Robert Forster: Live In Copenhagen (2008-09-28)

Yes, people sometimes do tend to go back to the "crime scene": in this case RobertForster got back to Vega, Copenhagen where he performed with The Go-Betweens during the 2000 tour (I posted the Vega 2000 boot, btw) and I'm SO glad he did because this soundboard recording bootleg of that gig is really a treat, a gift to all GBs fans out there: we're talking about a long set (over 2 hours!) spanning through Forster's whole career, including also some of gbs' least frequently live played songs (I'm allright and Rock'n'roll friend), Robert singing one of Grant's GBs' songs (and one of his best: Quiet heart, I think a regular one of The Evangelist tour), an Heart out to tender (from the "Danger in the past" LP) I didn't remember so fine, several numbers from The Evangelist, and many many others (my fave bits: a Something for myself never so intimate before, a When she sang about angels with a brand new and really beautiful acoustic guitar solo in the middle).
In short terms: a topnotch bootleg (both for the the performance itself and for the quality of the recording), of which I have no problem saying it would probably fit among a Top 5 of all the go-betweens-oriented bootlegs I've posted.

And there's also more stuff to come...

Live In Copenhagen Part 1
Live In Copenhagen Part 2

The X: Live At the Whisky a Go-Go

Well, I meant to say a lot of things to say about this nice live (and official) recording of the X, like: this is one of my fave bands, one of the best rocking bands etc etc. But these last days sucked, so I'll cut it short and just post this.
I'll try to be better next time around.
The next post is supposed to be on Robert Forster.

Part 1 Part 2

The Go-Betweens: Live @ Wellington, New Zealand, February 12, 1985

First of all I'd like to thank Uli for giving me this wonderful boot. Because it is a great boot: excellent sound, plus it includes one of the rare live recordings of River of money (as final song: the cd from which it was ripped had some damage hence the noises at the end, still a great thing).
But what is most intriguing of this whole performance is seeing the Go-Betweens right before becoming a more pop-rock-oriented ensemble: in fact many of the songs performed can still be considered inside the new wave "canon" (many from "Before Hollywood", and then -as I said before- the brave spoken word of River of money).
I also hope you enjoy the nice picture I managed to find (from one of my old music magazines). And if any of you has any image of the gbs that can be of some interest feel free to upload it and give me the link, it'd be highly appreciated.

Tracklist:

1. Cattle & Cane
2. Part Company
3. Unkind & Unwise
4. On My Block
5. Right For Him
6. Bachelor Kisses
7. Rare Breed
8. Five Words
9. Right Word
10. Draining The Pool For You
11. That Way
12. People Say
13. A Bad Debt Follows You
14. Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea
15. I Need Two Heads
16. Hammer The Hammer
17. River Of Money

Live @ Wellington 1985

Bob Dylan: A Tree With Roots 3 & 4 (The Genuine Basement Tapes Remastered)

And in the end...I've uploaded this one too. So now just go listen to I'm not there, what are you waitin' for? C'mon.

A Tree With Roots Vol. 3
A Tree With Roots Vol. 4

And at last I've made it: I've re-upped Vol 1.
Hope it'll last.

Bob Dylan & The Band: A Tree With Roots 1 & 2 (The Genuine Basement Tapes Remastered)

I don't know if there is any need to go and explain what the basement tapes are (btw, after dylan's famous motorbike accident -probably an exaggereted one- his Bobness himself decided to take some time for himself, some time in the country -Woodstock was the place, just playin' round with The Band some old american music -some would call it Americana these days- and improved some new tunes, the most of it in a totally free way, with no push whatsover), but the fact is, and this has to be stated clear, the basement tapes which later got to be released through Sony were never intended to be for the public audience and, more important to us, they were just the tip of the iceberg.
Meaning there were loads of songs (and songs and songs...) left in Dylan's archives (want me to name one? The stuning "I'm not there", which gave the name for Todd Haynes's bizarre biopic last year), and all of that soon came out labelled as "Genuine basement tapes", a 5 CDs collection full of interesting material though not lacking flaws(i.e. the recording quality being the major one, and then, well, maybe too many takes or some not-so interesting short bits or sketches of songs, but hey, de gustibus...).
So what is "A Tree With Roots" then?
Quite easy to tell: the same genuine tapes, remastered, but with an order which kind of tries to make some sense out of the mass of pretty random music compositions. All of it compressed in a 4 volumes edition, and here am I giving you the first two (what'll you find in these? I'd say some little gems like Lock your door, Bonnie ship the diamond, or Dylan and the Band covering Bells of rhymney...but these are just some of my faves, and there are 58 in here, so knock yourself off and your own ones). And wait for 3 & 4 (with Going to Acapulco, the now famous I'm not there and the very core of the basement tapes, I'd say)

Want to to know more on ATWR? Check this page here (for the complete tracklist, the story and some notes). Or wiki for the whole story behind the basement tapes.

