Game Theory - Berkeley, CA 1985 (Scott Miller memorial)

Berkeley Square
Berkeley, CA
Nov. 6, 1985

R.I.P. Scott Miller (1960-2013)

It’s sad the blog’s first Game Theory post coincides with the untimely death of the group’s leader on April 15 at age 53. Yet the music lives on...
 

Game Theory - shocking and awe-ing, San Francisco, 1985

soundboard (sound quality Ex-; great, warm-sounding recording; and the performance is pretty darn smokin'...)

REPERCUSSION: Mitch Easter has a very strong association with this band, producing and contributing to most of Game Theory’s albums. Chris Woodstra of AllMusic says Mitch functioned as “a fifth member” of the group in the studio, beginning with Real Nighttime (Game Theory’s first proper full-length album) in 1985.

BIG THANKS to the taper, traders and kneesfudd for sharing

SAMPLE: "I've Tried Subtlety (Berkeley 1985)"

01. Charlie Brown instrumental (cuts in; final 2 mins. only)
02. Shark Pretty
03. Never Mind

04. Curse of the Frontier Land

Mitch & Scott Miller
The Drive-In, Winston-Salem, NC 1985

05. The Only Lesson Learned
06. Baker Street
07. 24
08. Waltz the Halls Always
09. Where You Going Northern? -->
10. Real Nighttime
11. Rayon Drive
12. Couldn't I Just Tell You

13. Friend of the Family (cuts in)
14. I've Tried Subtlety
15. Beach State Rocking
16. If & When (sorry, not The dB's song)
17. Remake Remodel
18. I Turned Her Away
19. Dead Center

TT: 76:24 mins.
 

FLAC

  

MP3@320

Game Theory:
Scott Miller - guitars, vocals
Suzi Ziegler - bass, backing vocals
Shelley LaFreniere - keyboards, backing vocals
Gil Ray - drums

Learn more about Game Theory’s music at The Loud Family’s official site and at AllMusic

The dB's - Chicago Radio Session 2012 + bonus

“Sound Opinions” Radio Session
WBEZ 91.5 FM
Chicago, IL
session date: Nov. 16, 2012
broadcast date: Feb. 1, 2013

Chris & Peter in session, WBEZ studios, Chicago, IL

photos by WBEZ, 91.5 FM via Flickr

Live session song tracks from video and web stream sources, converted to high-quality MP3 (interview segments in standard quality). Sound quality: Ex-.

Although it was recorded back in November when the band was on its Midwest Mini Tour, the mighty WBEZ-FM in Chicago waited some months before unleashing this great live session and interview via the station's “Sound Opinions” music show. The show is co-hosted by Chicago music journalists Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot (Jim is a long-time friend and supporter of The dB’s, so I’m guessing we can thank him for getting the band in the studio). The performance? The skeptical need only stream the sample "Neverland" to hear why many of us think the deeBs were at the top of their live game in November 2012.

The bonus this time around is an interview with some members of the band aired in Jan. 2013 by NPR’s World Cafe with David Dye. Add the two interviews together, and you've got a very engaging half-hour oral history of The dB's. PLEASE ENJOY!

Listen to (and/or download and/or watch videos from) the Feb. 1st episode of Sound Opinions (#375) HERE. Read the “footnotes” for the episode and get a complete rundown of what was played HERE. (Note: 2 of the 5 live takes featured here were not aired on the show). See 4 live videos from the session on YouTube. See 8 Flickr photos from the session HERE.

BIG THANKS to Jim DeRogatis and WBEZ for getting our guys in the studio and on the airwaves!
 
SAMPLE: "Neverland (Chicago 2012)"

01 That Time Is Gone
02 Happenstance
03 World to Cry
04 The Adventures of Albatross and Doggerel
05 Neverland
06 Interview (@128 kbps)
 
BONUS:
07 Interview with David Dye, World Café, Jan. 2013 (@192 kbps)
 
MP3@320

ERRATA:  MP3 file tags have incorrect date for broadcast (should be 2013-02-01)

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

Brett Harris – keyboards & additional guitar

dB's vinyl EP with new songs!!

