Brinsley Schwarz- Live Archive Vol. 3

 

 

Speaking of Nick Lowe, I came upon a great sounding Brinsley Schwarz live recording from the (unofficial) Live Archives series from Vogon in the UK. The two previous Live Archive volumes were from Tilburg, Netherlands and Sheffield from 1974, while Volume 3 is from Groningen in 1975. I haven't heard the first two volumes, so I can't comment about the sound quality, but Volume 3 sounds amazing! If the date of this recording is correct (March 1975), the band would dis-band later in the month, so this is amongst their last shows together. The performance is top notch and features an early working of, Cruel to Be Kind which would become a monster hit for Nick in 1979 from his Labour Of Lust album. I'll keep a look out for the first two volumes! A must-hear for Brinsley Schwarz and Nick Lowe fans!

Enjoy!!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use

Please share!

#16yearsoftrouble

 

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ
Live Archive Vol. 3 (2020)
The Vera Club
Groningen, Holland
March, 1975

1. You've Been Cheating    2:46
2. Small Town Big City    4:31
3. Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)    4:01
4. Down In Mexico    3:41
5. You Ain't Living Until You're Loving    3:10
6. We Can Mess Around    2:43
7. Happy Doing What We're Doing    4:11
8. Surrender To The Rhythm    3:39
9. Country Girl    2:49
10. Hooked On Love    2:24
11. Trying To Live My Life Without You    3:01
12. Cruel To Be Kind    3:15
13. Private Number    3:33
14. I've Cried My Last Tear    2:19
15. Walking The Dog    2:27
16. I Can't Help Myself    2:39

 

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ- Live Archive Vol. 3 FLAC. rar

 

**If the above link doesn't work, try downloading this link which I uploaded to DropBox. For a limited time only!

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ- Live Archive Vol. 3 FLAC. rar (DB link) 

 

So It Goes- Nick Lowe- 1975 Stiff Demos

 

Photo by Dick Wingate

 

A New York Daily News article from 2007 quoted Nick Lowe as saying his greatest fear in recent years was "sticking with what you did when you were famous." "I didn't want to become one of those thinning-haired, jowly old geezers who still does the same shtick they did when they were young, slim and beautiful," he said. "That's revolting and rather tragic." 

 

For many musicians and bands this is the formula they stick with to keep the old fans happy and let the new fans enjoy what they are famous for. Nick Lowe has had a long and interesting career. His first stab at success was with Brinsley Schwarz (the band) from the 1969 to the mid-70's. They produced a whopping six full length albums (not counting compilations) and when the band split Bob Andrews and Brinsley Schwarz (the guitar player) joined Graham Parker and the Rumour, while Ian Gomm and Lowe began solo careers. Around this time, Lowe joined up with Dave Edmonds, who produced New Favorites Of...Brinsley Schwarz, to form Rockpile with Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. This unit produced albums under Edmonds name (Tracks On Wax 4 and Repeat When Necessary) and Nick Lowe's second solo record, Labour Of Lust, along with Seconds Of Pleasure from 1980. For me, I first became aware of Nick Lowe through his biggest hit, Cruel To Be Kind which got radio play at the time and though I didn't realize it at the time, this song would later rank high in my favourite song list. I would go as far to say it's the perfect pop song (or power-pop?) and Labour Of Lust still gets lots of love on my turntable and iPod. Lowe remained steadily active through the 80's and I own all his albums up until 1988's, Pinker and Prouder. He also served double duty at times as a highly respected producer and was involved with some ground breaking releases from Graham Parker, The Damned and Elvis Costello. I honestly haven't followed Lowe through his releases in the 90's and 2000's when he moved away from power pop to a more balladeer, singer-songwriter mode.

