Mazzy Star: Live at The Metro, Chicago, 1994

It's been quite a while (exactly four years!) since the last time I posted something regarding Mazzy Star, so when I came across this great bootleg (an FM broadcast from some WXRT radio) and I heard how good it was I decided it was time for some great atmosphere music... Besides, Hope Sandoval's last record ("Through the Devil Softly") is definetely one of my favourite ones this year (I haven't made up my mind yet for my "Best of 2009" list...), so I'm in a bit of a Hope Sandoval mood.
Well, if you want to know more about Mazzy Star go search @ Mazzy Star Boulevard, a good tool indeed (with tabs as well).
What more can I say? Great songs, great guitar licks by Roback: listen to Give you my lovin's steel guitar and you'll see where some of Damon and Naomi's stuff comes from, I guess. And yeah, the end of that song must be an homage to Reed's Sweet Jane (I mean: isn't David Roback one of Lou's most dedicate fans? C'mon!)

...and this is another good live performance from youtube:



Tracklist:

1. Flowers In December
2. Ride it on
3. Into Dust
4. Give You My Lovin
5. Fade Into You
6. Halah
7. Ghost Highway
8. Blue Flower

Live at The Metro

Western Electric: S/t

Sid Griffin was the leader of the great Long Ryders, which gave some excellent Paisley Underground albums to the history of rock and roll, and after the band split he embarked on a career as a solo artist but gave birth to two new bands as well, one being the bluegrass-oriented Coal Porters, and the other being this one, the Western Electric, whose only result was this self-titled album. What they play is basically the good old rock'n' roll with some country in it (Gram Parsons' ghost is rarely absent when it comes to Sid Griffin's oeuvres), but they don't despise some programming, and some drum machines (!) in the mix.
This may not be his Griffin's best effort(the Long Ryders' days are hard to beat), but at least he gave us an "Emily in ginger", a little masterpiece, and a perfect example of what a simple chord progression (and a far less than complex guitar arrengement) can do. The video speaks for itself.

More about Sid Grffin @ FoxyTunes.



Western Electric

The Dream Syndicate: The Complete Live At Raji's

This is one of my fave live recordings ever from a band that I absolutely love: Dream Syndicate's "Complete live at Raji's". I remember buying the original CD release a few years ago (not a long time after having bought their first LP, the milestone "Days of wine and roses" for just...not more than 6 euros, I think), and being just blown away by the quality of the songwriting and by the massive electric guitars. They sort of feedbacked in my mind for weeks...

The start of Still holding on to you is the kind of thing that makes you feel like grabbing an electric guitar (and makes you also feel as if it was the most important thing on earth), while another favourite number of mine has always been Merritville, possibly one of the best electric ballads I've ever listened to.
Plus, this complete edition features some great cover versions (the classic See that my grave is kept clean, and Dylan's All along the watchtower) and two more tracks from their first album (When you smile and Tell me when it's over).
For more stuff about DS go see Steve Wynn's site: it's loaded with tabs, lyrics, mp3's; it is really worth visiting it if you are fans.

Live at Raji's - Disc 1
Live at Raji's - Disc 2

VA: Rainy Day

Here I am, back after a while, with a very rare 1983 record: Rainy Day, a brief compilation with cover versions of alternative classics (and not) played by members of the Paisley Underground like: The Bangles' Susanna Hoffs, Game Theory's Michael Quercio, Dream Syndicate's Kendra Smith, and Rain Parade's David Roback.
I invite all of you who love this rock scene to get it, also because this disc is really hard to find (I do not know if someone has edited it after Rough Trade did in 1984..but I have serious doubts about it), and because...well, take a loot at the tracklist:

1. I'll Keep It With Mine (Dylan)
2. John Riley (Gibson/Neff/Belamonte)
3. Flying On The Ground Is Wrong (Young)
4. Sloop John B. (traditional)
5. Soon Be Home (Townshend)
6. Holocaust (Chilton)
7. On The Way Home (Young)
8. I'll Be Your Mirror (Reed)
9. Rainy Day, Dream Away (Hendrix)

Rainy Day

Danny & Dusty: The lost weekend

Danny & Dusty were much more than the names could lead you to think: it was (on writing "team") Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn and Green on red's Dan Stuart, plus Stuart's colleague on GOR Chris Cacavas, Long Ryders' Sid Griffin and Tom Steffen, and at last DS's drummer Dennis Duck.
The lost weekend was a collaboration of a couple days only, when all of these people met only "for the fun of it", delivering good-rocking pub songs for drunks and old timers (including a more than enjoyable version of Knockin' on heaven's door).
Many consider this some kind of a lost masterpiece (lost given the fact that it has not been re-released for a long time), and I do not completely agree with that because I still think that the Paisley Underground (the californian scene that included all the three of these musicians' bands) produced better than this (Days of wine and roses and State of our union come to mind...), but still The lost weekend does not deserve to be left in the drawer of some label forever because it is a collection of songs that many Paisley underground Fans could truly appeciate, along with Neil Young fans (I think of Ragged glory) or Dylan's (specially if you like some of his slack material).