Enjoy, enjoy.
Next (ça va sans dire): Vol. 3 & 4.

A Tree With Roots Vol. 1 (New Link)
A Tree With Roots Vol. 2

(Re-Up) Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight: Once In A Blue Moon

...and this is what I wrote when I firs posted it:

This is step 2 in my mission of digging into british folk(rock)music. After step 1 (Shirley Collins some weeks ago. And that one won't be my only post on her) this is on one of England's most talented songwriters, the late Lal Waterson. She was co-founder of the Watersons (altogether with her siblings Mike and Nora), a band that mostly sang english tradionals acappella.
A couple of months ago I went through some of the Watersons' catalogue (both the bands' and the solos', i.e. Norma's, Mike's, but also Martin Carthy's) but I was soon won by this "Once In A Blue Moon", with some of the best acoustic guitar playing I've ever listened to and with simply a masterful songwriting skill (the initial At first she starts, with that pizzicato that is pure magic, and Cornfield, dramatic and evocative and as close to blues as english folk can get -not close musically speaking: it is a matter of suggestions, of evoked sensations).
But there is so much excellent music in here that citing one single song is maybe a shame. So these two are just the ones that are striking me the most at the moment. I could give you different titles in 5 minutes.
If you want more there's also from her (with Mike) the much acclaimed "Bright Phoebus".
By the way, Oliver Knight is her own son.

PS
If any of you has the "A bed of roses" album please upload it (i can't find it).

More on Lal Waterson @ FoxyTunes

Once In A Blue Moon

Grant McLennan: Live Sydney, AUS (10-06-91)

As promised I've uploaded a Grant McLennan solo bootleg, an audience recording of an acoustic performace @ Rose, Shamlock and Thistle in Sydney back in 1991. The audio quality, being taped by some fan in the audience, has obivios flaws, yet listening to McLennan playing basic guitar-and-guitar or guitar-and-bass is always worth it (I must have already mentioned how I found hard to like certain of his live electric arrengements). Btw McLennan is supposed to be accompanied here by Phil Kakulas on stand-up bass.

But don't worry, there'll be one more boot of Grant's solo material a-comin', just be patient: I'll post some non-go-betweens stuff before (but also some great -great!- gbs' bootlegs I've just got my hands on...).

PS

One more call to Go-Betweens' fans out there: do you have any person pictures of the band (from the 80's, 90' or present days)? I start having troubles finding the right photo for the right bootleg (i.e. the picture being more or less of the same period as the recording), so any help is appreciated. If you will just upload it and give me the link or let me know through the comments.

Thank you in advance.

Tracklist:

01. Head Over Heels (cuts in)
02. Easy Come Easy Go
03. Stones For You
04. Black Mule
05. Making It Right For Her
06. Right Here
07. Bound To Fall
08. Sally's Revolution
09. Just Get That Straight (cuts out right at end)

Live Sydney, AUS (10-06-91)

Robert Forster September 15, 2008 Joe’s Pub

As stated also by our friend Bob @ That Striped Sunlight Sound NYCTaper had uploaded the last Robert Forster's gig in New York City, a marvelous soundboard recording you can go download both @ NYCTaper (a bit slow though) or @ Striped Sunlight (via rapidshare).

For those interested in lossless FLAC files (the quality is so good it's good considering burning this into CD) you can also go download them file by file by asking NYCTaper for the direct link.

Next: a Grant McLennan boot.

Bloggers of the world unite!

One of blogger's latest updates is following, that is: "Would you like to know who enjoys reading your blog? Or stay updated with your favourite blogs right from your Blogger dashboard? You can do these things and more with Blogger's new Following feature."

As blogger states. Anyway, I've just put this following feaure here on the right. So, if you're a fan go click the FOLLOW THIS BLOG tag on the right column, or if you're simply interested in this feature go see what blogger has to say about it.

Karen Dalton: Green Rocky Road

Some time ago I posted Karen Dalton's wonderful first album, just shortly after I fell madly in love with it; and now, or anyhow in these last months, two albums of live recordings came out, one being the double "Cotton Eyed Joe", and the other one this great "Green Rocky Road" which collects a bunch of songs Dalton herself recorded (overdubbing often presumably either the banjo or the guitar)  at her home (at one point you can hear the phone ringing!).

