David Bowie - Saturday Light Live
David Bowie - Little WonderDavid Bowie - Scary Monsters[Live [February 8, 1997] Saturday Night Live][From The Bootleg CD "Earthling TV"]Englishman David Bowie
(pronounced Bo-wee) has languished in obscurity as a musical outsider for years. I'll post more of his music in the weeks to come in the hopes that the world might finally take notice.
Jeff Buckley - Tragic & Talented
Jeff Buckley - Eternal LifeJeff Buckley - Hallelujah[From The Album "Live at Sin-é"]I know you come here to listen to and read about music I like, but I have to admit I'm on the fence with this one. I discovered Jeff Buckley late, only after "Grace" was released. I thought is was so fantastic, it still is, especially the Leonard Cohen cover "Hallelujah". I couldn't get enough. Next I picked up the ''unfinished' compilation "Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk" with the sultry "Everybody Here Wants You" - lovely. And then a few live imports, "Mystery White Boy", "Live At L'Olympia" and "Live At Sin-E". Like his father Tim Buckley before him, Jeff Buckley died tragically, which only adds a layer of sobriety to his music (not unlike Nick Drake or Eva Cassidy). And if you had asked me I would have said I was a "fan". That is until I had the chance to see him live. I bought the DVD "Live In Chicago" and have seen other recordings since, and, well, I don't think he's very endearing as a performer. Rather, he's a little arrogant. He was talented and he knew it and at times was embarrassingly self indulgent, like a young guitar hero who noodles away until you find yourself annoyed. Only with Jeff Buckley it's his voice. But I still think, like most people, that Jeff Buckley was very talented and I enjoy these two performances. I find it a little difficult to criticize a performer who died so young, especially as Mary Guibert (Jeff's mother, Tim's wife) lovingly picks through the fragments of his brief career for a steady stream of posthumous CD & DVD releases. The title to the CD "Live at Sin-é" refers to the Greenwich Village cafe where he first gained public attention as well as recognition from Columbia A&R folks who released his one and only proper album, "Grace". This was a comfortable setting and it shows.
A Jeff Buckley story.[try to picture the "High Fidelity" record store as you read this] Jeff Buckley was performing in Providence many years back. A local "guy" (a friend of someone who worked for me - he'll remain nameless) was browsing "In Your Ear Records" and asked the sales clerk (& friend) if he was going to see Tim Buckley play that night. The clerk joked, "Only if they dig up his dead corpse and prop it up on stage..." The friend corrected himself, "I mean Jeff Buckley", but the clerk said no, probably not, "...he sounds too much like Robert Plant." and wasn't interested. The friend agreed. Then a voice from behind a stack of records sneered, "Yeah, I do sound like him sometimes, don't I?". I can just picture the two of them rewinding their conversation and cringing that they just joked about Jeff Buckley's dead father. But then again, I think that fits in with the personality Jeff Buckley portrays live. Rather than be gracious and just let it go, he embarrassed them. Not that they didn't deserve it, but still... Anyway, I hope I haven't soured your listening experience. His songs are beautifully bitter sweet in a "Candle In The Wind" tragic sort of way. But for me, I'll stick to the CD's. Enjoy!
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World Party - Thank You World
World Party - Thank You World [Live][From The EP "Thank You World"]World Party - Mystery Girl [Live][From The CD "KCRW Rare On Air Volume II"]World Party is actually a one-man-party. Karl Wallinger (previously of the Waterboys) writes, performs and produces the World Party albums. A bit like Prince in that respect - the art for "Private Revolution" reminds me a little of "Sign O The Times". The first three Albums, "Private Revolution", "Goodbye Jumbo" and "Thank You World" are quite good, if you dig that eighties, world-lite, funky, pop, beat thing. He clearly has a talent for songwriting, which is obvious despite the intricate production and arrangements. He tackles Peter Gabriel "So" era pop with "Is It Too Late" and "Show Me To The Top", blue eyed soul with "Ain't Gonna Come Till I'm Ready", political folk with "And I Fell Back Alone" and Donavan meets Ringo Starr meets Tears For Fears with "Thank You World". Yeah, OK we get it, the guy's talented. "Thank You World (Live)" comes from the aptly titled EP "Thank You World" which still appears to be in print, though with different cover art than the CD I have. I can imagine nods from the Polyphonic Spree for this one.