The lost weekend

The Long Ryders: 10-5-60 (EP) + End of the trail (Live)

The LONG RYDERS are another Paisley Underground band: they were a cow-punk or -if you prefer a country-rock ensemble lead by singer Sid Griffin in the early 80's. These days with musicians as Ryan Adams or Neko Case being so hip LONG RYDERS are definetely a name to re-discover.
Today's download is LR's first EP (released 1983), "10-5-60", and a good-quality Bootleg called "End of the trail" from the final part of their career (presumably shortly after "Two-fisted tale", their last LP).

For more info see LR'S page @ Sid Griffin's website (a very-well made one, where you can also find some MP3 of live material), or Wiki.

Two links this time for the download:

Long Ryders (Megaupload)

or

Long Ryders (Sendspace)

Kendra Smith: The guild of temporal adventurers

Here is a present for all DREAM SYNDICATE fans and those who love the Pasley Underground: the first solo album by KENDRA SMITH (and iI think it is out of print too), formerly a founder member of the DM (she played bass), and then played in OPAL (that, after she left, became MAZZY STAR).
This "Guild of temporal of temporal adventurers" is closer to OPAL/MAZZY STAR's work, since it's mostly about dreamy songs with harmoniums, chorus/fuzz-guitars and whispered voices. Like lullabies from the stratosphere, I would say...
But it is not only for her fans, being this a great album indeed, with extremely well-written pieces of music (sometimes it seems to me that it could be the kind of album that NICO could have made if she had had more melodical sense...and if she was she was born in south California in 1960, instead of Germany in 1938...)

And if you want to know even more about KS and her related bands try here.

The guild of temporal adventurers

The Bangles: All over the place

After all this 60's music, now let's go jump forth to the eighties, with one of the most succesful bands of the time, THE BANGLES. They became wordly known thanks to their huge hit "Walk like an egyptian", but "All over the place" is often considered their best album (meaning not too commercial, not over-produced with lots of synths and such).

I have uploaded this because everybody seems to think about THE BANGLES as just another useless 80's band, the one-hit-and-go kind of, but...hey, Prince wrote "Manic monday" for them, so they probably deserve some respect.

Well, now I would not go and consider them a Paisley Underground band, as Wiki does: I know they are from L.A. as well, and they were friends with DREAM SYNDICATE and other L.A.-based groups, but , still, it is hard to see so many hints of that indie-punk/psychedelic spirit in these girls...

Anyway, this is a pretty good album, give it a try.

Bangles on Wiki

All over the place

True West: Two true

Some days ago I found on "Twilight zone" (you can find it among the links), a download of a Paisley Underground band I didn't know (if you want to try it, I think the download is still working) called TRUE WEST: they sound something between LONG RYDERS and first DREAM SYNDICATE (but, sometimes with a darker appeal), and as many other californian bands of the time their music references go back to THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, THE BYRDS (mostly because of the guitar arpeggios) and generally to the west coast 60's psychedelia and garage rock, but quite often played with a punk angst.

Well, actually TRUE WEST didn't really fit in the Paisley, since they were not from LA, but it is as if they did.

Anyway, I searched something to post in here and I found this collection of songs of theirs that includes also the SID BARRETT-era PINK FLOYD's "Lucifer Sam", and the only-one-chord wonder "Steps to the door".

If you are willing to know more you can find some info about them and Paisley in the pages down here (and a very nice article about this californian scene too)

Short Bio on TRUE WEST:
http://www.answers.com/topic/true-west
Paisley Underground on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_Underground
Article about PAISLEY on Pop Matters:
http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/020430-paisleyunderground.shtml

DOWNLOAD:

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=0W1PTVQJ

Dream Syndicate: The day before wine and roses

And here comes some more stuff from DREAM SYNDICATE: a beautiful live album recorded during a radio show a few days before they entered the studuio to record their first LP "The days of wine and rose"(hence the title) . So, in here there are songs that obviously ended up on that, but also a garage-rock version of DYLAN's "Outlaw blues", a more rocking cover of DONOVAN's hit "Season of the witch" and, last but not least, BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD(but penned by NEIL YOUNG)'s "Mr. Soul" (quite known for "stealing" THE ROLLING STONES' most famous riff...).

DOWNLOAD:

http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=SBOMVZRQ

Dream Syndicate: Days of wine and roses bonus tracks

In these days Twilight Zone (http://rideyourpony-twighlightzone.blogspot.com/) has been uploading lots of stuff of THE DREAM SYNDICATE, and I have noticed that it has not uploaded the bonus tracks from the CD version of "The days and wine and roses", the DS's beutiful first work, so now I am (uploading it).

For those of you who do not know anything of this american band, well...then you need to know that STEVE WYNN (leader and singer) were part of the so-called Paisley Underground, an american rock scene of the early 80's, that had its roots in 60's psychedelia, garage, but also in 1977's punk. DREAM SYNDICATE definetely were the band that had to make it: after this first record they signed for a major (WB, like Huskers Du did), but without getting really anything out of it. No success, and no more great albums. In fact after the Velvet Undergound strongly-influenced "The days of wine and roses" and more acid and free jazzy/walls-of-guitars-all-the-way-'round second "The medicine show" they never were so (damn) good. Maybe because the line-up was different, maybe not, but eventually they split up.

