Big Star Third - Live in London 2012 with Ray Davies

LOSSLESS REPOST

  
Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre

London, UK

May 28, 2012

    
audience recording (VG++; very clear house sound, transferred from master tape)

  

Ray Davies takes the mic while Chris plays & directs, London, May 2012
photo by nick hider via Flickr

REPERCUSSION: Chris Stamey played bass and collaborated in other ways with Alex Chilton in the late 1970s. From 2010 to 2018, Chris organized and led live performances of Big Star’s Third. Mitch Easter was one of the players in the core ensemble. [Go to the page at this blog to discover the many connections between Alex, Chris and The dB's].
  
MASSIVE THANKS to Pike1957 for recording, mastering and sharing this historic show. Pike1957 says, "This recording captures a fully-orchestrated performance of Big Star's legendary third album (aka Sister Lovers) and other gems from the band’s timeless catalogue, featuring Charles Cleaver, Mitch Easter (Let’s Active), Jody Stephens (Big Star), Chris Stamey (The dB’s), and Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, Big Star). Special guests: Jon Auer (The Posies, Big Star), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), John Bramwell (I Am Kloot), Sharon Van Etten, Skylar Gudasz, Brett Harris, Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony), Robyn Hitchcock, Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Sondre Lerche, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), and others."

  
SETLIST (lead vocalists for each song noted in parens): 
  
Part I

01 - intro

02 - Nature Boy (John Bramwell)

03 - announcement

04 - Kizza Me (Mitch Easter)

05 - O Dana (Ira Kaplan)

06 - For You (Jody Stephens)

07 - Nightime (Alexis Taylor)

08 - Jesus Christ (Mike Mills)

09 - Big Black Car (Jon Auer)

10 - Take Care (Ira Kaplan)

11 - Stroke It Noel (Norman Blake)

12 - Femme Fatale (Sondre Lerche)

13 - Downs (Robyn Hitchcock) [Mike Mills on basketball!]

14 - Dream Lover (Sharon Van Etten)

15 - announcement

16 - Blue Moon (Jody Stephens)

17 - Holocaust (Django Haskins)

18 - You Can't Have Me (Sharon Van Etten)

19 - Kanga Roo (Brett Harris)

21 - Thank You Friends (Jody, Jon, Ken Stringfellow & others)

Part II

22 - intro

23 - I'm In Love With a Girl (Sondre Lerche)

24 - Thirteen (Skylar Gudasz, Brett Harris & more)

25 - Give Me Another Chance (Norman Blake)

26 - I Am the Cosmos [Chris Bell cover] (Jon Auer)

27 - There Was a Light (Ken Stringfellow)

28 - You And Your Sister (Brett Harris)

29 - Daisy Glaze (Ken Stringfellow)

30 - The EMI Song (Smile With Me) (Ira Kaplan)

31 - The Ballad of El Goodo (Sondre Lerche)

32 - September Gurls (Mike Mills)

33 - Ray Davies intro

34 - Til the End of the Day [Kinks cover] (Ray Davies)

35 - Ray Davies chat

36 - The Letter (Ray Davies)

37 - audience

encore:

38 - Back of a Car (Jon Auer)

  
FLAC  
  
MP3@320
Part I

Part 2

That's Mitch Easter, second from left
photo by The Guardian

The Guardian published an excellent, in-depth preview of the show, quoting Chris, Mitch and many others involved in the project. Recommended, and it's HERE. Also a great Q&A with Chris about Alex Chilton from Uncut is HERE at the Big Star Third site.    

Enjoy 3 pro-shot videos by Creato Destructo from a  Big Star Third Live performance in 2010

 

 Kanga Roo

Holocaust

Big Black Car (link to Vimeo)

    

Alex Chilton - Maxwell's 1987 (rare!)

Alex Chilton Trio 

Maxwell's

Hoboken, N.J.

