9. Yeh Yeh (Jon Hendricks) (Studio recording)
10. Sad Girl (Scott Thomas)
11. Birdbrain (Buffalo Tom) (Mar 5th, 1991)
12. Taillights Fade (Buffalo Tom) (Mar 5th, 1991)
13. Sex Beat (Gun Club) (Aug 5th, 2002)
14. Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Neil Young) (Aug 5th, 2002)
15. Malted Milk (Robert Johnson) (Aug 5th, 2002)
16. (unknown song) (Mar 5th, 1991)
17. Girl in a Box (John Strohm) (Oct 23rd, 1998)
18. Blake Babies - Tom and Bob (Blake Babies) (May 9, 1989, WERS radio)

JULIANA HATFIELD & BLAKE BABIES-Live Covers. rar

Note: There was a request to re-up files for the pre-Fountains Of Wayne group, Pinnwheel that didn't work on an old post. The files are back up, get it while you can here.