Marshall Crenshaw - Ritz, NYC 1984 (sbd)

The Ritz

New York, N.Y.

Dec. 19, 1984

  

soundboard recording (quality: VG++; probably deserves a higher rating, but I can't ignore the faint sound of a short in one channel — don't listen with headphones!)

Marshall Crenshaw: 1984 or '85

01 For Her Love

02 Our Town

03 Little Sister (Elvis Presley cover) [cuts out]

04 There She Goes Again (cuts in)

05 (We're Gonna) Shake Up Their Minds 

06 Soldier of Love (Arthur Alexander cover)

07 One More Reason

08 I'm Alive (The Hollies cover)

09 Reet Petite (Jackie Wilson cover)

10 Mary Anne

11 Monday Morning Rock

12 Whenever You're on My Mind

13 A Big Hunk o' Love (Elvis Presley cover)

14 Lesson Number One

15 She Can't Dance

16 Someday, Someway

17 Feliz Navidad (José Feliciano cover)

18 Brand New Lover

19 Someday We're Gonna Love Again 

     (The Searchers cover)

New archival live release! INFO

ROB SEZ:  A rare 1984 performance, in lovely soundboard splendor. (Although 2 generations removed from the master tape, this recording still sounds pretty amazing to me.) As far as I can tell, Crenshaw only performed 4 times in 1984 (heard here, MC's explanation for his lengthy absence is typically sardonic). As usual, MC, his brother Robert on drums, and Chris Donato are in very fine form, and fully a third of the songs here are covers, including a couple I have not heard elsewhere. Trainspotters will want to know this is not the complete performance, because the recording as I received it lacked a few of the songs listed here. This recording has a faint short in one channel that you probably won't hear unless you use heaphones or earbuds — so don't do that! 

FLAC

MP3@320

  

Marshall Crenshaw - Early Demos + 'Downtown' Demos

Early Demos (c. 1979-1981)

various recording dates & locations

home recordings (sound quality VG-; source was a not-great-sounding, multi-gen. tape;  lilpanda cleaned up the tracks & they’re enjoyable now)

01 Never Gonna Happen Again

02 We Belong Together

03 This Is the Love

04 She's Not Mine Anymore [1] 

05 Somebody Like You

06 Now I've Got You

07 She Can't Dance

08 Not for Me

09 Brand New Lover

10 Communication

11 I'll Do Anything

12 Rockin' Around In NYC (alt. demo)

13 Soldier of Love

14 For Her Love

15 Something's Gonna Happen

     (alt. demo)

16 Mary Anne

17 The Usual Thing

18 There She Goes Again

19 Cynical Girl

20 She's Not Mine Anymore [2]

NOTE: none of these appears on the official 9-Volt Years collection (but some are alt. versions of demos that did appear on the same)

BIG THANKS to lilpanda, atlasstar, and angelo. 

'Downtown'-Era Demos

c. 1984

unknown source

home recordings (sound quality VG+; probably first-generation tape source) 

01 My Desiree

02 Terrifying Love

03 She Hates to Go Home

04 That Girl Belongs to Yesterday 

      (unfinished lyrics)

05 Shake It Till We Break It 

     (unfinished lyrics)

06 Baby Doll (unfinished lyrics)

07 Instrumental 1

08 Instrumental 2

09 Instrumental 3

10 Feliz Navidad

11 All I Ever Wanted (K. MacColl demo)*

12 Santa Baby (unknown female vocalist)

     *Imagine my surprise — as a fan of both M.C. and Kirsty MacColl — to discover

      that track 11 is M.C. playing to a K.M. vocal demo...

FLAC

MP3@320

Learn more about the music of Marshall Crenshaw at his official site and/or AllMusic

Marshall Crenshaw - Live 1983 in CT & PA (FM + preFM)

Agora Ballroom

Hartford, CT

July 18, 1983

  

FM recording (sound quality: VG++; great!) 

