The Clientele & Alasdair MacLean - Live at WFMU, N.J. 2009 + 2014 (sbd)

The Clientele 

WFMU Live Session

Jersey City, N.J.

July 18, 2014

webstream capture (sound quality: VG++) - Irwin Chusid's Show

The Clientele - Live Session 2010

01 We Could Walk Together 

02 Porcelain

03 On a Summer Trail

04 Missing

05 Driving South

06 Bicycles

07 Impossible

08 Lamplight

09 intro, interview segments, outro

ROB SEZ: I've fallen hard recently for the amazing The Clientele, founded in London in 1997. As you'll hear in these recordings, the heart and soul of the band is co-founder Alasdair MacLean's voice, mesmeric guitar playing, and poetic lyrics. The closest analogy for the inevitable question of what the group sounds like is to imagine the mature Teenage Fanclub playing gentle-yet-compelling folk pop, fronted by Nick Drake. Try one of the video samples and see what happens. Me? I'm hooked for good. All thanks & praise to WFMU DJ Irwin Chusid for championing The Clientele and arranging a live session in 2014, preceded by MacLean's solo session 5 years earlier. The Clientele's most recent releases are two singles from 2020, so here's hoping they'll soon be releasing new material and/or touring.

...and here's what Alasdair sounds like solo

Alasdair MacLean

WFMU Live Session 

Jersey City, N.J.

Oct. 28, 2009

webstream capture (sound quality: VG++) - Irwin Chusid's Show

01 Bonfires On the Heath 

02 Since K Got Over Me

03 Rain

04 Saturday

05 Six A.M. Morningside

06 intro, interview segments, outro

FLAC lossless captures, lossy sources

MP3@320

    

Boo Radleys - The Astoria, London 1995 + 1997 (FM)

The Astoria 

London, UK

Jan. 26, 1997

FM broadcast (sound quality: VG to VG+)

01 C'mon Kids
02 Wake Up Boo!
03 Melodies for the Deaf
04 From the Bench at the Belvidere
05 Everything Is Sorrow
06 Reaching Out from Here 

07 What's In the Box?
08 Roadie
09 Find the Answer Within
10 Ride the Tiger
11 Lazarus
12 Stuck On Amber
13 Bullfrog Green
14 Get On the Bus

The Astoria

London, UK

April 13, 1995

TV broadcast (sound quality: VG+)

01 It's Lulu
02 Reaching Out from Here
03 Joel
04 Stuck On Amber
05 Twinside
06 Wake Up Boo!
07 Find the Answer Within

ROB SEZ: Sometimes I really think I should've been born in the U.K. I would never claim something as ricidulous as "All the good bands are from the British isles." However, when it comes to great guitar-based rock and pop groups — with strong melodies and lyrics that aren't dumb, the United Kingdom certainly has a TON. The Boo Radleys are in this league, and some fans will tell you they're the best of the under-the-radar bands from the 1990s. When their song "Wake Up Boo!" was a Top 10 single in the U.K., and the similarly-titled album topped the 1995 British album charts, the Boos become a phenomenon in Britain. As is often the case, however, their success did not make it across the Atlantic. Enjoy these two live recordings from the same London venue to find out what you may have missed. The Boos are back in 2022 with an all-new studio album, Keep On with Falling and the digital-only Live In 2021. My gratitude goes to S. Smith and Doing It for the Vids for sharing their FM recordings. 

FLAC lossless captures, lossy sources

MP3@320

Comet Gain - Indietracks Fest UK 2016 (aud)

Indietracks Festival 

Midland Railway Centre

Swanwick Junction, UK

July 31, 2016

audience recording (sound quality: VG- to VG)

00 stage entrance

01 My Defiance

02 Saturday Night Facts of Life

03 David, banging on about something 

04 Love Without Lies

05 An Arcade from the Warm 

     Rain That Falls

06 Why I Try to Look So Bad

07 The Fists In the Pocket

08 Fingernailed for You

09 I Never Happened

10 Working Circle Explosive!

11 You Can Hide 

     Your Love Forever

12 Herbert Huncke Pt. 2

13 Herbert Huncke Pt. 2 (cont'd)

David Christian (aka David Feck), banging on his geetar (fab photo by Greg Neate)

ROB SEZ: My last post was also by Comet Gain. By request, here's another one. Soundwise, this one's a bit muddier, but it's perfectly enjoyable — especially when you remember just how darn rare these things are.

FLAC lossy source, lossless capture

  

MP3@320