Culpa Select

More Bobby Keys

2011-06-03T20:30:00.015-04:00

So the ultra-rare Bobby Keys single I posted wasn't enough for ya? Okay, here's his never-on-CD self-titled Warner Bros LP from 1972:

BOBBY KEYS LP 1972

Electric Love Muffin

2011-05-28T18:44:00.009-04:00

ELECTRIC-LOVE-MUFFIN---PLAYDOH-MEATHOOK

Welch and Rawlings

2011-05-27T21:32:00.017-04:00

GILLIAN WELCH AND DAVID RAWLINGS - 19 MAY 1994

No Return

2011-05-25T21:39:00.008-04:00

TULI KUPFERBERG - NO DEPOSIT NO RETURN

Gimmie The Key

2011-05-25T21:00:00.003-04:00

BOBBY KEYS - GIMMIE THE KEY / HONKY TONK

Startling Music

2011-05-25T20:16:00.008-04:00

DAVID HENTSCHEL - STARTLING MUSIC

(Just Like) Starting Over - Stripped Down

2010-09-21T21:32:00.000-04:00

http://kool.radio.com/2010/09/14/new-john-lennon-music/

Cook like the Devil

2008-10-02T18:36:00.012-04:00

Just when you think you've seen it all, you stumble across THE FUGS on YouTube. How come I'd never seen this, or any Fugs video, before? And why isn't this stuff out on DVD?

Eighteen minutes of Ed, Ken, Tuli, and the guys. "Crystal Liaison", "I Couldn't Get High", "The Garden Is Open", "Supergirl"........ Amazing.

FUGS PART 1 - YouTube

FUGS PART 2 - YouTube

Hard-Die's Site

2008-10-01T17:45:00.004-04:00

Wonderful. Lots to watch. Lots to read. Lots to download. And not just Beatles - for instance, "Tonight Let's All Make Love In London". Like it says, a "virtual museum". Just wonderful.

http://beatlesite.blogspot.com/

Warning: may be time consuming.

The enemy of every Muslim

2008-09-17T18:45:00.015-04:00

"Our enemy’s friend is our enemy. Thus Paul McCartney is the enemy of every Muslim. We have what we call ‘sacrifice’ operatives who will not stand by while he joins in a celebration of their oppression. If he values his life Mr McCartney must not come to Israel. He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him.” - OMAR BAKRI

Not since the Japanese threw him in jail for 10 days in 1980 has PAUL MCCARTNEY caused such a big international ruckus.

From the New York Times, we learn that McCartney "has refused to cancel his concert in Israel, despite threats from Islamic militants, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. The response follows comments made by Omar Bakri Muhammad, a militant Lebanese Islamic activist, in an interview that appeared in The Sunday Express of London. Mr. Bakri said, “If he values his life, Mr. McCartney must not come to Israel,” He also said: “He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him.” In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, another Israeli newspaper, Mr. McCartney said: “I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think, and I have many friends who support Israel.” The concert is scheduled for Sept. 25 in Tel Aviv."

They tell me "Mamunia" is an Arabic word meaning "safe haven", so here's the "Mamunia" track from the bonus disc of the 25th Anniversary Edition of BAND ON THE RUN:

BOTR 25 BONUS: MAMUNIA

And here's one for Paul - an Apple single B-side from 1970, "Vaya Con Dios" by DORIS TROY, produced by GEORGE HARRISON:

DORIS TROY: VAYA CON DIOS

Vaya con Dios, Paul.....

and Dickie Daley, too.....

2008-08-27T21:51:00.014-04:00

.To help celebrate the Democratic National Convention this week, and the 40th anniversary of the infamous 1968 Chicago convention, here are THE FUGS with their classic "Chicago", from their "Belle of Avenue A" LP.

According to the liner notes, "written by Ken Sanders, Country Joe MacDonald, and Ken Pine", and "originally written for the sound track of the Yippie movie about the police riots in Chicago at the Democratic Convention."

THE FUGS - CHICAGO

Okay, everybody sing along now:

"I saw the gasses floating down upon America's youth

All the world was watching the terror in the streets.

Johnny was there and Sally was there

And so was Baby Sue

Acid Bob and Clean Gene and Dickie Daley too.

I saw the look on the poor soldier's face

With his gun in the young girl's side

All the boys of Daleyland were dancing in the mace.

Johnny was there and Sally was there

And so was Baby Sue

Acid Bob and Clean Gene and Dickie Daley too.

May you sleep in peace Mayor Daley....."

Starry Notions

2008-08-07T21:30:00.002-04:00

Here's some great live stuff from MARY HOPKIN, recorded live in Japan in 1970:

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

IN MY LIFE

GOODBYE

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

That Harrison kid

2008-08-07T21:14:00.006-04:00

More photos here:

HERE COMES THE SON

Lazy Tortoise

2008-03-05T22:32:00.002-05:00

When I posted about the Purple Chick Beatles discs a couple of weeks ago, I didn't realize what the "Lazy Tortoise" series was. But now that I know, I've got a lot of downloading to do!

According to a site that has Purple Chick tracklistings:
"Companions to the Purple Chick Series, the Lazy Tortoise compilations pick up the non-studio items, such as live, interviews, and home demos."

Looks like there is (or will be) about 50 discs in this series, so that will bring this complete Beatles audio project to just over 200 discs. Amazing. And of course, I must have them all.

Between the "Strawberry Lane" and "Six Plus Three" sites, I've tracked down about half of the "Lazy Tortoise" discs so far.

To make things a bit easier, here are links to individual posts at those sites with the discs:

April to August 1963

October 1963

November 1963

December 1963

From London To Paris 1964

February to April 1964

April 16-23, 1964

April 25-26, 1964

April 27 - May 30, 1964

June 3-6, 1964 - Denmark and The Netherlands

June 7-10, 1964 - Hong Kong

July 1964

Australia-New Zealand Tour Diary 1964 (4 discs)

France 1965

From Rome to Blackpool 1965

September 1965 to March 1966

From Tokyo To London 1966 (2 discs)

September 1966 to February 1967

Interviews 1968 (5 discs)

Many many thanks to "Strawberry Lane" and "Six Plus Three"! And keep 'em coming!!!

Hurricane

2008-03-05T20:51:00.008-05:00

More sad news - Norman "Hurricane" Smith has passed away at the age of 85.

Norman engineered all The Beatles' recordings through 1965, and had a big hit of his own in 1972 with "Oh Babe What Would You Say".

Here's a snippet from October 12, 1965 of Norman in the studio with the Beatles, while recording "Run For Your Life".

That's Norman saying "Run for your lives, you ____".

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE - TAKE 1

RIP Norman.

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

http://www.earcandymag.com/normansmith-book.htm

Ronnie

2008-03-04T20:43:00.009-05:00

What do Muhammed Ali, George Harrison, Tony Curtis, and Prince have in common?

Ronnie!

I've really been enjoying Ron Wood's recent autobiography, "Ronnie". It's a great, light read with some pretty cool stories featuring lots of Woody's famous friends.

Woody writes about when The Stones were in New York in 1977 or 1978 (he seems a little unclear about some dates) and John Lennon came over for some drugs. When they got thrown out of the hotel for making too much noise, Woody, Keith, and Charlie, with John and Yoko, "moved the party to Atlantic Records".

According to Woody, "we started jamming, and the jam was taped (it's probably locked in the Atlantic vaults these days). We were going through a songbook of early soul and early Beatles catalog. We were all singing, playing, harmonizing...". But eventually John "fell asleep" (you'll have to see the book for details), and "had to be carried out." "We carried on recording without him".

Very entertaining stuff - reserve it now at your local library!

Mike Smith

2008-03-04T07:24:00.001-05:00

What can I say that hasn't been said over these past several days? A real shame.

If you're looking for gossip, I'm sure you can find it elsewhere. Here's some music.

Enjoy the long-out-of print "History of the Dave Clark Five" (at 256 kbps).

RIP Mike.