It is incredible how she almost became the singer that time forgot: hardly anyone has ever sung the blues so well, a blues so streched down, so back to its core that figuring her in the sixties playing this music almost doesn't seem real: where or when does this voice come from? Doesn't it sound like some relic of old New Orleans? Folksters or bluesmen sat on the porch playing some music belonging to everybody as the day gets old.

And here's a video of Dalton performing "Blues Jumped The Rabbit" you can also find in "Cotton Eyed Joe" bonus DVD.

Green Rocky Road

Re-Up: The Go-Betweens - Fools In Love (Live Cabaret Metro, Chicago, 1st April 1989)

As soon as I knew this one wasn't avaible anymore I decided I had to re-upload it, being "Fools In Love" one of my favaourite boots of the Go-Betweens, not because of the quality of the recording (which is pretty good, though), but because of the performance itself: some of the renditions of true GBs' classics here are outstanding. I'm thinking of Quiet heart with the "oceanic" drums, or "Clouds" with that guitar/jingle jangle guitar/tambourine that is SO much 60's flower pop...

In short: probably one of the best 5 GBs' boots ever. Enjoy.

PS

A call for all australian GBs' fans out there from a non-australian one: can anyone record and upload the SBS broadcast of "Great australian albums" dedicated to "16 Lovers Lane" that will air on saturday 6th September? Please? For more info see GBs' news page.

Fools In Love

Bon Iver: Live @ NPR

Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" was definetely one of my favourite albums of the last year (it made number 4 in my Best Of 2007 chart from January, oh nevermind my fixation with end of the year charts...), and so I've been looking for quite some time for some bootleg in order to easy the pain of having never been to one of his gigs, and this one (broadcast by NPR in February) covers the whole album traclklist (minus the instrumental Team, and alas minus the great Re:stacks).
For those who don't know Justin Vernon's music (shame on you, first of all) you might want to take a look at his website and at Vernon's performance @ Jools Holland's show down here.



Tracklist:

1. Flume
2. Lump Sum
3. Skinny Love
4. The Wolves (Act I and II)
5. Blindsided
6. Creature Fear
7. For Emma

Live @ NPR

Robert Forster & Grant McLennan: Live Stockholm, Sweden, November 4, 1991

The "Live Stockholm 1991" from the Forster-McLennan duo during their Go-Betweens intermission of the nineties is a nearly copycat version of "Live Copenhagen 1991" I posted last march: almost the same tracklist and same year. Yet it's a joy to listen to it over and over again, as it always is to me with Forster & McLennan playing as an acoustic duo. Moreover this version of Forster's The river people, much slower than in "Copenhagen '91", is particularly moving.

Tracklist:

1-Cattle and cane
2-The river people
3-Baby stones
4-Was there anything I could do
5-Clouds
6-Easy come, easy go
7-Spring rain
8-Love goes on!

Live Stockholm, Sweden, November 4, 1991

Grant McLennan: Radio Shows

It's been a while since my last go-betweens-oriented post, and so I checked my archives, looked for some stuff I haven't uploaded yet and came up with McLennan's radio shows from the '90s. Then I remembered most of it had already been uploaded by "That Striped Sunlight Sound", so just go there to find the rest of the stuff...here I've added 3 more songs from some radio broadcast dating 30 08 1994.

Tracklist:

- don't you cry for me no more
- simone and perry
- one plus one


Radio Shows

A Go-Betweens' Re-Up (Misha's Picks)

By the way, I've re-uploaded the Go-Betweens' "Fools In Love" bootleg: you can find it on the brand new "MISHA'S PICKS" column on the right side.
You'll find among these picks some of my favourite uploads. Enjoy.

The Specials: S/t

I'm no big expert on raggae and such but a friend of mine told me about The Specials a couple of weeks ago and when I first got to listen to their omonimous debut I fell in love with it just like that. So what can I say: they were part of the late 70's ska revival but the music they made (labeled 2 Tone after the name of the same record company) was also -and not lightly- influenced by punk (they shared The Clash's management, and Strummer was a big fan).

PS
Probably Doesn't make it alright is my song of the week.

PPS
There's no doubt you already know their hit (which is also the first track here) A message to you Rudy, but just in case...check this out:



If you want to know more see their wiki entry.

