Friday, August 21

The dB's - Peppermint Lounge, NYC 1982 - NEW FIND!

Peppermint Lounge 
New York, N.Y.
Jan. 22, 1982

audience recording (sound quality: VG+; from Gene Poole master recording)
      

FIRST SET
The other Fab Four: Peter, Will, Gene & Chris
photos by Julia Gorton except Will Rigby by (unidentified)

01  Black and White
02  We Were Happy There 
03  Ups and Downs
04  I Feel Good (Today) 
05  pH Factor
06  Amplifier
07  Ask for Jill
08  Living a Lie
09  Excitement
10  Bad Reputation
11  Happenstance
12  Neverland

SECOND SET

13  intro
14  Up Around the Bend 
       (CCR cover)
15  Soul Kiss
16  Big Time
17  Living a Lie
18  Molly Says
19  The Summer Sun
20  Judy
21  In Spain
The dB's by Julia Gorton, c. 1982
courtesy of The Winston-Salem Journal
    
22  Big Brown Eyes
23  Storm Warning
24  Excitement
25  I Thought (You Wanted to Know)
26  Tobacco Road (John D. Loudermilk song 
        via Spooky Tooth) 
27  The Fight

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

ROB SEZ: In case you ever wondered about the value of this new-fangled thing called the Internet, wonder no more. Through the magic of the web, here now is one of two recently-surfaced dB's audio artifacts. Both are courtesy of the tape archives of Gene Poole and the audio expertise of elegymart. The first one, offered here, is vintage dB's. It was captured during the brief period after the guys recorded Repercussion but before Chris left the constraints of the band to pursue other musical adventures. Mr. Poole managed to capture very good quality audio without undue, non-musical intrusions. Recently, elegymart lovingly transferred the raw audio and made it available to us (read his fine notes about the recording below). There was a speed problem I corrected before offering it to you here, so this is my take on GP's original recording. Next week: a 1987 dB's live recording, newly-unearthed, also courtesy of Gene Poole & elegymart.

FLAC

   
MP3@320 

THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 170

We're bringing you two sets this time from the classic line-up of the dB's from the Peppermint Lounge. 


The band have just come back from playing Los Angeles, and this was their supposedly final show before embarking for an European tour (Robinbrevard's live gigology shows they continued playing some US east coast dates into February, so who knows). There's also an ad for this show that appears to be edited and has the old 128 West 45th Street address on it, but the Peppermint Lounge should have closed out of that location by 1978. By 1980, the club would have been firmly established at its downtown address.


The dB's play what they consider a tight set at 11:30 PM, followed by their much later and looser set at 2:00 AM. Admission was half price before 10:00PM, which seems to have encouraged Gene to be there on time. Consider these other following elements: Gene continues to be an avid follower of the dB's to this day, plus his recordings of 1982 vintage were not plagued with mic problems as they were in later years, and he was usually able to situate himself in the sweet spot at the Pep. Yeah, this one's a keeper.


The dB's only repeat two songs in each set, "Living a Lie" and the heretofore still unreleased "Excitement." There's enough variety between the two sets, and their early catalog was chock full of power pop goodness, so you're bulletproofed against disappointment here. The quirkiness of the late show turns up covers from Creedence and the Nashville Teens (there is a mid-cut due to a tape flip on the latter, however). The Pep DJ sounds thrilled enough by the CCR that "Sweet Hitchhiker" is cued up to play after the band concluded the evening.


Enjoy,

elegymart

        

Friday, August 14

Let's Active - Boston 1988 (aud)

LOSSLESS REPOST
The Paradise
Boston, MA
Oct. 25, 1988
   
audience recording (sound quality VG+; there are a few momentary glitches here and there and a chatty girl near the taper you can hear from time to time, but the rest of this is smooth sailing, with nice sound from the PA....)
  
