The dB's - New Year's Eve 1986, Raleigh, NC

*bumped for 2021 — 35th anniversary!*

The Brewery

Raleigh, NC

Dec. 31, 1986 into the wee hours of Jan. 1, 1987

   
audience recording (sound quality VG+; a well-balanced, solid-sounding recording).

  

Gene models the kind of hat all well-dressed  
New Year’s Eve revelers should wear
(a sideways Like This LP jacket!)

01 Any Old Thing

02 She Got Soul

03 Auld Lang Syne -- Never Say When

04 Rains Around Here

05 Lonely Is as Lonely Does

06 Not Cool

07 Never Before and Never Again

08 A Better Place

09 Today Could Be the Day

10 White Train

11 I Lie (end cut, fades out)

12 New Gun In Town

13 Change With the Changing Times

14 Amplifier

15 Love Is for Lovers

16 Witchi-Tai-To (Jim Pepper cover; Will sings lead)*

17 A Spy In the House of Love

18 Why Don't We Do It In the Road?
    

*16 is a traditional Native American peyote chant set to music (leave it to Will to find something that cool & include it in a dB’s show...)

TT: 78:25

ROB SEZ: A fired-up dB’s play a rowdy New Year’s Eve show — a perfect way to ring in any New Year. During the show, Peter announces (for the first time in public?) that I.R.S. Records has signed The dB’s and that a new album will be recorded and released in 1987. BIG THANKS to TG for recording the show and RIDICULOUS THANKS to dB’s Fan for the share.

FLAC
  
MP3@320

 
These photos were taken at a show in Boston at The Rat in the mid-1980s. But it probably looked a lot like this on New Year's Eve in 1986 at The Brewery in Raleigh.
  
  

The dB's:
Peter Holsapple: guitar, vocals

Gene Holder: lead guitar

Will Rigby: drums, backing vocals
Jeff Beninato: bass, backing vocals
   

Rapid Eye Movement - Holiday Fanclub Singles (complete)

bumped from several Christmases ago...

R.  E.  M.

Holiday Fanclub Singles (complete)

1988-2011

ROB SEZ: I can think of no better musical celebration of the holidays than listening to the complete set of fanclub singles issued by R.  E.  M.  After calling it quits, the guys shut down the fanclub in 2011. In early 2013, a certain Mr. Buck made noises about releasing these on a possible future boxed set for charity.

soundboard recordings (sound quality range VG+ to Ex-; many are vinyl rips with attendant pops & a few skips)

First fanclub single, issued in 1988

THANK YOU KINDLY to the original rippers, sharers & posters.

1988a Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

1988b See No Evil (Television cover)

1989a Good King Wenceslas

1989b Academy Fight Song

1990a Ghost Reindeer In the Sky

1990b Summertime (final seconds cut)

1991a Baby Baby (Vibrators cover)

1991b Christmas Griping

1992a Where's Captain Kirk?
          (Spizzenergi cover)

1992b Toyland

1993a Silver Bells

1993b Christmas Time Is Here

1994a Sex Bomb (Flipper cover)

1994b Christmas In Tunisia

1995a Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)

1995b Java (Allen Toussaint cover)

Artwork for 1999 holiday single

1996a Only In America
           (Jay & The Americans cover)

1996b I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor cover)

1997a Live for Today

1997b Happy When I'm Crying
           (Pearl Jam cover)

1998a Lucky (M. Stipe w/Radiohead)

1998b E-Bow the Letter
           (live w/Thom Yorke)

1999a Country Feedback
           (Live w/Neil Young)

1999b Ambulance Blues
          (Live w/Neil Young)

2000a Christmas Time (Is Here Again)

2000b Hastings & Main

2000c Take Seven

2001a Let Me In (Live)

2001b Find the River (rehearsal)

2002a No Matter What (Badfinger cover)

2002b Jesus Christ (LX Chilton cover)

2002c M. Stipe reads Martin Luther King

2003a Country Feedback (Live)

2003b It's the End of the World As We 
          Know It (And I Feel Fine) (Live)

2004a I Wanted to Be Wrong (Live)

2004b She Just Wants To Be (Live)

2005a Turn You Inside-Out (Live)

2005b The Great Beyond (Live)

2006a Tongue (Live) [performed by Tin Cup Prophette]

2006b So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) (Live)

2006c These Days (Live) [performed by The Observatory]

2006d Begin the Begin (Live)

Final fanclub single, issued in 2011

2007a Merry Xmas Everybody
          (Slade cover)

2007b Magnetic North

2008a Living Well Is the
          Best Revenge (Live)

2008b Let Me In (Live)

2008c Just a Touch (Live)

2009a Santa Baby

2009b Crazy Like a Fox
      (Link Cromwell & The Zoo cover)

2010a Christmas
          (Baby Please Come Home)

2010b IHT->U->EDIYTW (Dubmix)

2011a Perfect Circle (Live)

2011b Life and How to Live It (Live)

MP3@320

(includes artwork for all singles)

Check out the many connections between 
R.  E.  M. and The dB's at THIS earlier post.