01 Monday Morning Rock

02 Brand New Lover

03 I’ll Do Anything

04 Here I Am (Come & Take Me)

05 Whenever You’re On My Mind 

06 I’ve Been Good to You

07 One Day With You

08 Mary Anne

09 Rockin’ Around In NYC

10 Try

11 Move It

12 Cynical Girl

13 Someday Someway

14 The Usual Thing

Ripley's Music Hall

Philadelphia, PA

Dec. 2, 1983

  

preFM recording (sound quality: Ex-; partial set broadcast on "King Biscuit Flower Hour")

  

01 Monday Morning Rock

02 Little Sister

03 Our Town 

04 Try 

05 Whenever You're On My Mind 

06 Cynical Girl

07 There She Goes Again

08 Someday Someway

09 Blues Is King

  

ROB SEZ:  1983 was a good year to be Marshall Crenshaw. His second LP Field Day was released to strong reviews (and some carping about Steve Lillywhite's production), and it rose to no. 52 in the album charts. The classic band lineup of MC on vocals & guitar plus his brother Robert on drums and Chris Donato on bass clearly had their act together, and the songs and choice covers were superlative. Here are the best recordings I have from 1983, in terms of performance and sound quality. Although there's some overlap between the two sets, the Philly recording features 4 songs not performed in Hartford, including the sterling "Our Town." Big-time thanks to the original tapers and sharers. (True MC fans won't want to miss the bonus set that's hidden almost in plain sight.)

FLAC

MP3@320

  

Marshall Crenshaw - Roslyn, N.Y. 1982 (sbd)

My Father's Place 

Roslyn, N.Y.

June 29, 1982

  

soundboard recording (quality: Ex-; 

from a pristine vinyl rip)

  

01 Soldier of Love (A. Alexander cover)
02 Not For Me
03 There She Goes Again
04 Brand New Lover
05 I’ll Do Anything
06 Mary Anne
07 Rockin’ Around In N.Y.C.
08 Something’s Gonna Happen
09 Move It
10 Someday, Someway
11 Got a Lot o' Livin' to Do (Elvis cover)
12 She Can't Dance
13 Cynical Girl
14 Girls

15 The Usual Thing

MC, soundchecking at My Father's Place before this show

ROB SEZ: January is Marshall Crenshaw month at the blog. MC is so underrated, he should win some kind of prize for music career longevity long after his name dropped below the "who's hip today" horizon, some time in the mid 1980s. He's continued to make worthy albums and tour extensively, up to the present. MC's still-amazing debut album was re-released on vinyl (special 40th anniversary edition) on RSD Black Friday in 2022. The expanded CD and digital download versions will appear this February. You may be familiar with this show and an FM recording of it, but you've probably never heard this version: a pristine vinyl rip from an official radio show LP, produced for the BBC College Concert Hour. I've heard a lot of MC shows from the early 1980s, and this one is my hands-down favorite. The guy who shared this with me many years ago obviously knew what he was doing. It's a beautiful digital transfer, with no extraneous noise. Come back for more next week!

FLAC

MP3@320

     

Kings of Convenience - Madrid 2021

Teatro Lope de Vega

Madrid, Spain 

Oct. 18, 2021

audience recording (sound quality: VG++; from master — pristine audio with some enthusiastic clapping between songs)

Kings of Convenience onstage in 2021

00 intro

01 Comb My Hair

02 Rocky Trail

03 Cayman Islands

04 Angel

05 Killers

06 Love Is a Lonely Thing 

07 Fever

08 Mrs. Cold

09 Boat Behind

10 24-25

11 Rumours

12 Catholic Country

13 pre-encore applause, etc. 

14 Homesick

15 Know How

16 Misread

  

17 I'd Rather Dance With You*

  

*bonus track: Roskilde Festival, Denmark 2022-07-02 (aud)

ROB SEZ: Looking for a newer, mildly hipper version of Simon & Garfunkel? Even if you're not, Kings of Convenience could still be your new musical crush. Erik Bøe and Erlend Øye started making music together two decades ago in their native Norway, singing harmony-enriched songs with English lyrics. By the time they released their second album in 2001, they were topping the album charts at home. In succeeding years, the rest of Europe caught on, and big-city America was next to be charmed. After a long hiatus, they're back performing together, with their latest studio project Peace or Love out in 2021. Enjoy this very well-recorded show, courtesy of Moon! Taper. 

   

- see what the fuss is about here -

excerpts from 2021 London concert

FLAC

  

MP3@320

    

A Happy, Merry (Very)

A Happy, Merry (Very)

Holiday to Y'All

I'm outta here for 2022, but I do want

to wish everyone happy holidays.