Mitch & Co. on location, "In Little Ways" video shoot

01 Every Dog Has His Day
Yes, Virginia — it was a single (at least in the UK)
02 Last Chance Town
03 Talking to Myself
04 I Feel Funny
05 Writing the Book of Last Pages
06 Horizon
07 In Little Ways
08 Sweepstakes Winner
09 Night Train
10 Orpheus In Hades Lounge
11 Bad Machinery
12 Room With a View
13 Mr. Fool
14 Too Bad
15 The Swinging Creeper
    (Ventures cover)
16 Pow R Touch (P. Floyd cover)
17 I Can't Reach You (Who cover)
18 Crows On a Phone Line
19 Ten Layers Down
20 Call Me Animal (MC5 cover)
21 Badger (cuts out)

ROB SEZ: When I acquired this tape, I forgot to make a note re: who to thank, but I'm pretty sure it's dB's Fan (...again!)


   
MP3@320

Let's Active:
Mitch  Easter – guitar, vocals
Angie Carlson – keyboards, vocals 
Eric Marshall – drums
Jon Heames - bass
 

Friday, August 7

The dB's - Hoboken, N.J. Oct. 1987

LOSSLESS REPOST
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, N.J.
Oct. 3, 1987
   
audience recording (quality VG+; very solid audience recording from a first-generation tape source; a club show that makes you feel like you’re right there…)
   
Outtake from The Sound of Music cover shoot.
The dB's were touring behind the album at the time of this show.
Don't miss the interactive tour of TSOM's artwork HERE. 
01 Today Could Be the Day
Jeff, Will and Peter, NOLA public access show, 1987
02 Never Say When
03 Change With the 
     Changing Times
04 Working for 
     Somebody Else
05 Lonely Is as Lonely Does
06 She Got Soul
07 A Spy In the House 
     of Love
08 Never Before and 
     Never Again
09 Feel Alright  
      (Cargoe cover)
10 Living a Lie
11 A Better Place
12 Why Did You Sleep With My Girlfriend?
13 Message from the Country (Move cover)
14 Amplifier
Proof that Harold Kelt (right) really existed...
and played briefly with The dB's... 
15 Neverland
16 band intros
17 Suspicious Minds
18 Love Is for Lovers

TT: 1:12:49
  
ROB SEZ: Good karma compels me to say yet again: THANK YOU to dB's fan for sharing.

FLAC
  
MP3@320
   
The dB’s:
Jeff Beninato – bass, vocals
Peter Holsapple – vocals, guitar
Harold Kelt – keyboard, additional guitar
Will Rigby - drums


Sunday, August 2

The Glands - Live in 2004 & 2014

Echo Lounge
Atlanta, GA
April 23, 2004 

audience recording (sound quality: Ex-; Sloan Simpson master recording, March 2013 remaster)

01) ?
The Glands @ Shapiro's house in Athens
02) Free Jane
03) Have Your Cake
04) Ground
05) You Are the Mountain 
06) ?
07) Lovetown
08) Do Unto Others
09) Livin' Was Easy
10) ?
11) Welcome to New Jersey
12) Breathe Out
13) Holiday Walk
14) Work It Out
15) Soul Inspiration
16) Two Dollar Wine
17) Something In the Air
18) When I Laugh
19) Grey Hats
20) I Can See My House from Here
21) Freedom of Choice
22) Straight Down

Green Room
Athens, GA
Oct. 4, 2014
  
soundboard-audience matrix (sound quality: VG+; Sloan Simpson master recording)
   
Ross Shapiro (center) & The Glands: at home in Athens
01) Have Your Cake
02) Na Na Na Na
03) When I Laugh
04) So Hi
05) Son-O-Mine
06) Two Dollar Wine
07) Pretty Merrina
08) Something In the Air
09) You Are the Mountain 
10) Free Jane
11) Holiday Walk
12) Every Time I Listen 
      to a Stranger 
13) Do Unto Others
14) This Is the Coat
15) The Virgin Loses Again
16) Got You
17) Call Me Doctor
18) Livin' Was Easy
19) I Can See My House from Here
20) (A Screwed Up Way of Saying) I Want You 
21) They Were All Small
22) Welcome to New Jersey
23) Is It Any Wonder
24) Belle Epoque
25) No. Zero
26) Southern Charm
27) Work It Out
28) Ground
29) Head That's Mine
30) Breathe Out
31) Swim
32) Fortress
33) Straight Down
34) Soul Inspiration
35) Mayflower
36) Lovetown
  