The Specials

Radiohead: House Of Cards (Video)

Re-Up: Fairport Convention - Live At The BBC (4 Discs)

Many asked for it and so here it is: the re-up of Fairport Convention's Live at the BBC Box Set.
Here is what I wrote some months ago when I firsted posted it:

There is no need for me to say how I love Fairport's family -I have already dedicated some posts both to Richard Thompson and to Sandy Denny in the past- so there won't be any suprise if I upload this magnificent boxset, "Fairport Convention Live At The BBC". In these first 2 discs you'll find some songs already released in "Heyday", like one of my favourite FC's covers, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, but not only.
I alway think that their best days are the ones of their very first LP's and their best songs are the ones sung by Sandy Denny, yet these performances are so beautiful, this british folk rock IS so beautiful that I almost forget that.
PS
Among my favourite pieces of music the 10 minutes-long The Bonny Bunch Of Roses (but there are so many...).

Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4

Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band: 1975 Hammersmith Odeon, London

I was so disappointed by Magic. Even more so because I had just discovered this magnificent 1975 Hammersmith Odeon Live, the boss's first concert in London, which became some kind of a myth and was finally released, both in "Born to run" 30th anniversary edition, and as a standalone CD later on. So what can I say: Springsteen is at his best, the band's performance is as tight as can be, and I think you just need to watch Jungleland played and sung as if it was the most important thing in their lives down here to see I'm not making things up.



1975 Hammersmith Odeon, Part 1
1975 Hammersmith Odeon, Part 2

Per gli utenti italiani di misha4music

Avviso per gli utenti italiani di misha4music: vi invito a dare un'occhiata ad un blog amico di misha, ovvero shockadelica, questo interamente in italiano. Ultimo post sui bootlegs di Bob Dylan.

Tra i precedenti vi segnalo gli articoli sulle nuove band della scena rock veronese (menziono qui, tanto per dirne alcune, Carnera e Younger Son).
Accorrete!

The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms

Glenn Mercer's band is a little miracle of the eighties. One of these cult bands that helped people remember what rock music could be (among the horror vacui of 80's stadium rock bands or synth pop music criminals), much like what Big Star did in the 70's. Both Big Star and The Feelies were outsiders: Alex Chilton & co. were in love with british bands of the sixties and califonian rock (of the same decade), pretty much like The Feelies sounded as sons of late period Velvet Underground or Modern Lovers's devotés: go and listen to the album's first song, "The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness" and see if it doesn't sound like a track from Modern Lovers' debut.
Moreover the Rolling Stones' Paint it black and the Beatles' Everybody's got something to hide are two not-so-far-from-the-original but yet very good cover versions. Waht else? Of course Loveless love's, whose initial harmonics could be considered worth, per sé, the listen of the entire album. The fact that the rest of the song is a joyous electric ride like a double speed Velvet Underground number makes it just perfect. Raised eyebrows then kind of reminds me of the the first stuff (in particular the last part, the sung one) Brian Eno did, his first LPs.
But I could easily go on and on. What matters is that The Feelies were a hell of a band and that, still to this day, didn't get enough credit. And they do deserve it.

Crazy Rhythms

The Go-Betweens: Live Videos

I don't have much time on my hands these days, so I'll just post a few videos from youtube of the Go-betweens that I have just discovered (and a big thank you to Zelig 666)




The wrong road, live in Brisbane, probably 1987



Bye bye pride, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



The Clarke sisters live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



Bow down, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



Spring rain, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1987



In the core of a flame, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Part company, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



The Clarke sisters, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Bye bye pride, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Right here, live on the ABC's Blah Blah Bla...



Spirit of a vampyre, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1986



Right here, live on the ABC's Rock Arena, 1986

Good old Moz

"There's so much distruction all over the world and all you can do is complain about me"

Younger Son: Beagle

Check out this new italian band. If you like'em and feel like leaving some comments you're welcome (they're buddies of mine). Plus, if you want to know more about them and have some free downloads go visit their site (my faves are Baby Child and Keep me warm in E minor, by the way).

E in italiano:
Per chi ne avesse voglia provate ad ascoltare questa band emergente (da Verona). Potete lasciare commenti qui naturalmente (sono amici, e glieli giro in automatico, ok?). Inoltre: se volete saperne di più e ascoltare qualche altra canzone in download gratuito le trovate sul loro sito (le mie preferite, nel caso interessasse, sono Baby Child e Keep me warm in E minor).

The Go-Betweens: Live Lund 10-08-88

And here is another go-betweens' boot after a while. And I'm afraid I'm running out of them. That'll probably mean that I'm going to start re-posting some of the old ones, I suppose. Anyway, talking about here and now: this is a very good radio broadcast of a swedish concert set in Lund in 1988, it has only 7 songs but I've never heard a rendition of Quiet heart so similar to the album version (and very good and warm too, not just a copycat).
Strangely all the songs are sung by McLennan (Your turn my turn too, with quite funny alternative lyrics).