If you're still looking for holiday music, be sure to click

HERE

(takes you to all the holiday-themed posts I've shared over the years)

I'll see you again early in 2023

Yo La Tengo with Alex Chilton - Hoboken, NJ 2007

15th Anniversary Repost

 

Maxwell’s, Hoboken, N.J.
December 8, 2007
Hanukkah, night 5

  

soundboard-audience matrix (sound quality: VG++ to Ex-)  

DISC 1

01 Barnaby, Hardly Working
02 Shaker
03 Stockholm Syndrome
04 Tears Are In Your Eyes
05 Season of the Shark
06 Don’t Say a Word (Hot Chicken #2) 
07 Song for Mahlia
08 talking
09 The River of Water
10 talking
11 Sometime In the Morning (King/Goffin) 
12 talking
13 E.T.I. (Blue Oyster Cult)

  

?!NO KIDDING?! Alex Chilton — night 5 of Yo La Tengo's Hanukkah celebration in 2007
photo by Jacob Blickenstaff 

Gotta extinguish the menorah...

DISC 2

01 Mr. Tough
02 Big Day Coming
03 Watch Out for Me, Ronnie
04 The Story of Yo La Tengo
05 encore break – talking

    *(encore)* with Alex Chilton on guitar & vocals 

06 I’ve Had It (Bell-Notes)
07 The Oogum Boogum Song (B. Wood)
08 Let Me Get Close to You (King/Goffin)
09 Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)
10 Baby Strange (T-Rex)
11 Hey Little Child (Alex Chilton)
12 Government Center (Modern Lovers)

ROB SEZ: 15-year anniversary repost. Gotta love the surprise 7-song encore set by Mr. Alex Chilton. Whether or not you observe Hanukkah — or any other religious holiday this time of year, I do hope you'll enjoy this one. Although there's no sample to audition, you can trust me: it sounds great. The sharer says, "Thanks to Yo La Tengo, sound guy Mark Luecke, the great folks at Maxwell’s, and thir13en!"

IRA SEZ: Here's what Yo La Tengo lead dude Ira Kaplan said in his Hanukkah diary:

   

Alex Chilton was willing to come back for a second night of special guesthood, and we were thrilled to have him. We reprised “Femme Fatale,” “Let Me Get Close to You” and “Hey! Little Child” from Friday night, and worked up Brenton Wood’s “Oogum Boogum,” (as heard on Alex’s Set cd), an old Cossacks favorite, the Modern Lovers’ “Government Center,” longtime staple of Big Star’s repertoire T.Rex’s “Baby Strange,” and went back to Alex’s Like Flies on Sherbert record for the Bell Notes’ “I’ve Had It.” We even taught him a few words of Hebrew.

  
FLAC
  
MP3@320
  

The dB's - Maxwell's Dec. 1986 (aud - new source!)

Maxwell’s 
Hoboken, N.J.
Dec. 7, 1986

audience recording (sound quality: VG++; transferred from McKenzie master tape)

  

HOLIDAY GREETINGS to Tom at The McKenzie Tapes for his generous sharing of this recording’s digital master for our listening pleasure. It's early Christmas, on the 36th anniversary of this show!

A great, sweaty club show deserves a photo like this one 

ROB SEZ: I posted this excellent show many years ago, using a different source tape. That was pretty darn good, but this new source (transferred from the master, courtesy of the fabulous McKenzie Tapes collection) brings a new dimension of clarity and punch to the proceedings. In this case, "the proceedings" are a thoroughly enjoyable live show at Maxwell's, where The dB's were adopted as hometown heroes (Gene Holder had moved there and the band played Maxwell's frequently). Here, Gene is in very fine form, peeling off tasty lead licks right and left. If the term "adoring crowd" ever applies, it's certainly fitting in this case. You can hear that Peter is jazzed on account of the band's recent signing to IRS Records (though not yet announced publicly — thus the opening cover tune). Rarities include the non-album song "Darby Hall," Will singing his own "The Room's Still Spinning" (Georgia from Yo La Tengo takes over drums so Will can be up front), and a seasonally appropriate "Feliz Navidad" for the final encore. Why not take a few seconds to leave a comment here, thanking Tom at McKenzie Tapes for his generosity? 

