Tommy Keene - Live 1993, 2012 & 2017 (sbd + aud)

The Best Recordings I Haven't Yet Shared  

audience & soundboard sources

 

Ambler Cabaret

Ambler, PA

March 20, 1993

  

audience recording (sound quality: VG+) 

  

01 Alive

02 Astronomy

03 Nothing Can Change You

04 Down Down Down

05 We Started Over Again

06 Hanging On to Yesterday

07 Back to Zero

08 Karl Marx

09 Compromise

10 When Our Vows Break

11 My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe

12 Love Is a Dangerous Thing

13 Places That Are Gone

  

ROB SEZ: Today, I am still missing Tommy Keene's presence on the planet and still pondering the "what ifs": What if he hadn't died suddenly in his sleep in 2017 at the tender age of 59? What if he'd been able to share his kind, humane self with us for a while longer? What if he'd lived to create some more beautiful songs, albums, and live shows? What if someone from his circle of family & friends could round up the demos, outtakes, and live recordings that almost surely exist? (Omnivore: are you on it?). Enough of my laments on what should be a joyful day for the world. Here's my gift to you, fellow smart pop fans: the best TK live recordings I haven't already shared here. The first two feature Tommy and band, while the last one is TK solo. MEGA THANKS to realomind and whoever taped & shared the 2012 recording. If you have not yet found this NYC Taper soundboard-audience matrix recording from 2010, go grab it now. P.S. - I might post a collection of lossy TK rarities & live sessions here some time next year, so stop by every so often.

  

NECESSARY READING: Dave Holmes' farewell to TK in Esquire Magazine

   

Tommy Keene: back when the world was his oyster

Sam Bond's Garage

Eugene, OR

Jan. 27, 2012

  

soundboard recording (sound quality: VG++)

   

01 Long Time Missing

02 Deep Six Saturday

03 Behind the Parade

04 Astronomy

05 Nothing Can Change You 

06 His Mother's Son

07 Turning On Blue

08 Back to Zero

09 Compromise

10 Nowhere Drag

11 Places That Are Gone

12 Kill Your Sons

13 His Mother's Son (brief, partial - soundcheck) 

Kung Fu Necktie

Philadelphia, PA

I guess he's wearing the actual Kung Fu Necktie!

April 21, 2017

  

audience recording (sound quality: VG) 

   

01 Going Out Again

02 You Can't Wait for Time

03 Go Back Home

04 Back to Zero

05 Nighttime [Big Star cover]

06 Back Again

07 Astronomy

08 Laugh In the Dark

09 Nothing Can Change You

10 Raymond Chandler Evening

     [Robyn Hitchcock cover]

11 High Wire Days

12 Black and White New York

13 Deep Six Saturday

14 Long Time Missing

15 Compromise

16 Nowhere Drag

17 Places That Are Gone

18 Mother's Little Helper [Rolling Stones cover, with Ivan Julian]

FLAC

  

MP3@320

     

Tommy Keene - House Concert, Madison, WI 2014 (great!)

Kiki's House of Righteous Music 
Madison, WI
July 3, 2014
  

audience recording (sound quality: VG+; great capture by Mark Albers — it sounds like you're right there)

  
  

All these fab photos are by the amazing Chris Sikich
(except black & white shot above by Goro Memo)

01 Going Out Again 

02 The Puppet

03 Deep Six Saturday 

04 Behind the Parade

05 Good Thing Going

06 Compromise 

07 Black & White New York

08 My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe

09 Underworld

10 When Our Vows Break

11 Back to Zero Now

12 Long Time Missing

13 Places That Are Gone

14 Astronomy

15 This Could Be Fiction 

16 Love Is a Dangerous Thing

     (with It's Not True)

17 Kill Your Sons

     (with Street Fighting Man) 

18 Highwire Days

19 Turning On Blue

   

20 Out of My Mind*

21 Astronomy - Laugh In the Dark*

22 Last of the Twilight Girls*

     *20-22 are from same venue, but different show 

     played Sept. 8, 2015

Musicians:

