The Stems - Live Across 33 Years (1986 + 2019)

unknown venue & city  
Australia
Dec. 1986
  
soundboard recording (quality: VG; ripped from vinyl bootleg "Can't Turn the Clock Back"; exact date unknown)

R.I.P. Richard Lane (guitarist & keyboard player)

01 Sad Girl
02 Stomping All Over the World
03 Running Around
04 Man with the Golden Heart
05 She's a Monster
06 Zero Hour
07 Psychotic Reaction
08 She's Fine
09 Does It Turn You On
10 You Can't Turn the Clock Back 
11 All You Want Me For
12 No Heart
13 Can't Resist
14 Make You Mine
15 Tears Me In Two
   
Croxton Bandroom
Melbourne, Australia
Nov. 4, 2019
  
audience recording (sound quality: VG+)

The Stems - Thirty-some Years On

01 She Sees Everything
02 Just Ain't Enough
03 Move Me
04 For Always
05 Jumping to Conclusions
06 Feel a Whole Lot Better 
     (The Byrds cover)
07 Mr. Misery
08 Get to Know Me
09 Undying Love
10 Surround Me
11 At First Sight
12 Make You Mine


Los Conciertos
    de Radio3
(venue & date unknown)
late 2019 (broadcast Dec. 18, 2019)
  
audio rip from video (soundboard recording - quality: Ex-)

01 She Sees Everything 
02 Just Ain't Enough
03 For Always
04 Undying Love
05 Surround Me
06 At First Sight
07 Make you Mine
  
ROB SEZ: The Stems!! If you have a hankering for garage rock with a pop sensibility, there's no finer group today than Australia's The Stems. Dom Mariani and co. got their act together in the 1980s, then broke up after recording only one proper album. Luckily, time healed some wounds, and The Stems reformed for an album and tour 20 years later. When Mariani is not fronting one of several other bands, he will cycle back to The Stems, which he did again in 2019. HUGE THANKS to pete2020 for sharing the 1986 recording, Angelo for the Radio3 set, and crankingamps for recording & sharing the Melbourne set. There's a bonus goodie baked into this one. You'll find it after you open the download folder. Please enjoy.

FLAC

MP3@320

The dB's - New York, N.Y. April 1982 (sbd)

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB's

(venue unknown; possibly The Ritz)

New York, N.Y.

April 1982 (exact date unknown)

   

probably Chris Stamey’s last live show with The dB’s, mk. 1 

   
soundboard (sound quality VG++; sounds like it’s from a 1st-generation tape; the rhythm guitar is/was kinda loud compared to other instruments, so I reduced its volume; on a few songs, there's some distortion in the vocals)
   

You can hypnotize yourself if you stare
into their eyes for at least 3 minutes…

photo illustration by Magnet magazine

01 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know

The dB's, with Chris on his way out

Winston-Salem Journal photo

02 Living a Lie

03 Happenstance

04 Storm Warning

05 Dynamite

06 Tomorrow Never Knows 

07 Amplifier

08 pH Factor

09 I Feel Good (Today)

10 Excitement

11 Walking the Ceiling
     (It's Good to Be Alive)

12 Bad Reputation

13 Neverland

ROB SEZ: First, let me thank the taper and especially Scott R for sharing this rare recording with me. Obviously, this is not the usual length for a dB’s headlining set. It's just 13 songs because the guys were playing on a multi-act bill. At the end of the last song, Peter says, “Pylon’s up next.” It’s possible this was a show on April 22 at The Ritz for which The Teardrop Explodes was scheduled to headline, but never performed due to an intra-band blowup backstage. The dB's set features what may be the briefest version of “Tomorrow Never Knows” the band ever played onstage. Performance-wise, there's a chaotic energy that gives the recording an edginess I find appealing. Is this because Chris had already told the band he was leaving to focus on his own music? We may never know. I'm pretty sure this is the last known live performance before Chris departed The dB's. The whole thing is very enjoyable, but the last half of the show really cooks. TURN IT UP!