Tracklist:

01 Quiet Heart
02 Your Turn, My Turn
03 Streets of Your Town
04 Apology Accepted
05 DJ
06 The Wrong Road
07 Was There Anything I Could Do
08 Right Here
09 DJ

Live Lund 88

Wall Of Voodoo: Call Of The West

I was talking to a friend about this album, and it came to mind that I hadn't posted it yet. Which is something I should be ashamed of. Because Wall Of Voodoo's second LP, "Call Of The West"is one of the most original new wave records ever. I mean: there were not many bands that felt like playing country 'n' western music with synths. It is something that the mind can barely accept, actually. Yet it exists. Which is something that has always amazed me about music: you think there is some music, some crossover, that could never ever work, and then some band jumps up, doesn't give a care, and they do it anyway. And you just listen to it and think: "Yeah, why not?".

PS
Check out @ their official site WOV's cover version of Johnny Cash's Walk Of Fire (!), from their 1979 debut EP, free for download.

Or watch this video:




More about @ Wikipedia

More about WOV's singer, Stan Ridgway, @ FoxyTunes

Call Of The West

Lal Waterson & Oliver Knight: Once In A Blue Moon

This is step 2 in my mission of digging into british folk(rock)music. After step 1 (Shirley Collins some weeks ago. And that one won't be my only post on her) this is on one of England's most talented songwriters, the late Lal Waterson. She was co-founder of the Watersons (altogether with her siblings Mike and Nora), a band that mostly sang english tradionals acappella.
A couple of months ago I went through some of the Watersons' catalogue (both the bands' and the solos', i.e. Norma's, Mike's, but also Martin Carthy's) but I was soon won by this "Once In A Blue Moon", with some of the best acoustic guitar playing I've ever listened to and with simply a masterful songwriting skill (the initial At first she starts, with that pizzicato that is pure magic, and Cornfield, dramatic and evocative and as close to blues as english folk can get -not close musically speaking: it is a matter of suggestions, of evoked sensations).
But there is so much excellent music in here that citing one single song is maybe a shame. So these two are just the ones that are striking me the most at the moment. I could give you different titles in 5 minutes.
If you want more there's also from her (with Mike) the much acclaimed "Bright Phoebus".
By the way, Oliver Knight is her own son.

PS
If any of you has the "A bed of roses" album please upload it (i can't find it).

More on Lal Waterson @ FoxyTunes

Once In A Blue Moon

Check Out Grant McLennan @ the Striped Sunlight Sound

Grear post by blogger friend bob @ stripedsunlightsound on various Grant McLennan' radio sessions. Do check it, all you go-betweens' fans.

Julie's Haircut: Sleepwalker

One of my favourite italian bands. If you feel like downloading the song for free click here (where you can also download the video and donate some money if you wish to contribute).

Wanna find out more about Julie's Haircut?

Nick Cave: Nature Boy Video

The Go-Betweens: Live @ Rocking Horse Records, 05-01-2005

As I promised here's another Go-Betweens' bottleg, in this case a showcase performed in Brisbane to launch their 2005 album "Oceans Apart" (and, among the boots that I haven't posted yet I chose this because I see that very few people voted for OA as their fave LP in our poll...which kind of suprised me since it is considered by many one of their best ones).

The band here is Robert and Grant only, playing acoustic. Splendid rendition of "The mountains near Dellray".

(I wasn't sure wheter this the picture was taken @ Rocking Horse's or not, but Robert in the comments says it was, so thanks robert)

Tracklist:

01. (introduction)
02. Finding You
03. Boundary Rider
04. Here Comes The City
05. Surfing Magazines
06. Cattle And Cane
07. Spring Rain
08. The Mountains Near Dellray
09. Magic In Here
10. (outro)

Live Rocking Horse 2005

Steve Wynn: Manhattan Fault Line - Video

Steve Wynn. One of my heroes. This is from the forthcoming "Crossing Dragon Bridge". By chance, does anyone have it?

Next: more Go-Betweeens' stuff.

