World Party - 1997-07-24 New York, N.Y. (sbd)

“Sessions at West 54th” live recording 

Sony Music Studios 
New York, N.Y.
1997-07-24

 

soundboard recording (EX quality)

I sourced this one many years ago from a Karl Wallinger-maintained website via downloaded FLAC files. The lineage of the source files is unknown, but presumed to be from a digital copy very close to the soundboard master. This performance was recorded for what became Episode 15 in Season 1 of “Sessions at West 54th," the American public television series. It first aired Oct. 11, 1997. Sinead O’Connor was the other featured artist in the episode. Setlist FM says the taping happened on July 24th, 1997, in the midst of a World Party tour of U.S. east coast cities.

HAVE a LISTEN

SETLIST:

01 It Is Time

02 Beautiful Dream

03 Is It Like Today?

04 Vanity Fair

05 She's the One

06 Call Me Up

07 Put the Message in the Box

08 Way Down Now

09 (Tuning)

10 Vanity Fair (Take 2)

11 Put the Message in the Box

(Take 2)

12 (Talking)

13 (Talking)

14 (Talking)

15 Ship of Fools

ROB SEZ:  I downloaded this from either worldparty.net or karlwallinger.net, back when Karl was alive and well and prone to uploading goodies like this for fans like me to snag. You hear it as I received it: all I did was re-track, tag the files, and raise the levels on the talking in certain places to make it easier to hear what Karl is saying. I forgot just how smashingly good this recording is, sound and performance wise. There are too many highlights to list, but I especially like the killer set-closing Ship of Fools and the tight rhythm section and guitar-forward mix on Way Down Now. There's even a horn section on a few songs. If Karl had lived longer and looked for archival material to officially release, this would’ve been an easy contender. Karl and the band sound swaggeringly confident, they’re playing in a state-of-the-art NYC music studio, and the rather polite attendees sound more & more enthused as the performance rolls along. Now that we’re approaching the 29th anniversary (!) of the recording, the time seems right to get it out to anyone who remembers just how damn good Karl was. I like to think he’s hanging with Sly, John Lennon, and Prince somewhere very groovy right now.

FLAC

 

MP3@320

Big Star - 2002-03-20 San Francisco, CA (sbd-aud matrix)

The Fillmore

San Francisco, CA

March 3, 2002

 

soundboard-audience matrix (sound quality: EX — a pristine recording)

 

00 stage entrance, tuning

01 In the Street

02 Don't Lie to Me

03 When My Baby's Beside Me 

04 I Am the Cosmos

05 Way Out West

06 Till the End of the Day

      (The Kinks)

07 The Ballad of El Goodo

08 Back of a Car

09 Daisy Glaze

10 Thirteen

11 Baby Strange (T. Rex)

12 For You

13 Feel

14 September Gurls

15 Big Black Car

16 Thank You Friends

17 Slut (Todd Rundgren)

18 Patti Girl (Gary & The Hornets)

19 Hot Thing

20 Wouldn't It Be Nice? (Beach Boys)

Musicians:

Alex Chilton – guitars, vocals

Jody Stephens – drums, vocals 

Jon Auer – guitar, vocals

Ken Stringfellow – bass guitar, vocals, keyboards

HUGE THANKS go out to the anonymous recordist and sharer, as well as ccrider895 for getting this out to a wider circle of fans. In case you already snagged ccrider's version, please note this is modestly different, as revealed in the info file. 

ROB SEZ: Gotta love it when these little gifts fall out of the digital sky, and for free. (A lot things about the digital era SUCK, but this is not one of them.) Someone with access to a lot of raw soundboard-sourced live music dropped dozens of recordings recently onto the interwebs, with the clear understanding, "You didn't get these from me." This is the only Big Star recording in the bunch, but it's very tasty. Alex seems more engaged than usual here, and there are several standout performances, including my now-favorite live version of "Thirteen." A live performance, however, cannot redeem the dreck that is "Hot Thing," a song tossed off in the studio to add to a BS compilation issued in 2003. Happy to say it's the only bum note I can find. Please enjoy.

FLAC

MP3@320