DC5 DISC 1:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GVTUWB6S

1. Glad All Over 2. Bits And Pieces 3. Do You Love Me 4. Can't You See That She's Mine 5. Because 6. Don't Let Me Down 7. Any Way You Want It 8. Everybody Knows (I Still Love You) 9. Any Time You Want Love 10. Thinking Of You Baby 11. Whenever You're Around 12. Little Bitty Pretty One 13. Crying Over You 14. Don't Be Taken In 15. When 16. Reelin' And Rockin' 17. Come Home 18. Mighty Good Loving 19. Hurting Inside2 0. Having A Wild Weekend 21. Til The Right One Comes Along 22. Catch Us If You Can 23. I'll Be Yours My Love 24. I Am On My Own 25. I Need Love

DC5 DISC 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E2ZHTDR0

1. Try Too Hard 2. All Night Long 3. Look Before You Leap 4. Please Tell Me Why 5. Somebody Find A New Love 6. Satisfied With You 7. At The Scene 8. I Miss You 9. Do You Still Love Me 10. Nineteen Days 11. I've Got To Have A Reason 12. I Like It Like That 13. Over And Over 14. You Got What It Takes 15. Doctor Rhythm 16. Small Talk 17. Concentration Baby 18. Everybody Knows 19. Inside And Out 20. At The Place 21. Best Day's Work 22. Maze Of Love 23. Here Comes Summer 24. Live In The Sky 25. Everybody Get Together

Balls

2008-03-03T20:58:00.011-05:00

So I'm watching "Opry Live" the other night on GAC, and they're interviewing singer Elizabeth Cook, who I've never heard of before. And she says she'll be doing a Velvet Underground song, that she learned from her "husband's record collection".

So for the next fifteen minutes or so, I'm trying to figure out what VU song this cute young country lady could possibly sing at the Grand Ole Opry. There's lots of music that could work, but there's always something inappropriate in the lyrics. I'm thinking, "There She Goes Again" is often-covered, but there's that "you better hit her" part. How about "I'm Set Free"? No, she can't sing about seeing her "head laughing, rolling on the ground".

I finally decided it had to be either "Oh Sweet Nothin'" or "One of These Days".

And of course I was wrong. They played a very nice country version of "Sunday Morning", complete with pedal steel. And after the song, she told the audience it was a Velvet Underground song, so the VU got mentioned twice on the show!

So was this the first time a Lou Reed song was played on the Opry stage? And will it be the last?

Here's a link to her CD, "Balls", featuring "Sunday Morning":

ELIZABETH COOK - BALLS

The Beatle Photo Election Rule

2008-02-26T21:49:00.041-05:00

Boy, this Presidential race keeps getting crazier and crazier, doesn't it?

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, here comes ol' Ralph Nader jumping into the fray. Doesn't he know that he can't possibly win? Its absolutely impossible. And I can say that with total certainty because I know what the professional pundits all seem to have forgotten.

That's right - "The Beatle Photo Election Rule".

Back in 1972, Mr. Nader appeared on The Mike Douglas Show with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were that week's co-hosts.

Here's a photo from the show:

"The Beatle Photo Election Rule" is the rule that says anyone who has had their photo taken with a Beatle (or ex-Beatle) can not be elected President.

Remember 2004? Everyone thought John Kerry had the election all sewn up, but then this old photo surfaced:

The result? Four more years of George Bush.

And how about Gerald Ford? He became President by default, but still you would have thought that even an un-elected incumbent would have beaten Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. Poor Ford never guessed that this photo would be his undoing:

But of course, Ralph isn't the only one who will fall to The Beatle Photo Rule this election year, is he? Word on the street is that John Edwards dropped out when someone threatened to leak a photo of him with Pete Best, and Hillary's role as a pterodactyl in "Caveman" (see above) knocks her out of the race. And now there's this recently-surfaced photo of Obama:

I guess things are looking pretty good for John McCain.....

George

2008-02-25T21:20:00.005-05:00

Here's a little Something to mark what would have been George Harrison's 65th birthday.

It was 39 years ago today, on his 26th birthday - a couple of weeks after having his tonsils out, and a couple of days after The Beatles started work on Lennon's "I Want You (she's so heavy)", that George went into EMI Studios with Ken Scott engineering and recorded demos of three of his latest songs.

In January, during the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions, The Beatles had rehearsed all three of the songs as well as other new George tunes, but the only proper recording of one of his songs had been "For You Blue" (which he would record a new lead vocal for a year later). They would begin recording "Old Brown Shoe" and "Something" in April.

Here are the February 26, 1969 demos, as they appear on Purple Chick's Abbey Road Deluxe:

OLD BROWN SHOE (demo take 2)

ALL THINGS MUST PASS (demo take 2)

SOMETHING (demo take 1)

SOMETHING (demo take 1 with overdubs)

Happy birthday, George.

so anyway.....

2008-02-22T08:28:00.004-05:00

.....I'm finally back, all rested, refreshed, and ready to roll.

Thanks for all those cards and letters, I'll try to get to some of the requests that have been piling up before too long.

So what happened? I guess if one was trying to think up ways for a music-oriented blog to lose big chunks of its readership, having a five-month period with a lead post that links to National Review Online might be a good idea, but the real story is just that I used a hard-drive crash as an excuse to get away from it all for a while.

Back in September, I had some computer trouble and stopped blogging. When I finally got around to doing something about it, I ended up having some very bad experiences with a popular computer-repair company that shall remain nameless. Sort of like the old "Niagara Falls" routine, the very mention of their name is enough to give me some serious conniptions! ("Slowwwww-ly I turned.....")

After waiting FOUR WEEKS for a diagnostic, it turned out my hard-drive was damaged, and A FEW WEEKS LATER when the computer was back up and running I was reluctant to get right back into blogging, and I've spent the past several weeks just catching up on various stuff around the 'net. Particularly the amazing Purple Chick Beatles' Deluxe series. Looks like they're working on putting together *all* the available Beatles recordings. With their 10-disc Complete BBC set, their 83-disc A/B Road set, and the studio recordings series, they're up to about 150 (yes 150!) Beatles CDs. All the stereo, mono, alt mixes, outtakes, sessions tapes, etc. And they've just started to put together the live recordings, with a 2-disc Star Club Deluxe set.

Here's a link to tracklistings and artwork for what they have so far:

http://x3mkungen.mine.nu/wogev/beatles/pc/

I was able to get most of what I needed from a few fantastic blogs:

http://www.yourmothershouldknow03.blogspot.com/

http://www.octaner.blogspot.com/

http://losslessbeatles.blogspot.com/

Of course I don't know if the links are all still good, but poke around and give 'em a try. What a wonderful Beatle-filled world we have here!

So anyway, its good to be back, and thanks for being here. Stick around, I've got plenty of stuff to post, including some of the requests I've been receiving.

See you soon!

hope you're satisfied

2008-02-20T06:56:00.001-05:00

Testing, 1, 2, 3.....

2008-02-16T10:17:00.000-05:00

Is this thing on.....?

Derb on Boyd

2007-09-04T15:50:00.000-04:00

JOHN DERBYSHIRE has a new "diary" column up that features a nice bit about PATTI BOYD. Here's a short excerpt:

"There are plain women, there are pretty women, there are attractive women, and there are beautiful women. High above them all, in a realm of their own, there are those women. I think every guy knows what I mean: women who, without necessarily being beautiful in a conventional way, or having any specially iridescent qualities of intelligence or personality, cause our knees to tremble, our eyeballs to lock, and our poor tongues to lose the power of speech."

There's more, and you can read the whole column here:

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDBkZWUxZmU5NmFiZTQwNjA4MTM3ZmQ0NjRiM2E1M2Q=

Good ol' Monkey Grip

2007-09-03T13:20:00.000-04:00

Love Extractions

2007-09-01T10:17:00.000-04:00

One of the coolest things about this here digital age of music, in my opinion, is the ability (of some folks, anyway) to do these 5.1 extraction things, extracting the "discrete" channels from 5.1 mixes. This allows us to hear the same old songs in some totally new ways.

Currently floating around is a 10-disc set called "Loveology", a collection of all the discrete channels extracted from the 5.1 mix of the recent BEATLES "Love" CD.

I think its all fun to hear, but 10 discs is a lot to download, so here are a couple of tracks that I thought really stood out. If you like 'em, you might want to look around for the full set.