Shirley & Dolly Collins: Love, Death & The Lady

In these last days I have tried to dig into british (and irish) folk music. I've been a Fairport Convention/Sandy Denny/Richard Thompson for a long time and I've decided to search for more (and then comes to mind a great song by the Who, The seeker, with its character -the seeker, of course- who is alway looking for another band, for more music), when I accidentally stumbled into a little italian manual on that. That's how I discovered Shirley Collins. Her first release dates back to 1955 (a compilation called "Folksong Today"), and then her carreer flourished, also thanks to the collaboration with her sister Dolly, that went on until 1995 when she passed away.
In order to be clear: in Shirley Collins rock is sometimes present (she also was -Fairport Convention/Albion Band man- Ashley Hutchings' wife) but what is always close to her heart is folk. Be it british or american (as a young woman she travelled trough the USA to study american folk roots, and later on she worked with Alan Lomax, who produced her second LP).
I can't say I'm no expert on Collins, yet "Love, death and the lady" struck me, it actually almost hit me like a truck: her voice may not be as beautiful as Denny's (it sure isn't), but how it cuts into my brain, into my heart...there is so much gloom in "Love, death...", much pain, and lots and lots of dark ballads (wouldn't Nick Cave like them? I guess he would). And there are no fillers (we're talking 13 songs plus 4 bonus tracks here).
Take a good breath and jump.

PS
Some may know Shirley Collins through Decemberists' Colin Meloy's fine "Colin sings Shirley Collins EP".

For more on Shirley Collins check out Wiki.

Love, Death & The Lady

Perturbazione: Agosto

A beautiful italian song (year 2004) from Perturbazione.
For those who don't speak italian the first line goes: "August is the coldest month of the year".

Robert Forster: The Evangelist

Ok, I couldn't resist. The thing is: songsfordirtylovers posted it some days ago, but I don't like its version so much (there is some annoying noise, some kind of buzz, at the beginning of each song), so I realised that my version (although it's only @ 160 k) sounds a bit better to me (at least it has no buzz).
So, I know it may sound weird when we're talking about mp3's, but I like listening to my music fine, meaning that the quality should be quite good. That's also the reason why I use pretty good headphones with my iPod, and -more important of all-when I find the music meaningful I always hit the record shop for the CD (mp3's are no way nearly as good as CDs, and I can't see why I should spend money for some 128k -i.e. very low quality- itunes stuff).

Of course I'm totally missing the point here. Which is: "The Evangelist"is very good. I used to have some difficulties listening to RF's solo albums in the past, but I slowly got used to them, and I learned to love them (although never as much as GB's albums, and I also tend to prefer McLennan's solo output), in particular "Danger in the past" (I still think the title-track is one of the best thing he's ever done -isn't it creepy? And isn't it incredible to hear something like that from Forster? I can't imagine any other song of his resembling it).
But "The Evangelist" struck me. It is -yes, it is- a logical follow-up to the last 3 GB's LP's, but not quite: it doesn't set its goals as high as "Oceans apart" (which, to me, was a great promise for what was going to come and, alas, it never will: more rock-oriented Go-Betweens, working much more like a true rock band than in the previous two albums. Somehow the wait was over: GB's were not only Forster & McLennan but a real live-kicking band. Maybe different from the 80's line-up -be it a 3 or 4 or 5 people line-up- yet you could see it was the work of more than 2 people that came together for the album), but it is an excellent Robert Forster album. Maybe his best. And those three songs written by McLennan may make the difference: I can't say yet if Demon Days is one of his best songs, as Forster says, but it kills me indeed.

So definetely Grant is very present here. His words, his music, and references to him are easily detectable by fans: the 3 chords-sequence in Let your light in, babe and Robert's numerous hommages to his partner are nearly all over the album (the -moving, intense, heartbreaking- goodbye to a lost friend in the closing From ghost town, the words of It aint' easy...).
I'd probably better stop now or I could go on and on talking about "The Evangelist". That's how I love it, I suppose.

PS
I inserted the lyrics in the mp3's too.

The Evangelist

Robert Forster's Lyrics

For all Robert Forster fans: you can find the lirics to the new songs @ the man's own official website. (And you may also find some more stuff from RF in some link around here...).

Cat Power: Live KCRW 2008

I'm a big KCRW-Morning Becomes Eclectic fan. I have podcasts and every now and then I check their site for new radio showcases.
And Cat Power is one of my fave artists of these last years: I L-O-V-E-D "The greatest" and I'm starting to dig into their latest, "Jukebox". That's why I was so glad to see her doing a showase @ MBE, also because there is a songs that, I presume, didn't make it for "Jukebox": Percy Sledge's Dark end of the streets. I only wish now I could lay my hands on her version of CCR's Fortunate son. That'd be something. Does anyone here have it?
By the way, if you want to listen/watch this Cat Power's showcase go to KCRW's site or, and if you want it on your iPod, PC, or whatever I've ripped it so that you can download it down here.

PS The picture was taken by my girlfriend last year. Too dark, I know.

