The Maggies - Anniversary Show 1994

Grass Routes

Keene, N.H.

Feb. 12, 1994 

audience recording (sound quality: GD+ to VG-; the mix is a bit muddy and the vocals, at times, are overly buried — but it's still an enjoyable listen for fans)

    

01 Blow

02 Do Nothing

03 Beautiful Joe

04 The Girl Who Lives 
     On Heaven Hill 

05 Evidence

06 Nightmare I Love

07 Solid Yellow Zero

08 Weatherland

09 Show & Tell

10 'Bunny Sings the Hits'

11 Cottonmouth

12 Heaven Alone

13 Ten Long Years

14 Cool Relationship

15 Dog

    

ROB SEZ: Philip B. Price (above photo, at left) is a highly talented musician from New England who fronted or played in various bands over the years before settling on Winterpills — a favorite at my house. This show (shared by drummer Rich Dart) marked the 1-year anniversary of the power pop / Brit Invasion-inspired Maggies. Fittingly, there's a celebratory spirit in the performance. All of Philip Price's many solo recordings were released earlier this month. Check out this archival project via Bandcamp or PledgeMusic. Read a great interview with Philip Price by Mick at his Art Into Dust site.

MP3@320

 

Learn more about The Maggies' music at Philip B. Price's web site; read an excellent interview with Philip by Mick. Buy Maggies music (and snag some freebies) at Bandcamp.

R. E. M. - Borderline, London March 1991 (complete)

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Norman Blake & Joe Pernice - Toronto, CN 2015

The Dakota Tavern 
Toronto, Canada
April 10, 2015

with heavy friends
 
audience recording (sound quality: VG)
  

Norman Blake (left) & Joe Pernice started playing together in Toronto in 2012
photographed above at the Sydney Festival, 2013

SET 1

Norman & Joe in 2015 (Frank Yang photo)

00 banter
01 There Goes the Sun
02 Follow You Down
03 banter
04 By the Time It Gets Dark
     (Sandy Denny)  
05 The Loving Kind
06 banter
07 I Don't Want Control of You (Teenage Fanclub)
08 Telescope
09 Dark and Lonely Night
     (Teenage Fanclub)
10 Cruel Annette
11 Bob P. takes the stage
12 I'm In Love
    (Teenage Fanclub)

A 2013 performance inspired this artwork

13 switching to piano
14 English Lady (Jonny) 

SET 2
15 banter
16 Sarasota
17 banter
18 That's How I Got to Memphis
     (Tom T. Hall)
19 Shouting Match
20 switchover
21 Start Again (Teenage Fanclub)
22 Laura Stein 
     + Jennifer Pierce take the stage
23 All Ready (Jale)
24 Sign of Life (Jale) 
25 Promise (Jale)
26 switchover + banter
27 Somerville
28 banter
29 Then He Kissed Me (The Crystals) 
30 switchover
31 The Concept (Teenage Fanclub)
32 Baby Lee (Teenage Fanclub)
33 switchover
34 The Kids Are Alright (The Who)

TT = 1:41:18
 
Musicians:
Joe Pernice: guitar, vocals all tracks except: bass on 12, 14, 21, 34; (does not play on 25)
Norman Blake: guitar, vocals all tracks except: glockenspiel on 1, 2; piano on 14; bass on 16, 18, 19; (does not play on 25)

New Mendicants' album: Into the Lime

Michael McKenzie: bass on 9; guitar on 16-34 
Mike Belitisky: drums on 9, 16-34
Bob Pernice: b. vocals, guitar on 12, 14, 18, 21, 27, 29, 31, 34; iPad on 16
Laura Stein: vocals on 24- 31, 34; guitar/bass on 24-31
Jennifer Pierce: vocals on 24-31, 34; bass/guitar on 24-29

ROB SEZ: Busy times at our house this week, so I wasn't sure I'd have a Tuesday post for you. Then, I remembered this share that from Don. Fans of Teenage Fanclub and Pernice Brothers, take note: Norman and Joe are leading lights of those better-known groups and formed The New Mendicants some years ago when they both lived in Toronto. They've released one album, an EP & at least 1 single.   