Musicians:
Ross Shapiro - guitar, keyboard, lead vocal
Joe Rowe - drums, vocal
Doug Stanley - guitar (2004)
Andy Baker - bass (2004)
Frank MacDonell - guitar (2014)
Derek Almstead - bass, vocal (2014) 

ROB SEZ: The Glands! One of these days, I'll get in on the ground floor of an amazing, talented, and cultishly cool band. Not so with The Glands, one of Athens, GA's best-kept secrets. It took the untimely death of leader & founder Ross Shapiro from cancer in 2016 to bring the band to my attention, and I am utterly gobsmacked by their music. With two striking albums and a third collection released after Shapiro's death, The Glands left behind an admirable legacy. For fans, the missing piece of the puzzle was quality live recordings. But that's been remedied by Sloan Simpson of Southern Shelter (more or less an Athens version of NYC Taper). I am indebted to Simpson for his beautiful recordings and his willingness to share lossless versions of these shows with me. He's recorded and archived an amazing collection of live shows; go check out Southern Shelter.
   
FLAC
  
MP3@320


Friday, July 24

VA - The Wild Honey Orchestra Plays The Band 2017

Wild Honey Orchestra
plays The Band's 'Music from Big Pink' + 'The Band'
  
Alex Theatre
Glendale, CA
March 25, 2017
  
audience recording (sound quality: VG++; no complaints!)































ROB SEZ: Two weeks ago, I posted the amazing Wild Honey Orchestra & Friends' Kinks-themed benefit show from 2019. That one included both Chris Stamey & Peter Holsapple. Chris is not present for this 2017 performance, but Peter sings "When You Awake" with Skylar Gudasz. And the Continental Drifters (including Peter) are the backing band for part of a fabulous evening that features the likes of The Band's Garth Hudson, Jackson Browne, Peter Case, Vicki Peterson, Van Dyke Parks, Susan Cowsill, and many others. (Read Stephen Peeples' extensive preview. Enjoy Susan Moll's photos from the event at Blurt online.) As was the case with the 2019 extravaganza, I am indebted to -M- and Flying M Productions for the beautiful recording. All thanks should go to -M-; I'm just sharing someone else's work. As of 2023, the MP3 share is an upgrade, thanks to Paul at Albums That Should Exist. Big Thanks to Paul!
  
FLAC
  
MP3@320

  

Friday, July 17

New Chris Stamey & Fellow Travelers Album - Out Today

Chris Stamey & The Fellow Travelers
Brand New Shade of Blue
*digital release July 17th*


The follow-up to Stamey’s acclaimed 
New Songs for the 20th Century, Vols. 1 & 2

Among many others, one of the musicians contributing to the project is 
Peter Holsapple, who plays banjo

Chris Stamey’s collaboration with The Fellow Travelers, A Brand-New Shade of Blue, was inspired by the intimate small-combo sound of the late ’50s and early ’60s—a time when the “cool jazz” compositions of such luminaries as John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk lived alongside the expanding pop vocabulary of Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb. “These are songs for late nights and rainy days,” Chris explains. “I wrote most of it in the dark of winter, in whispers, in the ‘wee small hours of the morning,’ that magic time ‘when the whole wide world is fast asleep.’ And these great singers and musicians kept that mood alive throughout the sessions that followed.”

