Rob's Pages

Friday, February 21

Soft Boys - Rout of the Clones (live 1978)

‘Rout of the Clones’ bootleg
Cambridge & Leicester, UK
Live Compilation 1978
  
soundboard recordings (quality: VG+; surprisingly solid quality, given the age & era of the source tapes)
   
01 Blues In the Dark
02 The Bells of Rhymney
03 Sandra's Having Her Brain Out 
04 The Pigworker
05 School Dinner Blues
06 Cold Turkey
07 Leppo & the Jooves
08 Have a Heart Betty
09 I Like Bananas
10 Wading Through a Ventilator
11 The Rat's Prayer
12 Give It to the Soft Boys
13 Hear My Brane
14 Return of the Sacred Crab
15 Mystery Train
16 Muriel's Hoot 
     - Rout of the Clones
17 (I Want to Be An) 
     Anglepoise Lamp
18 Poor Will & the 
     Jolly Hangman*
  
*rehearsal recording, quality VG-
  
(click on artwork, right, for venues & dates) 

ROB SEZ: OK, Soft Boys & RH fans: here's another one for your enjoyment. We're going back to near the beginning of the saga, featuring live recordings from the band's second year. The Asking Tree gigography indicates these performances all took place during one week in late November 1978 — about 3 weeks after the Portland Arms gig featured here last week. The sound/performance is rough & raw in the best sense, but even at this early date, the recording shows off the band's musical adventurism and Robyn's skewed wit. Once again, I'm fairly certain we have Dr. Forrester to thank for sharing this way back ... I dunno when.

THERE'S A MYSTERY BONUS SHARE RH FANS & OBSESSIVES WILL WANT TO SNAG.
  
  



4 comments:

  1. BONUS MYSTERY SHARE:

    Four Bootleg EPs by The Soft Boys (plus Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians)

    digital transfers from vinyl rips, all in lossless FLAC, featuring full artwork

    Soft Boys - ‘Blue Color Red’ EP (4 tracks)
    Softs Boys - Rehearsals 1980 (4 tracks)
    Soft Boys - A Tin of Crabs (4 tracks)
    RHE - Live Nov. 1986 (4 tracks)

    Some of these tracks were superseded when some official compilation or reissue included them in cleaned-up, remastered form. But collectors and completists will want to snag this anyway, since most of the EPs contain 1 or more true rarities.

    HUGE THANKS to Dr. Forrester!

    FLAC:
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/7n4wqi5xlls9bcb/SOFT%20BOYS%20%2B%20RHE%20-%20Four%20Bootleg%20EPs%20%281978-1986%20vinyl%20rips%29%20FLAC.zip?dl=0

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the bonuses. Just to clear up one point, the version of 'Give It To The Soft Boys' on the 'Blue' EP isn't the same as the Rout of the Clones one. First line of the song is different - ' Feel like asking a crab' ('tree' in the other) for an autograph'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stands to reason, Z: the version of that song on the EP was supposedly recorded 1 March 1979 at Lady Mitchell Hall in Cambridge, whereas the "Rout" version was recorded some time in 1978 at Leicester University, according to the info on the rear cover of "Rout." The Asking Tree indicates the latter would have been recorded 21 Nov. in 1978.

      Delete
  3. Thanks for putting this up. I was at the gig at Lady Mitchell Hall on 27 November 1978 so great to hear it all over again :)

    ReplyDelete

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