Midnight Oil - Acoustically Live 1993

Beach Studios
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Aug. 10, 1993

FM recording (sound quality: Ex-; quite nearly perfect sound)

TT: 52 mins.

Ronnie Scott's

London, UK

June 23, 1993

FM capture (sound quality: VG++)

TT: 52 mins.

ROB SEZ: OK, this is not particularly rare stuff. But I just HAD to post a musical response to the God-awful news that a con artist apparently will occupy the highest elected office in America starting soon — even though he lost the popular vote by 2+ million. (I hate just putting it in writing...) As for Midnight Oil, I always felt Peter Garrett & Co. had the goods in terms of musical chops, songwriting, and right-on political commentary. But when you added intense, amped-up rock music, it was all just a bit too much for me. So I stopped listening some time in the 1990s. Keep the great songs & performance but take away some of the wattage, and the result is a perfect soundtrack for the times. Here's a little post-election sing along: "America's great / If you don't talk back / I don't want to sell my soul to HIM." (News flash: Midnight Oil is re-forming, at least for live shows starting in early 2017. More HERE.) Many thanks to the Soundaboard blog for the Calgary set & whomever shared the London set.

MP3@320

Wanna hear more Midnight Oil unplugged?

Try this 2000 release with mostly acoustic performances from 1993-'94

(not to mention the bonus set I've hidden in plain sight)

Learn more about Midnight Oil's music at the band's own site, Wikipedia & this fan site

   

Sneakers + Little Diesel - Reunion shows Sept. & Oct. 2016

Motorco

Durham, N.C.

Oct. 20, 2016

audience recording (quality VG; audio ripped from video; some phase shifting can be heard from time to time; recordings from Hopscotch Fest = VG- quality) 
     

Little Diesel, again: Will Rigby in the back & Bob Northcott way out front

SAMPLE: "Heart Full of Soul" (Sneakers cover The Yardbirds - live 2016)

thanks to Laura & Jefferson Hart for the photos

01 Some Kind of Fool

02 Ruby

03 Nonsequitur of Silence

04 Decline and Fall

05 S'il Vous Plaît

06 Let's Live for Today

07 Condition Red

08 Heart Full of Soul

09 Flamingo

10 Ramblin' Gamblin' Man

11 Hollywood Swinging (etc.) 

12 S’il Vous Plaît*
13 Let’s Live for Today*

NOTES

01-08 & 12-13 = Sneakers

09 & 10 = Little Diesel

11 = Little Diesel + members of Sneakers

* Last two tracks are from Sneakers' set (opening for Television) at Hopscotch Music Fest, Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh, N.C. on Sept. 8, 2016

ROB SEZ: Yup, it's happened again: the old North Carolina music mafia has gone and done its nostalgia-indulging thing, and here's an audio souvenir from the proceedings. In recent months, there were more reunion shows by the 1970's-era Chapel Hill band Sneakers and the even older (!) Winston-Salem garage/bedroom combo Little Diesel. Chris Stamey & Mitch Easter were the ringleaders of Sneakers, while Bob Northcott fronted Little Diesel (with Peter Holsapple and Will Rigby in the band). Muchas gracias to Larry T. for the Motorco videos, from which I ripped the audio, and Daniel J. for the two tracks from this year's Hopscotch Fest (photo below).

MP3@320

Minus 5 - Three Days In Spain 2005 (sbd)

La Paloma
Barcelona, Spain
Nov. 17, 2005

soundboard recording (quality Ex-)

ALL THANKS & PRAISE to Mick for compiling this set & creating the artwork, and to Don for sharing. This is the full show from Nov. 17, with the variants from the next two nights in Spain: Durango, Nov. 18 and Gijon, Nov. 19. Great performances with great sound. What's not to like??

MP3@320

ASH Tuesday post #52

     

Soft Boys - London, UK 1994 (sbd)

The Astoria
London, UK
January 13, 1994

soundboard recording (quality Ex-; transfer from 'Where Are the Prawns?', fanclub-issued chrome tape)

SAMPLE: "Kingdom of Love" (live in London 1994)


01 Wey Wey Hep Uh Hole
02 The Face of Death
03 The Queen of Eyes
04 The Pigworker
05 Underwater Moonlight
06 Old Pervert
07 Hear My Brane
08 Where Are the Prawns?
09 Insanely Jealous
10 Kingdom of Love
11 band intros
12 Give It to the Soft Boys

Robyn H. & Kimberley R. of the Soft Boys
cool photos by Chris Boland from a 2006 live show
more at www.chrisboland.com

13 Only the Stones Remain
14 Zipper In My Spine
15 I Wanna Destroy You

ROB SEZ: I invested heart & soul in my first Soft Boys post — even tucking away a hidden bonus set. Response? Zip, zilch, nada. What's a blogger to do?  Re-double his efforts, naturally! SOFT BOYS POSTS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE (and blog reader participation) IMPROVES AROUND HERE!! 
My best guess: this amazing set comes from the mysterious & very generous Dr. Forrester, who has shared a heap o’ Soft Boys & Robyn Hitchcock goodies through the years at his excellent Just Add Cones blog. 