Mystery GirlThe live recording of Mystery Girl comes from the compilation CD "KCRW Rare On Air [Volume II]. I've listened to this track at least a dozen times this evening and asked Mr. Google a hundred different ways for more information. But either this really is a cover and the Google folks aren't giving up any info whatsoever about the original version or it's the most instantly infectious song since the Beatles' "Baby's In Black". I swear I've heard this before, but where? A mystery to me. Other than being a bonus track on the "Give It Away" CD Single from "Bang!", the World Party
website is no help. I even searched the U.S. Copyright Office
records, but came up empty. Chalk it up to aural deja vu I guess. Karl Wallinger has been compared to the Beatles by some reviewers and you can hear the similarities in this performance. Enjoy. (And somebody, please tell me, is this a cover?...)
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David Bowie - Pre Earthling Tour [Acoustic]
David Bowie - Scary MonstersDavid Bowie - Dead Man WalkingDavid Bowie - The Jean GenieDavid Bowie - Seven Years In TibetDavid Bowie - I Can't Read[Live [04/08/97] Radio 99X Atlanta, Georgia][From The CD "Seven Months In America"]On April 8th, 1997, David Bowie stopped by the studios of radio station "99X" in Atlanta, Georgia, with Reeves Gabrels in tow, to perform an on-air acoustic set in preparation for the Earthling world tour. In between reminiscing about "some time spent in the 'can' with Johnny Cash" and "strange riffs" from Jimmy Page, the two fill the room with more music than seems possible with just two guitars, while entertaining an energetic and receptive studio audience. But David Bowie is a pretty large presence on his own. Another artist who's lived a charmed and beautiful life. More Bowie to follow in the next few weeks. Enjoy
[BTW: I use Explorer to post to & review blogalive but recently have been using Firefox more frequently and have only just noticed that with Firefox, Safari, and even Netscape there is a large gap (a few blank lines) between the date / title headers and the photo / song listings for each post. I've fixed this as of todays post. A small error. I hope this looks better. Explorer treated these line breaks a little differently, so I hadn't noticed until surfing the site with Firefox on a friends Powerbook. Yet another reason I should finally trash Explorer...]
David Sylvian & Robert Fripp - Nakano Sun
David Sylvian & Robert Fripp - ExposureDavid Sylvian & Robert Fripp - Gone To EarthDavid Sylvian & Robert Fripp - Jean The Birdman[Live [10/26/93] Nakano Sun Plaza]Herr K. over at
Totally Fuzzy commented on the Japan post (see below) and kindly included a link to
Broken Sky which archives live recordings of Japan and David Sylvian shows. One of the performances is together with Robert Fripp and includes a live version of "Exposure" from Robert Fripp's album of the same title. "Exposure" (the album) is fantastic. It's not entirely in the King Crimson style, however there certainly would be nothing wrong with that. It follows a short-lived King Crimson hiatus and is more like a Peter Gabriel or Todd Rundgren project: it's experimental and thematic with a longing, yearning quality. The Album features Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno (some keyboards), Daryl Hall of Hall & Oats (yeah, really) and angelic singing by Terre Roche of Roaches fame - amongst others. There are beautiful, subtle passages ("Mary", "North Star") together with Fripp landscapes and guitar fireworks ("Disengage"). But I digress...
David Sylvian & Robert Fripp - Nakano Sun PlazaI admit I have to review this performance at face value because I'm not as familiar with David Sylvian's solo work as I am with Robert Fripp. The show features Fripp's wonderfull Frippertronic soundscapes in a few songs. David Sylvian's singing is mature without sounding nostalgic or old. The live electronic drums give the performance a peculiar sound which is both dated and contemporary. How's that for a non committal review? Anyway, I like it, you should too. Again, for the complete concert and more, head on over to the
Broken Sky website. Enjoy.
We Lost A Great One - Johnny Carson
Johnny's Last Show - One For My Baby (And One For The Road)Only Dave Letterman since has come close to the gracious talent that was Johhny Carson who died today, January 24th. Take it away Doc...
MP3 And The Art Of Audio Maintenance
MP3's are here to stay (I think...)Like all (mostly all) audio blogs, blogalive takes advantage of MP3 technology - for today's post I wrote a little bit about discovering, experimenting with and learning to respect MP3's.