TK - vocals, guitar

Steve Gerlach - guitar

Brad Quinn - bass, vocals

John Richardson - drums

TK at Record Store Day 2017 in Philly

ROB SEZ: Damn! I still really miss Tommy Keene and hate the thought of not sharing the same planet with him. I never met the guy, and never got the chance to hear him play in person. But what a blazingly talented songwriter and guitar player he was. And those who knew him say he was a genuinely kind human being. Tommy never failed to move me with his incredible playing and heart-in-his-gut singing. I was feeling all this (again) the other day, when I thought: "What if I could find a great live recording to bring TK a little closer?" Lo and behold, I found this gem: recorded by Mark Albers at a house concert Tommy played in Wisconsin in 2014. The small venue, the acoustics, the audience vibe and TK's magic all come together to make for a great show. Everyone in attendance must've thought so too, because Kiki had him back the following year — thus, the 2015 bonus tracks. Check the sample, and I bet you'll be downloading it shortly thereafter.  A VERY SPECIAL THANKS to Chris Sikich for permission to use his fab photos of Tommy Keene. Chris has photographed lots of the artists we love at this blog, so go check out his web site & Flickr feed for more.
  
MP3@320
(source was lossy, so no FLAC share this time)

Tommy Keene - Before & After 'Songs from the Film'

Pre-‘Songs From the Film’ Demos 
c. 1984-1985

all tracks officially unreleased

soundboard recordings (quality: VG- to VG+; recorded at different times, culled from various sources)
     
01 Back Again (early version)
02 Fall Down Too

TOMMY KEENE: still can't believe he's gone

03 Save My Life
04 As Life Goes By
05 Drowning (early version) 
06 Astronomy
07 The Story Ends
08 Faith In Love
09 We’re Two
10 Nothing Is Great
11 Listen to Me
12 Gold Town
13 Call On Me
14 You’ve Gotta Stop
15 Run Now (early version)
16 Call On Me
17 Run Now (alternate)
18 Fall Down Too
19 The Story Ends (acoustic intro)
20 Gold Town

ROB SEZ: Most people who know only one album by Tommy Keene know Songs from the Film — probably because it's Tommy's first proper album and contains the only song that was a near-hit, "Places That Are Gone". This post is a companion to the album, containing pre-album demos as well as a live set from 2010 during which Tommy played the album in its entirety (see below). These demos were shared by DSMOOTH7, whom I thank profusely. My only change was some light eq’ing. There’s hiss here & there, but not enough to risk loss of overall sound quality by attempting noise reduction.

The Record Collector
Bordentown, N.J.
Sept. 18, 2010

audience recording (sound quality: VG)

The Songs from the Film album played in its entirety (tracks 03-16)

01 Late Bright

Awesome Tommy Keene photo (2015) by Chris Sikich

02 A Secret Life of Stories
03 Places That Are Gone
04 In Our Lives
05 Listen to Me
06 Paper Words and Lies
07 Gold Town
08 Kill Your Sons [Lou Reed] 
09 Call On Me
10 As Life Goes By
11 chat
12 My Mother Looked Like
     Marilyn Monroe
13 Underworld
14 chat
15 Astronomy
16 The Story Ends
17 chat
18 Turning On Blue
19 Highwire Days
20 band intros
21 Black & White New York
22 applause
23 encore entrance
24 Back to Zero Now
25 Love Is a Dangerous Thing 
26 It’s Not True

MEGA THANKS to Tom at Bagofsongs for sharing this a while back.

FLAC (demos in FLAC; also includes the live set in lossy)

MP3 (includes demos MP3@320 & live set MP3@192)
   

LINK TO ALL TOMMY KEENE POSTS HERE

Tommy Keene - Chicago, IL 2014 (FM)

Live On the Mayne Stage 
Chicago, IL
July 2, 2014
 

FM capture (sound quality Ex-)

                 

ROB SEZ: Here's more Tommy Keene goodness in memory of the tremendously talented singer, guitarist & song writer, who died just 2 weeks ago. Massive thanks to the taper & sharer (I would credit them by name ... but I've lost that info). I threw together some custom artwork. Come back soon for more...

JUST POSTED: NEW FLAC links for these previous TK posts: Washington, D.C. 2004 (sbd); Velvet Crush Live in 2005 with Tommy Keene (sbd); TK Live 1989 & 1998 (the latter was originally posted in lossless; I'm re-listing it for those who missed it).

FLAC
  
MP3@320

On the fence about Tommy Keene's music?

Watch the "Deep Six Saturday" video.

The guy in the bear (?) suit is randomly goofy, but the rest of the video is thoroughly enjoyable. 

