Rob's Pages

Friday, January 30

The Stems - 'Last' Show in Australia (2009)

Step Inn
Brisbane, Australia
Oct. 11, 2009
 
(billed as the band's last-ever show in Australia)
 
Dom Mariani and The Stems play a 'farewell' show in Perth, Australia
photo by lunderall via Flickr
audience recording (sound quality VG+; this one earns a high rating for an audie: the house sound coming from the club’s PA, the recording quality, and the just-right rowdiness from the crowd — it's ALL good. Taper used binaural in-ear mics, so he suggests listening with earbuds or headphones for best effect…)

DEEP DEBT O’ GRATITUDE to ex_king_john (Turnitupto10 blog) for recording and sharing this show.

ROB SEZ: Didn't know anything about The Stems (or Dom Mariani or his many Aussie-based bands) until blog friends at Ash pointed me to their music. The Stems were a garage-pop band in the mid-1980s based in Perth, Australia. They didn't last long, but produced some wildly impressive music (think Flamin' Groovies meets Hoodoo Gurus, and you're in the ballpark). They reunited in 2007, but declared there would be no more Stems after a tour of Australia & Europe in 2009 & 2010. (Now, I hear they're still doing live shows — never say "never", Dom!)  REPERCUSSION: After The Stems were no more, Dom Mariani collaborated many times with Mitch Easter, who produced recordings by The Someloves, The Orange Humble Band and DM3.

Dom & The Stems, live in Spain
photos by Ricardo via Flickr
SAMPLE: "Mr. Misery" (Brisbane 2009)  

01 intro + Get to Know Me
02 Mr. Misery
03 Hellbound Train
04 band intros + Man With the 
     Golden Heart
05 Leave You Way Behind
06 The Otherside
07 Move Me
08 You Can't Turn the Clock Back
09 Undying Love
10 Make You Mine
11 For Always
12 She Sees Everything
13 Rosebud
14 Surround Me
15 Sad Girl
16 She Waved Goodbye
17 She Waved Goodbye (outro)
18 Love Is Gone
19 Sorry (Easybeats cover)
20 She's a Monster
21 At First Sight
22 outro

TT: 1 hour, 34 mins.

MP3@320

The Stems:
Dom Mariani - guitar, vocals
Julian Matthews - bass
Dave Shaw - drums
Richard Lane - keyboard, vocals
 
Learn more about the music of 
The Stems at Wikipedia 


Friday, January 23

Cliff Hillis – Bordentown, N.J. 2014 + bonus

The Record Collector
Bordentown, N.J.
Dec. 27, 2014
  
audience recording (sound quality VG+; a very solid recording with slightly distant-sounding vocals, but virtually no distracting crowd noise). The live set is #1-9; the rest are bonus tracks from various sources.
  
The Paradox of Cliff: How can such an unassuming guy make such compelling music?
HECK YES THANKS to TheCommish for recording & sharing, and to CH himself for sharing some of the bonus tracks

ROB SEZ: Where has Cliff Hillis been all my life? (OK, not my whole life, but the past 14 years, when he's been making awesome pop-rock music as a solo artist...) AllMusic says Cliff's music is inspired by artists like Matthew Sweet and Velvet Crush, with a "ringing, guitar-driven classicist sound." The LA Times says his music would "fit snugly on a play-list with Squeeze, Teenage Fanclub and Jason Falkner." I recently read a post by a blogger who was raving about Cliff, and I wondered, "What's all the fuss about?" Check the sample, stream some music at his web site, and find out why I'm fussing, too.
   

01 Just One More
02 Dashboard
03 Keep the Blue Skies
04 Turn On a Dime
05 Start Again
06 I Saw the Light
07 Goodnight Sunlight
08 Welcome to You
09 Ways and Means

10 Dream Good
11 I Saw the Light
12 Soul and Fire
13 Like an Island
14 Good and Bad
15 Follow You
16 Better Than Myself
17 Christmas Wish
18 Mother of Pearl (early version)


BONUS TRACKS INFO:
10 = Ticked Off Music Fest, Wilmington, DE 2013-06-15 (thanks to thezenengines)
11 = Todd Rundgren cover, performed by In the Pocket, feat. Cliff Hillis, lead vocals; WXPN live, Philadelphia, PA 2014-05-09 (thanks to A. Hickman)
12 = Sebadoh cover; YouTube-only release posted by CH
13 = TQ Show (somewhere in Delware), 2007-05-02 (thanks to Cliff Reinert)
14 to 16 = (with Roger Hillis), The Jared Morris Show, WGMD-FM Summer 2009 (thanks to JM)
17 = NRBQ cover; YouTube-only release posted by CH
18 = Starbelly with Cliff on lead guitar; YouTube-only release (thanks to mikintyre)

TT: 58:24

MP3@320 (bonus tracks @256 kbps)

The great Pop Fair blog has more Cliff Hillis goodies.
(Tell Haper that Rob sent you...)