A long post...My experience with MP3's are that they're not a replacement for CD's (or radio, or live performances) despite the rhetoric from the Record Companies (emphasis on "Company" not "Records"). There are different ways to disseminate music which profit the "industry" and it's true that digital files will hurt it financially in the short run. But as the end user, my experience using each format differs. I listen to CD's when I want to "commit" or listen to a band or album in high quality the way it was originally intended. Herbert's "Bodily Functions", Greg Davis' "Arbor", Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, John Coltrane, Robert Fripp, these artists & albums are best experienced with headphones or on a decent stereo via a high-quality format. I think everyone agrees that there is and always will be a place for high quality music reproduction.
Due to “lossy” compression MP3's are not high quality, but they have benefits which CD's don't - such as the fact that they're readily available. You already know why - or maybe you don't - but it's because MP3 coding and compression creates small files which are easy to store and transfer. I bet anyone reading this (making the effort to visit an audio blog, this one or any one) can probably download several megs of music at a time by poking around the internet. The music is out there and that's the benefit of MP3's. With CD's, we have a financial and esthetic commitment to the CD's we buy. After all, a CD collection represents "you" to a degree. When someone looks through my CD's, they get an idea of who I am and what I like. You won't find a Justin Timberlake CD in my collection, but I do have a Justin Timberlake MP3 in iTunes ("Rock Your Body" and I'm not a fan), I was curious and wanted to check it out.
MP3's have afforded us the luxury of more experimentation than we ever had with CD's. Most of all to sample music we might otherwise hesitate to purchase. When I first started using
LimeWire I'd scrutinize search results and carefully pick and choose the songs I wanted to download. I had a CD buyer mentality. Music was a commodity. This was the result of the "industry" of music. Admittedly it wasn't long before I was downloading music like the plug was going to get pulled at any moment (I still feel the plug is going to get pulled at any moment). The opportunity for a music fan to exchange and experiment with music is MP3's greatest gift. I'm now mining musical genres, checking out obscure bands, rediscovering lost favorites, essentially broadening my interests and diving into the musical pool head first. Heck, I even have a Justin Timberlake song. This wasn't possible financially with CD's, nor did we have a plethora of editorial audio blogs to hold our hands and introduce us to new music - and so quickly.
When I was young there was plenty of music around of course but like most suburban teens I was fenced in by radio and the tastes of the people around me, I wasn't exposed to much diversity. Fortunately my mother had relatively unusual musical tastes, so I at least had the notion that there was more out there to be discovered (even if I wasn't diggin' Joan Armatrading as much as she was). As I came to the realization that music had an important role to play in my life, I began the process of discovery from magazines, friends, MTV, record stores, wherever. When I first strayed from Pop radio, my tastes in music were still juvenile, but music soon became a hobby. I'm more a fan than collector, but I understood the idea of ownership. These were "my" CD's (tapes and vinyl in the very beginning...) and they represented "my" tastes. I tried to choose carefully.
Of course there were other ways to experience music: radio, tape trading with friends and fans, mix tapes, live performances and recordings, MTV, Night Flight, etc. And that was what I experienced for years: I'd discover something new, try it out on CD, hopefully it was good or had some redeeming value, sometimes I'd trade tapes with friends or make mix tapes (mostly for girlfriends). Then I'd buy more CD's relying on my opinion of the ones I previously bought, trade more tapes, talk to more friends. The CD's started to pile up. By 2000 (when I practically stopped buying music) I had 4,000+ CD's which covered a wall - not a ton, but a lot to me and a focal point of my studio. I still have them, boxed away - I don't even know why I keep them all.
