Sloan - B-Sides (3 discs of 'em)

'Raise Your Glass to the B-Sides'
extensive 3-disc set

ROB SEZ: If you like the Canadian band Sloan, you're bound to find something here you haven't heard before. As with almost all ASH Tuesday posts, I am deeply indebted to Don at the old ASH blog. Speaking of Don, he has a new radio show featuring many artists that appear here and, of course, at his I Don't Hear a Single blog. Check out the radio show on Mixcloud.

MP3@160 (unfortunately, this bitrate is the best available; if anyone can share this in higher quality, I will gladly re-post it here)

ASH Tuesday post #77

Smiths, The - Manchester + NOLA 1986

G-Mex

Manchester, UK

Festival of the 10th Summer 

July 19, 1986

FM recording (sound quality: VG++; 
master tape source from Picadilly Radio broadcast)

SAMPLE: "Cemetry Gates" (live 1986)

00 intro (pre-recorded The March of The Capulets) 

01 Bigmouth Strikes Again

02 Panic

03 Vicar In a Tutu

04 Frankly, Mr. Shankly

05 There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

06 Ask

07 I Want the One I Can't Have

08 Cemetry Gates

09 Shakespeare’s Sister

10 Stretch Out and Wait

11 That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore 

12 The Queen Is Dead (end cut, fades out)

13 I Know It’s Over

14 Hand In Glove + outro

MEGA THANKS to craigie for taping and to thehappyone for sharing.

ROB SEZ: The new deluxe reissue of The Queen Is Dead is great, and the live disc from a show in Boston, MA in 1986 is fine. But what I really want to hear is a show from this tour when the crowd is going nuts, and the band is on fire. If you have similar inclinations, give these a try.

McAlister Auditorium

New Orleans, LA

Sept. 8, 1986

audience recording (sound quality VG+)

01 intro (March of the Capulets)
02 The Queen Is Dead
03 Panic
04 I Want The One I Can't Have
05 Rusholme Ruffians
06 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out 
07 Still Ill
08 The Boy With the Thorn In His Side
09 Cemetry Gates
10 Stretch Out and Wait
11 Never Had No One Ever
12 Is It Really So Strange?
13 That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
14 Meat Is Murder
15 What She Said
16 I Know It's Over
17 crowd, pre-encore
18 Money Changes Everything  
19 How Soon Is Now?
20 crowd
21 Hand In Glove
22 Bigmouth Strikes Again

Transferred from a DAT copy of the master tape.

FLAC
  
MP3@320

Icecream Hands - Triple J Live 1999

Live at the Wireless
Triple J Radio
Melbourne, Australia 
Dec. 20, 1999

FM recording (sound quality: VG++)
 

ROB SEZ: Icecream Hands is yet another under-appreciated Australian band that toiled away in the musical salt mines, crafting excellent but not widely-heard albums in the 1990s and 2000s. Closest musical category for these guys: guitar pop. Here's a superb live set, originally shared by Angelo at Power Pop Criminals. I missed out when it was first posted, but Mick came to my rescue recently (thank you, kind sir!). If you download and give a listen, you'll see why I'm thrilled to have it.

MP3@320 (check the comments section for a cool surprise from billybadbum)

ASH Tuesday post #76

S.F. Seals (Barbara Manning) - Live 1995 + 1996 (sbd)

S.F. Seals
Cicero's
St. Louis, MO 
October 1995 (either 10/16 or 10/19)

soundboard recording (quality: VG++)
 
SAMPLE: "Pulp" (live 1995) 

Barbara & S.F. Seals: indie before indie was a thing

01 Haze is Free
     (Mounting a Broken Ladder) 
02 Never Park 
03 How Did You Know?
04 Every Pretty Girl
05 Soul of Patrick Lee (John Cale)
06 Straw Man
07 Don't Underestimate Me
08 Breathe Lies
09 Back Again
10 Flashback Caruso (Faust)
11 Ladies of the Sea
12 S.F. Sorrow Is Born (The Pretty Things)
13 Pulp 
14 Bold Letters

Barbara Manning
Ratschenmuhle
Geislingen, Germany 
Nov. 2, 1996

soundboard recording (quality: VG++)

SAMPLE: "That Kid" (live 1996)

 
01 intro

Barbara Manning - bombing the bass in 1994

02 Rickity Tickity Tin (Tom Lehrer)
03 Marcus Leid (Amon Duul II)
04 End of the Rainbow (Richard Thompson)  
05 Ipecac
06 chat
07 How Did You Know?
08 chat
09 Arsonist Story
10 chat
11 That Kid
12 On On and One
13 Isn't Lonely Lovely?
14 chat
15 Someone Wants You Dead
16 chat
17 Don't Let It Bring You Down (Paul McCartney)
18 short instrumental interlude
19 Scissors --> band intros
20 chat
21 more chat
22 Pulp
23 Ladies of the Sea
24 Dock Ellis
25 good-bye

Played on the last night of the "Barbara Manning Explosion" tour of Europe. Barbara is backed by Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico. Both shows were taped by Miseryman & transferred by lonetaper. S.F. Seals show shared by Cyrus; solo show by blueschief. ALL PRAISES to them.