In this decade, Nick Lowe has experienced a bit of revival of sorts. In 2011, Yep Roc re-released, Labour Of Lust and Wilco covered the song, I Love My Label which led to a joint tour, that exposed Lowe to a younger, hip audience. More recently, the mexican wrestling mask wearing surf-guitar band, Los Straitjackets became Lowe's backing band and toured together providing a very interesting dynamic both visually and musically. I've listened to some of those shows and they are fantastic, sparking with genuine energy that comes across in the music and performances. I've always been a reader of good music biographies and one that I am considering next is Cruel To Be Kind: The Life And Times Of Nick Lowe that came out about a year ago. I am curious about some the behind the scenes stories and his interaction within the bands he was in and the musicians he produced. Sounds like an interesting read. So, why hasn't Rockpile reunited? How about Brinsley Schwarz? Don't know if he touches on those subjects or if he wants to revisit that "same shtick when he was young..."

During the period between the breakup of Brinsley Schwarz and the formation of Rockpile, Nick Lowe recorded some demos for Stiff Records in 1975. Some of these songs were recorded later and appeared on later albums (Tonight on Jesus of Cool/PPFNP, Here She Comes- sounds like an early version of Deborah from Tracks On Wax 4) and Little Darlin' was recorded by Dave Edmonds. I'm sort of surprised, the demo for So It Goes isn't here. The song was Stiff Records' first single and Lowe was their first artist and he became the label's in-house producer. Though he was already a seasoned musician, recording artist and performer, these demos are a very important document from Lowe's early solo career.

Enjoy!

#14yearsoftrouble

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

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

Please share!

 

NICK LOWE

Stiff Demos (1975)

(Some solo, some band)

soundboard

01. Here She Comes Again
02. Tonight
03. Living In The 70's
04. Time And Time Again
05. She's My Baby
06. I Respect You for That
07. Little Darlin'
08. So Heavy (original version)

Bonus tracks
09. Halfway To Paradise (alternate version)
10. Is It You (live)
11. Lonely Just Like Me (live w/Imp. Birds)
12. Juju Man

 ***NEW link!!***

NICK LOWE- 1975 Stiff Demos FLAC. rar 

The New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz

An over-looked band in the early 70's was the influential band, Brinsley Schwarz whose first exposure to America came at the expense of the infamous incident that became known as, "the Brinsley Schwarz hype". The band's manager flew a plane full of British journalists to New York for a show as the band was opening for Van Morrison on April 3rd and 4th, 1970. The band was to arrive in NY a few days before the gig to rehearse, but instead were delayed because of visa problems and only arrived shortly before the gig with rented equipment. The journalists were due the next day, but the flight was delayed for four hours and with a free bar the journalists eventually arrived drunk or hung-over. The band received negative reviews from the critics for the show and panned their debut album. So much for the hype and this drove the band into seclusion before coming back with a different sound and a follow-up album. The band played a more loose, pub rock sound and went on to release six records in total (not counting compilations etc.) before disbanding in 1975. The members of the band went onto other projects, guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and Bob Andrews to the Rumour with Graham Parker and Ian Gomm and Nick Lowe both pursued solo careers. Brinsley Schwarz's final album, The New Favourites Of, was produced by Dave Edmunds and this was as close to a hit as the band came. It received positive reviews and the slicker, more polished pop sound provided a glimpse of the brilliance of Nick Lowe as a songwriter and performer. This album contained the original version of the Nick Lowe-penned, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, which became more identified with Elvis Costello (he recorded it for the Nick Lowe produced, Armed Forces album), than Brinsley Schwarz. Lowe and Costello recently played a pair of shows where they both performed each others songs, of course they closed with Peace, Love and Understanding. This album is one of my favourites from the 70's that shouldn't be overlooked when you talk about the whole pub rock, new wave, punk movement of the 70's because without the Brinsley Schwarz band, the careers of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello may not have existed. Enjoy! BRINSLEY SCHWARZ The New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz (1974) 1. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? 2. Ever Since You're Gone 3. Ugly Things 4. I Got the Real Thing 5. Look That's in Your Eye Tonight 6. Now's the Time 7. Small Town, Big City 8. Trying to Live My Life Without You 9. I Like You, I Don't Love You 10. Down in the Dive 11. I've cried my last tear (bonus track) 12. (It's gonna be a) Bringdown (bonus track) 13. Everybody (bonus track) 14. There's a cloud in my heart (bonus track) BRINSLEY SCHWARZ- The New Favourites Of. rar