Then I started reading about a new 'thing' called MP3. Reviews focused on the quality, which I think was described as "sucked", but not so much on the eventual obvious implementation of small audio files. They were being compared to CD's of course since MP3's were being ripped from CD's, it made sense to compare "before" and "after". I can remember listening to MP3's with MacAMP and being disappointed, maybe I too expected MP3's to compare to CD's. But eventually I realized this was unfair. I could connect my stereo to my G4, and in an art studio environment, with people talking and working, the convenience of MP3's started to win me over. And the fidelity may have been inferior to CD's that's true, but it was better than radio. And radio programming was pretty bad anyway. What started as a convenience - a way to share music with the people who work with me (they'd bring in CD's to rip to my computer) - became a new way of experiencing music. Buying a CD was expensive and a commitment. Burning CD's from friends was less expensive, but still required a little bit of time - artwork was still important. But MP3's were something different. Because they were almost disposable. They didn't have value, any more or less than a Quark document or Excel spreadsheet. (now however, my MP3 collection as a whole has value and I back it up)
In 2001 I read about the iPod on the Apple website and thought that maybe MP3's day had come. I mean, Apple was on board, and they were really great too - I placed my pre-order for the first generation 5G iPod, which was released on a Tuesday (don't quote me on that) but the following Wednesday Apple sent the iPod via DHL Next Day Air from the factory (somewhere in Asia, how much did they pay for that?) so I had one of the first iPods around - well, around my own tiny universe. I bought a cassette adapter for my Volkswagen and showed the guy at Tweeter my new iPod which he sniffed at, "An Apple walkman, huh?" I think I actually said, "I guarantee you'll be seeing more of these." as if I knew something he didn't. But I just felt the tide turning. I think a lot of us did. I hadn't walked into a record store in ages, the Internet bubble was still inflating and MP3's were part of the love-fest with "new technology". Digital Music was the next big thing.
Sure the sound quality didn't compare to CD's, but I had plenty of CD's already. And although I had a cable modem there still wasn't *that* much music out there. But overall my experimentation with music had never been more, ah, experimental. I was listening to new music and enjoying the process of discovery, and re-discovery, of new styles, artists and bands. MP3's weren't just an encoding format, they were opening my eyes and ears in a way that was proactive and exciting. I liked the little guys. I still have a collector mentality, so organizing MP3's by artist, album, genre, etc. with iTunes gave the files a face - and a clean, user friendly face from Apple too. Nice!
MP3's were about the implementation - sharing - not the compression.
Then the Internet bubble burst. The music labels started yelling time-out, the media predicted the death of music as a career choice and even Lars Ulrich was crying no-fair. And to bring it home, my favorite local record store, "In Your Ear", went out of business. A Providence institution as far back as I could remember and they closed their doors. That sucked. The RIAA cracked down on ISP's and University students. Napster closed up shop (I didn't have much experience with Napster). What a legacy for the lowly MP3 encoding algorithm. Karlheinz Brandenburg probably never imagined what a Frankenstein his little creation would become. A Godzilla really.
And still we hear about the demise of the music industry. Tonight we had a small dinner party and the topic came up and I asked how many people actually downloaded music, no one did but me. And everyone still buys CD's. The problems of the music industry may be exacerbated by digital file sharing, but record companies are in the same position as the rest of retail America - adapt or sink, but stop complaining. I'm willing to spend my money on music, I think we all are. I recently purchased "Live Mixtape Pt. 2" by Breakestra and "Teeter" from Gregory Douglass since both are independent and not raking it in from the industry machine. But it was a conscious effort. I don't really purchase music from iTunes either as I fill my quota with audio blogs, LimeWire,
Epitonic, surfing the 'net, and sharing with friends. But the record industry needs to recognize digital files as an opportunity, not the enemy. Apple's iTunes is a start.
In the end MP3's have changed the way I experience music - and for the better, despite what the labels are saying. And I support - in spirit - Apple's effort to force the commodity issue with digital downloads, 200,000 iTunes Music Store downloads can't be wrong. MP3's have a place of their own, that's different from classic radio, Internet radio, satellite radio (we have Sirius), CD's & tapes. They've allowed me to step away from the commercialization and "packaging" and get back to what I always loved about music - the experiment. And for that, I fondly respect the little MP3 with the less-than-perfect sound.
If the record labels can find a way capitalize on the digital revolution, they'll have my money again. But there's plenty of music to enjoy without an associated cost at the moment, so the ball's in their court. (no more sports references, promise).
In the meantime, I'll try to do my part so here are today's live tracks. Enjoy.