MP3@320

ASH Tuesday post #82

  

Tommy Keene - Before & After 'Songs from the Film'

Pre-‘Songs From the Film’ Demos 
c. 1984-1985

all tracks officially unreleased

soundboard recordings (quality: VG- to VG+; recorded at different times, culled from various sources)
     
01 Back Again (early version)
02 Fall Down Too

TOMMY KEENE: still can't believe he's gone

03 Save My Life
04 As Life Goes By
05 Drowning (early version) 
06 Astronomy
07 The Story Ends
08 Faith In Love
09 We’re Two
10 Nothing Is Great
11 Listen to Me
12 Gold Town
13 Call On Me
14 You’ve Gotta Stop
15 Run Now (early version)
16 Call On Me
17 Run Now (alternate)
18 Fall Down Too
19 The Story Ends (acoustic intro)
20 Gold Town

ROB SEZ: Most people who know only one album by Tommy Keene know Songs from the Film — probably because it's Tommy's first proper album and contains the only song that was a near-hit, "Places That Are Gone". This post is a companion to the album, containing pre-album demos as well as a live set from 2010 during which Tommy played the album in its entirety (see below). These demos were shared by DSMOOTH7, whom I thank profusely. My only change was some light eq’ing. There’s hiss here & there, but not enough to risk loss of overall sound quality by attempting noise reduction.

The Record Collector
Bordentown, N.J.
Sept. 18, 2010

audience recording (sound quality: VG)

The Songs from the Film album played in its entirety (tracks 03-16)

01 Late Bright

Awesome Tommy Keene photo (2015) by Chris Sikich

02 A Secret Life of Stories
03 Places That Are Gone
04 In Our Lives
05 Listen to Me
06 Paper Words and Lies
07 Gold Town
08 Kill Your Sons [Lou Reed] 
09 Call On Me
10 As Life Goes By
11 chat
12 My Mother Looked Like
     Marilyn Monroe
13 Underworld
14 chat
15 Astronomy
16 The Story Ends
17 chat
18 Turning On Blue
19 Highwire Days
20 band intros
21 Black & White New York
22 applause
23 encore entrance
24 Back to Zero Now
25 Love Is a Dangerous Thing 
26 It’s Not True

MEGA THANKS to Tom at Bagofsongs for sharing this a while back.

FLAC (demos in FLAC; also includes the live set in lossy)

MP3 (includes demos MP3@320 & live set MP3@192)
   

LINK TO ALL TOMMY KEENE POSTS HERE

Merry Holidays & Happy Xmas Y'all!

Happy Merry, Very to You

Here are some holiday music posts 

from prior years:

Bruce Cockburn & Friends - Live 1991-1993

The dB's & Other Cool People - Celebrate Xmas!

Kate Rusby - Xmas Show 2011

Shawn Colvin - Holiday Show 1998

R. E. M. - Complete Fanclub Singles

(Colin has an upgraded, partially lossless version at his blog)

See you in 2018...

Tommy Keene - Chicago, IL 2014 (FM)

Live On the Mayne Stage 
Chicago, IL
July 2, 2014
 

FM capture (sound quality Ex-)

                 

ROB SEZ: Here's more Tommy Keene goodness in memory of the tremendously talented singer, guitarist & song writer, who died just 2 weeks ago. Massive thanks to the taper & sharer (I would credit them by name ... but I've lost that info). I threw together some custom artwork. Come back soon for more...

JUST POSTED: NEW FLAC links for these previous TK posts: Washington, D.C. 2004 (sbd); Velvet Crush Live in 2005 with Tommy Keene (sbd); TK Live 1989 & 1998 (the latter was originally posted in lossless; I'm re-listing it for those who missed it).

FLAC
  
MP3@320

On the fence about Tommy Keene's music?

