Saturday, September 30, 2006

A Toot And A Snore

The great ETERNOS BEATLES blog has the bootleg "A Toot And A Snore In '74", from the infamous LENNON and MCCARTNEY reunion tape. That's from when Paul stopped by for one of John's weekly superstar jam sessions at John's place in L.A. in 1974. The "band" includes, among others, John on guitar, STEVIE WONDER on keyboards, and Paul playing drums and singing some harmonies. As the story goes, Paul left early, and RINGO strolled in in the wee hours after a night of clubbing. He sat down behind his drums, and said "Who's been fiddlin' with me kit?!". That darn McCartney!

A fascinating artifact. We even get to hear Lennon offering coke to a blind man!

The page is here:

A TOOT AND A SNORE IN '74

Friday, September 29, 2006

Magazine of the Week #39



The September 29, 1977 issue of CIRCUS ("The Leading Rock & Roll Bi-Weekly") featured an exclusive interview with KEITH RICHARD (no "s") by PAUL NELSON.








Keith talks about, among other things, the new ROLLING STONES LP "Love You Live", and playing at El Macombo.


















Here's a snippet where Keith talks a bit about the positive aspects of sleep deprivation:

"Sometimes," he concedes, "I tend to stay up and work two or three nights in a row and then" - he claps his hands together - "nosedive! But there are a lot of people who, if they find themselves up through one night and into the next day, convince themselves that they're feeling weird and bad when, in actual fact, they could stretch themselves out. Because, after the second night, you've been through a lot, you've got some memories: an unbroken string. I've done a lot of the most interesting things I've ever done after being up a few days. You find that, far from starting to get confused about things, you start to get really down to the point - you can get things done real quick. A lot of people sleep too much, I think."

"And dawn. How many dawns do most people see? They really miss out. After a nice long night, it's the most beautiful part of the day."

Also in this issue is "Stars Get Kicks Out Of Kicks", where we learn that "while THE WHO's KEITH MOON and Rolling Stone RON WOOD both dabble in a combination program encompassing boxing, karate, meditation, and physical fitness routines, ELP's CARL PALMER and ex-WINGS drummer GEOFF BRITTEN (now with ROUGH DIAMOND) are strictly into karate."












We also get articles on "the Rockabilly Resurgence" and the "British Punk Invasion".

Also featured are CLIMAX BLUES BAND, THIN LIZZY, MARK FARNER, BARBRA STREISAND (including a pin-up!), TED NUGENT, TALKING HEADS, and more.

In "Longplayers", KEN TUCKER reviews JONATHAN RICHMAN AND THE MODERN LOVERS, and LESTER BANGS reviews THE CAPTAIN AND TENILLE.

And there's "Potsie Gets His Solo", two pages on ANSON WILLIAMS and his new TV special and LP.

Click images to enlarge.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Buried Alive


















Now this is exciting!

Click picture for more info.

Lou Reed's Comedy All-Stars

Okay, one more from YouTube.

Of course we all know how deep down inside, every Rock Star really dreams of being a Comedian. Here we have funny-boy LOU REED with legendary bassist FERNANDO SAUNDERS and a comedy supergroup featuring ADAM SANDLER, JACK BLACK, DANA CARVEY, and CONAN O'BRIEN doing a hilarious version of "Walk On The Wild Side". And you thought the scooter commercial was funny!

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE - LOU REED AND FRIENDS

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

When Franken Was Funny

Our younger readers may find this hard to believe, but there really was a time when AL FRANKEN was funny. Back in the '80s, he and TOM DAVIS did this brilliant parody of THE ROLLING STONES for the "Solid Gold" TV show. I've been waiting for this to show up on YouTube, and it was finally posted a few weeks ago. This is great stuff - Franken as Mick and Davis as Keith. Check out the cherry-picker, and Davis' backing vocals!

UNDER MY THUMB - FRANKEN AND DAVIS

Monday, September 25, 2006

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Friday, September 22, 2006

Way Beyond Compare

Have you ever wished that someone would put together all the available BEATLES bootleg recordings in chronological order, in an easy-to-download format? If so, you might want to check out the "Way Beyond Compare" podcasts. Using JOHN C. WINN's excellent book "Way Beyond Compare" as a guide, that's just what these podcasts have been doing:

WAY BEYOND COMPARE - PODCASTS

These podcasts are not put together by Mr. Winn. His wonderful Beatles books are available here:

MULTIPLUS BOOKS

See also:

THAT MAGIC FEELING - PODCASTS

Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Return of Captain Fantastic














This week, ELTON JOHN released his new CD "The Captain and The Kid", a "sequel" to his classic 1975 LP "Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy".