These are both "center-channel" extractions from Disc 1, which give us a loud and clear vocal track along with some of the musical backing. Its almost like LENNON and MCCARTNEY were right there singing in your ear!

BACK IN THE USSR (CENTER CHANNEL)

I AM THE WALRUS (CENTER CHANNEL)

And be sure to listen for Lennon's shout of "Nyet!" during the solo in "Back In The USSR".....

What's new.....

2007-08-31T17:56:00.000-04:00

What do Ringo, Patti, Astrid, Mick, Elton, Eric, Ronnie, and Paul all have in common?

They all have new product either just out or coming out soon. Here's a quick run-down, with links:

8/28 - CD + DVD / RINGO STARR - Photograph: The Very Best Of Ringo

8/28 - Book / PATTI BOYD - Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me

10/1 - Book / ASTRID KIRCHHERR - Yesterday: The Beatles Once Upon A Time

10/2 - CD / MICK JAGGER - The Very Best Of Mick Jagger

10/2 - CD + DVDs / ELTON JOHN - Elton 60: Live At Madison Square Garden

10/9 - Book / ERIC CLAPTON - Clapton: The Autobiography

10/16 - Book / RONNIE WOOD - Ronnie Wood: The Autobiography

11/13 - DVD / PAUL MCCARTNEY - The McCartney Years

Maybe I should get started on my "Dear Santa" letter.....

Michael

2007-08-29T22:47:00.000-04:00

Born August 29th, 1958, today is MICHAEL JACKSON's 49th birthday.

Here's a great track that I've already posted before, about a year and a half ago. Its the "CCC" mash-up of Michael's vocal from the JACKSON FIVE's "I Want You Back" and the music from GEORGE HARRISON's "Isn't It A Pity". And like I said before, check out little Michael's vocals. Excellent.

CCC - I WANT PITY

Happy birthday Michael.

Disco Floyd

2007-08-28T16:53:00.000-04:00

".....goody goody goody bullsh*t....."

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the release of ROSEBUD's classic disco versions of PINK FLOYD's "Have A Cigar" and "Money". Released as a 12-inch "Disco Single" on Warner Brothers Records, the A-side "Have A Cigar" did actually get some airplay on my local FM "rock" station at the time.

I did my own needle-drop, and since I know you'll all want these for your next Disco Dance Party, I ripped them at 320 kbps. They're separate MP3s, but they're both in the same RAR file.

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/3195435410/Rosebud.rar

Too Many Cooks!!!

2007-08-14T22:20:00.000-04:00

Yes its true - finally an official release of "Too Many Cooks". Coming in October, on "The Very Best Of Mick Jagger":

"The sizzling "Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)," was produced by John Lennon and recorded by Jagger in 1973 in Los Angeles. The track features an all-star lineup that includes guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Jesse Ed Davis, keyboardist Al Kooper, bassist Jack Bruce, drummer Jim Keltner, and, on background vocals, singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. It has never previously been released."

Read all about it here:

http://mickjagger.com/

2007 Magazine of the Week #17

2007-08-10T15:09:00.000-04:00

Maybe I should just start calling it the "Magazine of the Month".....

(.....yeah, I know. Its been two months.....)

Anyway, here's a look at the June 1969 issue of HIT PARADER.

(Click images to enlarge)

There's a story on the "Current Problems of THE ROLLING STONES". We learn that BRIAN was "now happily back in the social circulation", and "took a great fancy to the ten-foot-high cut-out of Tiny Tim at the Playboy Club reception. So taken with it was Brian that he took it with him when he left and on to a party at photographer DAVID BAILEY's next evening, where it was apparently a great success". MICK pops in for a quick interview and briefly (very briefly) discusses "Beggars Banquet", "Performance", "Barbarella", MOTHERS OF INVENTION, and his new "moog-synthesiser".

In "PAUL MCCARTNEY on THE BEATLES", Paul talks about the recently-released Beatles' "White Album". Here's a bit where he talks about writing "Rocky Racoon":
"I was with John on the roof, and we were just sitting around playing guitar and we were with DONOVAN and just enjoying ourselves. I started playing the chords and originally the title was "Rocky Sassoon". And then the three of us started making up the words and they came very quickly, and eventually it became "Racoon" because that was more like a "cow-ie"."

"Words To Your Favorite Hits" includes the lyrics to "Crossroads (as recorded by the Cream)" and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (as recorded by Arthur Conley)".

There's a nice article on the SPECIALTY record label, plus TRAFFIC, JIMI HENDRIX, ARETHA FRANKLIN, and "Have We Misjudged THE MONKEES?".

And then there's THE HOLLIES, BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE, THE IMPRESSIONS, MARTHA REEVES, JOHNNY TAYLOR, and a lot more.

Not bad for 35 cents!

DC5 redux

2007-08-09T16:39:00.000-04:00

By popular demand, here's a re-posting of the DAVE CLARK FIVE tracks that I posted a while back, this time all in a single file:

http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1099690015/DC5.rar

These are the songs included:

Glad All Over
Bits And Pieces
Do You Love Me
Can't You See That She's Mine
Because
Reelin' And Rockin'
Everybody Knows
Having A Wild Weekend
Catch Us If You Can
Try Too Hard
At The Scene
I've Got To Have A Reason
I Like It Like That
Over And Over

And here are links to my original posts:

CULPA DIRECT - THE DAVE CLARK FIVE

CULPA DIRECT - THE DAVE CLARK FIVE, PART 2

Tracking Townshend

2007-08-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

There's an excellent interview with PETE TOWNSHEND over at EQ Magazine. Pete talks about recording, making home demos, equipment, Pro-Tools, mic placement, the recent "Endless Wire" CD, etc - fascinating stuff.

Here's a brief excerpt:

"It is a long time since I have mixed in an analog desk. I have had my big Synclavier since 1984 — me and Frank Zappa, Sting, and the rest. That had a built-in 16-track hard disk recorder that still sounds pretty incredible, I have to say. So often a lot of simple level adjustments could be made right inside the Synclavier with ease. On Endless Wire, I would have mixed analog, but my Focusrite desk from 1986 was on its last legs (it is now being broken up into modules), and I simply didn’t have enough reliable working channels to give it a try. I wasn’t about to go into someone else’s studio to mix. I have to say I think mixing in Pro Tools is a joy. The ability to keep tweaking a good mix, and to strip it down for TV backing tracks, to offer elements to remix engineers, to be able to email track groups across the globe for overdubs, etc. — all this is what makes it so great. The sound? I have heard recordings made by Myles Clarke on Pro Tools at 48/24 that sound as good as those I record to tape. I can’t do what he does with it. He uses some of the techniques I’ve demonstrated on the studio floor, but also has his own unique approach. So we learn from each other. "

Read the whole thing here:

EQ ONLINE - TRACKING TOWNSHEND

50 years ago.....

2007-07-07T14:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, July 6, was the 50th anniversary of, as Dinsdalep put it, "what's-his-face meeting the other guy".

If you haven't already, check out the excellent new Beatlegs Podcast. Here's the page:

BEATLEGS PODCAST - TO DESERVE SUCH A FETE

Happy Birthday Ringo!

2007-07-07T14:30:00.000-04:00

July 7th - today is RINGO STARR's 67th birthday. Here are a couple of solo-Beatle mash-ups to celebrate with.
.
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First there's a duet with Ringo and JOHN LENNON on John's song "Goodnight Vienna", from "Fab Forgeries Vol 3":

GOODNIGHT VIENNA - RINGO AND JOHN

Then from "Fab Forgeries Vol 1", there's Ringo with GEORGE HARRISON on Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy":

IT DON'T COME EASY - RINGO AND GEORGE

Happy birthday Ringo!

Bill Haley

2007-07-06T17:33:00.000-04:00

Born July 6th, 1925, today would have been BILL HALEY's 82nd birthday.

A champion yodeller who went from C&W and Western Swing through Rockabilly territory into some nice clean and tight Rock 'n Roll, Haley never really seems to get the respect he deserves. Both classic versions of BILL HALEY AND HIS COMETS (and the pre-Comets SADDLEMEN) featured some excellent musicians, real top-notch pros. (The "original" Comets morphed into THE JODIMARS, who eventually had one of their songs covered by THE BEATLES).