Tortoise - TNTTortoise - Ten Day IntervalTortoise - In Sarah[Recorded live at the "German Festival", Frankfurt, Germany - October 23, 1999]
Theme Week: New Wave - Japan
Japan - Quiet Life [Live]Japan - Alien [Live]Japan - My New Career [Live]Live February 7, 1981 - Hammersmith Odeon, LondonDavid Sylvian lives a charmed life. Before he embarked on a musically diverse solo career he was the charismatic leader of the British band "Japan". They've been compared to contemporaries "Roxy Music", "David Bowie" and the "New York Dolls" and influenced followers such as "The New Romantics" and "Duran, Duran" (listen to the similarities in "Quiet Life" - also note the Robert Fripp style guitar solo). All very different from David Sylvians post Japan career as collaborator with Robert Fripp,
Brian Eno, Holger Czukay, Ryuichi Sakamoto and others. Japan achieved a respected and influential nod from musicians and critics while eluding popularity here in America. Why Duran Duran and not Japan? David Sylvian surely had the looks and style to pull it off. He's currently married to Ingrid Chavez - Prince fans will recognize her name as she's one of his numerous female singer / persona side projects. The tracks here come from a live performance from the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1981. Enjoy.
Theme Week: New Wave - The Fixx
The Fixx - Deeper And Deeper [Live]
The Fixx - Stand Or Fall [Live]
The Fixx - Are We Ourselves? [Live]
[From The Album "React"]
Why didn't The Fixx connect with audiences more than they did? The Fixx tour bus stopped for a performance at the Living Room in Providence, Rhode Island during the "Phantoms" tour - this would have been 1984. A bunch of us were eager to see them live and made our way to the front. The playing - top notch. The songs - catchy. The band - well, a little lackluster, and their vibe - not what we expected. Like Mr. Waternoose says, "It's about Presence!". We were let down and maybe the rest of the '80's fans were disappointed too. Whatever the reason, The Fixx might have a catchy back catalog (which doesn't sound all that dated to my ears) but they're mired in relative obscurity. Were the lyrics too dark? Too indecipherable? Too Political? Maybe it was lead singer Cy Curnin's lack of a smile. I'm not complaining, I still very much like "Phantoms", "Reach The Beach", and "Shuttered Room". They have a unique sound that both fits right into the 80's new wave family and stands apart from the pack. Where are they now? Visit
www.thefixx.com and you'll find, as I did, that they have a new album out. Go figure. I always feel bad when a band I once liked is still around and touring. Like I've brushed off a friend. Has anyone heard the later releases? These tracks come from the official live release "React" which culls performances from two Canadian appearances on the Walkabout tour: October 22 & 24, 1986. "This lingering problem we have - of not knowing who we are..." - from "Are We Ourselves" - is prophetic I think. Enjoy.
Theme Week: New Wave - Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo - California Girls [Live]
Oingo Boingo - Louise [Live]
[From "Madam Wong's West"]
Oingo Boingo - Ain't This The Life [Live]
[From The Video "URGH! A Music War"]
Spirited New Wave with a sunny California twist, "Boingo" is an onomatopoeia (yeah, I had to look up the spelling) for the on-stage theatrics and music the band released in the '80's. Danny Elfman, lead singer, songwriter, arranger & esthetic chieftain for the Boingo style, successfully transitioned to life after the Big '80's as a composer with credits including "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "The Simpsons", "Big Fish," "Good Will Hunting", "Men in Black" and a bunch more (Check out
IMDB). Oingo Boingo had hits including "Dead Man's Party", "Just Another Day" and of course the throwaway "Weird Science" from the John Hughes teen flick of the same name. Their sound encompassed sca, punk, new wave, and pop and Elfman's stage experience added a theatrical style often compared to Devo, but I think that's a lazy comparison to their early sound. Oingo Boingo comes off more like a lighter, happier version of The Fixx to me. The first two tracks are from the well known bootleg "Madam Wong's West". "Aint This The Life" comes from "URGH! A Music War", the quintessential video document of early punk & new wave. Sound quality is typical for bootlegs, but the energy comes through crystal clear. Enjoy!