But it was one year ago today, September 21, 2005, that Elton performed almost the entire 1975 LP at New York's Madison Square Garden. Featuring DAVEY JOHNSTONE on guitar and NIGEL OLSSON on drums:

01 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY
02 BITTER FINGERS
03 TELL ME WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS
04 SOMEONE SAVED MY LIFE TONIGHT
05 (GOTTA GET A) MEAL TICKET
06 BETTER OFF DEAD
07 WE ALL FALL IN LOVE SOMETIMES
08 CURTAINS

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Magazine of the Week #38


In the midst of THE ROLLING STONES' 1981 American Tour, "the editors of Us Magazine" rushed out a big fat magazine with nothin' but The Stones. According to the indicia, the magazine is called "A SPECIAL REPORT ON THE ROLLING STONES from the editors of Us Magazine".


96 pages, including tons of photos and a "Sensational 16-Page Fold-Out".

Click on images to enlarge.




















MICK JAGGER dishes some dirt on BIANCA in an exclusive interview with MICHAEL CABLE:

"Marrying Bianca was just one of those mistakes like we all make from time to time, but only once in my case. Never again."

"It was never really good, not after the first year. We just didn't get on after the first year, so we never really lived together after that."

"Since the divorce we're not even friends. She's been so difficult and devious that I'll never be friends with her again. I wouldn't even think about it."

"I've tried to be friendly right until quite recently but every time I've tried she's then done something which goes to show that she doesn't want to be my friend at all."

"The divorce thing has gone on and on and yet it could have been settled ages ago. I think she just wanted it to go on and on and on so she could get her name in the papers."

Then, we're told, Mick "dismisses her attempts to launch herself on a show business career":

"Her credibility is a bit blown. I wish she would succeed then I wouldn't have to pay her so much money!"


Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Dead End

Lots of great music at DEAD END, including outtakes and rarities by THE BEATLES, GEORGE HARRISON, THE WHO, and plenty of others:

DEAD END (MP3)

Monday, September 18, 2006

R.E.M. reunion plus

Inducted into the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame the other night, R.E.M. reunited for a short set with original drummer BILL BERRY, then they backed up GREG ALLMAN on "Midnight Rider".

And RBALLY has the MP3s:

RBALLY - REM 2006

And that's not all - RBALLY also has MP3s of R.E.M. from Rockpalast, October 2, 1985 (which includes a cover of "Paint It Black"). The page is here:

RBALLY - REM 1985

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Mick Jagger by J Marks



"MICK JAGGER" by J MARKS

Curtis Books, copyright 1973


Click images to enlarge.









"J Marks has dug deep into the erotic, violent undercurrents of our era to produce this astonishing revelation of Rock's reigning Superstar. It's all here - the pre-Stones days, Altamont, Bianca, the power struggles, the busts, the music, the whirlwind American tours - a comprehensive and penetrating vision of Jagger the man and the myth - and of the worshiping millions who seek in his presence the ecstatic reflection of our own deepest desires."

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Rock '70


"ROCK '70" by CHRIS HODENFIELD, Pyramid Books, first printing April 1970.

"PENETRATING PORTRAITS of all the top rock stars...

ASTOUNDING APPRAISALS of today's sound and its direction...

TELEPOP PROPHECIES of future events in modern music..."



"THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE MUSIC SCENE"

Includes "A Chapter On God - The Beatles and The Rolling Stones".


















Click images to enlarge.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Marianne Faithfull


MARIANNE FAITHFULL has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She expects to make a full recovery, but has had to postpone her tour.

Click here to read more about it.





From her LP "Faithless" (my favorite of hers), here is her version of "Honky Tonk Angels":

HONKY TONK ANGELS - MARIANNE FAITHFULL

Good luck with everything Marianne!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

You prob'ly think this song is about you, part 3












When JOHN and YOKO first settled in New York, one of the folks they hooked up with was hippie folk-singer DAVID PEEL, who had released the classic 1968 LP "Have A Marijuana".

So John and Yoko produced his 1972 "The Pope Smokes Dope" LP, released on Apple Records, and Peel got mentioned in John's song "New York City" on the "Sometime In New York City" LP.

One of the songs on "The Pope Smokes Dope" was about John and Yoko coming to New York:

"John Lennon, Yoko Ono /
New York City are your people /
John Lennon, Yoko Ono /
New York City is your friend...."

And another was about Bob Dylan:

"Who was not afraid to sing and write about the poor /
Bob Dylan /
Who was not afraid to sing and write against the war /
Bob Dylan...."

And here they are:

THE BALLAD OF NEW YORK CITY - JOHN LENNON / YOKO ONO

THE BALLAD OF BOB DYLAN

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Uncle Tupelo

Speaking of JEFF TWEEDY, over at BERKELEY PLACE are MP3s of a live acoustic UNCLE TUPELO show from 1992. There are a few covers, including GRAM PARSONS' "Sin City".