    

The dB’s:

Chris Stamey – guitar, vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard, vocals

Will Rigby – drums & vocals

Gene Holder – bass

FLAC
  
MP3@320

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Reunion, London 2004 (sbd)

Hammersmith Apollo 
London, UK
Oct. 15, 2004
   
Instant Live limited ed. release
    
soundboard recording (sound quality: Ex; an excellent, flawless recording)

01 Rattlesnakes

02 Why I Love Country Music 

03 Speedboat

04 Charlotte Street

05 From the Hip

06 Cut Me Down

07 Brand New Friend

08 Sweetness

09 2CV

10 My Bag

11 Sean Penn Blues

12 Mainstream

13 Perfect Blue

14 Patience

15 LC banter

16 Lost Weekend

17 Perfect Skin

18 Mr Malcontent

19 Jennifer She Said

20 Four Flights Up

21 Heartbroken

22 Forest Fire

    

live photos courtesy of M.M.Minderhoud 

ROB SEZ: This one's pretty special and it's exclusive to this blog. Did you ever bid on one of those 1-penny eBay auctions? I have, but never won the "a penny plus shipping" deal — until a coupla weeks ago. That's when I bid on this rare, officially sanctioned, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions limited-edition reunion recording. I still can't believe I was the only fan in the world paying attention & bidding. A few days later, this lovely artifact arrived on my doorstep. And of course I'm sharing it with you. LC and the guys reunited to perform a handful of live shows in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Rattlesnakes, an album fully represented here, minus 1 song. You can tell the band spent 2+ weeks rehearsing for a 1-week tour: the performance is impressive for 20 years on. I thought the Instant Live artwork was boring: the CD equivalent of a brown paper wrapper. So I added the pertinent info and a photo from one of the 2004 UK shows to create custom artwork. If you like Lloyd Cole and haven't heard this, it's a must have. One more thing: I thought the straight-from-the-soundboard recording sounded kinda flat. One pass of modest compression did the trick, and now it sounds much more lively. PLEASE ENJOY. 

   

FLAC

MP3@320

   

Lloyd Cole - Live 1990-1993 (FM + sbd)

unknown city/venue 
unknown month/day 
1990 "X Tour" show

TV broadcast source (sound quality: VG+)

01 Why Don't We Do It 
     In the Road?
02 Perfect Skin
03 No Blue Skies
04 Brand New Friend
05 Mister Malcontent
06 Don't Look Back
07 A Long Way Down
08 Mainstream
09 What Do You Know 
     About Love?
10 I Hate to See You 
     Baby Doing That Stuff 
11 Sweetheart
12 Jennifer She Said

ROB SEZ: Gotta love Lloyd Cole. (Well, you don't have to love LC, but I sure do.) He's a class act, going all the way back to the 1980s and "Lloyd Cole & The Commotions." The man offers consistently great tunes, intelligent lyrics, all compellingly played. I'm on a mission to persuade Lloyd's unaware fans from the 1980s that he kept making worthy music, up through today. Were there a few failed experiments and overly-indulgent missteps along the way? Of course. But Lloyd's artistic success-to-failure ratio should be the envy of many wealthier & more popular artists. This is a good time to revisit Mr. Cole's mighty impressive back catalogue. I don't mind suggesting this is a good use of your quarantine time. HUGE THANKS to BBGrant and all the tapers for their generosity.
   

Lloyd Cole's early 1990s live dream team,
including Robert Quine and Matthew Sweet

Cirkus
Stockholm, Sweden
Nov. 4, 1991

FM recording
(sound quality: Ex-)

01 Rattlesnakes
02 Patience
03 Butterfly
04 There For Her
05 Man Enough
06 A Long Way Down
07 She's a Girl and I'm a Man

Black Sessions #39
Studio 106 
Paris, France
Nov. 9, 1993

FM recording (sound quality: VG+)

01 So You'd Like to Save the World
02 Unhappy Song
03 A Long Way Down
04 Undressed
05 Wild Mushrooms
06 Forest Fire
07 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
08 Can't Get Arrested
09 Sold
10 No Blue Skies
11 "Same Old Song" (title uncertain)*
12 Mystic Lady

*Mr. Cole himself could not recall song no. 11 when asked about it many years later. (As far as I can tell, it's not a cover.) If anyone can positively identify it, please leave a message.

   

Anyone out there have LC's 1995 Black Session to share?
If so, please get in touch.

FLAC

MP3@320

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - FM Broadcasts 1984 + 1985

Barrowland Ballroom 
Glasgow, Scotland 
Sept. 9, 1985
   
FM recording (sound quality: VG++)
  

01 Rich

02 Patience

03 Why I Love Country Music

04 Sweetness

05 Brand New Friend

06 Grace

07 Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?