I'll have more Haley-related posts in the next few weeks, with some great stuff from that era and the whole JACK HOWARD scene. I've got some pretty interesting things coming up.

But for now, to celebrate Bill's birthday, here's a very rare recording from my personal collection. Its a demo of "Haley's Comet", a song that was written for Haley in the 1950s by EDDIE KHOURY and RONNIE BONNER. Haley never recorded it though, and there has never been a commercially released version of the song. This demo is sung by the legendary cowboy singer DICK THOMAS, who had a big hit with "Sioux City Sue" in 1945. ("Sioux City Sue" was co-written by MAX FREEDMAN, who also co-wrote "Rock Around The Clock"). Dick also recorded for REX ZARIO's Arzee label, but that's a whole other story, for another time.

Happy birthday Bill!

HALEY'S COMET - DICK THOMAS

The Dave Clark Five, part 2

2007-06-23T07:37:00.000-04:00

By popular demand, here are two more DAVE CLARK FIVE tracks. How could I have not posted these the first time???

"Everybody Knows (I Still Love You)" was a top-20 hit in 1964. "Having A Wild Weekend" was the title track from their 1965 film and soundtrack LP.

HAVING A WILD WEEKEND - DC5

EVERYBODY KNOWS - DC5

All This And T-Shirts, Too

2007-06-09T08:01:00.000-04:00

2007 Magazine of the Week #16

2007-06-06T16:21:00.000-04:00

Yes, its The Sudden Return Of The 2007 Magazine of the Week!

Click on images to enlarge.

Thought by many to have disappeared for good with absolutely no prior notice, the MOTW is back, with a look at the July 1985 issue of RECORD. Its got a cover story on ERIC CLAPTON, who was promoting his new LP "Behind The Sun". He's interviewed by JEFFREY PEISCH.

Here's an excerpt with Clapton discussing how the PHIL COLLINS-produced LP ended up with three songs produced by TED TEMPLEMAN and Warner Bros president LENNY WARONKER:

"Well, Phil went on to his next project and I was doing some film music and that was the end of that. Then we got this message from Warner Bros saying that the record wasn't strong enough. I asked why, and they said because it needed more songs that would be able to be taken off as potential hit singles. I was very upset of course, because I'd never considered that to be a priority in my life, and still don't. But I suppose I had to bend with it and I wanted to know from them what they thought hit single material was. So they sent me some songs [by Texas songwriter JERRY LYNN WILLIAMS], which I liked a great deal. I said yeah, sure, I'll do them, and we'll see how it works out. But I think it would be best if you produced them, I told them. Phil couldn't do it; he was already locked into something else. I thought it would be best if Warners produced the songs and provided the musicians. So if any mistakes were made it would be in their camp; it was kind of a little tactical game, you know. So I went back to America and did those songs in Los Angeles with what they call the A team." [The songs, including the first single, "Forever Man", feature such studio heavyweights as TOTO's JEFF PORCARO and STEVE LUKATHER, MICHAEL OMARTIAN and GREG PHILLINGANES.]

Also in this issue is a review of JULIAN LENNON at the Palmer Auditorium in Austin, Texas on March 25th, 1985, and a cool article on REM by ANTHONY DECURTIS.

Happy Birthday Woody!

2007-06-02T08:09:00.000-04:00

Happy belated birthday to RONNIE WOOD, who turned 60 yesterday.

Here's SON VOLT with their beautiful version of Woody's "Mystifies Me", from their 1995 debut "Trace":

MYSTIFIES ME - SON VOLT

Wings Over Philly - new link for Part 3

2007-05-25T16:07:00.000-04:00

Here's a new link for Part 3 of WINGS OVER PHILLY. I had posted the whole show in 5 parts on Tuesday (click here), but there was a problem with part 3. So I updated with a new link to it, but that doesn't seem to be working either, so I'm trying it again. Hopefully this one will work:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/3194709147/Wings_19760514_3.mp3

The Dave Clark Five

2007-05-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

THE DAVE CLARK FIVE was one of the most successful of the British Invasion groups.

They had a string of American hit singles that placed them, for a time, in a league with THE BEATLES and THE ROLLING STONES.
But for some reason there are no Dave Clark Five CDs currently in print. The way I understand it, drummer Dave Clark owns the rights to the original recordings, but has yet to find a deal he's happy with. Long-overdue for induction into the Rock'n Roll Hall Of Fame, the DC5 missed out again this year when JAN WENNER stepped in following the death of AHMET ERTEGUN and stiffed them in favor of GRANDMASTER FLASH (or so they say).

Anyway, there was an official compilation CD available briefly several years ago, but it seems to be rather hard to find these days. So here is my own compilation of tracks, including a bunch of the major hits, plus a couple of personal favorites, like "Try Too Hard" and their excellent take on CHUCK BERRY's "Reelin' and Rockin'"(which I think is one of the two all-time best Chuck Berry covers - the other being The Stones' studio version of "Around And Around"). As far as I can tell, all of these tracks are from 1964 to 1966.

Here's hoping for an induction next year - they certainly deserve it!

GLAD ALL OVER

BITS AND PIECES

DO YOU LOVE ME

CANT YOU SEE THAT SHE'S MINE

I'VE GOT TO HAVE A REASON

I LIKE IT LIKE THAT

OVER AND OVER

Steve Earle - Live In U.K.

2007-05-22T10:32:00.000-04:00

Here's a 2-CD STEVE EARLE boot called "Live in U.K.", recorded in Lancashire on May 26, 2000. The show includes Steve's versions of THE BEATLES' "No Reply" and THE ROLLING STONES "Before They Make Me Run". (I had posted this version of "Before They Make Me Run" a little while back).

DISC ONE:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1100345454/Earle_1.rar
01 Transcendental Blues
02 Everyone's In Love With You
03 Another Town
04 Taneytown
05 Hardcore Troubador
06 My Old Friend The Blues
07 Someday
08 Telephone Road
09 More Than I Can Do
10 No Reply
11 I Can't Wait
12 The Boy Who Never Cried
13 Steve's Last Ramble
14 Lonelier Than This
15 I Don't Want To Lose You Yet
16 Wherever I Go
17 Nowhere Road
18 Fearless Heart

DISC TWO:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/3194677874/Earle_2.rar
01 The Devil's Right Hand
02 Halo 'Round The Moon
03 I Feel Alright
04 Band Intros
05 The Galway Girl
06 Copperhead Road
07 All Of My Life
08 N.Y.C.
09 The Unrepentant
10 Bread
11 Guitar Town
12 Before They Make Me Run

What's Good?

2007-05-18T18:17:00.000-04:00

"She married Ringo / and she could have had Paul....."

Sorry I haven't been posting very much lately, but I do have some interesting stuff lined up for the next week or so. And right now I thought I'd just post some of the miscellaneous things I've been enjoying recently.

First up are a couple of videos at YouTube. There's a fantastic JOHN LENNON video that I'd never seen before - its a home video of John playing acoustic guitar and singing "Dear Yoko", filmed on April 20, 1980 in Cold Spring Harbor. Absolutely wonderful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi0C3kH6TxE

This one here is my new second-favorite video. Its from 1972 (I think) - MARC BOLAN with ELTON JOHN and RINGO STARR doing "Children of the Revolution". Much fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwfrpRDBsKE

And here are a couple of MP3s that I've had in heavy rotation.

During the recording of "Double Fantasy", CHEAP TRICK was brought in to record John's "I'm Losing You" and Yoko's "I'm Moving On". Those versions weren't used on the finished LP, but "I'm Losing You" ended up on the "John Lennon Anthology". Here's "I'm Moving On", from the bootleg "Double Fantasy - Working Version":

I'M MOVING ON - (CHEAP TRICK VERSION)

This is a real odd item. Its FRANK SINATRA singing "Maureen Is A Champ", an ode to RINGO STARR's wife MAUREEN, to the tune of "The Lady Is A Tramp". The story is that it was done for her birthday in 1968 and was actually the first (and very limited) Apple acetate. The new lyrics were written by SAMMY CAHN, and that's BILL MILLER on piano.