ROB SEZ: Artists like Barbara Manning and S.F. Seals (one of the many groups she fronted) are the true independents in indie music. Before Liz Phair, there was Barbara Manning, writing, playing & singing strikingly honest / idiosyncratic music that combined folk, rock, singer-songwriter, noise and pop so effectively that Matador Records said, "We need someone like that on our roster!" (S.F. Seals and Liz Phair both released albums on Matador in 1994, but Barbara had already been releasing albums on various labels for 5 years). If you're just discovering Barbara's music, you have a treat in store. Hot tip: NYCTaper has a 2016 solo show, in great lossless sound quality, HERE.

This classic S.F. Seals album was recorded about
7 months prior to the live set shared here..

FLAC

MP3@320

Learn more about Barbara Manning's music at Wikipedia, AllMusic & her FB page. Learn more about S.F. Seals' music at AllMusic. Sample & purchase Barbara's music at Bandcamp. Read a great interview with Barbara here.

Devin Hill - 19 Preludes (demos 2000)

19 Preludes
demos collection
recorded in 2000

soundboard recording (quality VG+)

ROB SEZ: I was warned against posting this, for fear of possible repercussions. But you know what? Life's just too short, and a fan or two or three might really enjoy hearing these. Not to mention the fact I can always yank it, if need be. MEGA THANKS to the usual suspects (with apologies to them for any heartburn this might cause)...

MP3@320

ASH Tuesday post #75

Pugwash - Dublin, Ireland 2015

Whelan’s
Dublin, Ireland 
Oct. 16, 2015

audience recording (sound quality: VG+)

01 intro
02 Kicking & Screaming
03 Kings & Queens
04 Keep Moving On
05 Hung Myself Out to Dry 
06 Finer Things In Life
07 Apples
08 Be My Friend
09 Kids In America
10 There You Are
11 You Could Always Cry
12 chat
13 Here
14 Answers On a Postcard
15 Anyone Who Asks
16 It's Nice to Be Nice
17 encore break
18 Take Me Away

Taped & transferred by Kagee, who says: "The first proper Pugwash gig in 3 years and it was a good night. The set was surprisingly light on tunes from their new album, Play This Intimately..., only 3 songs from it were played. The sound in Whelan's can be pretty dire, so I taped this in front of the left stack and it turned out pretty good." Actually, Kagee is being too modest: the recording sounds excellent, with very little crowd noise to distract from a strong performance by Thos. Walsh & Co.

Jason & Thomas: D'ya think they had fun, or what?

ROB SEZ:  I just couldn't wait another 5 or 6 weeks for the forthcoming Pugwash album to appear, so here's your preview post. I'm really looking forward to hearing all of Silverlake, a collaboration between frontman Thomas Walsh and the fabulously talented Jason Falkner. Check out the first single & ordering info below.

FLAC
  
MP3@320

Pre-order the new album, due next month,
directly from the label or from Amazon UK

HERE'S THE NEW SINGLE: "The Perfect Summer"

Grapes of Wrath - Field Trip Demos + Live 2001

'Field Trip' era demos
late 1990s
  
soundboard recording (quality: Ex-)

13 studio band demos: some song titles known, but many others unknown

 

Railway Club
Vancouver, Canada
2001 (exact date unknown) 
CBC 'Just Concerts'
  
FM recording (sound quality VG++)
  

01 Intro

02 You May Be Right

03 Do You Want To Tell Me

04 Hitchhiker

05 Black Eye

06 Peace of Mind

07 All The Things I Wasn't

08 I Am Here

09 Unsatisfied

ROB SEZ: I know there are GofW fans who frequent the blog, so here are two shares I have, thanks to Don at the old ASH Blog. Thanks also to Binky at the fab Teenage Dogs In Trouble blog, who originally shared the 2001 Canadian Broadcasting Corp. broadcast. Psssst: be sure you aren't missing any other recordings hiding nearby...

MP3@320

ASH Tuesday post #74

This new GofW archival release is just out - excellent!

