Friday, December 27

Big Star - Portland, OR 2002

Dante’s
Portland, OR
Dec. 28, 2002
11th Anniversary of this show
Happy Birthday LX Chilton (R.I.P.)

audience recording (sound quality VG; good sound for a club show; audience is enthused but respectful, so no crowd noise issues; there’s very slight distortion on occasion, but it’s not a big deal)

Big Star onstage in 2009, a year before Alex's death
C. Batka / NYTimes photo

HOLIDAY GOOD CHEER & SPECIAL THANKS to The Fool for generously sharing this show with me, and thanks to the taper and whoever was the first to share…

01 In the Street
02 Don't Lie to Me
03 When My Baby's Beside Me
04 I Am the Cosmos
05 Way Out West
06 Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)
07 The Ballad of El Goodo
Big Star's latest: Nothing Can Hurt Me
an archival release, on Omnivore Records;
all tracks previously unreleased; GO BUY IT!
08 Back of a Car
09 Daisy Glaze
10 Thirteen
11 Baby Strange (T. Rex cover)
12 For You
13 Feel
14 September Gurls
15 Thank You Friends
16 Happy Birthday Alex Chilton
17 Slut
18 Patti Girl
19 Hot Thing
20 Big Black Car
21 Jesus Christ


Big  Star:
Jon Auer - guitar, vocals
LX Chilton - lead vocals, guitar
Jody Stephens - drums, vocals
Ken Stringfellow - bass, vocals


Friday, December 13

Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ - Dec. 1986

The dB’s
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ
December 7, 1986

audience recording (sound quality VG to VG+; transfer from first-generation tape)

HOLIDAY GREETINGS to the taper and to dB’s Fan for his generosity

A good, sweaty club show deserves a good, sweaty photo...
  
01 Everybody's Happy Nowadays (Buzzcocks cover)
02 She Got Soul 
03 Living a Lie 
04 Lonely Is as Lonely Does
05 Never Say When
06 Today Could Be the Day 
07 New Gun In Town 
08 I Lie
09 Never Before and Never Again
10 White Train 
11 Darby Hall 
12 Change With the Changing Times
13 Any Old Thing
14 Amplifier 
15 Love Is for Lovers 
16 The Room's Still Spinning (Will Rigby song)
17 A Spy In the House of Love
18 See No Evil (Television cover) 
19 Feliz Navidad


The dB’s:
Jeff Beninato – bass, vocals
Will Rigby – drums, vocals
Gene Holder – lead guitar
Peter Holsapple – vocals, guitar
   

Wednesday, December 11

Peter & Chris - 'Mavericks Live' souvenir

Chris Stamey & Peter Holsapple
'Mavericks Live'
The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
December 6, 2013

audience recording (sound quality VG+; video sourced & sounding pretty spiffy)

BIG THANKS to Jim F and Cynicor for sharing

Chris and Peter live at World Cafe Upstairs in Philly.
photos by the fab Chris Sikich

ROB SEZ: Here's a little something to commemorate the two recent, special shows at which Peter and Chris performed their classic duo album, Mavericks, in its entirety. The first was in Philadelphia on Dec. 5, and the second was this show the next evening in Brooklyn, NY. Thankfully, a couple of fans were there to record some of the songs, so we get to enjoy a bit of virtual reality.
   
SAMPLE: "Lonely Is as Lonely Does (Bell House 2013)"    


01 Geometry
02 Lovers Rock
03 I Want to Break Your Heart
       (partial)
04 She Was the One
05 Hollywood Waltz (partial)
06 The Child In You
07 Lonely Is As Lonely Does
08 Christmas Time

Tracks 1-5, thanks to Jim F.
Tracks 6-8, thanks to Cynicor

 
MUSICIANS:
Peter Holsapple - guitar, vocals, recorder
Chris Stamey - guitar, vocals
Paul Moschella - drums, percussion
Jeremy Chatzky - electric bass
David Schramm - electric 6-string, electric 12-string and lap steel guitars
Charles Cleaver - organ, piano and accordion, percussion
Jane Scarpantoni - 'cello
Lydia Kavanagh - vocals, percussion
 


Read reviews of the Philly show HERE (full setlist included) and HERE. You can read a preview story with quotes from Peter HERE.
 
Mavericks was reissued in 2008 with 6 bonus tracks
BUY IT! (reissue not available as a download)
 

Saturday, December 7

Big Star doco = boffo!



Yeah, OK -- the title for this post is pretty goofy.

But I did want to express my enthusiasm for the engrossing, entertaining, and just all-around excellent documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. It's been in limited theatrical release and on the film festival circuit for a year or so. But now it's available everywhere via streaming, digital download, standard DVD and Blu-Ray.


As a reader of this blog, chances are you've already heard about the film. But if you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the trailer and additional clip found here, then do the right thing.
 

 
Soon, I'll post my review of the documentary. Members of The dB's, Mitch Easter and other leading lights of this blog are featured throughout the film. Don't wait, though...

GO WATCH, BUY & ENJOY IT NOW!
 

STREAM / RENT IT:
YouTube (Google)

DOWNLOAD IT:

BUY THE DVD:


Don't forget the soundtrack, which is filled with alt. mixes, demos, etc.