MAUREEN IS A CHAMP - (FRANK SINATRA)

And finally, if you haven't already, go check out the "Classic Rock In The Refectory" photo sections at the University of Leeds website. Lots of great photos from some of the shows held there in 1970 and 1971, including the ROLLING STONES, THE WHO, and others.

CLASSIC ROCK - LEEDS UNIVERSITY

Wings Over Philly

2007-05-15T21:21:00.000-04:00

I had hoped to post this yesterday for the 31st anniversary, but what the heck, better late than never.

It's an audience recording of PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS, live at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, May 14th, 1976. This is ripped from an old bootleg cassette, and broken into five files. Anyone have artwork for this one? I wasn't able to find any.....

www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1100970171/Wings_19760514_1.mp3

www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1100939377/Wings_19760514_2.mp3

www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1100347572/Wings_19760514_3.mp3

www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1100899656/Wings_19760514_4.mp3

www.gigasize.com/get.php/-1100885944/Wings_19760514_5.mp3

UPDATE: The link to part 3 has been fixed.

Wings Over Toronto

2007-05-09T21:17:00.000-04:00

I'll be posting a WINGS show soon, but in the meantime, MACCA BELGIUM has the complete show from Maple Leaf Garden, Toronto, 31 years ago today - May 9th, 1976:

MACCA BELGIUM - WINGS - TORONTO '76

Happy Birthday Rick Nelson

2007-05-08T19:09:00.000-04:00

Born May 8th, 1940, today would have been RICK NELSON's 67th birthday.

Here's PAUL MCCARTNEY's great version of "Lonesome Town", from the LINDA MCCARTNEY tribute at the Royal Albert Hall, London, April 10th, 1999:

LONESOME TOWN - PAUL MCCARTNEY

And here's Rick with the STONE CANYON BAND (featuring RANDY MEISNER on bass) with his classic "Hello Mary Lou", live at The Troubador in 1969:

HELLO MARY LOU - RICK NELSON LIVE 1969

New Lennon boot!

2007-05-08T16:21:00.000-04:00

"Not a hoax!"
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"Not an imaginary story!"

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Yes, its true - a new JOHN LENNON bootleg! Just when you thought the well had run dry, here comes another heapin' bucketful, sploshin' all over your shoes.

Its a 2-disc bootleg from Yellow Dog called "It's Gonna Be Alright", featuring more than two hours' worth of previously unheard stuff from the sessions for the 1970 "Plastic Ono Band" LP with John, Ringo, Klaus, and of course, PHIL SPECTOR. There are a few rough mixes, some rehearsals, and nice big chunks of session tapes. I don't know how these recordings got out at this point in time, but I'm sure glad they did. The sound quality is excellent - this really is some beautiful stuff, and a must-have for Lennon fans. And its very very cool to hear "Love" being rehearsed with Ringo and Klaus!

I'm sure that if you hunt around a bit, you can find it at a higher bitrate, but here it is as I downloaded it, at 128 kbps:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/1304508/Its_Gonna_Be_Alright_1.rar
www.gigasize.com/get.php/1305072/Its_Gonna_Be_Alright_2.rar
And many many thanks to the original uploader.

Here are links to the BOOTLEG ZONE pages with artwork, track listings, and some details:

BOOTLEG ZONE - ITS GONNA BE ALRIGHT 1
BOOTLEG ZONE - ITS GONNA BE ALRIGHT 2

re-ac-tor

2007-04-30T13:15:00.000-04:00

Keef

2007-04-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

Mahoney's Last Stand

2007-04-24T19:22:00.000-04:00

Here's one I'd been hoping would turn up: the out-of-print "Mahoney's Last Stand" soundtrack by RON WOOD and RONNIE LANE, with bonus tracks! A great LP from 1976, which also features an appearance by IAN STEWART.

Here's the page at RAMBLER'S PLACE (or is it THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW?):

RON WOOD AND RONNIE LANE - RAMBLER'S PLACE

And thanks to jagger72 for the heads up!

Illustration by John Youssi

2007-04-21T18:46:00.000-04:00

Here's a great illustration by JOHN YOUSSI. I don't know what magazine this came from (maybe CIRCUS or CREEM - anyone know for sure?), but it accompanied an excerpt from TONY SANCHEZ's memoir "Up And Down With The Rolling Stones", so I'm assuming its from 1979.

Click to enlarge.

2007 Magazine of the Week #15

2007-04-19T17:39:00.000-04:00

This week we take a quick look at the April 1988 issue of MUSICIAN magazine, with a JOHN LENNON cover story by SCOTT ISLER.

Click on images to enlarge.

The Lennon story is mainly about the upcoming "Lost Lennon Tapes" radio series. Isler gives us the run-down on some of the tapes and previously unreleased recordings that would likely be heard on the radio show.

Here's a little excerpt that is still tantalizing, even 19 years later:

"A two-note electric guitar ostinato over a rippling bass tone creates a musical ebb-and-flow. This is not a solo tape. "I can hardly raise my head / I'm lying in my lazy bed / I haven't got a care." The ethereal, high-pitched voice - over wordless falsetto backing - comes from the land of tangerine trees and marmalade skies. The tempo is that of molasses. "Everybody's rushing 'round but me / I'm dreaming." These are THE BEATLES performing "Lullabye For A Lazy Day", a song you've never heard. And you won't hear it on The Lost Lennon Tapes either. Official co-writer Paul McYou-Know-Who is unlikely to give clearance to allow the finished (but not incredible) song to be broadcast. This one is truly lost."

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And as usual with Musician Magazine, there's plenty of other cool stuff in here too: particularly "ROBYN HITCHCOCK - On The Trail Of The Gelatinous Blindfish", a great interview in which we get the basic Hitchcock story, from his days with THE SOFT BOYS up through his new "Globe Of Frogs" LP.

Meet Elton John!

2007-04-18T16:25:00.000-04:00

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The year was 1976:

"CREEM Celebrates The American Revolution With A ROCK REVOLUTION CONTEST!"

Readers were invited to "tell us in 25 words or less, 'just what is Rock 'n' Roll anyway?'".

The Grand Prize - "A Trip To England To Meet Elton John!"

At The Speed Of Sound

2007-04-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

Before They Make Steve Run

2007-04-17T20:33:00.000-04:00

If anyone deserves to cover "Before They Make Me Run", it's STEVE EARLE.

Hey wait a minute.....!

No, no, that's a compliment! Honest!

Here's the legendary Earle from May 26, 2000, closing the show with a great live version of the song. And check out those guitars!

BEFORE THEY MAKE ME RUN - STEVE EARLE

Leon and Mary Russell

2007-04-14T14:37:00.000-04:00

For some reason, not all of LEON RUSSELL's old LPs have been released on CD. For instance, the two "Leon and Mary Russell" LPs: "The Wedding Album" from 1976, and "Make Love To The Music", from 1977.

I recently got my hands on a nice clean vinyl copy of "Make Love To The Music", which I had never heard before. Its a fun LP, with lots of vocal interplay. A couple of the tracks are in the then-emerging disco sort of style, and there's also some nice classic Leon piano type stuff. Overall, very enjoyable. Here's my rip:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/1159815/MLTTM.rar

1 Easy Love
2 Joyful Noise
3 Now Now Boogie
4 Say You Will
5 Make Love To The Music
6 Love Crazy
7 Love Is In Your Eyes
8 Hold On To This Feeling
9 Island In The Sun

.....so does anyone have "The Wedding Album" to share?

2007 Magazine of the Week #14

2007-04-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

TROUSER PRESS #27, the April 1978 issue.

Its got a great cover story on PETE TOWNSHEND by DAVE SCHULPS. Townshend goes on and on about how THE WHO is never going to tour again.

Click images to enlarge.

Also in this issue, DEVO, NICK GILDER, and "A Power Pop Primer".

Record reviews include BLONDIE, WIRE, STATUS QUO, and THE RUTLES.

Ride A Rock Horse

2007-04-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

Metal Machine Music

2007-04-14T13:37:00.000-04:00

Get Your Licks

2007-04-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

Whistle Rymes

2007-04-09T19:02:00.000-04:00

Klaus Speaks

2007-04-09T17:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but there's a free download of a recent half-hour long interview with the legendary KLAUS VOORMAN. Its from Radio 2 in The Netherlands, and its in English.

