Sunday 31 July 2016

#55 NEIL YOUNG - Chrome Dreams (Rust Edition) (Flac)


Neil Young
Chrome Dreams (Rust Edition)
1975-1976

Source/Lineage: Remastered from the best available sources of each track.
No other version of Chrome Dreams can compare to this.
SHN > foobar2000 1.1.2 (convered and bitverified identical) > FLAC 



Tracklist:
01. Pocahontas
02. Will To Love
03. Star Of Bethlehem
04. Like A Hurricane
05. Too Far Gone
06. Hold Back The Tears
07. Homegrown
08. Captain Kennedy
09. Stringman
10. Sedan Delivery
11. Powderfinger
12. Look Out For My Love

Bonus Tracks:
13. River Of Pride ('White Line', Unreleased Studio Version, 27 NOV 75)
14. Campaigner (Unedited, Unreleased Studio Version, Summer 1976)
15. No One Seems To Know (Live, Tokyo, Japan, 10 Mar 76)
16. Give Me Strength (Live, Chicago, IL, 15 Nov 76)
17. Peace Of Mind (Live, Chicago, IL, 15 Nov 76)
18. Human Highway (CSNY, Unreleased Studio Version, April 76)

Artwork by Paleojack.


CHROME DREAMS (RUST EDITION)

Neil Young was on a creative high in 1975.  By the end of the Summer, "Zuma" was finished, though still not released, yet Neil carried on recording his new songs. Sometimes he recorded solo and sometimes with
Crazy Horse.  Lots of these songs would remain unheard by the public until quite a while later, but by late '75 Neil had already written and recorded versions of such future classics as Like a Hurricane, Powderfinger, Sedan Delivery, Pocahontas and Ride My Llama.

He carried on recording in 1976.  More great songs were put down on tape, such as Will To Love, Stringman and Campaigner.  Some of us may feel that the "Long May You Run" album with Stephen Stills robbed us of the natural successor to "Zuma", but Stills always suspected that Neil was holding back his best stuff for his solo album.  That solo album was a work in progress throughout this period.  Titles were reported in the press. "Ride My Llama".  "In My Neighborhood".  "American Stars 'n Bars". "Chrome
Dreams".

When "American Stars 'n Bars" was released in 1977, Neil had scrapped most of the material he'd been recording since late '75, replacing much of it with a series of rough hewn cowboy songs.  Fun stuff to be sure, but had Neil committed the latest in a series of difficult to explain career suicides?  Who else, except maybe Bob Dylan, would sit on a stash of such quality songs and not let the public hear them?

Tracks 1 to 12 of this compilation are thought to be the unreleased "Chrome Dreams" album, readied for release weeks before Neil recorded those country hoedowns and rethought his strategy.  Some of these song
titles will be more than familiar to you, but actual the performances may surprise you.  Powderfinger is performed as an unadorned solo acoustic song; Sedan Delivery, a second song destined for 'Rust Never Sleeps' is presented in its pre-punked up arrangement and in many people's opinion sounds all the better for that; you'll also find the definitive Stringman, a song not given an official airing until Neil's 'Unplugged' set, heard here in a 1976 live performance enhanced by subtle yet beautiful studio vocal and guitar overdubs; Hold Back the Tears is another solo performance, longer and more ghostly than its later remake for "American Stars 'n Bars"; Pocahontas is the same performance as the one that made "Rust Never Sleeps", but in its original 'naked' mix; Too Far Gone wouldn't be officially released until the "Freedom" album in 1989, yet here's a version from 14 years earlier with Poncho Sampedro adding a tasty mandolin part.

The other six songs from the album were released unchanged on the albums "American Stars 'n Bars", "Comes a Time" and "Hawks and Doves", yet you may still be able to pick out slight differences in the mixes.  Homegrown, for one, would seem to have a little more fire in the guitars.  Have a listen and see what you think.
We've chosen a select batch of bonus cuts to give you a further taste of just how creative Neil was during this fertile period.  If the version of White Line (here retitled River of Pride, maybe because Neil forgot to
sing the actual "white line" lyric) didn't make the "Chrome Dreams" shortlist, then its continued circulation amongst collectors is something of a mystery.  Maybe it was pressed onto acetate as a possible contender
for "Decade", which Neil was also preparing at this time.  Whatever the truth, it's a stupendous version of the song, recorded in 1975 with a loose and joyful Crazy Horse.  Neil's remake for "Ragged Glory" in 1990
may have been fine, but it doesn't quite capture the spirit of this earlier version.  Campaigner did make "Decade", but not before losing one of its verses.  You can hear the full length version here.