Here's the page:

BERKELEY PLACE - UNCLE TUPELO

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Magazine of the Week #37



This week we go back thirty years, to the September 1976 issue of HIT PARADER.

Click on images to enlarge.








The cover story, "Black & Blue - Tongue In Cheek", by then-editor LISA ROBINSON, features a typically entertaining Robinson/Jagger interview. They run through the new ROLLING STONES LP "Black and Blue" song by song, and also discuss things like songwriting and Mick's clothes.


















Here they are talking about RONNIE WOOD:

LISA: "He is in fact, then, an official member of the band?"

MICK: "Yeah, he's got 'is badge, and 'is membership card..."

LISA: "Will he perform with Rod this summer?"

MICK: "Well, he better not, as long as he's in our group. 'Course he can't."

MICK: "We did the whole tour with him, and then ROD STEWART announced he was splittin' THE FACES, and then he left. And then Ronnie didn't have another band to go back to, did he? Fortunately, he had a job. Otherwise he would have been on the bloody dole line. Eh?"














Lisa asks about the clothes Mick wore on the '75 tour, and Mick tells her, "I loved those cheesecloth jumpsuits, the red ones..."

Elsewhere in the issue, Robinson also has articles on DAVID BOWIE and AEROSMITH. There are also stories on WINGS, TALKING HEADS, and ROBIN TROWER, and an interview with BOB MARLEY.

And of course there are the lyrics to all the top hits, including Wings' "Silly Love Songs", and The Rolling Stones' "Fool To Cry".

And I couldn't resist including this great VALMOR HAIR STYLES ad, the likes of which would soon inspire the "Some Girls" LP cover....

Monday, September 11, 2006

Love and Mercy

"Love and mercy to you and your friends tonight....."

JEFF TWEEDY with a beautiful version of BRIAN WILSON's "Love and Mercy":

LOVE AND MERCY

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Double Honey Extra

Here's one that didn't really fit in with the Double Honey posts, because its not an outtake or rehearsal, but its just too good to leave out. Its a center channel extraction from the official 5.1 mix of "Woman". So we get mostly just guitar, bass, and drums - no vocals or big production. Sounds lovely!

WOMAN - CENTER CHANNEL

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Studio 2

These are very cool - they're Quicktime mov files that I downloaded from somewhere a couple of years ago. I haven't been able to find them again on the 'net, so if anyone knows where they're originally from, please let me know. Many thanks to whoever created these.

They show THE BEATLES in EMI Studio 2 in the 1960s. You can click-and-drag and pan 360 degrees to see the whole studio area, and zoom in and out. There are four individual Beatle point-of-views so you can get the same view of the studio (and the other Beatles!) that each of The Beatles had. They look great at full-screen, and each one is only 1MB or less.

EMI STUDIO 2

JOHN POV

PAUL POV

GEORGE POV

RINGO POV

Friday, September 08, 2006

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Exile On Main Street 5.1

Yes, 5.1.

Now being torrented on demonoid:

http://www.demonoid .com/files/ details/454219/ 10279872/

Double Honey, part 9

So of course our series of JOHN LENNON posts had to have a "Part 9"!!!

Wrapping up our look at the "Double Fantasy/Milk and Honey" sessions, here's a bootleg called "Double Fantasy Working Version", which contains early versions of the songs. Some pretty interesting stuff here, particularly some of the Yoko tracks, including the "CHEAP TRICK version" of "I'm Moving On".

Its about 69 minutes, and its a single 20MB wma file:

DOUBLE FANTASY WORKING VERSION

Here's the artwork, click to enlarge:

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Sgt. Petsounds

Seemingly, there's just no end to the weirdness.

CLAYTON COUNTS has put together, in his own words, "a track-for-track mash-up of the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds with the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Of course, I say “mash-up” because I wouldn’t know what else to call it. It’s really more of an abstract record, but like some of my other projects it’s also a commentary on bootleg culture."

Some tracks work better than others, but its definitely an interesting project, and there are some truly wonderful moments. Here's the link, the tracks are available as individual MP3s, so check out a couple and see what you think:

THE BEACHLES - SGT PETSOUNDS

Happy Birthday Roger
















Born September 6, 1943, today is ROGER WATERS' 63rd birthday.

Here is an audio clip from a guest appearance he made with ANDY FAIRWEATHER-LOW on a BBC TV tribute to JOHN LENNON, doing Lennon's ''Across The Universe''. The file name says it was December 5, 1985, but I've also seen it listed as being from December 5, 1986. Anyone know for sure?

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE - ROGER WATERS

Happy birthday Roger!