Theme Week: New Wave - Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby - Windpower [Live]
Thomas Dolby - Airwaves [Live]
Thomas Dolby - Europa & The Pirate Twins [Live]
NEW:
Thomas Dolby - One Of My Submarines [Live]
[From The Album "Forty"]
Science! Thomas Dolby - like Gary Numan - was saddled with a novelty hit, however he's not a one-hit-wonder. There were "Hyperactive" as well as "One Of My Submarines", which charted higher than "She Blinded Me With Science". His dad was an archaeologist and I imagine that's where some of the Dolby imagery comes from. I attended a talk of his regarding technology and music at Brown University in the late 1980's [I wasn't a student, just a visitor]. Although he didn't perform, he was very gracious and came out to talk to us afterwards. "The Flat Earth" is a great album from start to finish (though "Hyperactive" could have been saved for release elsewhere). 1992's "Astronauts & Heretics" was an attempt to capture the Dolby magic again and succeeded at some level but is also a little self conscious. A true renaissance man, he's dabbled with technology
[Beatnik], film, music and the internet as well as family life. He notes on his
website that he sometimes answers email & posts to chat groups.
Science! Enjoy!
Theme Week: New Wave - Gary Numan
Gary Numan - Are 'Friends' Electric [Live]
Gary Numan - Metal [Live]
Gary Numan - Cars [Live]
[The Flux Capacitor has shifted from "Big '80's" to "New Wave"] Between Tubeway Army and his solo work, Gary Numan is best known here in America for the somewhat novelty hit "Cars", but one of my favorite tracks, "Are 'Friends' Electric?", reached #1 on the UK singles chart in 1979 - who knew? I have to say his sincerity and longevity are respectable. He's got his own particular style, you know a Gary Numan track when you hear it. He's comfortable doing what he does best with a limited palette - Kraftwerk meets Adam Ant - but does it well. The early albums are best listened to from start to finish, back when an Album was a one hour journey into one mans (or one bands) musical vision. I recommend the obvious "The Pleasure Principle" as well as "Replicas" and "Telekon". He also hasn't seemed to have aged much, he's got more hair now than back in the day, what's up with that? [My Girlfriend at the time - now wife - created a nice piece of Book Art while at the Rhode Island School of Design inspired by the lyrics to "Cars"]
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Theme Week: Big '80's - Psychedelic Furs
Psychedelic Furs - Heartbeat [Live]
[From The Album "Should God Forget: A Retrospective"]
A critic favorite with loyal fans who hide skinny ties and mousse in their closets for a chance to shake their 36-year old asses at the hit-or-miss reunion performances, Richard Butler's "Psychedelic Furs" made a mark on '80's post-punk, new-wave teens stateside - and worldwide. Me included. What would those John Hughes films be without the Furs? Actually, there's only the one, "Pretty In Pink", but looking back, I guess Butler's voice just seemed right for all those films. There's something to be said for a sound which can define a period in ones life. Even the Love Spit Love material came off as nostalgic, simply because of Richard Butler's droning snarl of a voice. But where are they now? Enjoy!
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Theme Week: Big '80's - Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello - Radio, Radio [Live]
Elvis Costello is a formidable talent, a clever lyricist who seems to know what's cool before we do even if he's the nerdy geek at the high school prom. "Radio, Radio" is one of those tracks that straddles different ideas and genres - punk, new wave, first wave, rockabilly, pop. I think this recording holds its own with the Police & Joe Jackson tracks previously posted for this theme week - as a trio I think they sound nice together. Rock-N-Roll trivia: Elvis Costello is married to Diana Krall and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 (thanks Google). Enjoy!
Theme Week: Big '80's - Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson - I'm The Man
Joe Jackson states the obvious: he's a man. [and it may be different for girls but is she really going out with him?] Joe Jackson is best known as a singer-songwriter but wants to be considered a composer, after all he's a former student of the Royal Academy of Music. That's him singing on the new Shatner / Ben Folds "Has Been" track, "Common People" [which is a surprisingly fantastic album...] Years ago when I was living in Boston and just launching my company, I'd visit Tower Records on Newbury Street (around the corner from the original Newbury Comics) to look at CD's I couldn't afford and instead I'd rent concert videos to record the audio portion onto TDK SA-90 tapes. Live music for the poor - but hey, they were good times. There was a particularly good Joe Jackson video which I think was this one
[Live In Tokyo]. The first trio of albums, "Look Sharp!", "I'm The Man" and "Beat Crazy" are great. Enjoy!
