ROB SEZ: I snagged these many years ago from Karl Wallinger's "The Joint" at one of his websites, either worldparty.net or karlwallinger.net. The overall sound quality range is VG- to VG. The exact date of each session is not known. The first set contains a true rarity: a live version of the beautiful B-side "No More Crying." The files came in the Apple-friendly M4A format, in high enough bitrate to be considered lossless. Upon checking the wave forms, however, it appears these are from lossy sources. Please note: I am posting them in FLAC, but only to prevent further sonic degradation from making lossy copies of lossy-sourced files.
ROB SEZ: I picked up this bootleg CD at a lovely little music shop in Western Massachusetts a few years ago. I always thought the performance sounded strong, but the mix and/or mastering was iffy. Pulled it out the other day and tried a digital revision, which I think turned out well — so I'm sharing it with you.
The original source sounds like an FM recording or (less likely) the audio from a TV broadcast. I used compression and a bit of eq to enhance clarity and improve instrumental separation.
The setlist is noteworthy for the not-often-played nugget "All I Gave" and a sweet segue from a semi-acoustic version of "Thank You World" straight into "Sunshine."
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.
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.
