Smashing Pumpkins - Live at Palamalaguti 2008

Smashing Pumpkins, live at Palamalaguti Bologna, 3rd February 2008

What can I say about this band that people don't already know? I've been a fan since debut album Gish, and like many my fandom has decreased in the interveening years? I'm sure you could've guessed half of that anyway, so not much cop really. However...despite the fact the line-up isn't what it used to be, Billy still remains a hard task master, he demands the best out of any musicians within his band, it goes to show in their live performances, and this one is particularly fine.

01. Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans
02. Behold! The Nightmare
03. Bring The Light
04. Tonight Tonight
05. Mayonaise
06. Try, Try, Try
07. Superchrist
08. (Come on) Let's Go!
09. Stellar
10. Perfect (acoustic)
11. Lily (My One And Only)
12. The Rose March
13. Today
14. Tarantula
15. Stand Inside Your Love
16. Ava Adore
17. Drown
18. Bullet With Butterfly Wings
19. 1979 (acoustic)
20. That's The Way (My Love Is)
21. My Blue Heaven
22. The Everlasting Gaze
23. Cash Car Star
24. Easy Living (Uriah Heep)
25. Foreplay-Long Time (Boston)
26. For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield)
27. Wasted Years (Iron Maiden)
28. Daydream
29. Wound
30. United states\Encore Break

Encores:
31. I Don't Mind
32. Cherub Rock

Rar 1
Rar 2
Rar 3

The Decemberists - Live at The Showbox 2008

The Decemberists, live at The Showbox, Seattle, 2nd May 2008

Colin Meloy and his band of slightly less than merry men (and women), have been around for many a year now, slowly building up a dedicated fanbase, Picaresque and The Crane Wife having pushed them further towards the upper echelons of the indie darlings charts.

I've got another show from exactly the same venue kicking about somewhere, from 2003 I believe, which is a fantastic show. After years of touring and playing together, admittedly with differing members, they get better and better, as this fine show goes to erm...show.

01. intro
02. My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist
03. Shiny
04. The Soldiering Life
05. The Perfect Crime #2
06. O Valencia! (false start)
07. O Valencia!
08. Zoot
09. The Island: The Landlord's Daughter
10. Cupid (Sam Cooke) feat. Laura Gibson
11. Shankill Butchers
12. Hazards of Love
13. The Apology Song
14. The Sporting Life
15. A Cautionary Song
16. Bridges and Balloons
17. Blues Run the Game (Jackson C Frank)
18. Oceanside >
19. King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1 (Neutral Milk Hotel)
20. Southern Girls (Cheap Trick)

Rar 1
Rar 2

Meat Puppets - Live at The Roxy 1986

Meat Puppets, live at The Roxy, Hollywood, August 17th 1986

Back in 1993, Nirvana had an extra Chris and Curt onstage during a certin MTV performance, though admittedly with different spellings, the sibling founding members of Meat Puppets. Most people knew little more about these two people than what Kurt Cobain told us, yet this was a band that'd been in existence for 13 years.

Six years, three albums, and still no major label deal, they played a little spot in Hollywood called The Roxy. Erm...here it is.

The Whistling Song
Good Golly Miss Molly

Rar 1
Rar 2

Visit Meat Puppets site here, for some nice links posted by original drummer Derreck Bostrom.

Queens Of The Stone Age - Live at the Roseland Ballroom, NYC 2000

QOTSA - Live at the Roseland Ballroom, 12th November 2000

Queens of the Stone Age formed after the seminal stoner group Kyuss split, the two members Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri deciding to continue working together. By 2000 and 2nd album Rated R, they had started to define QOTSA as an altogether new band, much more crisp, urgent, and straight-ahead rock than their former band.

Having since worked with Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan, amongst others, they gained alot of press coverage, no little part due to Grohls return (a powerful one at that) to drums, and have gone from strength to strength ever since.

At the Roseland Ballroom, they're captured in a playful mood, churning out the first of their great songs in their newer and better incarnation, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Intro
Ode To Clarissa
Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
Better Living Through Chemistry
Quick And To The Pointless
Infinity
How To Handle A Rope
Monsters In The Parasol
You Can't Quit Me Baby
Lost Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

Full show Rar

John Frusciante - Solo performance at All Tomorrows Parties 2005

John Frusciante, acoustic set at Camber Sands, April 23rd 2005.

