Rob's Pages

Sunday, March 28

Pylon - Danceteria, NYC 1982

LOSSLESS REPOST
Danceteria
New York City  
April 10, 1982

audience recording (sound quality VG-; transfer from first-generation tape)

Pylon: early eighties indie rock heroes

DISC 1 (first set)
1.  intro
2.  Crazy
3.  Working Is No Problem
4.  Read a Book
5.  Cool
6.  Gravity
7.  Altitude
8.  Italian Movie Theme
9.  Reptiles
10. Beep (early version)
11. Stop It
12. Volume
13. encore applause
14. M-Train (brief cut repaired at 2:33)

DISC 2 (second set)
1.  Crazy
2.  3x3
3.  Gravity
4.  Dub
5.  Cool
6.  Danger
7.  Weather Radio
8.  No Clocks
9.  Stop It
10. Beep
11. Volume
12. encore applause
13. M-Train
14. Feast on My Heart (brief cut repaired at 2:41)
15. encore applause
16. Driving School
17. outro

REPERCUSSION: Chris and Gene produced Chomp, Pylon’s second (and some say best) album, most of which was recorded at Mitch Easter’s Drive-In Studio. Have a listen to this show and hear why R.E.M. covered the Pylon song "Crazy" and R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry told Rolling Stone that Pylon (not R.E.M.) were “the best band in America.” Propulsive rhythms that you can dance to, jagged-but-hooky guitar riffs, yelping/growling vocals — how bizarre-cool can you get?? 

BIG OL’ THANKS to the taper and dclubok for sharing!
Someone at the torrent tracker had these comments about some of the tracks:

Set 1: Track 10 - Beep (from Chomp, but the lyrics seem a bit different, perhaps these were just working lyrics prior to completing the lyrics that ended up on the album)
Set 2: Track 2 - 3x3 (unreleased as far as I know, only performed live)
Set 2: Track 16 - Driving School (from Gyrate, was on original pressings, later pressings [as well as European pressings] used "Recent Title" instead)
               
FLAC
  
MP3@320
Pylon:
Randall Bewley (R.I.P.) - guitar
Michael Lachowski - bass
Curtis Crowe - drums
Vanessa Briscoe – vocals

MORE REPERCUSSION: Here's Vanessa Briscoe Hay (Pylon vocalist), describing the recording of the band's second album, Chomp (produced by Chris Stamey and Gene Holder) to music writer Fred Mills in 2007:
   
"Working with Chris and Gene, they both had such different personalities and they really complemented each other. Chris was playing around with things, stuff we hadn't thought of, like noisegating the drums; he just thought outside the box, and he didn't look at anything like it was a problem, but more like, ‘Well, if this isn't going to work, what else can we do?'" 

Learn more about the music of Pylon
 

Saturday, March 27

Pylon - Athens, GA + Columbia, S.C. 1981

LOSSLESS REPOST
Tyrone's O.C.
Athens, GA
March 15, 1981

soundboard recording (quality VG++; sounds like a master tape source; unlike other boots, this recording responds well to treble adjustment)

01 Driving School (fades in)
02 Information
03 Efficiency
04 Italian Movie Theme
05 Precaution
06 Working Is No Problem
07 Modern Day Fashion Woman 
08 Read a Book
09 The Human body
10 Recent Title*
11 Gravity
12 Cool
13 Weather Radio 
14 Reptile
15 Danger
16 Dub
17 Volume
18 No Clocks
19 Stop It
20 Feast On My Heart
21 3 x 3
22 Batman/Wipeout Medley (fades out)

*set two begins with track 10

TT: 1 hr. 15 mins.
 
Pylon: live 1981
fab photo by Jay Thomas

















Von Henmon's
Columbia, S.C.
Summer 1981

audience recording (sound quality VG+; 2ng-gen tape source; quite listenable show [this was said to be a soundboard, but it can't be b/c crowd is as loud as the band])

01 Cool (fades in)
02 Crazy
03 Weather Radio 
04 Danger
05 3X301 Driving School (fades in)
02 Information
03 Efficiency
04 Italian Movie Theme
05 Precaution
06 Working Is No Problem
07 Modern Day Fashion Woman 
08 Read a Book
09 The Human body
10 Recent Title*
11 Gravity
12 Cool
13 Weather Radio 
14 Reptile
15 Danger
16 Dub
17 Volume
18 No Clocks
19 Stop It
20 Feast On My Heart 
21 3X3
22 Batman/Wipeout Medley (fades out)

*set two begins with track 10

TT: 1 hr. 15 mins.
Pylon at Little Kings, 2007.
Cool photos by Mike White via Flickr
06 No Clocks
07 Stop It
08 Driving School 
09 Gravity
10 Read a Book 
11 Precaution 
12 Crazy (repeated) 
13 Reptile 
14 Dub 
15 Volume 
16 Feast On My Heart 
17 M-Train 
18 Cool

TT: 1 hr. 2 mins. 