Three live cuts follow: No One Seems to Know is an aching piano ballad that Neil once described as part 2 of A Man Needs a Maid, it's first class but remains unreleased; Give me Strength dates from an earlier ill-fated album called 'Homegrown' (an album that would have also featured Star of Bethlehem, the oldest cut in this collection) and is another lost classic; Peace of Mind is heard as an electric rock song played with the Horse and very different from the version Neil released on "Comes a Time".

And as a nod to "Zuma", we close with Crosby Stills Nash & Young.  Human Highway was recorded during the Stills-Young Band sessions in 1976.  The song was always meant to be a CSNY track, but Neil had run out of patience by the "Comes a Time" LP.  Now you can have a glimpse of what might have been.
Which, come to think of it, is also true of the whole collection.
(Jules Gray, 20 May 2004)

Monday 25 July 2016

#54 ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ROOTS - Brooklyn, New York 2013 (Flac)


Elvis Costello and The Roots
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY, USA
16 September 2013






"At the very end of Elvis Costello and the Roots' show at Brooklyn Bowl on Monday night, Questlove thanked the crowd for supporting the "strange experiment" that is their just-released collaborative album, Wise Up Ghost. What's actually most surprising about that experiment is that it actually works.

On paper, the marriage of Costello's singer-songwritery, professorial erudition and the Roots' greasy grooves seems like a well-intended but painfully incongruous marriage. But Costello and Questlove are kindred spirits, two genius-level music geeks who not only have a deep knowledge of and appreciation for multiple genres of music, they're both restless musicians with Olympian work ethics who revel in challenging themselves. Over his 35-odd-year career, Costello has worked with everyone from Tony Bennett to Bajofondo, from Brian Eno to Burt Bacharach, from Billie Joe Armstrong to the Brodsky String Quartet (and those are just the "B"s); the Roots have backed a staggeringly diverse collection of performers nearly every weeknight during their four years as the house band on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

On the album and in this apparently one-off show (apart from two appearances on Fallon this week), the unlikely alliance — the Questello Show, if you will — finds its main common ground in the '60s and '70s soul and funk that both acts often reference in their music: Motown, Stax, the Meters, Philly Soul. And rather than using his more familiar reedy singing voice, Costello inhabits a smoky lower register that often slips into a sinewy sneer, and occasionally a polysyllabic chant that's not worlds away from rapping. The most dramatic example of the latter comes in "Stick Your Tongue Out," a supple reinvention of Costello's 30-year-old anti-Thatcherite broadside "Pills and Soap" that meshes that song's bitter lyrics with a sensuous midtempo groove, making for some deliciously cognitive dissonance. At different points in the set, Marisol Hernandez (of La Santa Cecilia) and Diane Birch harmonized with him, bringing some welcome diversity to the vocal palette.

The group did not phone this gig in: On Monday afternoon Twitter hummed with reports about unnamed chestnuts the group was banging into shape during a rigorous rehearsal, and the evening's 16-song set was tight and supple, leaning heavily on the album but also featuring several Costello hits ("Watching the Detectives," "(I Don't Want to Go to) Chelsea" and "Pump It Up"), deep cuts ("Shabby Doll," "Spooky Girlfriend," an extended "I Want You"), and two startling covers: "Ghost Town," the 1981 chart topping single from the Specials, the legendary British ska band whose debut LP was Costello's first major outside production job; and John Lennon's "I Found Out," which closed the night on a dark but raucous note.