Nov. 20, 1987

audience recording (sound quality: VG++; McKenzie master tape source; great-sounding club show with minimal crowd noise)
  

01 intro
02 Disco Lady
03 Take It Off
04 In the Street
05 Thing for You
06 Come By Here
07 Volaré
08 Dalai Lama
09 Make a Little Love
10 The Christmas Song
11 Little GTO
12 Goldfinger (fades in due 
      to tape flip) 
13 B-A-B-Y
14 No Sex
15 Rockin’ Daddy
16 Sick and Tired
17 September Gurls
18 banter, tuning, song requests
19 Girl from Ipanema
20 Duke of Earl

ROB SEZ: I am pleased beyond words to offer a rare & rockin' Alex Chilton Trio show in great sound quality, thanks to Tom at The McKenzie Tapes. If you check out the site, you’ll discover that The McKenzie Tapes is an amazing treasure trove of live recordings from the mid-1980s and early 1990s, mostly in & around NYC. To my knowledge, this is the first online sharing of this show in lossless quality. I did very little to modify the recording as received, except to track it, apply a couple of fade-ins and fade-outs, and edit out a few minutes’ worth of onstage tuning and dead air. Enjoy, and please leave a comment to let Tom & David McKenzie know how much you appreciate their work!
  

FLAC

MP3@320 

NEW ALEX CHILTON EP

"My Rival"

The (truly) final  studio collaboration between Alex and Big Star founder Chris Bell. Five tracks, all previously unreleased.

Issued late 2019 by Omnivore Recordings on vinyl & digital download 

Los Lobos & friends - Holiday House Party 1992 (FM)

Capitol Recording Studios 
Hollywood, CA 
Oct. 1992 (broadcast Dec. 25, 1992) 
  

DJ-banter-removed version

  
DISC 1
* DJ introduction omitted * 

02 Peace
03 Arizona Skies>
04 Borinquen Patria Mia
05 Canto Veracruz
06 Mario from the Bario (Lalo Guerrero)
07 Pancho Claus (Lalo Guerrero)
08 Beat Angel (Rickie Lee Jones, Leo Kottke 
      & John Leftwich)
09 Running Up the Stairs (Rickie Lee Jones, Leo Kottke 
      & John Leftwich)
10 The Christmas Song
11 One Time, One Night
12 Buffalo River Home (John Hiatt)
13 Drive South (John Hiatt)
14 Happy Christmas (War Is Over)
      (John Hiatt & Los Lobos)

DISC 2
01 Colas
02 El Zapateado
03 La Iguana>
04 La Guacamaya
05 Instrumental Medley:
      (Leo Kottke) 
     Available Space>
     June Bug>
     Vaseline Machine Gun>
     Jack Fig
06 I'll Be Home for Christmas
      (Dave Alvin & Rick Solem)
07 Dry River (Dave Alvin & Syd Straw)
08 Golden Dream (Syd Straw 
      & Dave Alvin)
09 O Holy Night (Syd Straw 
      & Rickie Lee Jones)
10 The Christmas Twist
      (Syd Straw & Los Lobos)
11 La Pistola y El Corazon

12 Kiko & the Lavender Moon

Find more Los Lobos cheer HERE

13 What's Goin' On?
  
ROB SEZ: How about a musical house party for your holiday festivities? Or even if you don't HAVE any festivities to host or attend, this would be a fine substitute. For years, I've been looking for a good excuse to post some Los Lobos music, and now I've got one. Please enjoy — and have an excellent holiday!
  
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MP3@320

The dB's - Peppermint Lounge, NYC 1981

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB's

Peppermint Lounge 

New York, N.Y.

Oct. 11, 1981

   

audience recording (sound quality VG)
 
Note: This show marked the US release of Repercussion 

  

Video capture from a different dB's show at Peppermint Lounge, NYC

01  I Thought (You Wanted to Know)

02  Bad Reputation

03  Dynamite

04  Soul Kiss

05  Judy

06  I Feel Good (Today)

07  pH Balance

08  Tomorrow Never Knows

09  Ups and Downs

10  The Fight

11  Excitement

12  We Were Happy There

13  Happenstance

14  Black and White

15  Whipping Post > Neverland

16  Part 3, final jam session

  
ROB SEZ: To the original share, I've added track 16, which came from a separate recording. Since the jam includes Peter H — and is from the same night, venue & show — I've included it for the sake of history. HUGE THANKS to the taper and uploader.

  

WAV lossless files
  
MP3@320

The dB’s:

Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals

Peter Holsapple – guitar, keyboard & vocals

Gene Holder – bass

Will Rigby – drums

SEE UPLOADER'S NOTE BELOW 

  

Peppermint Lounge, NYC — way back when

Uploader’s note: The Individuals opened. The Raybeats followed The dB's and played a very short 3-song set. The grand finale was, believe it or not, a jam session, with Peter joined onstage by various members of the Bush Tetras, Au Pairs, and Malaria. Included is Part 3 of the jam (first two parts are lost).