Tape insert for this fanclub-only release

 

MP3@320

The Soft Boys:

Robyn Hitchcock - vocal, guitar
Andy Metcalfe - bass, vocals

Matthew Seligman - bass

Morris Windsor - drums, backing vocal

   

Sean Lyons - guitar, vocals

Jim Melton - percussion, harmonica, vocals

Learn more about the Soft Boys' music at 
Trouser Press and AllMusic

Bangles - NYC + New Haven, CT 1984

The Ritz
New York, NY
Sept. 28, 1984

FM capture (sound quality VG+; transfer from master tape of delayed live broadcast over WLIR-FM, Garden City, Long Island, NY)
 

Bangs became Bangles: before Prince 'discovered' the band

01 Silent Treatment
02 The Real World
03 Restless
04 Mary Street
05 Live
06 All About You
07 James
08 Where Were You When 
     I Needed You?
09 I'm In Line
10 He's Got a Secret
11 Going Down to Liverpool
12 Tell Me
13 Want You
14 Hero Takes a Fall
15 I'm Not Talking (fades in)
16 Going Home
17 7 & 7 Is
18 Dover Beach

 
TT: 55:17 mins.

 
THANKS A BUNCH to beatbop for recording and transferring, and to all who’ve shared the NYC recording. More thanks to Alex Butterfield for the New Haven set.

Toad’s Place

New Haven, CT

Oct. 1, 1984

FM capture (sound quality VG to VG+; vocals a tad distant)

01 Silent Treatment

02 The Real World

03 Restless

04 Mary Street

05 Live (brief dropout)

Susanna Hoffs: short hair or long, she became the "it" girl 

06 All About You

07 James

08 Where Were You When I
     Needed You? 

09 I'm In Line

10 He's Got a Secret

11 Going Down to Liverpool

12 Tell Me

13 Want You

14 Hero Takes a Fall

15 I'm Not Talking

16 I'm Going Home

17 How Is the Air Up There? 

18 7 & 7 Is
19 If I Had the Time

TT: 60 mins.

MP3@320

     New Bangles archival release from Omnivore

16 rare & previously-unreleased tracks. 
INFO / ORDER HERE

 

ROB SEZ: Always did have a soft spot for the Bangles, especially their first recordings. After they started having hits, the sound became slicker and they lost some of their appeal. But like many guys (and, I assume, some girls), Susanna Hoffs and at least one other Bangle still held a compelling allure.
 
The Bangles:
Susanna Hoffs - guitar, vocal
Debbi Peterson - drums, vocal 
Vicki Peterson - guitar, vocal
Michael Steel - bass, vocal

Soft Boys - Live 1980 + 2002

Club Eighties
New York, NY
Sept. 5, 1980

audience recording (sound quality VG; a well-recorded, well-preserved artifact, with some imperfections — as expected from a tape of this vintage)

SAMPLE: "Queen of Eyes" (Live WFMU 2002)    



01 Kingdom of Love
02 Queen of Eyes
03 Strange
04 I Wanna Destroy You
05 Leppo and the Jooves
06 Only the Stones Remain
07 There's Nobody Like You
08 Insanely Jealous
09 Out of the Picture
10 Train Round the Bend (VU cover)   
11 Positive Vibrations
12 Zip Zip (James A. Smith tune) 
13 Gigolo Aunt (Syd Barrett cover) 
14 Dancing on Your Thumb
15 I Wanna Destroy You
16 Run Run Run (VU cover)
17 Kingdom of Love
18 Underwater Moonlight
19 Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd cover) 
 
TT: 71:30 mins.