08 Four Flights Up

09 Rattlesnakes

10 Speedboat

11 2CV

12 Forest Fire

13 Perfect Skin

14 Perfect Skin (outro)

Le Palace

Paris, France

Dec. 4, 1984

    

FM recording (sound quality: VG++)

      

01 Rattlesnakes
02 Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken? 

03 Glory (Tom Verlaine cover)
04 Andy's Babies
05 Charlotte Street
06 Patience
07 Speedboat
08 Beautiful City
09 Perfect Skin
10 Forest Fire
11 Glory (Reprise)

musicians:
Blair Cowan - keyboard, accordion
Lawrence Donegan - bass
Stephen Irvine - drums
Neil Clark - guitars
Lloyd Cole - vocals, guitars

ROB SEZ: Call it "coronavirus nostalgia" if you like, but lately I've had a hankering for classic artists from ages past. This extraordinary band is among them, with Glasgow & Paris being the perfect gig locations to satisfy my nostalgia. I've posted other Lloyd Cole & The Commotions ROIOs here in the past, but not these. HUGE THANKS to the original tapers as well as BBGrant for sharing the 1985 recording and to HARMONIZER09/ APOPTYGMA for sharing the Paris recording. Avid LC fans will appreciate the appearance of the rarely-played "Beautiful City" (a Rattlesnakes-era outtake) in the 1984 set. Look for another Lloyd Cole share next week — without The Commotions.

FLAC

  

MP3@320

Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey - New Archival Music Release

Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey

release 'Our Back Pages' 2008 acoustic recordings

to benefit MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund

   

Hey dB's / Peter H. / Chris S. fans: The music is great, the cause is just, and the price is right. You know what to do...

ROB SEZ: Think of this as "Holsapple-Stamey: The Unplugged Duo-ver Collection." I heard some of these tracks when they slipped out sideways in 2009, around the time Peter & Chris released their second duo album, hERE and nOW. They are completely enjoyable versions of dB's favorites and a few rarities, such as an early acoustic version of "Picture Sleeve" (later released in full band splendor on Falling Off the Sky), a duo version of Chris' song "Depth of Field," and all the dB's playing together on the rare 2005 version of "Nothing Is Wrong" with Chris on lead vocals. KUDOS to Chris, Peter and Ominvore Recordings for getting this out. Now then: what are you waiting for?

   
BUYING RECOMMENDATION: This is a digital-only release. As much as I appreciate & respect Omnivore Recordings, I am truly disappointed they charge full freight for lossy MP3s. (C'mon, Cheryl & co — I know you can do better!) So I recommend you find other sources for authorized, legit lossless files. These songs sound great in hi-res 24-bit files, available HERE and HERE.

What Peter Says:
  
Chris and I recorded a bunch of our old songs from The dB's in our duo format, as we'd been playing them in our shows for years. A lighter touch, less early adult angst and more gentle harmonies, acoustic guitars and space for the songs to breathe. Chris mixed these tunes and we presented them to Omnivore for their support of MusiCares.

Our Back Pages is an easy record to enjoy at home, and if you purchase it online (the only way to get it presently), you will help us benefit MusiCares COVID-19 fund that assists musicians affected by the pandemic's scope. Here's the link to purchase it via Omnivore Recordings, but it's available on almost every platform there is. And here's the MusiCares link if you want to bypass the record completely and just make a donation.

Thanks for your patience here, and I hope you order OBP for some weekend sounds.

Love,

PeterH

P.S. — I have a new Facebook artist page which has replaced the old one. So please 'like' me here

And here's the press release from Omnivore:

The MusiCares Fund is the Recording Academy’s charitable foundation provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in time of need.

Our Back Pages is a digital-only release of dB’s music re-imagined by the band’s Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey. The collection, featuring new acoustic versions of some of the duo’s favorite dB’s songs, will benefit the Recording Academy’s MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Chris Stamey explains, “Over the years, Peter and I have evolved acoustic versions of a number of our songs from our days together in The dB’s. While working on a duo project in my studio a decade ago, we took some time to lay down some of these arrangements, which are often quite different from the normal electric presentations. We are both always more concerned with making new music than with looking back, so it stayed in the archives. But it seemed like the time was right, so we finally completed and mixed it all over the last two weeks, just for this. We’d like to offer it now as a small contribution, a little bit of light in these dark days.”

Signature dB’s songs, including “Black And White,” “Big Brown Eyes,” and “Happenstance,” are ably propelled here by lyric and guitar energy alone, and the hooks remain—it’s easy to find one’s self singing along. Tunes such as “Dynamite” and “From a Window to a Screen” are revealed as precursors to the music the two made together later, as they feature “dual lead,” close-harmony vocals as essential elements. Others, such as Peter’s “Today Could Be The Day” and “Molly Says,” were originally recorded by the band after Stamey’s departure, so this marks the first time he’s gone on record with them. When going through the material in preparation for mastering, they even discovered a forgotten track, “Depth Of Field,” and completed it for this release; although a version had appeared on a Stamey solo record, it fits in here because it was originally written and rehearsed contemporaneously with the rest for The dB’s’ second album, Repercussion.

