Friday, July 25

Let's Active - San Francisco 1983 + early demos


Let’s  Active
San Francisco 1983
+ early demos

Video caps montage, “Every Word Means No” (aka, 'Puppies Run Amok')

audience recording (sound quality VG-; it’s a club show and there’s plenty of audience chatter, but still a very listenable concert; sound quality improves after first 2 or 3 songs)
 
SAMPLE: "Room With a View" (S.F. 1983)

The Kabuki, San Francisco, CA
Nov. 10, 1983 (opening for R.E.M.)
I think it's time to use the Jeep photo...
01 Easy Does
02 Make Up With Me
03 Flags for Everything
04 Ring True
05 Leader of Men
06 Room With a View
07 Ornamental
08 In Between
09 Edge of the World
10 Every Word Means No
11 Classical Gas (cover)

soundboard recordings (quality range: VG to Ex-; various sources account for the variability)

Early demos, 1981-82
12 In Fun Town (Version 2) demo
13 I Will Understand (Version 2) demo
14 We Do the 'What If' (demo)
Man with a musical plan: Mitch  Easter
15 Safety In Numbers (demo)
16 Two Yous (demo)*
17 Make Up With Me (demo)
18 Leader of Men (demo)
19 Room With a View (demo)

*diff. take or mix than version on "Wear & Tear" demos collection

TT: 1:07:12

MP3@320 (some of the demo tracks have lower bit rates, 192-256kbps)


Let’s  Active:
Faye Hunter (R.I.P.) – bass, vocals
Sara Romweber – drums
Mitch  Easter – guitar, vocals

 ONLY ONE OF THESE appeared in the 'Best of' demos set 
posted HERE in 2012
 

Friday, July 18

Marshall Crenshaw - Mountain Stage 1991 & 2009

Mountain Stage
Charleston, WV
1991 & 2009
bonus: Mitch Easter solo set!
Marshall Crenshaw: he's been making great music for decades

FM and pre-FM recordings

sound quality: Ex- (two great-sounding recordings)

BIG THANKS to TN for sharing the 1991 set and to a special friend of the blog for passing it along to me

REPERCUSSION: Mitch Easter produced a track on Crenshaw's third album, Downtown, and played guitar on the Don Dixon-produced follow-up, Mary Jean & 9 Others. As you can hear in the first of these shows, Mitch also played some live dates with MC.
MC plays the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest, 2009
photo by Debra Amerson via Flickr
Mountain Stage, Sept. 29, 1991 (aired week of 1992-10-04)
01 intro
02 Monday Morning Rock
03 Don't Disappear Now
04 Fantastic Planet of Love
05 Calling Out for Love at Crying Time
Enjoy a rare, early solo set by Mitch
photo by Paul Cory

06 Chalk Outline (Mitch Easter)
07 Turn Me, Too (Mitch Easter)
08 I Wonder (Mitch Easter)

09 Cynical Girl
10 Valerie (Richard Thompson cover)
11 You Should Have Been There
12 You're My Favorite Waste of Time 

Mountain Stage, Nov. 1, 2009
      (aired week of 2010-09-10)
13 Live and Learn
14 Someday Someway
15 band intros
16 Someone Told Me
17 Eventually
18 Passing Through
19 Never Coming Down

TT: 1:07:04

MP3@256-320kbps

Musicians, 2009 appearance:
Marshall Crenshaw - vocals, guitar
Graham Maby - bass
Tony Leone - drums
David Mansfield - various instruments

Mitch Easter - guitar, vocals (1991 appearance only)

MORE MARSHALL CRENSHAW LIVE SHOWS 
can be found at  BB Chronicles and So Many Roads.

MC's latest release is Red Wine, one in a series of 10-inch EPs.  
Buy it directly from the artist (includes digital download)
Learn more about the music of Marshall Crenshaw at his official site and/or AllMusic
 

Friday, July 11

Teenage Fanclub - Ultimate TFc Acoustic Album

The Ultimate TFc Acoustic Album
various acoustic tracks, live sessions, alt. versions
  
preFM, soundboards & FM captures
   
sound quality range: VG to Ex- (only anomalies are a very few brief, static-induced pops on 2 tracks)   
Teenage Fanclub, onstage in 2010 (this & below, CBatka/NYTimes)
ROB SEZ: One of my favorite Teenage Fanclub releases is the all-acoustic Have Lost It EP. I realized recently that I have a treasure trove of TFc tracks, and could assemble the best acoustic (or, in some cases, semi-acoustic) tracks in one place. Although a handful of these appeared on compilations given away with some publication or other, none has seen an official/commercial release.