The dB's release "Revolution of the Mind" EP

for Record Store Day 2013

1. Revolution of the Mind
2. Lakefront*
3. Orange Squeezer*
4. pH Factor (live)^

*new, previously-unreleased song
^live at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, 2012-06-15

12-inch orange vinyl release, limited to 2,000 copies

 Tracks 2 & 3 are completely new, previously-unreleased songs.
The EP's title song was previously released as a digital-only track
(first as a free web download and subsequently as a bonus track 
accessible to those who purchased the vinyl edition of Falling Off the Sky).

Digital download card included that gives purchaser computer access 
to all tracks in lossless format.

Alex Chilton & Teenage Fanclub - Glasgow 1996

13th Note

Glasgow, Scotland

April 8, 1996

  
FM broadcast ("Beat Patrol", BBC Scotland; sound quality: VG [multi-generation tape converted to wma files, then to MP3])
  

TFC's Norman Blake & LX Chilton - not really The Odd Couple!

REPERCUSSION: Of all the latter-day groups heavily inspired by Big Star, The Posies and Scottish alt-pop group Teenage Fanclub seem to have won the most respect from the late LX Chilton. Together, LX & Teenage Fanclub recorded a vinyl-only single in 1993 (with "Mine Exclusively" on the A-side and "Patti Girl" on the flip — both rather obscure cover tunes). That same year and in 1996, LX made some live appearances with TFC, one of which was this show in the group's hometown.

More Teenage Fanclub goodies to come in forthcoming posts. ENJOY!   

01 radio intro (early set) 

02 September Gurls

03 I Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do) Eddie Floyd cover 

04 My Heart Stood Still  Rodgers & Hart tune

05 Patti Girl  Dick Campbell tune (Gary & The Hornets cover)

06 Any Way the Wind Blows  Frank Zappa cover 

07 Walk Right Back  Everly Bros. cover 

08 Free Again  LX Chilton tune      

09 Telstar  Joe Meek / The Ventures cover (tape glitch, 10-sec hiccup at 2:11) 

10 Have I the Right?  Joe Meek / The Ventures cover

11 The Dark End of the Street  Chips Moman / Dan Penn tune

12 What Do You Know About Love?        

13 All Your Lovin' (I Miss Lovin')  Otis Rush cover

14 Life's a Gas  Teenage Fanclub tune

15 Waltz Across Texas  Ernest Tubb cover

16 Wooly Bully        

17 Hey! Little Child        

18 radio outro (early set)

   
19 intro (late set) + My Baby Just Cares for Me  Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn tune

20 Good Night My Love 

21 radio outro (late set)        

   
early set = 1-18; late set = 19-21 (incomplete -- 5 trax from this set saw commercial release on Various Artists - Shoeshine Chartbusters in 1997, so are excluded here)
  

MP3@320 

LX & TEENAGE FANCLUB (early set):

LX Chilton – vocals, guitar

Norman Blake – guitar

Gerard Love - bass

Raymond McGinley - guitar

Paul Quinn - drums

LATE SET:

LX Chilton – vocals, guitar

Alex Hutchinson – bass
Francis MacDonald - drums

    

The Mutton Birds - 2012 Radio Sessions

Wellington, NZ & London, UK

Radio Sessions

January & October 2012

FM recordings (sound quality Ex-; excellent FM captures with only a handful of very minor glitches)

BIG KIWI THANKS to Spence and his collaborators at areligionofakind.co.uk for sharing these (and a lot of other great stuff for fans of Mutton Birds, et al). Check out Spence's site if you like what you hear.
 

ROB SEZ: The Mutton Birds are one of the all-time great, but nearly unknown, alt-pop groups on the face of the planet. In fact, I’ll make a second bold claim: if you like even a few of the artists featured at this blog, chances are very good you will be delighted to discover The Mutton Birds. The New Zealand-based group made a courageous go of it in the 1990s before disbanding in 2002. Fans like me were thrilled to hear they recently reformed to play some live shows and issue a great live album (Free Range, released in 2012).

On a recent long car ride filled with Mutton Birds listening, my teenage daughter said to me (as we puzzled over the group’s relative lack of success), “It must’ve been their name, Dad, ‘cuz their music is amazing.”