Theme Week: Big '80's - U2
U2 - Out Of Control [Live]
These young lads say they need 500.00 Pounds and I think they're serious - look at Bono, he's packin'. This performance has great energy. I've never seen U2 live, but this is the kind of show you'd want to see. Forget the Pop Mart blitzkrieg, I'll take an intimate local Dublin show any day - even with Bono doing his thespian thing. But I'm not getting on stage to dance. Not even if they play "Bad". Did I just say U2 plays bad? Remember Live Aid, who was that girl and where is she now? You have to give them credit for still giving it a go after so many years and effort. Glad they didn't call it quits like The Police, though like all great bands, the early work is the best. Enjoy.
Theme Week: Big '80's - The Police
The Police - Bring On The Night [Live]
I've been featuring the 70's for a while so this weeks "theme" is the '80's - specifically pop of the eighties. Starting off with the Police [who passed the torch to U2 in 1986 - they're next] but you gotta ask yourself, why did Sting have to break up the band after Synchronicity? "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles" was great and all, and I think he's had a bunch of hits since. But I don't know if the music has mattered as much as what the Police recorded. I can remember driving around the suburbs of southern Rhode Island listening to the Police on my friend Tim's tape deck, trying to figure out to the different parts - I played keyboards, he played guitar. For years I never made the connection between the band name "Police" and the name "Sting". I guess it was so obvious I never really thought about it. Enjoy.
Theme Week: Progressive - Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
[BBC Studios July 16, 1970]
My Christmas Pink Floyd story: We had a holiday party here at the house and one of the guests was looking through our DVD's and commented that he was a big Pink Floyd fan but not familiar with the DVD "Live At Pompeii". But I said, sure, you know the film, slow camera pans in the Pompeii Amphitheater? Careful With That Axe Eugene? You know, with Roger Waters noodling away at an early version of On The Run? No, he says.. "Never heard of it, but I'm a huge fan you know... I was there at the early beginning, you know, when they released Dark Side". All I could do was nod and say yeah, great album. I mentioned this to my wife and asked, does it matter? Does it matter that I knew more about Pink Floyd than our guest or that I may have a better understanding of their place on the Rock History Family Tree? I never really get to use this information - maybe here on the blog, but not everyday. Who cares if I know about Syd's schizophrenic descent or that I once read Shine On? Does any of that matter? Does it make me a better dad, friend or husband? It didn't make me a better host. What's the use of being interested enough to learn and read about music when it practically never comes in handy - or when you do decide to bring it up you come off as a nerd or aloof or worse, as obnoxious. Does sharing my music here with the world matter? I mean, in the big picture?
Check out the
Pink Floyd ROIO website.
Theme Week: Progressive - King Crimson
King Crimson - The Great Deceiver
King Crimson - Starless & Bible Black
[Asbury Park, NJ June 28, 1974]
There have been many King Crimson shows officially released over the years - visit
Amazon for an exhaustive list of CD's. This performance comes from an unauthorized CD of a show which is dated June 28, 1974, though I'm suspect about the accuracy. There is an official CD titled "USA" which lists the same date, but not the same tracks as my boot CD. What gives? Inaccurate CD review? Sloppy bootleggers probably... Any Crimson fans out there can help? Regardless, the performance is top notch. I love Fripp's guitar - always have. King Crimson seems to be in a world of their own. A world that's nice to visit now and then. If I can correct or confirm the date, I'll post it here. Enjoy!
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Theme Week: Progressive - Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash - The Pilgrim
[Live WMKC Studios Memphis, TN - 08/21/72]
[From The EP "Live In Memphis"]
Wishbone Ash were to their 1970's British fans what the Allman Brothers are to southern rock Americans: a hard rockin' salt-of-the-earth band with two lead guitarists - easy enough to nod to at the backyard BBQ yet interesting enough to take a long hard listen to over a few Buds. This 10 minute track, written for their "Pilgrimage" album, was originally only available on the hard to find "Live In Memphis" Promo EP. It's now available as a bonus track on the 30th anniversary re-issue of the seminal "Argus" album. They seem to be going for something akin to King Crimson lite, however not many of my fellow Americans know much about them so I thought this would make a nice post. "The Pilgrim" is an instrumental with both guitarists taking the the reigns in their nimble hands. This was recorded for Memphis radio station WMKC without overdubs in 1972 - sounds pretty nice for a 32 year old recording. They're still touring today. Enjoy!
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