ROB SEZ: Before Robyn Hitchcock (solo act); before RH & The Egyptians; before Kimberley Rew's Katrina & The Waves, there were the SOFT BOYS in the late 1970s to early 1980s. They were really good! ALL PRAISES go to the taper and sharers, especially caravelle for re-sharing the 1980 show a few years ago. Artwork for the 1980 set by Mick. Thanks also to hingyfan and chip_christian for sharing the 2002 set, recorded on the band's Nextdoorland tour. (Note about the artwork: the fan who first shared this thought the correct month for the 1980 show was August, but Hitchcock fans did some research, and turns out it took place Sept. 1980.)

Live Session
WFMU Studios
Jersey City, N.J.
Oct. 25, 2002 (broadcast Oct. 29)

FM recording (sound quality Ex-) 

Recommended for the well-dressed fan

01 I Love Lucy        
02 Pulse of My Heart        
03 Mr. Kennedy        
04 Unprotected Love        
05 My Mind Is Connected        
06 Each of Her Silver Wands        
07 Narcissus        
08 Hear My Brane 
09 talk 1      
10 The Man With the Lightbulb Head
11 Queen of Eyes        
12 When I Was a Kid        
13 If You Know Time
14 talk 2  

MP3@320
  
FLAC (1980 show only)      
 
The Soft Boys:
Robyn Hitchcock - vocal, guitar
Kimberley Rew - guitar, backing vocal
Matthew Seligman - bass
Morris Windsor - drums, backing vocal

Learn more about the Soft Boys' music at 
Trouser Press and AllMusic

Winterpills - Northampton, MA 2010 + bonus

The Academy of Music
Northampton, MA
Jan. 23, 2010

soundboard recording (quality VG++; levels get properly adjusted by track 2)

Tracks 11-16 = The Listening Room, Aug. 29, 2003 (audience recording, VG-)

BIG, FAT THANKS to Mick for compiling these sets and creating the artwork, and to Don for sharing.

MP3@256 (final 6 tracks = 160 kbps)
 

ASH Tuesday post #51

Sneakers + Little Diesel - Live Oct. 20, Durham, N.C.

Now THIS is what I call a double bill worth seeing:

    
Sneakers + Little Diesel

Live Show

Thursday, Oct. 20
8:00 p.m.

Motorco

Durham, N.C.

Little Diesel - return! The boys in the band, tearing it up at a recent reunion gig

Sneakers, founded by Chris Stamey, was one of the first bands in which he and Mitch Easter were both active. Little Diesel was the first combo that included both Peter Holsapple and Will Rigby.

Get more info about the show HERE

Peter Case - Live 1987, 1989 (FM + sbd)

Peter Case & Friends 

KCRW’s ‘Snap’

Santa Monica, CA

March 20, 1987

FM capture (sound quality VG to VG+)

PETER CASE: lost in the music again (photo by magicmanjp)

01 I Shook His Hand

02 Pair of Brown Eyes

03 Working for the Enemy 

04 The Power of Love

05 My Trusted Friend

06 Walk In the Woods

07 Echo Wars

08 Fixin' to Die Blues

09 More Than Curious

10 Three Days Straight

11 (chat & tuning)

12 History of Jazz (Fast Freddie vocal)

13 (chat 2, Peter takes a break)

14 Icewater

15 Small Town Spree

16 Horse and Crow

17 Steel Strings

18 Satellite Beach

19 (chat 3)

20 Put Down the Gun

21 (chat 4)

22 Matchbox

ROB SEZ: This is Peter Case around the time of his solo debut album with a buncha musician friends, including Steve Soles, Victoria Williams, and Fast Freddie. Live in session on “Snap” with the late, great Deirdre O’Donahue. Below is a few years later, recorded in Peter’s hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., near the end of the 1989 tour. It’s an incomplete set, but a very sweet-sounding soundboard recording. The other two musicians on the second set may be Michael Bannister on drums and Duke McVinnie on bass.

SHO’ NUFF THANKS to kneesfudd for sharing the '87 set and to mjk5510 for sharing the ’89 set.

Nietzsche's

Buffalo, NY

October 4, 1989

soundboard recording (sound quality VG++) 

01 Cool Water

02 Walkin' Bum

03 Entella Hotel

04 Travellin' Light

05 Power, Lust and Money

06 The Power of Love

07 Ice Water

08 Walk In the Woods

09 Eye On the Road

10 Poor Old Tom

11 Steel Strings

12 Pair of Brown Eyes

13 Old Blue Car (end cut, fades out)

MP3@320

Peter Case's solo debut album has just been re-released on CD

Omnivore Recordings did their usual amazing job, adding 7 bonus tracks.

Check it out HERE 

Learn more about the music of Peter Case at his official web site and Wikipedia