  

Balderdash, Ltd. (Mitch Easter) - Charlotte, N.C. 2019

The Evening Muse 
Charlotte, N.C.
March 1, 2019


audience recording (sound quality: VG++; another excellent Batchain recording)

Balderdash, Ltd. is Mitch Easter's new band

Mitch (right) and Balderdash, Ltd. - in 2019 at Mitch's N.C. Music Hall of Fame induction

01 You / Me
02 Rogues*
03 Ode to a Tin Angel (Hearts & Flowers cover)
04 Rock & Roll Love Letter (Bay City Rollers cover) 
05 Hello Susie (The Move cover)
06 Sudden Crown Drop
07 Get Free+
08 Ton of Bricks
09 Psyched-Out (The Ventures cover)
10 Waters Part
  
*Rogues is a song Mitch demoed in the early 1990s, but never officially released
  
+Get Free is a song Mitch wrote that ended up on the Shalini album We Want Jelly Donuts (rel. 2000)
  
ROB SEZ: Thanks to Batchain (aka Larry T.), we can celebrate Mitch's recent induction into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in style. At the induction ceremony last month, Mitch and his band, Balderdash Ltd., played a live set at the Gem Theatre in Kannapolis, N.C. Like Gravel Truck and other Mitch-led band efforts, Balderdash, Ltd. functions as a vehicle to play music from several eras of Mitch's history: Let's Active, solo material, and the obscure-but-choice covers he relishes.

Mitch & Balderdash, Ltd. - Atlanta, GA 2018

(photo by John Boydston; this & other photos from the show included in download)

FLAC
  
MP3@320

Here's a video Batchain shot at the Charlotte show

CBGB dB's - Jan. 1982

LOSSLESS REPOST

The dB’s

CBGB

New York, NY

Jan. 16, 1982

audience recording (sound quality range: VG to VG+; the usual crowd noise is evident since it’s a club show, but it’s more fun than distracting)

Pretty clever what the artwork creator did with the letters on the awning...

ROB SEZ: Two different recordings of this show have circulated in the past, but I am persuaded this is the superior-sounding version. I have re-tracked it and done some subtle eq work to bring out the best of this recording from a first-generation tape. Sincere thanks go to the original taper, dclubok for the original share, and edA for the re-up.

Early set:

artwork included in DL, of course

1.  Black and White

2.  Living a Lie

3.  Ups and Downs

4.  I Feel Good (Today)

5.  Amplifier

6.  Soul Kiss

7.  pH Factor

8.  Ask for Jill

9.  We Were Happy There

10. Bad Reputation

11. Happenstance

12. Neverland

13. banter / Black Sabbath tease

14. If and When

15. Tighten Up

16. Molly Says

TT: 50 mins. 46 secs. (Set 1)

Late set:

1.  (I Thought) You Wanted 

Although CBGB is no more, the famous awning
is now on display at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame

      to Know

2.  The Fight

3.  Big Brown Eyes

4.  Purple Hose

5.  She Might Call

6.  Judy

7.  Storm Warning

8.  Hey Baby
       (Alex Chilton cover)*

9.  The Summer Sun

10. Living a Lie

11. In Spain

12. Excitement

encores:

13. Everlasting Love

14. Get Down Tonight (Will Rigby vocal)

15. Let’s Live for Today

*see explanatory note about this song at THIS blog post

TT: 54 mins. 21 secs. (Set 2)

FLAC
  
MP3@320

The dB’s:

Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals

Peter Holsapple – guitar, organ & vocals

Gene Holder – bass

Will Rigby – drums

The dB's - 'Stands for deciBels' REVISITED

LOSSLESS REPOST
CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED

The dB’s 
Stands for deciBels REVISITED 
the debut album in alternate mixes & live versions

sound quality: variable, but none less than VG

 

Cover of The dB's iconic debut; still amazing after 30 years.
Stephanie Chernikowski photo; Victoria DeVeraux tinting

01 Black and White (alt. mix)  

02 Dynamite (live) 

03 She's Not Worried (live) 

04 The Fight (live) 

05 Espionage (live) 

06 Tearjerkin' (alt. mix) 

07 Cycles Per Second (live) 

08 Bad Reputation (alt. mix) 

09 Big Brown Eyes (live) 

10 I'm In Love (alt. mix) 

11 Moving In Your Sleep (alt. mix) 

12 [blank – 10 secs. of nada]

13 Judy (live)*
 

*Judy did not appear on the album as originally issued. It was first released on the “Judy” 7-inch single, and later added as a bonus track to some versions of “Stands for deciBels.”