Cat - KCRW 2008

Robert Forster & Grant McLennan: Live @ Saga, Copenhagen, 1991

This is a beautiful showcase broadcast by some danish radio (ergo the excellent quality) of Robert & Grant performing as an acoustic duo after the Go-Betweens' split-up of the eighties: the songs are both from the GB's repertoire and from the two's solo careers. And that's one thing that still amazes me: how these two old friends never stopped being friends, and how when they got together to play (no matter if on seldom occasions during the GB's 90's Intermission or during the band's comeback after "The friends of Rachel Worth") they could easily play each other's "solo" songs with no problem at all. Just think if there ever is going to be a comeback tour for Pink Floyd with Roger Waters: no way Gilmour would agree to play something out of "The pros and cos of hitch-hiking" or "Amused to death", I'd say.
I bet this is the difference between being friends and just bandmates. Anyone can figure Gilmour singing confidently Every stranger's eyes the way Forster sings Haven't I been a fool ? (well, it's also the difference between going on, making your own music as a solo artist, and selling out your soul playing copycat versions of the songs of the band-that-once-was-and-now-isn't-anymore- because-the-one-with-good-ideas-left...yeah, that too).

Tracklist:

01. Cattle And Cane
02. The River People
03. Haven't I Been A Fool
04. Baby Stones
05. Clouds
06. Easy Come Easy Go
07. Spring Rain
08. Love Goes On!
09. Danger In The Past
10. (interview)

Live @ Saga, Copenhagen

Fairport Live BBC 4: Re-Post

So many have asked for it...

Fairport Live At The BBC 4

Robert Forster's Demon Days tab

This is for all the lazy guitar players out there. I was practising with my guitar when I felt like trying some of the Robert Forster's songs.
And Demon days is one I can easily play and sing (quite my kind of song).

Here are the chords (the strings are one tone down!):

Verse has 4 chords:



3 3 2 0 1 0

0 2 0 0 1 0

1 3 3 2 1 1

3 3 3 2 1 1




And the change goes:

3 3 2 0(1)(0)

0 2 0 0(1)(0)

x 3 2 0(1)(0)

0 2 0 0(1)(0)


Next: A Go-Betweens Bootleg.

Sandy Denny: Live At The BBC

Sandy Denny was and will always be to me Fairport Convention's soul: she was the one who brought the british traditional music in (in the very early days they were more keen to USA-oriented rock'n'roll), and gave Fairport one of the most beautiful songs ever written, her own Who knows where the time goes?, and she was the voice they could never replace (Fairport's songs with male vocals have always given me a hard time, by the way). If I have to be completely sincere I'll probably have to admit that, to me, Fairport were Richard Thompson's brilliant guitar playing (and songwriting) and Denny's voice (and songwriting, ok).
But this (triple) collection doesn't pick songs from the Fairport period but only from her solo years, and this makes it a more important release because -again, in my opninion- Denny's solo outputs never reached Fairport's best moments: Sandy's then new self-penned creations surely were not poorer than Fairport's material but probably 70's lush (or pompous) rock productions diminish her songwriting, making it more normal, too often as if she was only one more rock diva. Anyway, all of this yadda yadda yadda is in order to say that these versions have mostly much more stripped down arrengements (if not only piano-and-voice or guitar-and-voice sessions).

If you want to know more about this Live At The BBC go see sandydenny.blogspot

PS Big big thanks to SubcomandateMarcos for uploading these files (thank you once again!)

Live At The BBC 1
Live At The BBC 2

Robert Forster: The Evangelist (in streaming)

Listen to Robert's "The Evangelist" in streaming @ Yep Rock!

Now there's a new link for Fairport Live 4.

Yeah, right, some problems with File #4...
I'm working on it.

Fairport Convention: Live At The BBC (3 & 4)

fAs promised here are vol. 3 & 4 of "Fairport Convention Live At BBC". Among my favourite pieces of music the 10 minutes-long The Bonny Bunch Of Roses (but there are so many...).

Next: Sandy Denny Live At The BBC too (thank you Marcos: I got the uploaded files alright!)!

Live At The BBC 3
Live At The BBC 4 (new link)

Fairport Convention: Live At The BBC (1 & 2)

There is no need for me to say how I love Fairport's family -I have already dedicated some posts both to Richard Thompson and to Sandy Denny in the past- so there won't be any suprise if I upload this magnificent boxset, "Fairport Convention Live At The BBC". In these first 2 discs you'll find some songs already released in "Heyday", like one of my favourite FC's covers, Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, but not only.
I alway think that their best days are the ones of their very first LP's and their best songs are the ones sung by Sandy Denny, yet these performances are so beautiful, this british folk rock IS so beautiful that I almost forget that.