Friday, December 6

Big Star - New York City 1995

Tramp’s
Lynne Porterfield design
New York, NY
November 8, 1995

audience recording (sound quality range VG- to VG; transfer from master tape)

ROB SEZ: This is Big  Star’s first NYC show in 22 years. Enjoy this one for the energized performance and crowd enthusiasm rather than for the sound quality (which isn’t great, but isn’t too bad, either).

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to the taper and uploader!

01 In the Street
02 Patti Girl*
03 Don't Lie to Me
04 When My Baby's Beside Me
05 Way Out West
06 Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)
07 banter
08 The Ballad of El Goodo
09 Back of a Car
10 Big Black Car (cuts in)
11 My Baby Just Cares For Me**
12 Feel
13 September Gurls
14 Daisy Glaze
15 For You
16 Baby Strange (T. Rex cover)
17 Thank You Friends
18 band intros, more banter
19 Slut (Todd Rundgren cover)
20 encore applause, tuning
21 Kansas City
22 Pennsylvania 6-5000

*Dick Campbell tune; Gary & The Hornets cover (LX and Teenage Fanclub released a studio recording of this song on a 45-inch single in 1995)

**Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn tune

Big  Star:
LX Chilton – lead vocals, guitar
Jody Stephens – drums, vocals
Ken Stringfellow – bass, vocals
Jon Auer - guitar, vocals

   
 Outside Tramp's
NYC in 1996

Ken & Jody (above); LX (at left)



Grab this before someone turns it 
into a commercial release!!




  

Here's the second commercial solo release 
since the death of LX Chilton in 2010:

(it used to be a boot!)

Friday, November 29

Rain Parade - Madison, WI 1984 & London 1985

Bunky’s
Madison, WI
Nov. 8, 1984

NOTE: 2 separate shows, 2 separate downloads
If you like these and ask nicely, I might post some more later…

audience recording (sound quality VG; a club show, so of course you can hear audience chatter, but not ruinously so)

Rain  Parade: contemplating what they've done to your mind...

SPECIAL THANKS to gomonkeygo at The New Disease, where I first snagged these...
 
01 You Are My Friend
02 One and a Half Hours Ago
03 Prisoners
04 On the Way Down 
05 Kaleidoscope 
06 Blue
07 Don't Feel Bad
08 Sad Eyes Kill
09 No Easy Way Down 
10 This Can't Be Today
11 Broken Horse
12 Crashing Dream 
13 Ain't That Nothin’ (Television cover)


Riverside Studios
Hammersmith
London, UK
May 19, 1985

soundboard recording (quality Ex--; quite nice sound)

01 You Are My Friend
02 This Can't Be Today
03 Blue
04 Prisoners
05 Broken Horse
06 Kaleidoscope
07 Saturday's Asylum
08 Don't Feel Bad
09 What She's Done to Your Mind
10 No Easy Way Down
11 Night Shade
12 When You Dance (Neil Young cover)



Rain  Parade:
Will Glenn - keyboards
Mark Marcum – drums
Matt Piucci - guitar, vocals
Steven Roback - bass, vocals
John Thoman – guitar, vocals

Learn more about the music of Rain  Parade at Wikipedia or AllMusic … and read this great, extensive interview with Matt Piucci and other leaders of the “Paisley Underground”
   

Friday, November 22

Joe Jackson Band - Live at The Beeb 1980

Live at The Beeb
Dec. 1979 & Oct. 1980

first set:     Portsmouth, UK, Dec. 14, 1979
second set: Hammersmith Palais, London, Oct. 27, 1980

BBC broadcasts (sound quality Ex--) The first set kinda spoils you for the second. Tracks 1-8 have the better sound, but both performances are great.

The Joe  Jackson Band formed in the late 1970s, recorded 3 albums, toured a lot, and broke up. In 2002, they reunited and recorded a new album, released in 2003. Not bad!

ROB SEZ: If you poke around the blog a bit, you'll see I have a fondness for alt-pop from the UK (classic & classy stuff only, of course!). So here's another one I like a lot, at least Joe's early days.

01 Look Sharp
02 Friday
03 Geraldine and John
04 Kinda Kute
05 The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff cover)
06 Pretty Boys
Joe Jackson: reading it in the Sunday Papers...
07 Don't Wanna Be Like That
08 I'm the Man
   
09 Intro
10 I'm the Man
11 Biology
12 Beat Crazy
13 Look Sharp
14 Crime Don't Pay
15 Pretty Boys
16 On Your Radio
17 Friday
18 Is She Really Going Out With Him?
19 Don't Wanna Be Like That
20 Got the Time

#1-8 = Guildhall, Portsmouth, UK Dec. 14, 1979
#9-20 = Hammersmith Palais, London, Oct. 27, 1980
TT: 1 hour, 21 mins.


Joe  Jackson Band:
Joe  Jackson – vocals, keyboard
Graham Maby – bass, vocals
Gary Sanford – guitar, vocals
Dave Houghton – drums, vocals


Want more shows like this? Have a look here, here, here and here.

Learn more about the music of Joe  Jackson at his official site or this great fan site