Saturday, December 26

Chris Stamey - 'Secret Communist Meeting' (2005 live concert)

House Concert
East Windsor, N.J.
Feb. 19, 2005

soundboard recording (sound quality: Ex-)

Two dozen songs, played solo by Chris, with excellent sound quality.
HUGE THANKS to lilpanda and Paul for sharing.

ROB SEZ: Years ago, I made a promise to Chris that I would not share any Chris Stamey solo material here, at least not without his permission. That said, I know there are lots of CS fans who would enjoy this solo show supplied by lilpanda and shared by Paul on his excellent Albums That Should Exist blog. Just pointing you to it isn't really sharing it, right?

GRAB IT HERE.

HAPPY BOXING DAY, Y'ALL

 

Friday, December 25

Tommy Keene - Live 1993, 2012 & 2017 (sbd + aud)

The Best Recordings I Haven't Yet Shared  
audience & soundboard sources
 
Ambler Cabaret
Ambler, PA
March 20, 1993
  
audience recording (sound quality: VG+) 
  
01 Alive
02 Astronomy
03 Nothing Can Change You
04 Down Down Down
05 We Started Over Again
06 Hanging On to Yesterday
07 Back to Zero
08 Karl Marx
09 Compromise
10 When Our Vows Break
11 My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe
12 Love Is a Dangerous Thing
13 Places That Are Gone
  
ROB SEZ: Today, I am still missing Tommy Keene's presence on the planet and still pondering the "what ifs": What if he hadn't died suddenly in his sleep in 2017 at the tender age of 59? What if he'd been able to share his kind, humane self with us for a while longer? What if he'd lived to create some more beautiful songs, albums, and live shows? What if someone from his circle of family & friends could round up the demos, outtakes, and live recordings that almost surely exist? (Omnivore: are you on it?). Enough of my laments on what should be a joyful day for the world. Here's my gift to you, fellow smart pop fans: the best TK live recordings I haven't already shared here. The first two feature Tommy and band, while the last one is TK solo. MEGA THANKS to realomind and whoever taped & shared the 2012 recording. If you have not yet found this NYC Taper soundboard-audience matrix recording from 2010, go grab it now. P.S. - I might post a collection of lossy TK rarities & live sessions here some time next year, so stop by every so often.
  
   

Tommy Keene: back when the world was his oyster

Sam Bond's Garage
Eugene, OR
Jan. 27, 2012
  
soundboard recording (sound quality: VG++)
   
01 Long Time Missing
02 Deep Six Saturday
03 Behind the Parade
04 Astronomy
05 Nothing Can Change You 
06 His Mother's Son
07 Turning On Blue
08 Back to Zero
09 Compromise
10 Nowhere Drag
11 Places That Are Gone
12 Kill Your Sons
13 His Mother's Son (brief, partial - soundcheck) 

Kung Fu Necktie
Philadelphia, PA
I guess he's wearing the actual Kung Fu Necktie!
April 21, 2017
  
audience recording (sound quality: VG) 
   
01 Going Out Again
02 You Can't Wait for Time
03 Go Back Home
04 Back to Zero
05 Nighttime [Big Star cover]
06 Back Again
07 Astronomy
08 Laugh In the Dark
09 Nothing Can Change You
10 Raymond Chandler Evening
     [Robyn Hitchcock cover]
11 High Wire Days
12 Black and White New York
13 Deep Six Saturday
14 Long Time Missing
15 Compromise
16 Nowhere Drag
17 Places That Are Gone
18 Mother's Little Helper [Rolling Stones cover, with Ivan Julian]

  
     

Friday, December 18

Peter Holsapple - New York, N.Y. 1985

NEW RECORDING SOURCE
 
PH solo show
Gerde’s Folk City 

New York, N.Y.
June 26, 1985

audience recording (sound quality VG+from first-generation tape source; there’s some audience chatter, but it's not excessive)

PH in motion, Austin, TX 1984

photo by Stephanie Chernikowski

2020 UPDATE: New Gene Poole source for this that's an upgrade, to my ears. I only had time to post the FLAC version, so the MP3 version here is still from the original source. HUGE THANKS to elegymart for sharing the GP version, and to HJ for taping and dB’s Fan for sharing the older one. Highlights here are too numerous to mention. But Peter sounds pumped to be playing this historic venue and offers up several new tunes (some of which were later re-written, while others were never released), as well as plenty of choice covers. Sadly, Folk City closed in 1987.
   
01 Sexual Healing 
     (Marvin Gaye cover)
Peter was here — June 26, 1985
02 Something New
03 Caught In the Blues
04 She Was the One
05 Tail of a Star (Will Rigby cover)
06 Storm Warning
07 Diamond
08 Molly Says
09 Keep Up With You*
10 Darby Hall*
11 Never Before and Never Again
12 On the Battlefront
13 You Don’t Miss Your Water
     (Wm. Bell cover)
14 Close to the Hand
15 Elvis, What Happened?
16 Games People Play 
     (Joe South cover)
17 Long Black Veil (trad.)
18 Moving In Your Sleep

TT: 60 mins., 56 secs.
   
FLAC  (Gene Poole audio source - NEW)
  
MP3@320

Peter Holsapple – guitar, vocals (plus folky, folksy commentary)
*Syd Straw – guest vocalist for 9 + 10

Friday, December 11

The dB's - Rahar's, Northampton, MA 1980 (aud)

LOSSLESS REPOST
The dB's
Rahar’s
Northampton, MA
1980 (month & date unknown; might be spring)

audience recording (sound quality VG+; transfer from copy of
master tape).
 
There’s a bit of distortion and the sound guy got a little silly with the reverb at times, but otherwise a quite enjoyable early show, with surprisingly little crowd chatter.
    
Very likely one of the band’s first live shows in New England.
   
Highlights: Gene rocks the house with his killer fuzz-tone bass! This show also features the only known recording of a mega-rare Chris composition called “My Sire Wristwatch”. According to Chris, “Sire Records gave out promo wristwatches to promote some punk rock band, and it seemed like some kind of commentary at the time (1978?) about how the scene was changing.” OK now, everybody sing along: "My Sire wristwatch, my Sire wristwatch / Thanks a lot."
    
This is the site of the now-defunct Rahar’s Inn.
Whatever else you might say, at least it’s got character… 
 
BIG HUGE THANKS to the taper and dB’s Fan for the generous
share

01 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know
02 Spitting In the Wind
03 Black and White
04 I Feel Good (Today)
05 Judy
06 Dynamite
07 Soul Kiss
08 pH Factor
09 If and When
10 Can't Take Her Away from Me
11 Bad Reputation
12 My Sire Wristwatch - mega rare song composed by Chris
13 Big Brown Eyes
14 You Got It Wrong
15 The Summer Sun
16 Cycles Per Second
17 Tearjerkin'
18 Death Garage

The dB’s:
Gene Holder – bass
Will Rigby – drums
Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard & vocals

WAV lossless files (from the raw, unedited transfer)