01 Mellow Doubt (White Session) 
Teenage Fanclub: Alex Chilton was a big fan
02 Starsign (White Session)
03 I'll Make It Clear
    (White Session)
04 Sparky's Dream
    (White Session)
05 Have You Ever Seen 
     the Rain? (White Session)
06 Verisimilitude (Radio 1)
07 Going Places (Radio 1)
08 I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better
    (Radio 1)
09 Cul De Sac (SBN Session)
10 The Sun Shines from You
    (SBN Session)
11 The World'll Be OK
    (alt. version, Scotland On Sunday)
12 I Need Direction (alt. version, Scotland On Sunday)
13 Green Grow the Rushes O' (Dutch Radio)
TFc still release records and tour, on occasion
14 The Shadows (Radio 1)
15 Norman 3 (VPRO Session)
16 Your Love Is the Place 
     Where I Come From (Vox)
17 Baby Lee (Radio 2)
18 Sweet Days Waiting (Radio 2)
 
TT: 1:06:53

MP3@256


Track Info
1-5 = White Sessions, Inter Studios, Paris, FR on Bernard Lenoir show (aka Black Sessions) 1995-04-11 (track 5 is CCR cover)
6-8 = BBC Radio 1 session with Mark Radcliffe 1995-06-21
9, 10 = SBN Session (location & date unknown)
11, 12 = rec. 1991, from Scotland On Sunday EP CD (newspaper give-away, 2005)
13 = (R. Burns song); Dutch radio acoustic session 1993 with Norman + Raymond
14 = (The Creepers cover); Live on Radio 1 tape (given away with Vox mag.), 1996
15 = Villa 65 show, VPRO Radio, Hilversum, Netherlands, Sept. 1993
16 = Haute Couture compilation CD (given away with Vox mag.), 1997
17, 18 = BBC Radio 2 live, Radcliffe and Maconie Session 2010-05-26

Two other TFc posts at the blog:
A 1993 live collection with LX Chilton here,
and a split post with The Posies here.

Learn more about the music of Teenage Fanclub at TFc's own site as well as AllMusic 



Friday, July 4

Thea Gilmore - Sings Sandy Denny (& others)

TG Sings Sandy Denny (& others)
Various sources, mostly live

mostly audience recordings (sound quality range VG- to VG+; the vocals are clear but somewhat distant on the first 4 tracks)


TG sings SD in Liverpool May 2012. Photo by Mudkiss, via Flickr
Thea  Gilmore’s Don’t Stop Singing (2011) is an album of new tunes with words by Sandy Denny — lyrics that had never been set to music during Sandy’s lifetime. The first 10 tracks in this collection are live and alternate versions (plus one older Sandy song). The others are either Thea’s own compositions or covers. In a word, GREAT STUFF!

Repercussion: Peter Holsapple is a big fan of Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention, the best-known band with which Sandy sang. Peter and many of his fellow Continental Drifters were the house band for a multi-artist tribute to the music of Sandy Denny (organized by Peter) in 1998, and they recorded an entire album of Sandy Denny / Fairport Convention / Richard Thompson covers called Listen, Listen.

MANY THANKS to all who recorded & shared these tracks

Thanks to UncleBoko for these photos
from the London SD Tribute Show, May 2012
01 Glistening Bay (live)
02 London (live)
03 Long Time Gone (live)
04 Don't Stop Singing (live)
05 Pain In My Heart (live)
06 Like an Old Fashioned 
     Waltz (live)
07 Georgia (live)
08 Don't Stop Singing 
     (live, acoustic)
09 London (demo)
10 London (live)
11 Thea G interview 
      (re unreleased SD lyrics)

12 Contessa (live session)
13 Red, White and Black
     (live session)
14 To the Bone (acoustic)
15 Old Soul (live session)
16 My Friend, Goodbye (live)

17 I Want to Tell You
     (Beatles cover)
18 Girl from the North 
     Country (Dylan cover)

TT: 1:07:16


TRACK INFO:
1-3 = “The Lady” live tribute to Sandy Denny, The Barbican, London, UK 2012-05-23 (aud)
4 = “The Lady” live tribute to SD, The Anvil, Basingstoke, Hants, UK 2012-05-24 (aud)
5 = Jazz Café, London, UK 2013-03-12 (aud)
6-7 = Cecil Sharp House, London, UK 2012-02-04 (aud)
8 = Andrew Marr television programme, UK 2011-11-20 (TV audio)
9 = undated studio demo subtitled “Work In Progress 2” (sbd)
10 = Great British Folk Festival, 2012 (aud)
11 = BBC Breakfast television programme, 2012-04-21 (TV audio)

12–13 = BBC Radio 2 live session, 2006 (FM)
14 = acoustic version recorded at home by TG (sbd)
15 = from Public Television program “Sun Studios Sessions” 2009 (TV audio)
16 = Union Chapel, London, UK 2012 (aud)

17 = from Mojo magazine’s various-artist compilation Revolver Reloaded, given away with copies of Mojo
18 = BBC Radio 2 special “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (various artists), May 2013 (spoken intro by BBC DJ Mark Radcliffe)

  Thea's recent album of songs set to Sandy's lyrics is impressive
(see this feature story about it in the UK's Telegraph)
 

Learn more about the music of Thea  Gilmore