For complete fanclub singles discography info, look at these
two great fan sites: HERE and HERE.

   

Straitjacket Fits - Radio & TV Sessions 1989-1993

Live Sessions 1989-1993

FM & TV broadcast captures 

various dates & venues

sound quality: VG+

01 Dialling a Prayer

02 Seeing U Fled

03 Bad Note for a Heart

04 Hand In Mine

05 Roller Ride

06 She Speeds

07 Follow & Fall 

08 Headwind

09 Quiet Come

10 Hail

11 Roller Ride

12 Hand In Mine

13 Bad Note for a Heart

14 Grate

15 Skin to Wear

16 Cast Stone

17 Dialling a Prayer 

18 Down In Splendour 

19 Brittle

sources:

01-10 - KPFK Radio, Los Angeles, CA Oct. 21, 1989

11-13 - John Peel Session, BBC Radio, UK Nov. 12, 1989

14-16 - Triple J, ABC Radio, Australia April 29, 1991

17 - The Factory, ABC TV, Australia April 1989

18 - MTV, Basement Studio, Australia 1990

19 - Late Night with Conan O'Brien, NBC TV, USA, Nov. 1993

ROB SEZ: No time for a longer comment this week, so I'll just say I hope fans of New Zealand rock with an avant garde edge will appreciate Straitjacket Fits, active from the mid 1980s into the '90s. BIG THANKS to mondoprune for sharing the Radio & TV collection and to crankingamps for the 1989 Triple J session below.

Live at the Wireless (2JJJ FM) 

ABC Studios

Sydney, Australia 

Aug. 7, 1989

FM recording (sound quality: Ex-)

01 DJ intro

03 Quiet Come

04 interview 1

05 Bad Note for a Heart

06 interview 2

07 Mellow Cheer

08 interview 3

    

note: officially-released tracks from the session were omitted in the original share, thus the tracklisting above is missing 02 and 09 as intended

FLAC

MP3@320

     

Neil Finn & Dave Dobbyn (Party Boys) - Live 1985 (aud)

The Party Boys

Wellington, N.Z.

September 18, 1985

audience recording (quality: GD+ to VG-)

01 What's the Matter With You? (cuts in)

The Party Boys with Dave Dobbyn
before Neil joined in '85

02 Devil You Know

03 Mercury Blues (KC Douglas cover)

04 Love You Like I Should

05 Me and Bobby McGee (Roger Miller cover)

06 I Got You / Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison cover) 

07 Steal Yourself

08 Can't Carry On

09 Dancing Days (Led Zeppelin cover)

10 Be Mine Tonight

11 I Walk Away

12 Petticoat Junction (TV show theme)

13 Daydream Believer (Monkees cover)

14 Not Fade Away (Buddy Holly cover)

15 Now We're Getting Somewhere

16 Fire (Jimi Hendrix cover)

17 Bliss

18 Love Me Two Times (The Doors cover)

19 One Love (+ next song intro)

20 History Never Repeats

21 Hang Onto Yourself (David Bowie cover)

ROB SEZ: Can't have a 1980s & 1990s-centric N.Z. music series without posting this one. The recording goes back to the time just after the demise of Split Enz. Neil Finn had formed The Mullanes, but not yet signed to Capitol Records or changed the band's name to Crowded House. Meanwhile, Dave Dobbyn & friends began touring in 1984 as "The Party Boys" (kind of an odd name, since Jenny Morris was a member). Neil joined for the band's tour in Sept. & Oct. of 1985. This recording's sound quality isn't up to my usual standards, but the fun of hearing these two Kiwi legends playing & singing so many classic covers — and some of their own originals — makes up for what's lacking. Please enjoy.