Through it all, Costello coaxed funky chords and howling feedback out of his vintage Fender Jazzmaster — the one with his name written in abalone across the fretboard — trading spiky licks with guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas. And the Roots were the Roots, which is to say just about the greatest band in the entire world. As they've proven time and time again on Fallon, the group has the ability unobtrusively to take an artist out of his or her element, get them out of their own way, enhance strengths the performer may not have realized they had — and have so much fun doing it they forget their usual, more serious selves. And by taking the time to let this collaboration marinate, with Wise Up Ghost the Roots have helped Costello sound more vital than he has in years." source 'Spin' - Jem Aswad


Disc One:
01. Intro (0:46)
02. Wake Me Up (10:43)
03. Refuse To Be Saved (4:49)
04. Stick Out Your Tongue (6:24)
05. Watching The Detectives (5:58)
06. Shabby Doll (5:09)
07. Sugar Won't Work (4:25)
08. Tripwire (with Diane Birch) (5:27)
09. Spooky Girlfriend (with La Marisoul) (5:15)

Disc Two:

01. Cinco Minutos Con Vos (with La Marisoul) (7:12)
02. Ghost Town (with La Marisoul) (5:07)
03. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea (4:26)
04. Walk Us Uptown (3:53)
05. I Want You (13:17)
06. Wise Up Ghost (6:55)
07. Pump It Up (4:46)
08. I Found Out (4:41)

LINK 

Sunday 24 July 2016

#53 THE BAND - Complete King Biscuit Flower Hour 1976 (Flac)


The Band's performance broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour was one of the first bootlegs I downloaded from the internet. Since those days a pre-FM edition has circulated in superb audio quality. This is the best version available and if you already have this show, check to make sure it's the pre-fm source offered here.

The Band
Complete King Biscuit Flower Hour
Carter Baron Amphitheatre, Washington DC
July 17, 1976


Soundboard pre - FM from King Biscuit discs and reels
Length 71:13 mins    
originally broadcast on August 29, 1976

01 Don't Do It 5:10
02 The Shape I'm In 4:08
03 It Makes No Difference 7:23
04 The Weight 4:44
05 King Harvest 3:45
06 Twilight 3:29
07 Ophelia 3:36
08 Tears Of Rage 5:58
09 Forbidden Fruit 6:11
10 This Wheel's On Fire 3:51
11 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 4:04
12 The Genetic Method 3:57
13 Chest Fever 4:23
14 Up On Cripple Creek 5:59
15 W.S. Walcott Medicine Show 4:03

notes:

William Keats wrote:
The new Last Waltz booklet indicates the DC show date was actually 16 August 1976 (see page 1 of the booklet). The PreFM copy that I have has this setlist, which is not the entire show, but everything that King Biscuit broadcast (from PreFM sources including reels, which is how the Biscuit used to get sent out)
I write: However this date is known to be incorrect, the recording was most likely made on 17 July 1976

Personnel:
Robbie Robertson Guitars, Vocals
Rick Danko Bass, Vocals, Violin
Richard Manuel Drums, Keyboards, Vocals
Levon Helm Vocals, Guitars
Garth Hudson Keyboards, Sax



-----------------------------------

original shn files > wav > flac (using dbPoweramp)
by thebasement67 (September, 2014)
for 100greatestbootlegs blog


Monday 18 July 2016

#52 RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows: Live from the Basement (2008)




This audio is from the HD broadcast of In Rainbows – From the Basement. The programme was filmed in 2008 by David Barnard at The Hospital Club's TV Studio in London's Covent Garden for Nigel Godrich's television programme ‘From the Basement’.

VH-1 premiered In Rainbows - From the Basement on Saturday, 3 May 2008. As well as songs from the new album In Rainbows the band also performed "Myxomatosis", "Where I End and You Begin", and "The Gloaming" from the previous album ‘Hail To The Thief’

It’s an excellent set with sound quality to match and is easily amongst the best of Radiohead’s latter-day performances.

The second appearance on From The Basement featured tracks from the current album ‘King Of Limbs’ and was released on DVD, this set should have been made available too.

01 Weird Fishes-Arpeggi
02 15 Step
03 Bodysnatchers

04 Nude
05 The Gloaming
06 Myxomatosis
07 House of Cards
08 Bangers & Mash
09 Optimistic
10 Reckoner
11 Videotape
12 Where I End and You Begin
13 All I Need
14 Go Slowly


Radiohead - In Rainbows: Live From The Basement
[Flac] by SideSkroll
Source: Uncompressed LPCM audio track from "From The Basement" DVD HDTV rip

Monday 11 July 2016

#51 PRINCE - Small Club 1988 (Flac)

Het Paard Van Troje, The Hague, Rotterdam
August 18th 1988

This is the bootleg that sets the bar. When this began to appear at record shows, first released on vinyl in 1988 (CD, 1991) it became the talk of the Prince fanatic community. The sound quality is better than most official live releases.
The set list is slick with long improvised jams, some blues/jazz covers, and a couple of his classics. Standout tracks are the opening jam, People Without, the cover of Just My Imagination and an epic rendition of Forever in My Life. And, during Still Would Stand All Time, you get to hear him trying to subtly admonish a back-up singer for singing "Still Will Stand All Time"... After a few pointed, yet calm corrections...he shouts, "Who's the fool who singing 'will'?? It's 'would'! Time WOULD stand still!"