Another song, “Picture Sleeve,” is both old and new. A song by this title was in the band’s sets circa 1978, but all that anyone could remember, years later, were the first few lines, some chords, and the subject matter. Using those elements as a jumping-off point, it was rewritten for a Record Store Day single release three decades later, and a duo version is part of this release. Peter’s classic ballad “Nothing Is Wrong,” a staple of their live duo sets, was overlooked during the original sessions and sadly missed. Fortunately, it’s included on this new collection in a version The dB’s themselves recorded during a rehearsal in Hoboken, New Jersey in 2006.

“We’re still proud of the electric versions of the songs,” Stamey insists, “but a sturdy song should be able to handle a bit of reinvention from time to time, and it was fun to get under the hood and see what was there even without the charm and power of Will Rigby’s explosive drums and Gene Holder’s nimble bass runs. In most cases, it’s a trip back in time to the songs’ origins of being written on acoustic guitars in apartments or hotels, then strummed to the others in much the same way these recordings sound now.” Peter adds, “These stripped-down versions add a credence to our belief that a truly good song can stand up without a lot of bells and whistles.”

A few special guests joined Holsapple and Stamey on the sessions: John Teer (Chatham County Line) and Libby Rodenbough (Mipso) both contribute violin, and Andy Burton (Little Steven, John Mayer, Cyndi Lauper) plays keys on “Nothing Is Wrong” with, of course, Rigby (drums) and Holder (bass). The mastering by Greg Calbi and Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound is a homecoming of sorts as legendary mastering engineer Calbi had previously mastered the pair’s influential Mavericks outing as well as Falling Off the Sky, the last dB’s album. For the most part, it’s Peter and Chris around the campfire at Modern Recording in Chapel Hill, N.C., grabbing whatever was in the room at the time: a toy piano, a ukulele, a banjo, a harmonium, an upright or an old Silvertone bass, and of course, guitars, guitars, guitars.

In addition to 1991’s Mavericks (RNA Records), Holsapple and Stamey also paired up for 2009’s hERE & nOW (Bar/None). For more insight into the genesis of some of these songs, see A Spy In the House of Loud: New York Songs and Stories (University of Texas Press), Stamey’s 2018 “songwriting memoir.” Be on the lookout for A Brand-New Shade of Blue, Chris’s new audio-and-songbook collection, currently slated for a summer 2020 release.

From Omnivore Recordings’ Cheryl Pawelski: “Omnivore is grateful to the mastering engineers, graphic artists, photographers, and all who enthusiastically gave of their time and talent to help realize these projects. MusiCares has always been an important safety net for our music community, perhaps never more so than now. We are fortunate to call Chris, Peter our friends, and proud to assist them in getting this music released in support of the MusiCares COVID–19 Relief Fund.”

DONATE, HERE'S WHY:
MusiCares provides a safety net of critical assistance for music people in time of need. The COVID-19 Relief Fund has been established to help our peers in the music community affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Proceeds from these two projects will be directed to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
    

The dB's - Viceroy Park, Charlotte, N.C. 1982

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB's
Viceroy Park

Charlotte, NC

Jan. 7, 1982

audience recording (sound quality range: VG to VG+). A few anomalies to note: brief cut repaired in “Ask for Jill” at 2:11, crowd noise comes & goes during the show, and I converted tracks 03 and 04 from stereo to mono to reduce excessive & loud crowd chatter near the taper.

   

Here's a GROOVY photo from a 1982 in-store appearance. In addition to the amazing early '80s hairstyles, check out the dB's poster & 45's on the counter, with Repercussion LP's (featuring the original cover art) in the bin below — next to the Yes, Journey and Cheap Trick albums (!). 
Peter, is that a headband you're wearing?!?

All hail dB's Fan for providing such a cool piece of memorabilia

ROB SEZ: This is another previously unknown Repercussion-era live show, and the performance affirms my conviction that this tour marked the peak of the band in concert (at least for The dB's Mach I.) This might be the only known live recording that features both “PH” instrumentals: “pH Factor” as well as “Purple Hose”. Very large thanks to TC for the recording and big thanks to dB's Fan for sharing.

01 Living a Lie (beginning cut, fades in)

02 We Were Happy There        

03 Ups and Downs*        

This is not The dB’s. It's Iggy Pop.
But it’s Iggy Pop at Viceroy Park in Charlotte, 
which is where The dB’s played this here show!