FLAC

MP3@320

Bailter Space - Auckland, N.Z. 1999 (sbd) + bonus

Sweetwaters Music Fest

Puhinui Reserve

Auckland, New Zealand

Jan. 24, 1999

soundboard recording

(quality: Ex-) 

01 Begin

02 Two Stars

03 Shadow

04 Dark Blue

05 Windows On the World

John Halvorsen & Brent McLachlan of Bailter Space
fab photos by Michael Hall

06 Woke Up

07 Robot World 

08 Splat

09 U.H.F.

ROB SEZ: Christchurch noise rock gurus Bailter Space (aka Bailterspace) aren't really my cup of tea, musically speaking. Yet they fit the bill for this NZ series, and they're the "successor band" to the Gordons. Plus, Bailter Space is undeniably good at what they do. Here we have a lovely 1999 soundboard recording from the master tape source, recorded & generously shared by crankingamps. All praises to him; I'm just passing along his work. The bonus share is a 4-song Dutch radio compilation from a 1994 live session for VPRO and a much shorter VPRO session from 1995. The names of the taper & sharer have gone missing, unfortunately...

Bailter Space plays Edinburgh, 1991
photos above & below by misterworthington

VPRO Radio Live Session

May 1994 (exact date unknown)

FM recording (sound quality: VG+)

01 intro

02 Robot World

03 dj speaks

04 Projects

05 dj speaks again 

06 X

VPRO Radio Live Session

Oct. 1995 (exact date unknown)

FM recording (sound quality: VG+) 

01 Untied

02 interview

FLAC

MP3@320

Owsley - Live & Rare (by request)

(Will) Owsley

Live & Rare archive 

various venues, dates

1997-2004

WHAT'S IN THIS ARCHIVE:

Owsley - Mess With Me (from debut, indie version, 1997) HQ MP3

Owsley - Newark, N.J. 1999-02-21 MP3

Owsley - Newark, N.J. 2000-02-21 HQ MP3

Owsley - Roseville, CA 2000-03-04 HQ MP3

Owsley - Live On Drive 105 (2003) HQ MP3

Owsley - Vintage Vinyl, Nashville, TN 2004-03-04 (untracked) MP3@256 

Owsley - Vintage Vinyl, Nashville, TN 2004-03-20 (RDF edit) HQ MP3

Owsley - photos + Big Takeover scanned article

ROB SEZ: I don't get many requests these days. So when a blog reader left a recent comment, "More Owsley, please!" I was inclined to oblige if I found the time — which I did just a few days ago. Years ago, I created a proper blog post featuring a 2004 FM broadcast by the late, great Will Owsley. In case the name doesn't ring a bell, Will was a master of tasty, crunchy guitar pop. Here is the rest of my ROIO archive for Owsley, featuring live recordings (mostly audience recordings in VG or better quality) plus a rarity. Still want more? Head over to Pop Fair and cross your fingers that Haper still has an active link for the collection of Owsley demos and non-album tracks he put together years ago.

MP3@320

(as received; I do not have these in lossless)

     

VA - Songs of Big Star Live Nov. 2021

Various Artists

The Songs of Big Star 

St. Ann & the Church 

     of the Holy Trinity

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Nov. 7, 2021

audience recording (sound quality: VG++)

ROB SEZ: This was billed as "Songs of Big Star"— a one-of-a-kind acoustic, orchestrated performance featuring Chris Stamey (The dB's), Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Brett Harris, Charles Cleaver, and Skylar Gudasz (Big Star's Third Live), Crispin Cioe (Uptown Horns) & the Occasional String Quartet. And it all happened in the stunning setting of St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn. When Chris declared a couple of years ago that "Big Star's Third Live" was over, I never thought I'd see something like this again. The performance starts off a little slow, as if the musicians are taking a while to get back in the groove. Stay with it, though, because they definitely find it several songs into the concert. The taper was Lucca. BIG THANKS to him! FYI: the NZ music series continues next week...

01 music intro

02 spoken intro

03 I'm In Love with a Girl 

04 The India Song

05 Kanga Roo

06 Watch the Sunrise

07 Dream Lover 

08 O My Soul

09 Daisy Glaze

10 Night Time

11 Take Care

12 For You 

13 You and Your Sister

14 intermission

15 September Gurls

16 Back of a Car

17 In the Street

18 Jesus Christ

19 February's Quiet 

20 Thirteen

21 Way Out West

22 Holocaust

Songs of Big Star in Brooklyn, earlier this month.
That's Chris on the right.