Sources

1, 6, 8, 10, 11 – from Stands for deciBels rough/alt. mixes production cassette

2 – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC 1981-10-24

3, 5 – Philosopher’s Club, Winston-Salem, NC 1979-12-28

4 – The Ritz, NYC 1982-02-22

7, 9 – The Ritz, NYC 1981-06-12

13 – Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ 1982-02-26

front & back cover art included in the download

FLAC
  
MP3@320

   
The dB’s:

Chris Stamey – guitar & vocals

Peter Holsapple – guitar & vocals

Gene Holder – bass

Will Rigby – drums

   
ROB SEZ: I had a great time putting this one together. The main inspiration is a special share from lilpanda (thanks, man). It's a collection of tracks tagged “Pre-Signing Demos”. However, after listening to them many times over, I came to realize they sounded a lot like the finished masters for Stands for deciBels, but with interesting differences. Certain instrumental passages I was hearing in these versions aren’t on the masters, or have sounds that are much less prominent in the final mixes.*

I decided the collection was probably from a work-in-progress production cassette, created as the debut was being recorded. It’s not uncommon for artists and producers to create collections of rough mixes before final mixing and mastering. I’m guessing this passed from a friend to a friend, etc., until it was eventually shared with other fans. Some versions in the collection sound so much like the masters that I chose not to include them here. (One, a great demo of “Dynamite,” was released later on Ride the Wild Tom Tom -- so go listen to it there). For the live versions, I tried to pick tracks that married good sound quality with a great and/or aurally interesting performance. The live tracks are effective reminders how amazing Will and Gene are as The dB's rhythm section. They are the group's secret weapon and unsung heroes...

  

Stands for deciBels was released in January 1981 

— almost 40 years ago!

  

*Geeky observations about the alternate studio mixes, 
for fellow obsessives:

1. BLACK AND WHITE - You can hear the difference right off the bat in the extra reverb on the vocals and the prominence of the electronic (?) hand claps from the opening notes. In the master, however, the hand claps fade in & out, alternating with an additional double-time percussion part, like a fast-ticking watch. In the master, the acoustic guitar track is much more prominent in the mix (I'm not sure it's there at all in the alt. mix). There are other differences you can find, in this & the other alt. mixes. For example, there's a tambourine part beginning in the alt. mix version at 2:38 that lasts about 15 seconds. It's not in the master mix, which instead has Will thrashing away on the cymbals in the same part of the song.

6. TEARJERKIN' - The difference between this alt. version & the master lies in which instruments are emphasized in which mix. One example: the main keyboard part is less prominent in this one than on the master, where the keyboard's edgy tone is put in the foreground. You can also hear it in the bridge starting at the 3:00 mark: in the master, there are added sound effects missing from this version.

8.  BAD REPUTATION - Like some other alt. mixes in the "Pre-Signing Demos" collection, this one's differences present themselves after repeated A-B comparisons to the master version. Some differences lie in the mix, which has less reverb overall in the master version. The rhythm guitar part is much more prominent in the master as well. Other distinctions are more immediate, such as the guitar solo at 2:18. There's one in the same spot on the master, but a different take is used instead of the solo featured here. 

10. I'M IN LOVE - The biggest difference between this alt. mix and the master can be heard in the bass lines. In this version, it's a standard electric bass sound throughout the track (albeit played with Gene's incredible technique). In the master, however, the familiar bass sound is rarely heard. Instead, a rhythmic bass part played on (what sounds like) a keyboard is heard on most of the track. Also, a squealing electric guitar line is heard in the background at several points in this version, but very little on the master.

11. MOVING IN YOUR SLEEP - This one has very subtle and hard-to-detect differences. You can hear them mainly in the bass parts (some later sections were re-done for the master) and the mix (the acoustic guitar is far more prominent in the master than in this alt. mix). Almost didn't use this one, but then I realized The dB's never seemed to have played this song live (at least before 1988) — so here ya go!

Critics have noted Stands for deciBels stood the test of time, and today is considered a classic. One of the big reasons for its well-deserved reputation can be found in these alt. versions: at nearly every point when additional parts or sounds were considered for the debut album, the band and their collaborators chose the more classical path, shunning trendy "New Wave" techniques and effects.