Pylon:
Randall Bewley (R.I.P.) - guitar 
Michael Lachowski - bass
Curtis Crowe - drums
Vanessa Briscoe Hay - vocals
   
FLAC
  
MP3@320
  

Thursday, March 25

The dB's - CMJ Music Awards 1984 (sbd)

Studio 54
New York, N.Y.
Nov. 9, 1984

soundboard recording (quality: VG+, video source) 


The dB's - newly-posted pro-shot video from 1984
01 Neverland (fades in)

02 Love Is for Lovers

03 She Got Soul

04 Amplifier

05 Big Brown Eyes

06 White Train

07 Suspicious Minds

08 New Gun In Town

09 Black & White



The dB’s:


Peter Holsapple - vocals, rhythm guitar, mandolin 


Gene Holder - lead guitar


Will Rigby - drums, vocals


Rick Wagner - bass, vocals


WATCH THE COMPLETE SET HERE.


ROB SEZ: Ya never know when something featuring our heroes might turn up. I don't know anything about the person who posted this, but here's my guess: he was doing some pandemic cleaning, found this, and recently decided to post it. I don't know of any other pro-shot video footage in circulation that features a full set by The dB's. Consider this a very rare treat. HUGE THANKS to seeamanaboutahorse for sharing. The audio rip turned out pretty well, I think, after a bit of post-production work. Comments are welcome (hint)!


FLAC lossless capture, lossy source


MP3@320


Friday, March 19

Silver Jews - WFMU Live Session 2008 (complete)

WFMU Live Session 
Benjamin Walker Show
East Orange, N.J.
Sept. 7, 2008
(broadcast Sept. 8) 


complete live session, including David Berman interview


webstream recording (sound quality: VG+)


Silver Jews - onstage, 2008

01 DJ intro

02 What Is Not But Could Be If

03 Trains Across the Sea

04 Smith and Jones Forever

05 Tennessee

06 David berman chats with the DJ 

07 San Francisco B.C.

08 How to Rent a Room

09 Random Rules

10 Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed

11 David Berman again chats with the DJ

12 Suffering Jukebox

13 Horseleg Swastikas

14 David Berman chats (for a third time!) 

     with the DJ

15 Party Barge

16 DJ outro


ROB SEZ: I’d heard about Silver Jews and even sampled their music some time ago, when founder-leader David Berman still walked the earth. The band's music and I didn't gee haw at the time, I guess, 'cuz I left 'em to their own devices. Fast forward a decade or so: a deadly worldwide pandemic must've put me on Berman’s musical wavelength. Even if you’re not typically a fan of sardonic, laconic indie music with a folk-country flavor, you might still enjoy this. There’s a reason AllMusic & others give Silver Jews very high ratings. Huge thanks to Benjamin Walker and the WFMU crew for recording and sharing this.



FLAC lossless capture, lossy source


MP3@320

Learn more about the music of Silver Jews at

AllMusic and Wikipedia

      

Friday, March 12

B-52's - Edenhall, Amsterdam, 1980

LOSSLESS REPOST
Edenhall
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Nov. 11, 1980

The B-52's were on their first headlining tour in 1980 when this was recorded

audience recording (sound quality range: VG to VG+; quite a solid recording; sounds like Hans used raised mics because the crowd noise is more subdued than with most audies)
 
MUCHAS GRACIAS to Hans de Vente for recording and sharing

01 Lava
The B-52's deserve the title "ultimate party band"
02 Give Me Back 
     My Man
03 6060-842
04 Devil In My Car
05 Fifty-Two Girls
06 Quiche Lorraine
07 Dirty Back Road
08 Private Idaho
09 Strobe Light
10 Runnin’ Around
11 Rock Lobster
12 Dance This 
     Mess Around
13 Planet Claire
14 Party Out of Bounds

TT: 54:47 mins.

WAV lossless files

MP3@320

Quite groovy graphic by Fritz Bol

The B-52’s:
Kate Pierson
Fred Schneider
Keith Strickland
Cindy Wilson
Ricky Wilson (R.I.P.)

 Learn more about the music of The B-52's at Wikipedia or the band's official site