The music started as song sheets, in the old style: just words and melodies on paper. Members of an N.C. ad hoc collective of singers and players, known informally as The Fellow Travelers, next gathered in Stamey’s Modern Recording studio in early 2020 to read through the songbook and bring the tunes to life. “I’d put down a rudimentary piano pass, then hand out the sheets,” Stamey explains, “and let the players take it from there.” First up was vocalist Brett Harris, who became the primary singer on the set and was joined by the accomplished trio of Charles Cleaver (piano), Dan Davis (drums), and Jason Foureman (acoustic bass), with Chris on guitar. (read more HERE)


In his liner notes, Chris writes, "These songs were primarily written, unexpectedly, in November 2019. Initial sessions were held in early 2020 at Modern Recording (Chapel Hill, N.C.), but come March all stopped. Then tracks were completed ad hoc in alcoves and crannies, with microphones arriving by morning post, while sheltering in place."

Watch the preview trailer from Omnivore Recordings

Buy the MP3 version from Omnivore or iTunes
  
Buy the hi-res (24/96) FLAC version from Qobuz
      

Friday, July 10

VA - Peter, Chris & Wild Honey Orchestra - Play The Kinks 2019

Wild Honey Orchestra
plays The Kinks' Are The Village Green P.S. + more
Alex Theatre
Glendale, CA
Feb. 23, 2019
  
audience recording (sound quality: VG++; no complaints!)
  

ROB SEZ: The dB's recently-released cover of The Kinks' "I'm On An Island" (more info HERE) rang a bell, deep in the recesses of my aging memory. "Wasn't there some other project involving Peter & Chris related to The Kinks — somehow?" A few days later I remembered: The Wild Honey Orchestra! Chris & Peter were involved in an all-star benefit concert to benefit autism research last year. And it was a doozie: the assembled musicians were a dream team of musicians from the bands/artists we love to feature here: The dB's, R.E.M., Big Star, Wondermints, Jason Falkner, Yo La Tengo, Pugwash, Semisonic, Dream Syndicate, Smithereens, Three O'Clock, etc., etc.
    
Chris tells the crowd about
The Phenomenal Cat

The idea behind the event was ambitious: play The Kinks' classic Are the Village Green Preservation Society album live, followed by a second set of Kinks' favorites. (Read Blurt magazine's report & enjoy plenty o' photos from the event HERE.) Our guys led the charge: Peter, Chris & Millie McGuire sang the lead-off title track, and each had a turn in the spotlight later in the program. Did they pull it off? I'll let the music do the talking... HUGE THANKS to -M- and Flying M Productions for the beautiful recording, and to ethiessen for the artwork.
  
FLAC
  
MP3@320

Friday, July 3

The dB's Release NEW STUDIO TRACK for Cat's Cradle Benefit

The dB's - "I'm On an Island" (The Kinks)

This newly-released studio recording is
available NOW as part of


Go to Cover Charge's Bandcamp page to stream the track and, more importantly, BUY the release to support this worthy cause. You'll get previously-unreleased tracks like this one immediately and others by Superchunk, Hiss Golden Messenger, Steep Canyon Rangers and Sarah Shook. 20 more unique-to-this-collection tracks will follow in the coming weeks of July.

Comments from Peter, Chris & Will regarding this release:

Peter: "We used to play this song live when I first joined The dB's in autumn of 1978."

Chris: “...and of course, we've all been stranded on our own separate islands for much of this year.”

Will: "The dB's have played at four different Cat's Cradle locations, beginning in 1979. We were going to shows there [Rosemary St.] by the mid-seventies—and still do, we hope. ¡Viva Cradle!"


MANY THANKS to Eagle-Eye Fantom for sharing this hot tip.
    