Cliff's latest release is Song Machine
Buy the CD for $10 from TallBoy Records 
Learn more about the music of Cliff Hillis at 
his web site, AllMusic &/or Noisetrade  
(where you can also download his current single for free)


Friday, January 16

Sneakers - Durham, N.C. 1976 + Sacred Irony

Duke University
Durham, N.C.
August 1976

audience recording (quality GD; sound improves considerably by track 2; there’s hiss, distortion and a lack of instrumental separation, but it's listenable and — hey — this is musical history, people!)   
Sneakers: Robert Keely, Will Rigby, Rob Slater, Chris Stamey
ROB SEZ: In this New Year, it's time to go back to the roots of this blog, with Sneakers (a group that Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey were involved in) and a separate group that Mitch was in a few years prior. Sacred Irony was Mitch's first "proper" band, which made many studio recordings but never released any singles or LPs. After Rittenhouse Square and Little Diesel, Sneakers was the next Winston-Salem band with Chris' involvement that made recordings, played public gigs, and (later on) recruited Mitch into the fold. Here is the only known live recording of the group prior to its break up and subsequent reunion shows in 2007 & '08. Much thanks to WR and RK for help with song titles not known to me. 

SAMPLE: "On the Brink" (Durham 1976)
OMNIVORE RECORDINGS just reissued Sneakers' debut EP
on vinyl (with digital download card), RSD Black Friday
FIND IT & BUY IT ... 'CUZ YOU NEED IT
01 S'il Vous Plait
02 Condition Red
03 No Money Downs
04 (Love's Like a) Cuban Crisis
05 Some Kinda Fool
06 Nonsequitur (of Silence)
07 Pedestrian Confession
08 20/20
09 On the Brink
10 Leftovers
11 Ruby
12 Kissy Boys
13 Let's All Apologize
14 Hip Secrets
15 Story of a Girl (semi-acoustic)
16 You Told Me
17 The Train Stops Here
18 mystery bonus track
 
Sneakers 
(presumed lineup for this show):
Mitch Easter
Robert Keely
Will Rigby
Rob Slater
Chris Stamey
 
MP3@256  

A big, sloppy THANK YOU to a special friend of the blog 
for supplying me this show

Sacred Irony
A Sacred Irony Compendium 
studio recordings  

sound quality: VG to VG+
SACRED IRONY: wistful in the graveyard (Mitch Easter, far right)

SAMPLE: "I See Love"

01 radio intro (for I Am Your Dr.)
02 I Am Your Doctor
03 Collaboration
04 I See Love
05 Gone, Gone, Gone
06 Secret Lover
07 Let's Go Steady
08 Where No One Cares
09 Teenage Lust (MC5 cover)
10 Good Times
11 Sure to Fall
12 Face Without a Name
13 All Up to You
14 Changes In Me

Sacred Irony:
Mitch Easter - guitar prodigy 
Ted Lyons 
Rick Reich 
Dale Smith 
Troy "Corky" McMillan   

MP3 (192-256 kbps)   
 
A most hearty THANK YOU to Fantom
for providing some of the music in this post, and for pointing me to this vintage drawing of Sacred Irony back from Peter's high school daze:

When he posted this at Sacred Irony's FB page, Peter wrote: "I did this with my trusty Rapidograph in 9th grade at Exeter (1970-71) sometime. Corporeally, I was in New Hampshire, but my heart was in Winston-Salem. Band represented in this picture is absolutely Sacred Irony."
READ MORE about these groups and many other N.C. bands  at Michael Slawter's most excellent blog site
 (earlier version of the blog HERE)    
     

Friday, January 2

Wondermints - Tokyo, JP 1999 (sbd)

Club Quattro
Tokyo, Japan
July 16, 1999
  
soundboard (quality VG++)
  
The Wondermints: perfectionistic purveyors of pure pop
01 Dois Mil e Um (2001)
02 In and Around Greg Lake
03 Invisible Paint
Thanks to Jake for the artwork (included in DL)
04 Open My Eyes
05 Cellophane
06 Dream Machine
07 Love In the City
08 Cris Craft #10
09 Joy
10 Porpoise Song
11 Hypnolove
12 Global Village Idiot
13 Tracy Hide
14 Bubbles
15 Puppet Grrls Are Go
16 Galactic Patrol
17 Proto Pretty
18 Playtex Aviary
19 Hocus Pocus

  
SINCERE THANKS to Angelo, who first posted this at Power Pop Criminals (he posted a bunch of rare Wondermints, but you might have to ask nicely for some re-ups, since most of the links appear to be dead...).
  
WONDERMINTS: wowed the crowd at Club Quattro, Tokyo, in 1999
MP3@320

Note: this set does not reflect the original sequencing of the live show, which probably explains the sometimes abrupt transitions from one track to another.


Wondermints:
Probyn Gregory
Mike D’Amico
Nick Walusko
Brian Kassan
 Darian Sahanaja

  
Several of the guys sing and play multiple instruments, so I’m just listing the band members… 
 

Learn more about the music of The Wondermints at AllMusic or this FB page