23 Thank You Friends

24 There Was a Light

25 You Get What You Deserve

26 Give Me Another Chance

27 The Ballad of El Goodo

28 O Dana

29 Femme Fetale [Velvet Underground]

30 I Am the Cosmos [Chris Bell]

31 Don't Go Back to Rockville [R.E.M.]

FLAC

MP3@320

Sneaky Feelings - Hamburg, GR 1987 (aud)

Sneaky Feelings 

Hamburg, Germany

October 12, 1987

audience recording (sound quality: VG-)

01 Husband House

02 There's a Chance 

03 Wouldn't Cry

04 It's So Easy

05 Trouble With Kay

06 Not to Take Sides

07 Now 

08 A Letter to You

09 Won't Change

10 Hard Love

11 In the Shape of a Heart

12 Waiting for Touchdown

13 Better Than Before

14 Broken Man

15 Unknown Cover Song

16 Throwing Stones

17 Discipline

18 Your Secret's Safe with Me 

19 Levin Dream

20 Coming True

21 Amnesia

ROB SEZ:  Here's a true rarity and collector's item: a complete live recording by Dunedin's Sneaky Feelings from 1987.  Sneaky Feelings trafficked in the musical collision between rock and pop typical of Flying Nun's roster, with frequently compelling results. (The band has a musical family tree connection to the Mutton Birds via drummer Ross Burge, who joined Sneaky Feelings in 1989.) This recording turned up recently, and I thought it had unrealized potential. It's an audience capture several generations off the master tape, so I applied some eq to bring up the bass and take the edge off the treble frequencies. After balancing the left & right channels, raising the levels, and adding one pass of compression, I think it's worth a listen — or two! Hearty thanks to DAP for sharing this one and gratitude to the unknown taper.

FLAC

MP3@320

Dave Dobbyn - Palmerston North, N.Z. 2011 (aud)

The Square

Palmerston North, N.Z.
Oct. 1, 2011

audience recording (sound quality: VG+)

01 Language

02 Slice of Heaven

03 Outlook for Thursday 

04 Maybe the Rain

05 Blindman's Bend

06 Lap of the Gods

07 Beside You

08 Only Love Remains

09 Whaling

10 You Oughta Be In Love

11 Rain On Fire

12 Be Mine Tonight

13 Pour the Wine

14 Love You Like I Should 

15 Loyal

16 pre-encore break

17 Just Add Water

18 Hanging In the Wire 

19 Welcome Home

ROB SEZ: New Zealander Dave Dobbyn is a musical treasure to longtime Kiwi & Aussie fans, but he's more or less unknown outside Australasia. That's a real shame, since he's been justly celebrated for decades by better-known musicians such as Neil & Tim Finn. If you want to find out what you've been missing, this recording is a decent place to start. It features old classics from Dave's "DD Smash" days through more recent solo hits. (I also recommend my earlier DD post HERE.) I wish I knew more about this recording, such as who to thank and who Dave's fellow musicians are. Safe bet the drummer is the fab Ross Burge (The Mutton Birds). Other than a lack of info, I have no complaints about this fine offering.

FLAC

MP3@320

   

The Clean - Live in 2010 + 2011 (webstream recordings)

Primavera Sound Festival 

Parc del Forum

Barcelona, Spain

May 29, 2010

WFMU webstream capture (sound quality: VG++)

00 DJ intro

01 Fish

New Zealand's The Clean, in-store appearance in 2015

02 I Wait Around

03 Drawing to a Hole

04 Wipe Me, I’m Lucky

05 David tunes, Hamish talks 

06 Anything Could Happen

07 (unknown song)

08 Whatever I Do It’s Right

09 Outside the Cage

10 In the Dreamlife U Need 

     a Rubber Soul

11 Oddity

12 Point That Thing 

     Somewhere Else

13 band interview

The Kings Arms

Auckland, N.Z.

Nov. 24, 2011

Radio NZ webstream capture 

    (sound quality: VG++)

01 At the Bottom

02 Two Fat Ladies

03 Wipe Me, I'm Lucky

04 Flowers

The Clean, Kings Arms, Auckland
(above 2 photos by petra jane)

05 In the Dreamlife U Need a Rubber Soul

06 Getting Older 

07 Tally Ho

08 Fish*

09 Point That Thing Somewhere Else*

*bonus tracks: San Francisco Bath House, 

Wellington, N.Z. 2007-03-16 (RNZ webstream)

ROB SEZ: Last week, I featured The Clean's founder & primary songwriter David Kilgour in solo mode. This week, you get The Clean live in 2010 and 2011, courtesy of Radio New Zealand. Please enjoy.

FLAC lossless capture, lossy source

MP3@320