The Repercussion Blog is on Holiday — Come Back Next Friday


Those of us in the States have a holiday today & this weekend — even though some of us feel we have less to celebrate, given the shabby state of our dis-union


Come back next week for a new post & new music

Friday, June 26

Three O'Clock - 1st Reunion Show, Pomona, CA 2013 (aud)

The Glass House 
Pomona, CA
April 6, 2013
  
audience recording (sound quality: VG; from the master recording; everything sounds really good, but the vocals are low-ish in the mix)

01 stage entrance
02 Simon In the Park
03 With a Cantaloupe
     Girlfriend
04 When Lightning Starts
05 I Go Wild

06 Lucifer Sam (Pink Floyd cover)
07 Upside Down 
08 As Real As Real
09 Fall to the Ground
10 On My Own
11 Knowing When You Smile
12 Marjorie Tells Me
13 Stupid Einstein
14 In My Own Times
15 Sorry
16 Going Home
17 Jet Fighter
18 Her Head's Revolving
19 pre-encore applause
20 And So We Run
21 Feel a Whole Lot Better
      (The Byrds cover)

22 Mind Gardens
  
                                         
Michael Quercio at Coachella 2013 by Thomas Hawk via Flickr
(more photos from Coachella are in the download)

ROB SEZ: Here's a story: Michael Quercio had been steadfastly resisting requests for a Three O'Clock reunion until Coachella offered them a slot for the 2013 festival — and that did it. In the run-up to Coachella, the band played some additional gigs, including this one — the first in 23 years, since the 1990 show posted here last week. Four days after this, the band played live on Conan O'Brien (see below)ALL PRAISES to Milocampo who recorded and shared this one.
  
The Three O'Clock plays "With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend" on Conan in 2013

FLAC

MP3@320


        

Friday, June 19

Three O'Clock - Live 1985 + 1990

Dingwall's
London, UK
Sept. 4, 1985 
   
audience recording (sound quality: VG-)
   
01 stage entrance, tuning
02 Her Head's Revolving
"Jet Fighter" video shoot so very groovy
03 Each and Every 
     Lonely Heart
04 When Lightning Starts
05 In My Own Time
06 Mrs. Green
07 Underwater
08 talking 
09 I Go Wild
10 Knowing When You Smile 
11 Half the Way There
12 Hand In Hand
13 The Girl With a Guitar
14 Stupid Einstein 
15 Spun Gold 
16 Sorry
17 Jet Fighter
18 Going Home
19 pre-encore applause
20 It's All Too Much
21 No Matter What
22 pre-encore applause
23 With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend
24 Paperback Writer (The Beatles)
   
Club Lingerie
Los Angeles, CA
March 13, 1990
    
soundboard recording (quality: Ex-; sourced from master tape)
  
* the band's final show before announcing their split; with Jason Falkner on guitar & backing vocals *
The Three O'Clock at Paisley Park: beginning of the end
   
01 With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend+
02 When Lightning Starts*
03 I Go Wild+
04 Stupid Einstein*
05 In My Own Time*
06 Sorry+
07 Jet Fighter
08 Mind Gardens^
09 Desdemona
      (John’s Children / Marc Bolan cover)


Note: symbols indicate the album on which each song originally appeared —
+Baroque Hoedown
*16 Tambourines
^Salvation Army (pre-Three O’Clock band & album of same name)
“Jet Fighter” was a stand alone single


ROB SEZ: You can't avoid The Three O'Clock if, like me, you enjoy a variety of alternative music from the 1980s. This is especially true if you appreciate the so-called "Paisley Underground" bands from that era. Liking The Three O'Clock, however, is a different matter. Frontman Michael Quercio's singing voice is one that creates strongly divided opinions. I heard about the group decades ago, sampled their music, and concluded "Um ... I don't think so." Recently re-visiting the band's music convinced me I should give the guys another chance. I'm glad I did. HUGE THANKS to the tapers, Stachelbar for sharing the 1985 recording, and to Milocampo for sharing the 1990 show. Recommended reading: Mick Dillingham's excellent "The Story of the Three O'Clock."
  
   
The Three O'Clock:
Michael Quercio - lead vocals, bass
Louis Gutierrez - guitar, vocals (1985 performance)
Mike Mariano - keyboards, vocals
Danny Benair - drums, vocals
Jason Falkner - guitar, vocals (1990 performance)