Watch the "Deep Six Saturday" video.

The guy in the bear (?) suit is randomly goofy, but the rest of the video is thoroughly enjoyable. 

From TK's 2011 album Behind the Parade.

 

Watch the entire pro-shot 2014 "Live On the Mayne Stage" Broadcast

Learn more about the music of Tommy Keene 

at his web site and at AllMusic

Trouser Press covered TK's 1980s & early 1990s output.

Tommy Keene - Hartford, CT 1996 + Demos

Trinity College 
Hartford, CT
April 11, 1996

soundboard recording (sound quality Ex-; mix, sound quality & performance are all amazing)

TOMMY KEENE: through a looking glass

01 Call On Me
02 Going Out Again
03 Turning On Blue
04 Astronomy
05 Alive
06 Your Heart Beats Alone
07 On the Runway
08 Nothing Can Change You 
09 Silent Town
10 Good Thing Going
11 Back to Zero Now
12 Compromise
13 Love is a Dangerous Thing
14 Places That Are Gone

ROB SEZ: Talk about your heart-breaking news: the sudden, unexpected death of Tommy Keene last month was an ugly shock to his family, friends & fans like me. Tommy's older brother Bobby wrote & recently posted a moving, essay-length remembrance with lots of previously unseen photos. It's well worth a read, as is Blurt's extensive coverage. What's a music blogger to do in the face of such a loss? Find and share the best-performed, best-sounding ROIOs he's got. Expect more TK here soon, and a re-post or two from the archives. The 1996 show was shared by dap, who wrote, "This is one of my favorite Tommy Keene shows — great sounding soundboard, and great performance on the Ten Years After tour. Jay Bennett (from Wilco fame) is his second guitarist here, and he adds a tasteful dark tone to the proceedings."
 
Pre- Matador Demos
early 1990s
 
soundboard recordings (quality: VG++) 

01 We Got a Good Thing Going
02 Lies in My Heart
03 Your Heart Beats Alone
04 If You're Getting 
     Married Tonight 
05 Time to Say Goodbye
06 Tell Me Something
07 Before the Lights Go Down
08 Alive
09 Compromise

ALL PRAISES to those who shared these tracks. Unfortunately, I have lost their names — sorry about that. Leave me a comment and I'll gladly amend the post...

MP3@320 fixed - new link

FLAC

Bigger Lovers - Live at WFMU 2002 + 2004

WFMU Live Session 

East Orange, N.J.

Nov. 4, 2002

webstream (sound quality: VG- to VG; 

the source is a lower-quality stream than I usually experience with WFMU)

     
01 Half Richard's

02 Forever Is Not So Long 

03 Emmanuelle

04 A Simple 'How Are You?'

05 Change Your Mind

06 Threadbare

07 Queen of Eyes (Soft Boys cover)

xx Interview WFMU 2002

WFMU Live Session

East Orange, N.J.

May 18, 2004

 
webstream (sound quality: VG; this sounds somewhat better than the 2002 stream)

  
01 You (You You)

02 Blowtorch

03 I Resign

04 Peel It Away

05 You Don't Feel Anything at All  

06 Ninja Suit

07 For Christ's Sake

08 You've Got to Pay

xx Interview - Joe Belock WFMU 2004

 

ROB SEZ: Not every radio station is loaded with money to archive their live sessions in the highest quality. It's hard to criticize the non-commercial WFMU in New Jersey, since they do such a great job promoting amazing lesser-known bands like Philadelphia's Bigger Lovers. Even though the webstreams I recorded are lower quality than usual, they're still worth a careful listen — and where else can you find live material by these guys? If you like Big Star and more recent bands like Waxwings, you might want to know about Bigger Lovers. Hot tip: Haper's got more goodies by this band at his Popfair blog.

MP3@256

  

Learn more about the Bigger Lovers' music 
at AllMusic and Trouser Press.
Stream & buy Bigger Lovers' music at Bandcamp.