Here's the page (which is not in English):

http://schiffersfm.omroep.nl/page/artikel/204095

Elton John, part 7

2007-04-07T10:11:00.000-04:00

Elton John, part 6

2007-04-06T22:41:00.000-04:00

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Yet another ELTON JOHN post. I had forgotten about this one - I downloaded it a year or so ago, and of course I don't remember from where. I wish I did, because as I recall they had a pretty nice description of it.

This one really is cool - its a children's sing-along LP called "Pinball Wizard and Other Elton John Hits", by THE WILD HONEY SINGERS. For each song, a friendly female voice invites us to read along while she speaks the lyrics with a spacey guitar accompaniment. Then we're told to sing along and the band kicks in. The spoken-word tracks are hilarious, particularly "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word".

Here's the link:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/1116379/Pinball_Wizard.rar

1-2 Your Song
3-4 Pinball Wizard
5-6 Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
7-8 The Greatest Discovery
9-10 Don't Go Breaking My Heart
11-12 Friends

(There are two tracks for each song - first the spoken-word reading, then the full-band treatment).

And thanks to the original uploader!

2007 Magazine of the Week #13

2007-04-04T21:40:00.000-04:00

The April 1989 issue of MUSICIAN magazine featured a cover story on LOU REED and JOHN CALE, who had just reunited to perform their new tribute to ANDY WARHOL, "Songs For 'Drella" at St. Ann's in Brooklyn (though the 'Drella CD wouldn't be released until the following year).

There's an interview with Lou, who talks at length about his new LP, "New York". Then there's an article on Cale, and an interview with the two of them where they discuss "Songs For 'Drella" and ANDY WARHOL.

Here's an excerpt from "The Devil and JOE SATRIANI", where Joe talks about working with MICK JAGGER:

MUSICIAN: How different was it in Mick Jagger's band, with him calling the shots?

SATRIANI: He's really a complex musician, but a straight-ahead guy at the same time. Mick assembled the craziest bunch of players in the world. During rehearsals in New York, he would jam with us in small groups or sometimes all together. But he would often just leave us alone, and you know how musicians are: Soon there would be this big jam session going on. And he would just listen while he walked around working on the staging or lighting. He'd walk up to you while you're jamming and check out what you're doing and smile.

Then, as we started getting into the songs, he'd remind you of something that he'd heard in the middle of some tech-rap-bebop jam and say, "You can do that if you want".

MUSICIAN: Was it a blast playing those classic Stones songs?

SATRIANI: It's fantastic. It was like a rock 'n' roll dream come true. Of course it would be fun for all of us to see Keith and Mick get back together again.

Also in the issue is an article about the recent Rock'n Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony, in which THE ROLLING STONES were inducted. The story notes that Keith "wasn't exactly chummy with Jagger".

Click on images to enlarge.

Elton John, part 5

2007-04-04T18:07:00.000-04:00

In May 1977 ELTON JOHN played six shows at The Rainbow in London with percussionist RAY COOPER. Elton had temporarily split with his longtime songwriting partner BERNIE TAUPIN and did not release an LP that year.

This is a wonderful double CD of the May 7th show called "Rainbow Rock":

Disc One:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/1104465/Rainbow_Rock_1.rar

01 Your Song

02 The Greatest Discovery

03 Border Song

04 Daniel

05 Sweet Painted Lady

06 Rocket Man

07 I Heard It Through The Grapevine

08 Candle In The Wind

09 Roy Rogers

10 Dan Dare

11 Cage The Songbird

12 Where To Now St. Peter

13 Ticking

14 Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

Disc Two:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/1100524/Rainbow_Rock_2.rar

01 Take Me To The Pilot

02 Funeral For A Friend

03 Tonight

04 Better Off Dead

05 Idol

06 I Feel Like A Bullet

07 I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself

08 Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

09 Crazy Water

10 Bennie And The Jets

11 Saturday Night's Alright

12 Goodbye

Artwork is included in the Disc One file.

Destroy All Rational Thought

2007-04-03T21:47:00.001-04:00

Can't get enough of the MASTER MUSICIANS OF JOUJOUKA?

Then check out JOE AMBROSE and FRANK RYNNE's "Destroy All Rational Thought", the new DVD that, according to THEHANDSTAND.ORG, contains "performances from the extraordinary to the sublime, including such influential Beat scenesters as William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Hamri (the Moroccan national painter) and the Master Musicians of Joujouka, amongst many, many others connected to the Gysin/Burrough`s Tangier Beat Axis. The DVD contains one of the last interviews given by William Burroughs as well as previously unseen footage of him from the 50`s and 60`s, a slide show of paintings exhibited by Gysin and Burroughs, the music of Bill Laswell, Frank`s band the Baby Snakes, Islamic Diggers as well as texts and contributions by key writers Terry Wilson, Ira Cohen and Gysin and Burroughs."

For more info, and an interview with Joe and Frank, click here.

The Lennon Sessions

2007-04-03T20:46:00.000-04:00

I read this book today (oh boy) - "The Lennon Sessions" by TONY DAVILIO with MARY VICARIO, published in 2004 in Canada. Its a short (139 pages) account of Davilio's stint as "Arranger" for JOHN LENNON's "Double Fantasy" sessions in 1980.
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Davilio was right there in the middle of the studio throughout the recording sessions, writing out chord charts, lead sheets, horn arrangements, etc, and received a Grammy as Arranger when "Double Fantasy" won the Album of the Year award.

There are really no great revelations here, but the book is fun and light, and its nice to have an account by someone who was right smack dab in the middle of the action. (Although I think he may have gotten mixed up with some dates). And believe it or not, there is no mention of any drug use!

For more info on the book, check out Davilio's site:

WWW.TONYDAVILIO.COM

2007 Magazine of the Week #12

2007-03-31T14:10:00.000-04:00

I guess its time to get caught up on the Magazines, so here, from 1975, is ROCK SUPERSTARS POSTER MAGAZINE #3, published by Penthouse Poster Press Ltd.

Its a magazine that folds out into a "36" x 22 1/2" GIANT POSTER OF THE WHO". And The Who take up just about all of the magazine. (Click here to see the issue that featured THE ROLLING STONES.)

Inside, we get the basic history of The Who. And a bit about ROGER DALTREY, who, we're told, "after his starring role in the "Tommy" movie, has transcended normal "rock super star" mold to become a multi-faceted star. Lead singer, successful solo artist, and now an actor who KEN RUSSELL has said will be the most important new actor of the late seventies".

There's also a short article about ROD STEWART, who had recently released a solo LP, "Atlantic Crossing". Here's an excerpt:

"It looks as if Rod will continue to record on his own, although he'll still tour with the band [THE FACES]. Since his last attack on his mates, when he called them sloppy musicians, he's admitted that "we're playing better together, I think we'll stay together." But this time he has shown that he's more than happy with his decisions, both to leave England, which upset The Faces as much as anything, and record with different back-up people."

Click on images to enlarge.

Elton John, part 4 : Sixty Years On

2007-03-30T07:51:00.000-04:00

Many, many, many thanks to the kind soul who sent me the links to these files.

ELTON JOHN played his 60th show at Madison Square Garden last Sunday, March 25th, his 60th birthday. I was told this was downloaded from another site, so I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here. I wanted to get this posted here while it's still fresh. Its an excellent recording of a great show, and it includes Elton's tribute to JOHN LENNON, "Empty Garden".

Its three rar files containing individual MP3s, and totals more than three hours:

ELTON JOHN 60th BIRTHDAY - PART ONE:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/1029074/EJ_60_1.rar

01 Sixty Years On

02 Madman Across The Water

03 Where To Now St. Peter

04 Hercules

05 Ballad Of A Well-Known Gun

06 Take Me To The Pilot

07 High Flying Bird

08 Holiday Inn

09 Burn Down The Mission

10 Better Off Dead

11 Levon

12 Empty Garden

ELTON JOHN 60th BIRTHDAY - PART TWO: www.gigasize.com/get.php/1032424/EJ60_2.rar

13. Daniel

14. Honky Cat

15. Rocket Man

16. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues

17. The Bridge

18. Roy Rogers

19. Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters

20. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

21. Bennie And The Jets

22. All The Girls Love Alice

ELTON JOHN 60th BIRTHDAY - PART THREE:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/1027692/EJ60_3.rar

23. Tiny Dancer

24. Something About The Way You Look Tonight

25. Philadelphia Freedom

26. Sad Songs (Say So Much)

27. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

28. I'm Still Standing

29. The Bitch Is Back

30. Crocodile Rock

31. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

32. Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding

33. Your Song

Bootleg Zone Returns!

