Friday, February 26, 2010

The Go-Betweens: Live in Manchester 1987-05-01

I haven't posted a Go-Betweens' boot in a very long time, and it seems kind of right to do t just after the 200000 visits (not that it matters that much, but still...), and so I pulled out one of the not-so-many bootlegs of theirs I havent' uploaded here yet.
This "Live in Manchester" (at the International, in May 1, 1987) is an audience recording (but a good one), and it features what maybe was my favourite line-up of the band, i.e. the one with five members but with Vickers still on bass, plus it has some little gems: one of the seldom live renditions of Don't call me gone, my two favourite GoBes' b-sides (This girl, black girl and When people are dead), and You tell me, a quite weird number from "Tallulah" that I've always loved but that they almost quit playing after this tour. Moreover I love this version of Man o' sand to girl o' sea.

Picture taken from Flick (and from a 1985 show, by the way, but I liked it a lot)
Feel free to comment (and does anyone know what happened to the Go-Betweens' Archive?)

Tracklist:
01. Bye Bye Pride

02. Unkind & Unwise
03. Part Company
04. The House That Jack Kerouac Built
05. The Clarke Sisters
06. This Girl, Black Girl
07. Don't Call Me Gone
08. When People Are Dead
09. Your Turn, My Turn
10. Cut It Out
11. You Tell Me
12. Head Full Of Steam
13. Right Here
14. Man O'Sand To Girl O'Sea
15. Cattle And Cane
16. Spring Rain
17. Apology Accepted
18. Karen

Live in Manchester 1987

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Bob Mould: Live Solo December '09

I went to see Bob Mould for the very first time only last December (I know: shame on me, I know...), and it was kind of a weird concert too, being the good old Bob on his own (i.e. with no backing band). No harm done, but, being Mould definitely one of the godfathers of punk (punkfathers?), it is a bit weird seeing him play with no heavy sounding backup. But it was also good having the chance to listen to these (well-known, to me at least) songs flirting with a new (and more simple) dress. Though, yes, Mould is no Richard Thompson, and hence there isn't much great guitar here, but this doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a good listen.
And now there is jsut one more thing I'd like to stress: the man does have a great voice.
Plus, there's his whole life in music here: Husker Du, Sugar and solo career. And yeah, this is an audience recording, but not such a bad one (more or less like the last one I taped myself, the Piano Magic one).

(Picture taken from Flickr)

Tracklist:
01 Wishing well
02 Hear me calling
03 Hoover dam
04 See a little light
05 No reservations
06 Hardly getting over it
07 Sinners and their repentances
08 I'm sorry baby...
09 Life and times
10 The Breach + Paralyzed
11 Your favorite thing + The act we act
12 I apologize + something I learned today
13 In a free land + Celebrated summer
14 If I can't change your mind
15 Makes no sense at all

Live December '09

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Townes Van Zandt: Some Bootlegs

This is one of the reasons why I love music SO much: there's alsways something new to dig into. And that's exactly what happened to me when I first listened to Townes Van Zandt: I was mesmerized by it, like something resonated inside me. It's a bit like what George Harrison saisd while telling about the first time he heard indian music play: there! An instantaneous connection! And so I did fall in love with this great musician's music (though I'm not sure if I can bet, like Steve Earle does, that he's the greatest american songwriter ever, even better than Dylan), and I'm still going on listening more and more stuff of him (i.e. official and non official releases), so, though I can't quite recommend one of his albums (over another) with certainty, I think I can quite comfortably stress that some of his best recording are actually live recordings. Probably because too many of his records were made with too much of an ear to the typical (Nashville) country act (specially in the 70's... i.e. too much lap steel, man!), and later on there were some of the usual awkward sounds of the 80's, plus his voice wasn't the same as it used to be (but during some concerts it did sound pretty better than in, say, "At My Window" or in "No Deeper Blue").

Of course that was pretty obvious with my previous post on him, being the "Live at the Old Quarter" a true masterpiece of a live album, but there is indeed some magic to be found in many bootleg out there too, and I've traced down a great site with lots of them (both in mp3 and in FLac, yeah!), which is OUSTERHOUT.NET (by ROIO), where you can find also some Dylan, Richard Thompson, Wilco, Leonard Cohen, Lucinda Williams, Paul Simon, Steve Earle, (and many more).

So, if haven't won you over on Van Zandt yet, well, check these out.
Here's No place to fall:



and here If I needed you:



And then, finally, 'I'd suggest you to go watch the whole "Be here to love me" documemantary on TVZ. This is the first fragment, but if you want to see the rest of it check Nothingdrugs' YouTube Channel.

Townes Van Zandt