From TK's 2011 album Behind the Parade.

 

Watch the entire pro-shot 2014 "Live On the Mayne Stage" Broadcast

Learn more about the music of Tommy Keene 

at his web site and at AllMusic

Trouser Press covered TK's 1980s & early 1990s output.

Tommy Keene - Hartford, CT 1996 + Demos

Trinity College 
Hartford, CT
April 11, 1996

soundboard recording (sound quality Ex-; mix, sound quality & performance are all amazing)

TOMMY KEENE: through a looking glass

01 Call On Me
02 Going Out Again
03 Turning On Blue
04 Astronomy
05 Alive
06 Your Heart Beats Alone
07 On the Runway
08 Nothing Can Change You 
09 Silent Town
10 Good Thing Going
11 Back to Zero Now
12 Compromise
13 Love is a Dangerous Thing
14 Places That Are Gone

ROB SEZ: Talk about your heart-breaking news: the sudden, unexpected death of Tommy Keene last month was an ugly shock to his family, friends & fans like me. Tommy's older brother Bobby wrote & recently posted a moving, essay-length remembrance with lots of previously unseen photos. It's well worth a read, as is Blurt's extensive coverage. What's a music blogger to do in the face of such a loss? Find and share the best-performed, best-sounding ROIOs he's got. Expect more TK here soon, and a re-post or two from the archives. The 1996 show was shared by dap, who wrote, "This is one of my favorite Tommy Keene shows — great sounding soundboard, and great performance on the Ten Years After tour. Jay Bennett (from Wilco fame) is his second guitarist here, and he adds a tasteful dark tone to the proceedings."
 
Pre- Matador Demos
early 1990s
 
soundboard recordings (quality: VG++) 

01 We Got a Good Thing Going
02 Lies in My Heart
03 Your Heart Beats Alone
04 If You're Getting 
     Married Tonight 
05 Time to Say Goodbye
06 Tell Me Something
07 Before the Lights Go Down
08 Alive
09 Compromise

ALL PRAISES to those who shared these tracks. Unfortunately, I have lost their names — sorry about that. Leave me a comment and I'll gladly amend the post...

MP3@320 fixed - new link

FLAC

Velvet Crush - Live in 1995 with Tommy Keene

Maxwell’s
Hoboken, N.J.
January 20, 1995

audience recording (sound quality VG to VG+; from master tape; club show with the usual audience chatter) 
  

01 Yesterday's Numbers (Flamin' Groovies cover)
02 Window to the World

Velvet Crush: with Tommy Keene in 1995

03 My Blank Pages
04 Ash and Earth
05 Why Not Your Baby? (Gene Clark cover) 
06 band intros
07 Atmosphere
08 This Life Is Killing Me
09 Hold Me Up
10 Remember the Lightning (20/20 cover)
11 Blind Faith
12 Prisoners of Rock 'n' Roll
      (Neil Young cover)
13 Keep On Lingerin'
14 Time Wraps Around You
15 Why (Byrds cover)
16 Don't You Slip Away from Me

ROB SEZ: supa dupa thanks to Scott S. for taping, Phil H. for tracking, and jgk1971 for sharing.

unknown venue & city

Sound waves so powerful, they screwed up the camera

Denmark
January 28, 1995

soundboard recording (quality VG++; 
this would get a higher rating, but the vocals 
are a tad distant; otherwise, the sound 
is excellent)

01 Window to the World 
02 My Blank Pages
03 Ash and Earth
04 Why Not Your Baby?
05 Atmosphere
06 This Life Is Killing Me
07 Hold Me Up
08 Tell Me It's Alright

The band at Mitch Easter's studio, recording Heavy Changes

09 Don't You Slip Away 
     from Me
10 Keep On Lingerin'
11 Blind Faith*
12 It's Been Too Long and It's 
     Too Late Now* 
13 Drive Me Down*

*last 3 tracks = Lupo's, Providence, R.I., 
May 21, 1995 (sbd - quality VG)

Velvet Crush:
Paul Chastain - bass, vocals
Ric Menck - drums, vocals
Jeffrey Borchardt - 
                     rhythm guitar
^Tommy Keene - electric guitar

^TK may not have played on the final 3 tracks (you must snag these in MP3; they're not included in the FLAC links below)

MP3@320

FLAC (Maxwell's show)

FLAC (Denmark show)

Just-released archival collection

Demos & live tracks from the Teenage Symphonies era

Get it from the folks with impeccable musical taste at Omnivore

Read spavid's overview at Wilfully Obscure 

Tommy Keene - Demos

Studio Demos

recording location & dates unknown

soundboard recordings (sound quality VG+)

Of course Mick did the artwork; who else would come up with this??