Purchase the CD, vinyl LP or digital download via Bandcamp 

Tenement + Amos Pitsch - Live 2016 + Odds & Sods

Hässäkkä-päivät

Oulu, Finland

July 8, 2016

soundboard recording (quality: VG+)

SAMPLE: "Dull Joy" (Finland 2016)


01 Crop Circle Nation
02 Dull Joy
03 Near You
04 Rock Eating People
05 The Pleasure We Get

     (In Scratching an Itch)
06 Blammo
07 Cage That Keeps You In
08 Lost Love Star Lust
09 Dreaming Out Loud
10 Garden of Secrecy
11 Earwig
12 Feral Cat Tribe
13 (Messy Endings) In 
     Middle America
14 Spit In the Wind
15 Encore

Recorded & mixed by Lauri Manner; kindly shared by Crutch of Memory

Tenement & Amos Pitsch

Odds & Sods

covers, demos, live tracks

 

soundboard recordings (quality range: VG+ to Ex-)

SAMPLE: "Black Coffee In Bed" (Squeeze cover by Amos Pitsch)

 
01 Help Me Somebody (NRBQ)

02 Black Coffee In Bed (Squeeze)

03 Sympathy for the Devil (Rolling Stones) 

04 Melting Waxx (demo)

05 Hour Glass Bones (demo)

06 Dying Leaves (demo)

07 Feral Cat Tribe (live)

08 Pleasure We Get In 
     Scratching an Itch (live)

09 Rain In Mind (non-album track)

10 Weakest Ones (demo)

11 Shift Toward Tenderness (demo)

TRACK NOTES
(most info & comments by Amos Pitsch):

Eyes Wide Open: Amos Pitsch & Co. are the amazing Tenement

01 = Amos Pitsch with the Wilde Stranger on drums, tam, and backup vocals. Written by Al Anderson.

02 = Written by Squeeze, performed by Amos Pitsch for birthday boy Perry Shall.

03 (no info provided)

04 = Amos Pitsch demo, circa 2012. Tim Schweiger on drums. 

05 = Unreleased Tenement demo, written by Amos Pitsch.

06 = Unreleased song intended for use on the unfinished 2nd Technicolor Teeth LP. Written by Amos Pitsch.

07 = Live in the Tap Milwaukee Studio Nov. 2, 2015 for the Milwaukee Journal.
08 = Live on CJSW radio, "Disturb the Universe" show, June 2015.

09 = Featured on Not Normal's Welcome to 2013 LP compilation. Non-album track.

10 = Tenement demo, 2013 - originally released on Skeletal Lightning's Charity Cassette Compilation, Vol. One. 
Written by Amos Pitsch.
11 = Written, performed, recorded, and mixed by Amos Pitsch on eight-track machine at Crutch of Memory in Appleton, WI.

ROB SEZ: Find out why indie music fans in Wisconsin & environs have been raving about Tenement, the band fronted by Amos Pitsch, for a decade. Think Hüsker Dü or Minutemen: pop-hearted music with punk (at times even hardcore) guitar fervor, fronted by a guy with ragged-but-right vocals. The Odds & Sods comp shows off Pitsch's pop & country leanings. BIG THANKS to Amos & a few other generous souls for sharing these tracks. Snag a FREE 5-song live set by Tenement HERE at Bandcamp. Speaking of Bandcamp, don't you want to hear & buy the complete Predatory Headlights Demos in lossless-quality? If so, you'll need to go HERE.

MP3@320

Learn more about Tenement's music at AllMusic, Wikipedia & the band's FB page. Bandcamp site is here.

Game Theory - Live Rarities 1983-1988

Live Rarities
songs rarely played live
1983-1988

FM + soundboard recordings (sound quality range: VG to VG++; might be 1 or 2 audience recordings in here...) 
 

ROB SEZ: It's been too long since I featured anything by the talented and much-lamented Scott Miller. He fronted a couple of other groups in his lifetime, but my fave was Game Theory. Super Mega Thanks to Mick for compiling these and creating the artwork, and to Don at the old ASH blog for sharing. If you're not aware of Omnivore's amazing reissue series (packed with bonus tracks), head over here lickety-split.

MP3@320

Supercalifragile - the final album, out now

Scott Miller had started work on a new Game Theory album at the time of his death.
Posies co-leader Ken Stringfellow took the recordings and created a superb final Game Theory album.
Buy it HERE at Bandcamp. THANK YOU Ken and Kristine Miller. 
BELOW: couldn't resist a photo of Mitch E. with the band, around the time Lolita Nation was recorded.