00 stage entrance, greeting

01 Everybody's Happy Nowadays

     (Buzzcocks cover)

02 She Got Soul

03 Living a Lie

04 Lonely Is as Lonely Does 

05 Never Say When

06 Today Could Be the Day

07 New Gun In Town

08 I Lie

09 Never Before and Never Again

10 White Train

11 band-audience banter

12 Darby Hall

13 Change With the Changing Times

14 Any Old Thing

15 Amplifier

16 Love Is for Lovers

17 The Room's Still Spinning (Will Rigby song)

18 A Spy In the House of Love

19 See No Evil (Television cover)

20 Feliz Navidad

The dB’s:

Jeff Beninato – bass, vocals

Will Rigby – drums, vocals

Gene Holder – lead guitar

Peter Holsapple – vocals, guitar

*Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo) - drums on #17

FLAC

  

MP3@320

  

The dB's - KCRW Live Session 1987 (new source!)

SNAP with Deirdre O'Donoghue
KCRW, Santa Monica, CA
Dec. 3, 1987

35th Anniversary Lossless Repost

KCRW soundboard master

Straight outta KCRW's vaults: the tapes!

via 2022 webstream capture (quality: Ex-)

01 intro
02 Today Could Be the Day
03 chat
04 Change With the Changing Times 
05 more chat
06 Molly Says
07 some chit-chat
08 Working for Somebody Else
09 talk & band member intros
10 This Is Where I Belong

Peter, singing emphatically, with Eric nearby.

     (Kinks cover)
11 some comments
12 White Train
13 droll anecdotes
14 Amplifier
15 yammering & tuning
16 Home for the Holidays
17 banter
18 O Holy Night (trad.)
19 banter, more
20 Bonneville
21 inane banter
22 Spitting In the Wind 
23 prevarications
24 She Got Soul
25 aimless ruminations
26 New Gun In Town
27 random thoughts & false starts
28 Neverland
29 final chat & DJ sign-off

The dB's:
Peter Holsapple - guitar, vocals
Will Rigby - drums, backing vocals
Jeff Beninato - bass, vocals
Eric Peterson - guitar

ROB SEZ: Thanks to alert blog reader Eugene, I found recently-posted streams of vintage live sessions from the amazing "SNAP" radio show on KCRW in Santa Monica. What made "SNAP" so great? The musicians and their performances, of course. Just as significant was the one-of-a-kind Deirdre O'Donoghue, the host of SNAP. Deirdre (R.I.P.) not only had an easy-on-the-ears voice, she was also a music enthusiast like none other, which you can hear in this hugely-enjoyable live session. Although I shared this set many years ago, that recording was sourced from a very good FM capture. This one, by contrast, was recently transferred from the station's master tape. It's webstream capture, yes, but the sound quality is amazing for a 35 year-old (!) recording. Since the session took place between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the band plays the dB's classic "Home for the Holidays" and Peter attempts "O Holy Night" — despite not being able to remember all the words! There's a bunch more of these live sessions, featuring many artists featured on this blog, at KCRW's brand new archival SNAP site. Happy holidays, everybody.

FLAC lossless capture of lossy source

MP3@320

  

Weather Station - Copenhagen, DK 2022 (aud)

Loppen 

Copenhagen, Denmark

March 30, 2022

audience recording (sound quality: VG++, from master recording by willer)

-sample "Loss" live in Toronto, 2021-

01 crowd, band entrance 

02 Loss

03 Separated

04 You & I

05 Way it Is, Way it Could Be 

06 Stars

07 Ignorance (Magpie)

08 Look

09 Tried to Tell You

10 Better Now

11 Wear

12 Heart

13 Robber

14 Atlantic

15 Parking Lot

16 To Talk About 

17 Subdivisions

18 Thirty

ROB SEZ: Remember the long parade of "New Bob Dylans"? Seems like whenever a music journalist bestowed the label on a promising new musician, it turned out to be the kiss of death — or at least a guarantee of career-long obscurity. So when I say The Weather Station's founder and frontwoman Tamara Lindeman sounds to me like the new Joni Mitchell, I sincerely hope I'm not casting bad juju in her direction. I'm not making the comparison merely because Joni & Tamara are both Canadians. I say it because it's been forever since I could draw a sincere comparison between the great JM and another artist with anything close to her talent for songwriting, singing, and bottling magic in the recording studio. Lindeman deserves hundreds of thousands of willing hearts and minds to hear and appreciate her extraordinary musical art, which mixes folk, rock, singer-songwriter, jazz, and pop in roughly equal measure, depending on the album or tour in question. Very big thanks to willer for recording & sharing this one, which is a great-sounding audie. Please enjoy.

FLAC

MP3@320