01 Dominion Road

02 Anchor Me

03 While You Sleep

04 Dominion Road

05 While You Sleep

06 A Thing Well Made

07 Envy of Angels

08 Friday I'm In Love (Cure cover)

Tracks 1-3 = New Zealand National Radio, 2012-01-27

Tracks 4-6, BBC 6Music, Gideon Coe, 2012-10-25

Tracks 7-8 = BBC Radio 2, Dermot O'Leary, 2012-10-27
  

The Mutton Birds:

Alan Gregg – bass, vocals 

David Long - guitar

Ross Burge - drums 

Don McGlashan – vocals, guitar, euphonium 

MP3@192

(new link - 2017)

Explore the music of The Mutton Birds 

at AllMusic

  

Gravel Truck - Winston-Salem 2008 + bonus

Gravel Truck (Letch Actively cover band)

The Wherehouse

Winston-Salem, NC

August 8, 2008

audience recording (sound quality VG-; sounds like it’s from a first-gen. source; some crowd chatter is evident, but doesn’t dominate)

‘BOY HOWDY!’ THANKS to dB’s Fan for sharing, as usual.
 

Shalini & 'Mick' playing at the late, great Milestone Club in Charlotte, NC
photo by CNS via Flickr

GRAVEL TRUCK was the name given to the Letch Actively cover band — fronted by none other than Mick Ersatz himself.

This was the second of night of the four-day Revolve Film Festival organized by Shalini Chatterjee, and was the night of musical entertainment. Shalini's husband, Mick Ersatz, pulled together a band of friends and performed a set of nothing but Letch Actively songs. Tim Lee, an alum of the road band from years ago though played bass with his wife Susan helping out on vocals.

SAMPLE: "Waters Part (W-S 2008)"

01  Every Word Means No

02  Ornamental

03  Reflecting Pool

04  Talking To Myself

05  Badger

06  Still Dark Out

07  band intros

08  Flags For Everything

09  In Little Ways

10  Bad Machinery

11  Waters Part

12  crowd noise

13  Easy Does
 

Gravel Truck plays The Wherehouse in 2008

photo by Todd Evans via Flickr

Gravel Truck:

Mick Ersatz: guitars, vocals

Shalini Chatterjee: guitars, keyboards, vocals

Tim Lee: bass, vocals

Susan Bauer Lee: vocals

Chris Garges: drums

BONUS LIVE TRACKS:

Badger (live, acoustic)              Letch Actively (live, somewhere)

Sudden Crown Drop (live)         Mick Ersatz (live, somewhere)

Break Through (live)                 Mick Ersatz (live, somewhere)

Moral Kiosk (live)                      Rapid Eye Movement (Mitch on vocals)

HQMP3 (@192 & 320 kbps)

Alt. Link (@192 & 320 kbps)

 IF YA LIKE THIS ONE, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT  

THE GRAVEL TRUCK SHOW POSTED 

AT WILFULLY OBSCURE — RIGHT HERE

LX Chilton - Bremen & Hamburg 1988

Bremen, Germany

March 7, 1988

and

Hamburg, Germany

Feb. 25, 1988

If you like to hear him when he's "on," you'll want to give this a listen...

FM broadcasts (sound quality Ex-; only a perfect soundboard recording would get a higher rating) 

BIG HONKIN’ THANKS to spurensicherung.blogspot.com and his source for this great recording. 

ROB SEZ: wasn't planning to post another LX recording so soon, but this one's just too good not to share asap...

01 Bangkok

02 Make a Little Love

03 Dalai Lama

04 No Sex

05 Thing for You

06 B-A-B-Y

07 Rock Hard

08 Lost My Job

09 Volaré

10 Little GTO

11 The Letter

12 Come By Here

13 Take It Off

14 Tee Ni Nee Ni Noo*

15 New Girl In School

16 Rockin' Daddy

17 Train Kept a Rollin'

18 Sick and Tired

19 With a Girl Like You [DJ voiceover at 2:32]

20 The Letter** (end cut, faded)

TT: 75:23

*Tracks 1-14 = Bremen, Feb. 7, 1988

**Tracks 15-20 = Hamburg, Feb. 2, 1988

 

One of the most talented & confounding musicians, ever. 
RIP, LX...

MP3@320

Alt. Link 

LX Chilton Trio:

LX Chilton – vocals, guitar

Ron Easley – bass, vocals

Doug Garrison - drums

Explore Alex Chilton's discography at AllMusic