UNDYING THANKS & PRAISE to Mick and Don at the old ASH blog for first sharing these and giving me permission to do the same here.

MP3@256

This is ASH Tuesday post #11. 

Read a most excellent TK retrospective by Tom Warner

at his Accelerated Decrepitude blog
    

Tommy Keene - Laugh In the Dark

the new studio album

BUY the CD or LP from Second Motion (download incl.)

DOWNLOAD the MP3 album from iTunes

STREAM IT at Soundcloud

Tommy Keene - Washington, DC 2004 + bonus

9:30 Club

Washington, D.C.

Sept. 11, 2004

soundboard recording (quality VG++; darn fine sounding show; [don’t be fooled by intro, which will make you think this is an audie…])

NO FOOLIN’ THANKS to happymedium27 for sharing this.

TOMMY KEENE: bright lights, not-so-big recognition. Can we fix that, please?!
photo by Chris Grady

ROB SEZ: The late Tommy Keene was another artist in the familiar category “massively talented but lamentably under-appreciated”. The guy made high-quality, guitar-based pop with a rock edge for decades. This hometown show (opening for Guided by Voices) is a good intro for the uninitiated.

DON'T MISS TK's amazing official live album...

01 Call On Me

02 Turning On Blue

03 Highwire Days

04 Compromise

05 No One In This City

06 Long Time Missing

07 Back to Zero

08 When Our Vows Break

09 Places That Are Gone

10 Kill Your Sons (Lou Reed cover)

11 Run Now (live 1990)*

12 Compromise (live 1990)*

13 Places That Are Gone
    (live 1994)^

14 Lost a Number (Nils Lofgren cover)+

Bonus Tracks info

*9:30 Club, Washington, DC March 1990 from the “Open for Business” rockumentary 
       (in so-so sounding mono)

^Conan O’Brien Show Feb. 1, 1994
+Rockville, MD 2004-08-25 (Nils Lofgren Tribute show)

TT: 58 mins., 59 secs.

MP3@256

FLAC (first 10 tracks only from 2004 show; download the MP3 version as well if you want everything)

Learn more about the music of Tommy Keene 

at his web site and at AllMusic
 

Tommy Keene - Live 1989 & 1998

Live in 1989 & 1998

TOMMY KEENE! Come out from behind that curtain and rock!!

Tower Theater

Upper Darby, PA  April 7, 1989  audience recording

  
sound quality: VG (master tape source; very enjoyable recording without much crowd noise — except final track)
 

01 This Could Be Fiction

02 Nothing Can Change You

03 Hanging On to Yesterday

04 Light of Love

05 Based On Happy Times

06 Back to Zero

07 Listen to Me

08 When Our Vows Break

09 My Mother Looked Like Marilyn Monroe — Places That Are Gone

“Morning Becomes Eclectic” with Nic Harcourt

KCRW-FM Santa Monica, CA  May 28, 1998

FM capture

  
sound quality: VG- (multi-generation copy; uploader’s tape had problems evident on some tracks, but TK fans should still give it a listen)

 
10a Interview

10   Astronomy

11   Waiting Without You

11b Interview

12   Long Time Missing

12b Interview

13   When Our Vows Break

13b Interview

14   Compromise

14b Interview

15   Love Is a Dangerous Thing

 

TT: 1:12:29
 

NOTE: If you want to enjoy the music without the KCRW interview, just delete all the “a” and “b” tracks.
 

SPECIAL THANKS to lonetaper for taping & to Doorjam for sharing
 

Tommy Keene Band:

Tommy Keene – guitar, vocals

Brad Quinn - bass

John Richardson - drums

Justin Hibbard – guitar (1989 set)  Scott Johnson - guitar (1998 set)
 

WAV (lossless) files (538 MB)

At the uploader’s request, this is shared ONLY in lossless format; you can convert WAV to MP3 for personal use with iTunes, as well as lots of other free applications.
   

Learn more about the music of Tommy Keene at his web site and at AllMusic