Original notes:

It is no secret that this is arguably the most essential bootleg recording in circulation for Prince fans. This is a perfect recording of a coveted aftershow.
The sound quality is to my ears identical to the original release of Small Club 2nd Show That Night by X records in 1989. This is the first time I've said this about any reissue of this show. Although many have tried before this is the first Small Club recording to actually match the original in sound quality. There have been no less than a couple dozen of reissues over the past 6 years. In a blind test with both sources playing simultaneously I could not tell them apart. If there is a difference in sound it's not discernible to me.

The show itself is a true aftershow classic, with everything we could ask for in a performance: killer guitar solos (Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic & Just My Imagination), great vocals (Still Would Stand All Time), lots of Boni Boyer, and a couple of unreleased songs (People Without, etc..). This is Prince at his physical and performing prime. Looking back I would have to say that 1987-88 featured him at his best more consistently that any other time of his career. His aftershows during this time period are just legendary including the incredible Camden Palace show in London on July 25th, the Hamburg show in late August and one of the first, the Quasimodo gig on the Sign O the Times tour. Never has his ferocity been so evident at shows such as these. His effortless ability to mix stunning cover versions and unreleased tracks along with completely new renditions of his classics is remarkable. It also has a lot to do with his look. Watch the clips of the Camden Palace gig and you can see a stronger, firmer Prince that we've seen in the recent years. Not one as frail and weightless as we're becoming accustomed to now. What is also noticeable in those aftershow clips is that Prince KNEW he had just hit his prime. His relaxed mood with the European fans, his musicianship, and his first truly great backing band had reached a peak at this time unmatched to that point in his career. His confidence and showmanship have never been so apparent.

Disc one
1-1    Instrumental Jam     12:54
1-2    D.M.S.R.     8:47
1-3    Just My Imagination     7:45
1-4    People Without     10:28
1-5    Housequake     4:32
1-6    Down Home Blues     8:47

Disc two
2-1    Cold Sweat     9:35
2-2    Forever In My Life     11:28
2-3    Still Would Stand All Time     10:47
2-4    I'll Take You There     15:58
2-5    It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night     2:40
2-6    Rave To The Joy Fantastic     2:11

the band:
Bass: Levi Seacer Jr.
Drums, Percussion: Sheila E.
Guitar: Mico Weaver
Keyboards: Dr. Fink
Trumpet: Atlanta Bliss
Vocals: Boni Boyer, Cat*
Vocals, Guitar: Prince 