World of Twist

In November 1990, WORLD OF TWIST, from Manchester, released their first single, "The Storm", and on the B-side was their version of THE ROLLING STONES' "She's A Rainbow". Released on the "Quality Street" CD, but now out-of-print, here is the "7-inch version" of "She's A Rainbow":

SHE'S A RAINBOW - WORLD OF TWIST - 7-INCH VERSION

Check out their website for a free download of the extended "12-inch version":

WORLD OF TWIST

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

More Live Stones Covers, part 2

Here are some more of those live Stones covers. There's SCOTT LUCAS with a nice acoustic-guitar-and-harmonica version of "Dead Flowers" from this past June 9th in Chicago (opening for LOCAL H), YELLOW DOG with a wonderful 10-minute live version of "Sympathy For The Devil", and THE HYPERTONICS with an enthusiastic "Paint It Black", live at The Elbow Room. Thanks again to the original uploaders!

DEAD FLOWERS - SCOTT LUCAS

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL - YELLOW DOG

PAINT IT BLACK - THE HYPERTONICS

Monday, September 04, 2006

Magazine of the Week #36


This week's magazine is cover-dated exactly 17 years ago today. THE ROLLING STONES finally made the cover of TIME Magazine with its September 4, 1989 issue.








In the note "From The Publisher", we learn that the Stones actually did a cover shoot for Time back in 1972, with the same photographer, KEN REGAN. We're told that Regan had posed them "backstage in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but the cover did not appear; it was bumped by one on GEORGE MCGOVERN taking over the Democratic Party".













The cover story gives us the basic rundown on the new album, "Steel Wheels", and the upcoming tour, and it also tells us about all the "old" rockers who are still at it and going strong: THE WHO (with PETE TOWNSHEND's "hearing shredded by more than two decades of high decibels"), BOB DYLAN ("with a splendid new album, Oh Mercy, due out in September"), THE GRATEFUL DEAD ("a whole band of Peter Pans camping out in a hippie never-never land"), PAUL MCCARTNEY (who "issued a sprightly new album, Flowers In The Dirt"), and RINGO STARR (who hit the road "fresh from an alcohol rehab").



The story tells us that "the last time The Stones took an American stage, in 1981, they looked like the supporting cast from a George Romero epic, specters from the boneyard of the pop psyche thirsting for a transfusion of celebrity".



KEITH RICHARDS talks a bit about IAN STEWART's death from a heart attack in 1985: "That really took the glue and the heart out of us all. It has taken us this long to reconcile being able to put the Stones together without him. Nobody knows much about Stu out there, but to the boys in the band, the Stones was his band. He was a real taskmaster, strictly rhythm and blues, jazz. You could see his face when you were writing, and if it sounded like a pop song, you knew he was cursing under his breath. In a way, we're all still working for Stu".

Click on the images to enlarge.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

More Live Stones Covers, part 1

It seems like suddenly there's a lot of live ROLLING STONES covers around the blogs, so I'll post some of my recent finds now, and then some more of them in the next few days. I downloaded these from various blogs over the past couple of weeks, so thanks to all the original uploaders.

First up we have THE PEE-PEES with a live "Miss You" from this past July 8th, the lovely CAT POWER with a live version of her unique arrangement of "Satisfaction" from March 2004, and MY MORNING JACKET from the Bonnarroo festival on June 16, 2006 with "Loving Cup/Easy Morning Rebel Jam".

THE PEE-PEES - MISS YOU

SATISFACTION - CAT POWER

LOVING CUP / EASY MORNING REBEL JAM - MY MORNING JACKET

Stay tuned......more to come.....

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Your request was not selected


Our 25th anniversary look back at THE ROLLING STONES' 1981 tour continues.

Not long after Mick's press conference, (to see that post, click here), we were given the opportunity to write in for a chance to win tickets to see the Stones, so of course we fans all wrote in many times.





Responses to the fans' requests were mailed back - a small color card with the tour logo, and a coupon that basically said "sorry you didn't win tickets, but why not buy a tour program and jersey anyway".

Click images to enlarge.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Lou Reed and The Raconteurs

LOU REED did a short version of his VELVET UNDERGROUND classic "White Light/White Heat" with JACK WHITE and THE RACONTEURS last night on MTV's Video Music Awards.

To see the clip, go to www.mtv.com and click on "Video Show". When the page loads, click on "play" on "2006 VMA: THE PERFORMANCES". Its about the third or fourth clip. JACK BLACK introduces, and Lou's playing a Telecaster. Very nice, but I wish they would have done the whole song!

Billy Corgan and the Master Musicians

BILLY CORGAN from SMASHING PUMPKINS recently paid a visit to the MASTER MUSICIANS OF JOUJOUKA, where he observed their annual fertility ritual. The ritual is called "Boujeloud", which is also the title of the Master Musicians' soon-to-be-released CD.

Read all about it at PITCHFORK:

BILLY CORGAN VISITS THE MASTER MUSICIANS OF JOUJOUKA