Next: Cd 3 & 4.

Live At The BBC 1

Live At The BBC 2

More on Robert Forster

You can find here:

-A nice song-by-song review on Forster's "The Evangelist" @ Fire Escape Talking
-A podcast with an interview to Robert (including excerpts of new songs) @ TimesOnline
-A new mp3 from "The Evangelist", Pandanus, @ FinestKiss.

The Go-Betweens: Forum Theatre, Melbourne, 15 July 2005

I have finally uploaded a new Go-Betweens' boot, as you can see, and also a double one: it is an audience recording, but a very good one, of their last tour (wheareas the picture is from some Tokyo concert of 2003, but i liked it), and is valid alternative to re-listeing again and again to the "Striped sunlight" CD/DVD (the tracklists are much alike, though this one's is longer).
As always I hope you'll enjoy it, and I promise I'll be back soon with more GB's boots, but probably with older stuff from the 80's. Only later some other posts (but I don't know wether it is going to be some krautrock, something else of my usual stuff (Paisley?) or something new, for a change...I'll see).

Tracklist:

1. Black Mule
2. Clouds
3. He Lives My Life
4. Boundary Rider
5. Born To A Family
6. Magic In Here
7. Streets Of Your Town
8. Make Her Day
9. Here Comes A City
10. Draining The Pool For You
11. Finding You
12. Darlinghurst Nights
13. This Night's For You
14. Spring Rain
15. Was There Anything I Could Do?
16. Surfing Magazines

Part 2

1. encore 1
2. The Devil's Eye
3. Too Much Of One Thing
4. Cattle And Cane
5. encore 2
6. Baby Stones
7. The Clock
8. encore 3
9. People Say
10. Love Goes On

Melbourne 2005 Part 1
Melbourne 2005 Part 2

Robert Forster's new song

It's called "Let your light in, babe", originally written by McLennan (see Robert's interview here), and it's the A-side of his new single. The song I ripped it and got it from some Boa note blog (which I thank once more) and it's a typically McLennan's 4 chords type of song. And the more I listen to it the more I like it. Also, I 'm getting addicted to the backing vocals' part (Adele Pickvance? I'd say so).

PS Check out Robert Forster's new site. By now there's nothing on but it's nice to see he has one.
PPS I'm not the sure whether the picture is the forthcoming "The Evangelist" 's cover or not yet.

Plus: More bootlegs of the GB's? See Nargo for the Berlin 2005 boot, and That Striped Sunlight for a highly significant 1979 4ZZZ radio concert (specially on a historical basis).

Let Your Light In, Babe

Harmonia: Live 1974

Harmonia are some kind of krautrock super-group (they are Roedelius and Mobius from Cluster + Rother from Neu!) but they have have composed only 2 LP's in the 70's (the beutiful and mesmerizing "Musik Von Harmonia" and "Harmonia Deluxe"), plus a 1997 collaboration with Brian Eno (long time musical partner of Roedelius and Mobius with Cluster), and have de facto been some of the inventors of Trance and (surely with Brian Eno) Ambient music. Nevertheless their music never gets to be boring, and instead Harmonia are, much surpinsingly (or at least for those who, like me, don't appreciate that genre so much), creators of some of the most imaginative and hypnotic pieces of music ever made. Rother's liquid guitars and the two Cluster's gentle electronic sounds are a perfect match, a magic land of kosmische rock where songs never really end but fade into one another instead, as often happens in this "Harmonia Live 1974", the recording of a concert at the Penny Station Club (a former railway station) in Grissem, in which no audience is heard applauding, talking or whatever (Rother said that they were either too stoned or they simply couldn't tell where songs ended, in fact), and Harmonia's tracks are free to float in space (and never music was intended to be more spacial than this, I'd say).
I'm obviously thrilled by this album, and I really hope you'll like it too.

Next: Some Go-Betweens' stuff. Definitely.


Harmonia Live 1974 (Fastupload Link)
Harmonia Live 1974 (Badongo Link)

More about "Harmonia Live 1974" :
-Review @ Uncut.co.uk
-Review @ NewNoise.net
-Review @ SubbaCultcha.com
-Review (in french) @ LesInrocks.com

Ringo Starr: Liverpool 8 Video

Not bad this young lad, uh?
By the way, I listened to this song for the first time only a couple of hours ago and it's been going around my head ever since, so I can assume it means that it works for me. Still don't know about the rest of the new -same title- album.

The Go-Betweens: The house that Jack Kerouac built - Video

What can I say? I just couldn't resist after seeing Robert...



PS
You can find news on Forster's forthcoming (!)album here. Great news.