If you don't know who John Frusciante is please get the fuck off my page now, you have no business here. Ok, so we all know that although RHCP are probably at their zenith popularity-wise, they're past their best. They still play some great tunes but they do seem to have lost their edge, all that is, except John. Since coming back from his self imposed exile, where he apparantly chatted to ghosts while fucked up, he has been more creative than ever.

Johns solo material has been hit and miss, as with 99% of guitar gods gone solo, but as he's gotten clean he's released some fine work. Amongst the solo material, his day job and his work in Ataxia with his good friend Josh Klinghoffer and Joe Lally, there's many a fine moment, whether it's an acoustic ditty, balls-out rock, or guitar loops and strong swearing.


1. Time Runs Out
2. Beat Down
3. Carvel
4. Been Insane
5. The First Season
6. The Days Have Turned
7. I’m Around
8. Low Birds
9. We’re Going Wrong (Cream cover)
10. Control
11. Fallout
12. Untitled #11
13. Dying Song
14. So Would’ve I
15. How High
16. Untitled #3
17. Havana Affair (The Ramones cover)
18. The World’s Edge
19. Leave All The Days Behind
20. Representing
21. Song To Sing When I’m Lonely
22. Time Tonight
23. The Will To Death

RAR 1
RAR 2

Temple Of The Dog - Live at the Off Ramp Cafe

Temple Of The Dog, live at the Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle 13th November 1990

March 19th 1990, Andrew Wood singer of Mother Love Bone, died from an overdose of heroin. His great friend Chris Cornell started writing songs in remembrance of him and got together with other mutual friends of Woods, Matt Cameron who at the time was in Soundgarden with Chris, Jeff Amnet and Stone Gossard, ex of MLB, Mike McCready, and as additional vocalist Eddie Vedder. All four (five if you include Matt post-Garden) of course later Pearl Jam.

During the sessions for the upcoming self-titled album, the band played just the one known set, which was recorded on a camcorder by an audience member, this is that show. I extracted the audio, cut a little crowd noise from the end, and added a little fade out. The sound is rather 'hot', not fantastic by any means (it was a camcorder circa 1990!), but it is a rather fine show regardless. All songs from the 1991 release are present except the album closer All Night Thing, and the version of Reach Down is a favourite of mine, due to the extended, we're talking 3 or 4 minutes, solo by Mike McCready.

Call Me A Dog
Wooden Jesus

RARed full show

The La's - John Leckie Studio Sessions

The La's, John Leckie Sessions 1988

The north west of England in the late '80's was the hotbed of UK music, and as ever the British press thought world domination was on its way. Sadly, the two leading lights, those bands who actually had the talent and charisma to possibly make it were beset with problems, the Stone Roses who finally managed to release a second album, and their Liverpool contemporaries with a '60's fixation The La's.

Having tried to record the album around four times, and with as many different producers, they eventually released their self titled debut. Lee Mavers, the frontman and talisman of the band swiftly disowned the album as it didn't meet his crackly, cheap microphone recorded, dust in the sliders of the mixing desk standards.

John Leckie, the guy behind Radioheads knobs, was one of the many to try and capture the sound they were after, but ultimately got fired too.

"When I started working with them, it was Lee, John Power and a Salsa-type drummer called Terry, but then Lee decided he’d play drums himself. He could do a brilliant Keith Moon impersonation, arms flailing everywhere, but it sounded awful.

Lee was also inclined to talk in a kind of Scouse psychobabble. He’d spend half an hour describing the way he’d want the guitar to sound, things like wanting to capture the sound of the tree it was made From. Or he’d decide he didn’t like a particular cable because it was yellow. John Power was a bit like that too, but when he did it, there was an element of humour. Lee seemed serious.

We worked like this through a bunch of songs, then finally he says, I’ve got this other one, which turned out to be There She Goes, and it was brilliant.

In the studio, they would drink beer and smoke dope, but I never saw any evidence of hard drugs, or even of harder spirits. If Lee was doing heroin, which people have said he was, it didn’t seem to affect his ability to work.

The most frustrating thing was, at the end of each session, when everything was switched off, Lee and John would pick up guitars in the kitchen and sing together and it was utterly fabulous. In the end I was sacked because, apparently, I was no good."