2007-03-29T21:48:00.000-04:00

Yes, its true - Bootleg Zone is back!

What a relief. Head on over and read all about it:

BOOTLEG ZONE

Thank you, Francois!

Elton John, part 3

2007-03-29T07:33:00.000-04:00

I know I'm behind on the Magazines of the Week, but I'm on a roll with this ELTON JOHN stuff so try to bear with me.

Here's another excellent live boot. This one's a double CD called "First Visit 1971", from Elton's show in Tokyo on October 1, 1971. Features "Honky Tonk Women". And its nice to hear a live version of Elton's "Friends".

DISC ONE:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/1022187/EJ71_1.rar

01. It’s Me That You Need
02. Your Song
03. Rock Me When He’s Gone
04. Come Down In Time
05. Skyline Pigeon
06. Rotten Peaches
07. Indian Sunset
08. Band Intro
09. Ballad Of A Well Known Gun
10. Friends
11. The King Must Die
12. Holiday Inn
13. Can I Put You On
14. Country Comfort

DISC TWO:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/1021687/EJ71_2.rar

01. Honky Tonk Women
02. Border Song
03. Madman Across The Water
04. Amoreena
05. Take Me To The Pilot
06. My Baby Left Me
07. Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

Artwork is included in the Disc Two file.

Elton John, part 2

2007-03-28T07:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a great ELTON JOHN bootleg called "Rock of the Fillmore Westies", recorded live at the Fillmore West in November 1970. This is some classic Elton, recorded right around the time of the official "11-17-70" LP. You can really hear the LEON RUSSELL influence. Its an excellent soundboard recording, and features a very nice version of "Honky Tonk Women", and a "Rock'n' Roll Medley" that includes a bit of "Give Peace A Chance".

Here's the tracklisting:

1. Country Comfort
2. Sixty Years On
3. Border Song
4. Amoreena
5. Honky Tonk Women
6. Burn Down The Mission
7. My Baby Left Me > Shotgun > Give Peace A Chance > I Want To Take You Higher
8. Can I Put You On

And here's the link:
www.gigasize.com/get.php/953870/EJ_1970.rar

Artwork is included in the file.

Elton John, part 1

2007-03-27T21:28:00.000-04:00

In honor of ELTON JOHN's 60th birthday the other day, I'll be posting a bunch of the Elton stuff that I've been accumulating.

Starting off with "Reg Dwight's Piano Pops Up" (or something like that), a collection of Elton's pre-superstardom recordings of contemporary covers done for budget labels, 'round about 1969 and 1970. This has been available in various forms under various titles, sometimes with slightly different tracklistings, but its my understanding that this collection was never really a legitimate release, and is therefore no longer available anyway.

So check out Elton singing songs by PAUL MCCARTNEY, CAT STEVENS, JOHN FOGERTY, and others.

Here's the tracklisting:

1. My Baby Loves Lovin'
2. Cotton Fields
3. Lady D'arbanville
4. I'm A Natural Sinner
5. United We Stand
6. Spirit In The Sky
7. Travellin' Band
8. I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top
9. Good Morning Freedom
10. To Be Young And Gifted
11. In The Summertime
12. Up Around The Bend

13. Snake In The Grass
14. Neanderthal Man
15. She Sold Me Music
16. Come And Get It
17. Love Of The Common People
18. Signed Sealed Delivered
19. It's All In The Game
20. Yellow River

And here's the link:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/953518/Reg_Dwights_Piano_Pops_Up.rar

Fab Sounds

2007-03-27T20:48:00.000-04:00

Fans of the "Flabby Road" CD should head on over to the incomparable "Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else" blog. They have few songs about THE BEATLES, including "The Invasion", plus a great version of "Rocky Raccoon" by NEW VINTON COUNTY FROGWHOMPERS.

Here's the page:

FAB SOUNDS - MY(P)WHAE

2007 Magazine of the Week #11

2007-03-17T14:10:00.000-04:00

This week we take a look at the April 1978 issue of CREEM, featuring a cover story on THE SEX PISTOLS.

Click on images to enlarge.

.

There's lots of gossip in "Rock 'n' Roll News:

"More marital merry-go-rounds: Mr. and Mrs. Jagger appear to be travelling on different astral planes now; Mick with Jerry Hall (Bryan Ferry's ex-sweetie) while Bianca has cut in on Princess Margaret's waltz with young Roddy Llewellyn."

And this:

"Those alimony checks can be hell: Bob Dylan's having a mighty hard time lining up a band for his tour since the offered wage is only 300 dollars a week. Only? How about an official keeper of the dewrags, Bob?" .

In "The Beat Goes On" we learn that "The Kids Are Alright" is just the first in a series of projects planned by The Who to make use of their new $700,000 film complex in Shepperton".

In Simon Frith's "Letter From Britain", he contrasts Sid Vicious with Paul McCartney, and has this to say about Paul (and his recent huge hit "Mull Of Kintyre"):

"You've got to hand it to old Paul. While Rod is puking his way around the airways and Mick is running off with Bryan Ferry's missus and David Bowie is kidnapping his own son and Elton John is speculating in hair, McCartney is working quietly and efficiently at being the People's Beatle."

There's "Eric Clapton: Return of the Reluctant Hero", "Queen's Royal Flush", and Robert Christgau's "Punk Guide: A Consumer Manual To New Wave Wax".

And there's a review of Dylan's film "Renaldo and Clara" ("despite its excesses of length and false heroics, Renaldo and Clara is not the ego-tripping nightmare most critics have made it out to be").

Meanwhile back in Ireland.....

2007-03-17T00:12:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

From March 7, 1972, here's PAUL MCCARTNEY and WINGS rehearsing "Give Ireland Back To The Irish":

GIVE IRELAND BACK TO THE IRISH - REHEARSAL ONE

GIVE IRELAND BACK TO THE IRISH - REHEARSAL TWO

And a live version from Antwerp, Belgium, Aug 22, 1972:

GIVE IRELAND BACK TO THE IRISH - ANTWERP

And thanks to MACCA BELGIUM and FEV'S RARE MACCA DISCS for these great tracks!

Music Blog Round-up

2007-03-14T20:43:00.000-04:00

Its hard to keep track of all the music blogs these days. There are new ones popping up every day and old favorites disappearing or just being abandoned. Some have new stuff every day, some only need to be checked every couple of weeks. And I know how frustrating it can be to keep checking back only to find that there are still no new posts.....

So anyway, after a quick trip around the blogs, I've noted a handful that have been posting some pretty cool stuff recently. All have posted new stuff this month:

HEAR ROCK CITY
Now featuring Neil Young, Ry Cooder, Rick Nelson, and plenty more.

CHOCOREVE
Lots of Velvet Underground lately.

BLOG STONED
Always some good Rolling Stones, with some new boots posted this past week.

Times are good for Beatles fans, with these blogs:

OCTANER'S BLOG

RETURN TO PEPPERLAND

MACCA BELGIUM

And finally, there's my new favorite blogger, Fev. He's got Beatles bootlegs:

FEV'S RARE BEATLE DISCS

McCartney bootlegs:

FEV'S RARE MACCA DISCS

Harrison:

FEV'S RARE GEORGE

And of course Lennon:

FEV'S RARE JOHN

Many thanks to Fev, and all the rest!

Dylan Hears A Who

2007-03-12T21:55:00.000-04:00

This is probably old news by now, but someone just sent me the link.

Its "Dylan Hears A Who", a great fake Dylan LP with Bob singing Dr. Suess, complete with vinyl pops and crackles. Its free to stream or download as MP3s, and it even has some very nice LP artwork.

Yes its mighty silly, but "Green Eggs And Ham" is downright infectious!