Thank you, Rusty Moore, for such a great photo…

04 I Feel Good (Today)*        

05 Bad Reputation        

06 Molly Says

07 (I Thought) You Wanted to Know        

08 Judy        

09 Excitement        

10 The Fight        

11 Happenstance        

12 Black and White        

13 Amplifier        

14 Ask for Jill (brief cut repaired at 2:11)

15 Soul Kiss        

16 Dynamite        

17 Purple Hose        

18 Storm Warning        

19 In Spain        

20 Big Brown Eyes        

21 The Summer Sun        

22 Neverland        

23 pH Factor        

24 If and When        

25 Hey Baby (Alex Chilton cover – see comment below)        

26 Let's Live for Today

*Tracks 3 & 4 converted to mono to reduce crowd chatter near the taper; all other tracks in stereo

The dB’s:
Gene Holder – bass
Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals
Peter Holsapple – guitar, vocals & keyboards
Will Rigby – drums & vocals

FLAC

MP3@320

ABOUT TRACK 25, ‘HEY BABY’:  Zach noticed when The dB’s played this song at CBGB, NYC on March 21, 1979, it had the very same tune as Alex Chilton’s song “Like Flies On Sherbert” — yet with different lyrics. [SEE THIS BLOG POST.] Since it also shows up in this show as an encore, I decided to investigate. Turns out there’s a good reason this sounds like the Alex Chilton tune. Chris Stamey explains: “These were the original lyrics, before he rewrote it as ‘Sherbert.’ It was about Lux Interior (lead singer of the Cramps), at least to some degree. When I was a sideman for Chilton in NYC, I played it regularly with him, or as regularly as we played most things anyway, near the end of the band. Ronnie Spector sang this with me and Fran Kowalski after Alex died, at City Winery in NYC for this ‘Channeling Chilton’ event.” Thanks, Chris, for solving the mystery for us (with a special shout out to your amazing memory for detail). I suppose I shoulda known this already, since there’s THIS 1977 LX CHILTON SHOW at the blog that includes Alex singing a shambolic version of the song...

              

Luna - 3 Nights, 3 Albums Live 2017 (aud)

The Chapel
San Francisco, CA  
Jan. 19-21, 2017

*LINKS REMOVED*

due to official digital release by Luna

   
audience recordings (sound quality: VG+; excellent captures by muchmusic)

NIGHT 1: Jan. 19th - "Bewitched"
  
01 intro
02 California (All the Way) 
03 Tiger Lily
04 Friendly Advice
05 Bewitched
06 This Time Around
07 talking
08 Great Jones Street
09 talking
10 Going Home
11 talking
12 Into the Fold
13 I Know You Tried
14 Sleeping Pill
encore 1:
15 talking
16 Slide
17 Pup Tent
18 talking
19 Tracy I Love You
20 Malibu Love Nest
21 Indian Summer
encore 2:
22 Fuzzy Wuzzy

NIGHT 2: Jan. 20th - "Penthouse"
  
01 intro
02 Chinatown
03 Sideshow by the Seashore 
04 talking
05 Moon Palace
06 Double Feature
07 23 Minutes In Brussels
08 talking
09 Lost In Space
10 talking
11 Rhythm King
12 talking
13 Kalamazoo
14 talking
15 Hedgehog
16 Freakin' and Peakin'
17 Bonnie and Clyde
encore 1:
18 talking
19 Season of the Witch
20 Anesthesia
21 Outdoor Miner
22 Bobby Peru
encore 2:
23 talking
24 Time to Quit

NIGHT 3: Jan. 21st - "Rendezvous"
   

Dean Wareham, diggin' the moment

01 intro
02 Malibu Love Nest
03 Cindy Tastes of Barbecue  
04 Speedbumps
05 The Owl & the Pussycat
06 Astronaut
07 talking
08 Broken Chair
09 Star-Spangled Man
10 talking
11 Motel Bambi
12 Still at Home
13 Buffalo Boots
14 talking
15 Rainbow Babe
encore 1:
13 Bewitched
14 I Know You Tried
15 Chinatown
16 Friendly Advice
encore 2:
17 talking
18 23 Minutes In Brussels
   
ROB SEZ: I think this is one of those "this post speaks for itself" situations ... except that I want to offer a HUMONGOUS Thank You to muchmusic for taping and sharing these lovely audio artifacts. Please direct all praises to him/her. I'm just sharing the fruits of muchmusic's labors...
   
  

Learn more about Luna's music at the band's official site, FB, AllMusic or this most excellent fan site