But here they are at nearly their best, with some songs unissued, like the first "Sure thing", but also with aleternative versions of LP's tracks (previously appeared on a very limitied edition EP), or with rehearsal takes.

TRACKLIST:

- Sure Thing (EP version)

- That's What You Always Say (EP version)

- When You Smile (EP version)

- Soma Kinda Itch (EP version)

- Too Little, Too Late (15 Minutes)

- Definetly Clean (15 Minutes)

- That's What You Always Say (Rehersal)

- Last Chance For You (Rehersal)

DS on Steve Wynn's official site:

http://stevewynn.net/band.php?band_id=3

DS on Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Syndicate

DS's fan site:

http://www.chromeoxide.com/dream.htm

DOWNLOAD:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=03A064LS

Mazzy Star: The other side

Once were the RAIN PARADE. Then David Roback left and split the band. And then came MAZZY STAR. They made three marvellous and dark albums before the singer, Hope Sandoval, left for a solo career.

This one here, THE OTHER SIDE is an unofficial album made up of live track and b-sides.

For more see http://www.mazzystar.nu/

1. Fade Into You (Live)
2. Ride It On (Live Acoustic)
3. Sometimes Always (Live)
4. I'm Gonna Bake My Biscuit
5. Under My Car
6. Tell Me Now
7. Hair and Skin
8. Tell Your Honey
9. Had a Thought
10. Flowers in December
11. Sometimes Always
12. Ride It On (Live)
13. Ghost Highway (Live)
14. Blue Light (Live)
15. Into Dust (Live)
16. Bells Ring (Acoustic)

http://www.zupload.com/download.php?file=getfile&filepath=34584

Dream Syndicate: Medicine Show

(Sorry about my english)

Back in 1984 Steve Wynn and his band, THE DREAM SYNDICATE, was one of the "next big things" of rock'n'roll, the one many looked upon with hope and fiery passion: they seemed to be born from the ashes of the Velvet Underground but you could also feel some vibes of 60's psychedelics in their strings (as you could with most of the bands of the so-called Paisley Underground like Rain Parade, Long Ryders, and so on). Thei 1982 debut, The days of wine and roses had largely been influenced by the first and second VU LPs, while their 1984 release, Medicine show, was something quite different: while some tracks like Still holding on to you and Merritville were more roots/americana(we would say these days)-oriented, and the names of Bruce Springsteen (a Steve Wynn idol, by the way) and Neil Young come to mind, there are song like John Coltrane Stereo Blues and the title-track whose electric reverberations remind us of Eight miles high-era Byrds and the fury of some free jazzer (obviously Coltrane).

Still this record was a comercial flop. The band released two more studio albums in the followings years with a different line-up (without the etherodox guitarist Karl Precoda), and then split.

Medicine show was their last stuggle to enter the rock'n'r roll history. They lost but they somehow made it: this LP, so dark and unglamourous, so full of angst, is a hell of a record, one able to "kick joy out of darkness" Kerouac would say.

Here you can find the full album (and the extra live tracks that were avaible on the CD release as well), that is still -alas, and because of a certain major company...- out of catalogue.

http://rapidshare.de/files/8947413/The_medicine_show.zip.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/8950115/Medicine_show_bonus_live.zip.html

Rain Parade: Emergency third rail power trip

Il download della giornata è un album molto valevole di ascolto, anche perché è fuori catalogo da molto tempo: Emergency third rail power trip degli americani RAIN PARADE
http://rapidshare.de/files/8726625/Emergency_third.zip.html

Per chi non li conoscesse affatto (e vista la loro non-esistenza su mercato non è certo cosa improbabile...) i RP sono una band che ha fatto parte ad inizio anni '80 del cosiddetto "Paisley underground", cioè di una scena, perlopiù californiana, di band che suonavano prendendo ispirazione da garage e psichedelia anni '60, pur non dimenticando talvolta le asprezze degli anni in cui vivevano (il punk appena passato e il post-punk). Tra gli altri "membri" del Paisley ci sono i Dream Syndicate di Steve Wynn (più garage e più vicini ai Velvet Underground), i Long Ryders di Sid Griffin (questi invece impegnati a coniugare country e rock con una certa psichedelia), i Green On Red (duo dedito ad un rock tutto sommato abbastanza classico), ed infine appunto i Rain Parade di David Roback.
La loro è una psichedelia ricca di chitarre jingle-jangle (quindi di richiami ai primi Byrds), ma anche di forme-canzone che ricordano i Velvet Underground, anche se il cantato, spesso onirico, li proietta verso una dimensione diversa, più cristallina e di un facino meno morboso di Lou Reed e soci. Questo loro primo album (a cui peraltro nel download è stato aggiunto anche il seguente mini Explosions in the glass palace) è considerato il loro capolavoro, l'album alla cui freschezza non riuscirano mai a tornare. Non a caso di lì a poco Roback scioglierà il gruppo e, dopo uno iato di alcuni anni andrà a formare i Mazzy Star.
Se volete saperne ancora:
http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=730971