‘Abierman 2004’ commented on the Prince forum: http://prince.org/

“I had seen the regular show (Lovesexy, my 3rd show, after Parade ‘86 & Sign Of The Times ‘87) in the arena (De Kuip, Rotterdam) the night before and it was summertime, which meant: no school. A good friend of mine lived in The Hague (I'm from Amsterdam) and we had planned this night long before. So after having dinner with his parents, we were allowed (I was staying the night at their place) to 'hit' the town (hey, I was only 17!). The club, 'Het Paard', was back then a cool hangout. Not too small, certainly not too big. We arrived around 11:30 PM and not much was going on, we were happy to be there, released of 'the wrath' of parents. Dirk, my buddy, was not really into Prince and was getting tired of me talking about the concert-experience I had had the night before. However, at some point, around 1:00 AM there was this vibe going on, people were doing stuff on the small stage. I believe some 200 people were in the club, and nothing was announced. We heard this rumor that nobody was being let in anymore, don't know whether that was true.
At some point we saw people climbing the stage. It was dark but I saw clearly a woman stepping behind the drums. This is when 'Jam' started. we still didn't know what was going on, no announcements whatsoever. This band was jamming and once the beat kicks in some light was turned on and I freaked! Shortly after that I heard this typical guitar sound, the one that had been pounding in my ears for the last 24 hours. Yes, it was Prince and his band!
I couldn't believe it! I started to recognize the members: Dr Think, Sheila E, Miko, Levi, Atlanta and Prince! Later Boni Boyer joined as well! No Eric Leeds (I believe he wasn't feeling to well, Anotherwontdare) and Cat to be seen. Dirk, a guitar-lover, was like: what the fuck is this? Convinced in a minute! Big smile on his face. I was just stunned, couldn't say a word! Was this happening? Yes it was.
After the 13-minute jam, he kicked in DMSR (well, this beat's going to sleep, don't it?), the funk was phat! People were freaking out, although there weren't to many fans there, there would be afterwards.
Housequake (a hit back then) had the people go wild. Then Just My Imagination, the solo. This was P's and Sheila's show. Just listen to the two of them go together amazing! This is the quintessential Prince-moment! There are stories (maybe even urban-legends) about P having tears in his eyes during this. I don't remember seeing this, but I had almost tears in MY eyes. This man was amazing, what a treat to be here! The Man was happy and in rare form that night! It was so obvious that he was enjoying himself, and no religious BS as well.
People Without was freaky, lights off. What a fucking great song. Dr Think going wild on the synths.
Kansas City Here I come Boni Boyer, ain't nobody can mess with that girl (is it true that she died?)! P's blues solo at the end, what the fuck?
It was great to see a band having fun after a 2 1/2 hour 'regular' show, this is why they're in music. This was their thing, not ours, we were just witnesses.
Forever In My Live was a great jam, the audience participating, I hear myself everytime! I Don't Care, Boni baby! Sheila was rapping!  Rave was great, his official recording 10 years later sucked! Prince: 'Miko, gimme some of that funk!' Miko: 'Sure Prince, you want it high or low?' It stopped around 4 AM.
An amazing night that I will never forget, it took me 8 years to get me a copy of the bootleg, I still listen to it regularly and think back of that night! I believe it was Prince's first aftershow in Holland, and it's definitely the best bootleg-recording I know of (sound-quality wise)! Great it's out there, it almost captures the vibe that was there that night, it will never be there again!”

Thursday 7 July 2016

#50 TOM WAITS - Live in Austin (1978)

Austin City Limits
Austin, Texas
December 5, 1978


01. Burma Shave (11.17)                                                
02. Annie's Back In Town / I Wish I Was In New Orleans (7.28)                       
03. A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun (7.55)  
04. On The Nickel (6.11)                                                   
05. Romeo Is Bleeding (5.04)                                                            
06. Silent Night / Xmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis / Silent Night reprise (5.51)
07. Small Change (9.39)       

Lineage: Wolf HQR remasters vol. 2


An absolute classic from Tom Waits, this superb high quality performance was included among the Wolf HQR remaster series. It has a clutch of new songs that appeared on the latest album ‘Blue Valentine’. Of the two non album tracks Annie’s Back In Town appeared on the 'Paradise Valley' soundtrack, also released in 1978. On the Nickel would finally appear in 1980, finding a place on ‘Heartattack and Vine.’ The set-list is vastly changed from the Bremen 1977 performance (included in the 100) only Small Change is common to both. 

If you're not a Waits fan or familiar with his music, give this one a chance, especially the 11-minute opener. Only two minutes in and Tom casually rips a joke, much to the delight of the television studio audience. Immediately he has the audience in his grasp with evocative story telling, humour and the exquisite musicianship of his supporting band. Burma Shave is undoubtedly one of the great ‘small-town escape’ songs, applicable to any young person growing up in a small town or village throughout the world. His genius is not just in the music and lyrics but the way he draws you in to his characters and makes their lives and points of view feel like reality.

Tom’s appearance on the Austin City Limits TV show is one of the most requested shows in their 40-year archive. It was recorded three months after the release of ‘Blue Valentine’ and embodies a transitional stage in his career from beat poet evolving towards the more experimental work of the classic 80’s trilogy of ‘Swordfishtrombones,’ ‘Raindogs’ and ‘Frank’s Wild Years.’


Tom's band:
 
Herbert Hardesty - sax, flugelhorn, trumpet
Arthur Richardson - guitar
John Thomassie - drums
Greg Cohen – bass


            
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