Doledrum
I Can't Sleep

Session 1
Doledrum
Man I'm Only Human (take 1)
Man I'm only Human (take 2)
There She Goes

Session 2
Come In, Come Out
Doledrum (take 1)
Doledrum (take 2)
Feelin (take 1)
Feelin (take 2)
I Can't Sleep

Rared full file


As I've been neglectful this past week or so, been busy, I shall up a few things over the next few days, just ripping a little something from a bit of footage I have as I type...

Thievery Corporation - Live in DC 2005

Thievery Corporation, Live at the Washington Monument, 24th September 2005

This bootleg was recorded during Thieverys performance at the "Operation Ceasefire" concert, a show put on to protest the US's invasion of Iraq. The band at this time were making many political statments in their music, having made several songs with such themes on that years album The Cosmic Game, including the song Revolution Solution which featured alternative rock oddball Perry Farrell.

Thievery Corporation, for those who don't know, are a duo from Washington, who over a few drinks decided to make music featuring their Brasilian, Indian, lounge jazz and dance influences, resulting in a very pleasing dub/trip-hop sound. As they're primarily DJs they employ a wide range of singers on their albums, by the time of the previously mentioned 2005 offering, their stature had grown enough to employ the talents of David Byrne and Wayne Coyne aswell as Perry.

01. Intro
02. Facing East
03. Omid (Hope)
04. Shadows Of Ourselves
05. Sol Tapado
06. Liberation Front
07. Illumination
08. Exilio
09. The Heart's A Lonely Hunter
10. Truth And Rights
11. Richest Man In Babylon
12. Warning Shots
13. Coming From The Top
14. Marching The Hate Machines Into The Sun

Bert Jansch - Live at Somerset House, London 2007

Bert Jansch and Friends, live at Somerset House, London, 14th July 2007.

Bert Jansch is a bona fide legend in the guitar world, how many other acoustic guitarists can be said to have inspired Page, Townsend, Butler and Marr? You could probably count them all on no hands.

A huge folk star in the '60's and '70's, Jansch has had a big resurgence in this century, partly down to his friendship with Bernard Butler the former Suede guitarist and youngsters producer of choice it seems. Bernard has played on several of Berts records in the past several years (possibly all since 2000's Crimson Moon, I don't own them all and can't be arsed to do the research!), as well as many others, including the other two people present at this performance, the lovely Beth Orton and relatively unknown guitarist Paul Wassif.

Disc 1
01. She Moved Through The Fair
02. Blackwater Side
03. Strolling Down The Highway
04. Rosemary Lane
05. Down Under
06. My Donald
07. The Old Triangle
08. It Don't Bother Me
09. Fresh As Sweet Sunday Morning
10. Casbah
11. Poison

Disc 2
01. She Moved Through The Fair
02. Black Cat Blues
03. My Pocket's Empty
04. A Woman Like You
05. A New Day Beginning
06. Blues Run The Game
07. Carnival
08. Katie Cruel
09. Safe In Your Arms
10. Watch The Stars
11. When The Sun Comes Up
12. Pass In Time

Bernard appears on tracks 8, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23
Beth appears on tracks 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Paul appears on tracks 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23

The Verve - Lollapalooza 1994

The Verve, World Music Theater, Chicago, 16th July 1994

Once upon a time, from a little northern English town called Wigan, a bunch of guys got together and started to play shoegazing indie music. After a couple of albums, and fairly small success, they expanded their sound, taking a more song led aproach to music, then they were huge due to a liberal sprinkling of a Stones melody, for which they lost all royalties...nice.

This showcaptures The Verve on their magical rise, just as they were transitioning between the two periods (okay, okay, now there's a third!) of their life. The set features a few at the time released tracks, Gravity Grave, Man Called Sun (Verve EP), Slide Away, Blue (A Storm In Heaven), yet to be released songs such as Stormy Clouds (A Northern Soul), Rolling People (Urban Hymns), Let The Damage Begin (This Is Music B-side), Been On The Shelf Too Long (early version of This Is Music), and the unreleased track Mover.

Lo and behold, what do I see on the official site but a free dowload for the track Mover! *listens* Yeah, same tune. This is extra nice this week then :-)

01. Let The Damage Begin
02. Blue
03. Slide Away
04. Stormy Clouds
05. (The) Rolling People
06. Man Called Sun
07. Been On The Shelf Too Long
08. Mover
09. Gravity Grave


*updated link*
RARed file