Here's the page:

DYLAN HEARS A WHO

Light Up The Town

2007-03-12T21:12:00.000-04:00

As promised, here's another old vinyl ROLLING STONES bootleg. Its a 2-LP set called "Light Up The Town" and it was recorded live in San Diego on October 7, 1981. The cover says it was the "first night-time outdoor show of '81 tour".

Its one MP3 for each of the four LP sides:

LIGHT UP THE TOWN - SIDE 1
www.gigasize.com/get.php/505343/Light_Up_The_Town_1.mp3
Under My Thumb
When The Whip Comes Down
Let's Spend The Night Together
Shattered
Black Limousine
Neighbors

LIGHT UP THE TOWN - SIDE 2
www.gigasize.com/get.php/506338/Light_Up_The_Town_2.mp3
Just My Imagination
Twenty Flight Rock
Let Me Go
Time Is On My Side
Let It Bleed
Little T & A

LIGHT UP THE TOWN - SIDE 3
www.gigasize.com/get.php/506381/Light_Up_The_Town_3.mp3
Tumbling Dice
She's So Cold
All Down The Line
Hang Fire
Star Star
Miss You

LIGHT UP THE TOWN - SIDE 4
www.gigasize.com/get.php/506420/Light_Up_The_Town_4.mp3
Start Me Up
Honky Tonk Women
Brown Sugar
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Street Fighting Man

Cerebus

2007-03-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

Back in 1986, Prince Mick and Prince Keef appeared in a hilarious story in DAVE SIM's self-published comic book "Cerebus".

Click images to enlarge.

"Cerebus" is a unique achievement in the comic book field. Over the course of 26 years, Sim self-published 300 issues of "Cerebus", writing and drawing more than 6000 pages, telling the story of the title character, an impetuous barbarian aardvark in a Medievel-type world of humans.

Starting off in 1977 as basically a parody of BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH's "Conan" comics, Sim decided early on that "Cerebus" would be his "life's work", and that the series would end with issue number 300 in March 2004. And so it did. Through the earlier issues, Sim's writing and art improved dramatically, and with the addition of "background-artist" GERHARD, the book really hit its stride. Artistically, each issue was impeccable - layout, characters, backgrounds, lettering, etc. The stories became increasingly complex, as Sim wrote with long-term goals in mind, often foreshadowing events that would not occur until several years later.

"Cerebus" has been compared to a "Russian novel" in its length and scope. The huge story is divided into large chunks, and like "War and Peace", early in the second half The Author steps into the story. And this is where Sim ran into some trouble.

He "came out" as a "conservative"/"non-feminist" in both "the story" and in "real life". Once praised as one of the best alternative/independent comics creators, the horrified "comics community" initially expressed outrage, and ultimately decided to virtually ignore his work, even as he and Gerhard continued to reach new creative heights. In the later issues, Sim delved increasingly into religious themes, eventually writing large amounts of Scripture and Scripture-commentary into the story and alienating many of his remaining readers.

Still, "Cerebus" stands as a remarkable accomplishment, a beautiful piece of art and a fascinating read. You can dip in virtually anywhere in the 6000+ pages and see Sim's talent, intelligence, wit, and love of comics shining through.

Many of the characters Sim created were dead-on caricatures of movie stars, writers, acquaintences, even other comic book characters. In issue number 85, (cover-dated April 1986), Sim introduces characters based on MICK JAGGER and KEITH RICHARDS. As Cerebus is climbing up the mountain back to the Upper City to reclaim his Papal Throne before The Final Ascension, he runs into Prince Mick and Prince Keef. Keef is a bit out of it, but Mick shares his beverage with Cerebus and things get a bit weird before they part ways in issue 86. Sim revisited the characters ten years later, when Mick, Keef, and Cerebus end up staying at the same tavern (along with a couple of Mop-Tops!), but I'll save that for a future post.

Pictured here are the cover to #85 and a couple of panels from that issue, a preliminary sketch of the cover, and a some sketches of Mick from Sim's notebooks.

The complete "Cerebus" is available in 16 volumes, here. Mick and Keef appear in Volume 4 ("Church and State 2"), and they turn up again in Volume 11 ("Guys").

To see Sim's current project, a webcomic called "Siu Ta (So Far)", click here.

For more on Sim and Cerebus, check out the Cerebus Fangirl Site.

(CEREBUS is copyright DAVE SIM and GERHARD.)

2007 Magazine of the Week #10

2007-03-09T21:26:00.000-05:00

This week's magazine ties in with yesterday's "John Lennon 1970" post. Its the August 1970 issue of HIT PARADER, featuring "The Last John and Yoko Interview" by RICHARD ROBINSON.

(And yes, I know this one should have been #9 instead of #10. Sorry - I just wasn't thinking!)

Robinson's article starts off with this:

"If John Lennon talked about his music as much as he talked about his version of peace for all, he'd be much more interesting to talk to."

Here's an excerpt where John actually does discuss his music:

"I'm not forming a Plastic Ono Band, I mean the original idea was you are the Plastic Ono Band. I've used two people practically every session, that's Klaus and Alan, but there's a chance I won't you know, they're not permanent, and the audience is the band you know. Like in one film we made, "Smile", the instructions at the beginning of the film was to make your own music, the music was them you know, and they did it in Chicago or somewhere. And if Yoko and I went on with the so-called Plastic Band and instead of the audience just sitting there or waiting for us to perform like seals, cause everybody wants to be a star you know, so let them be a star. Let's all groove together, when we performed with George and Eric and Bonnie and Delaney and everybody at Lyceum, I don't care what the pop press said, it was a funky show. And if the audience had, some of them were, right in with us, we were sky high, it was an amazin' high. A seventeen piece band. It's great with four musicians groovin', but when you got seventeen its somethin' else. And when you got the audience as well."

"The day we go on the audience is the rhythm section then we're really groovin', that's what I want. So it wouldn't matter whether I was on the stage or if I got fed up and went down in the audience for a bit to, let's take it in turns to be super star, you know."

The "Words To Your Favorite Hits" section includes JOHN LENNON's "Instant Karma", THE BEATLES' "Let It Be", LED ZEPPELIN's "Living Loving Maid", and dozens of others, plus the words to all the songs from SIMON AND GARFUNKEL's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" LP.

There's all kinds of other good stuff in this issue, including articles on AL KOOPER, JACK BRUCE and GINGER BAKER, JOE COCKER, HARVEY MANDEL, and IAN ANDERSON. And a story on the break-up of the BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND. In "New Stars On The Horizon", we read that ROD STEWART has gone "From Lead Singer To Solo Artist". And there are "Readers' Reviews" of ELVIS PRESLEY's "From Memphis To Vegas", THE ROLLING STONES' "Let It Bleed", and "Led Zeppelin II".

John Lennon 1970

2007-03-08T18:11:00.000-05:00

Its time to start clearing some of the audio files off of my hard drive, so I thought I'd start by trying to organize my JOHN LENNON stuff and posting it here before backing it up and deleting it. And 1970 seemed like a good place to start.

I know I don't have everythng, and I don't claim that these tracks are from the best sources, I've just put them together from what I happen to have on my computer. They were downloaded from various sources and I'd like to thank all the fine folk at the different blogs, message boards, and other websites from which I got this stuff over the past couple of years.

First up, there are the demo recordings for some of the songs that would end up on Lennon's 1970 LP "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band". From a cassette most likely recorded in California in the summer of 1970:

LOVE
MOTHER
MY MUMMY'S DEAD
I FOUND OUT 1
I FOUND OUT 2

And more demos, from a cassette dated July 28, 1970:

GOD
WHEN A BOY MEETS A GIRL
WELL WELL WELL

Back in London at EMI, John started recording the LP in late September with just RINGO STARR on drums, KLAUS VOORMAN on bass, and PHIL SPECTOR producing. Here are a few oldies they ran through during the sessions:

HONEY DON'T
DON'T BE CRUEL
MATCHBOX

And here are a few early acetates, with different mixes. Notice that "Mother" has a rhythm guitar track that wasn't used on the LP, and "Remember" is more than 8 minutes long:

MOTHER
REMEMBER
WELL WELL WELL
LOOK AT ME

Then there's the bootleg CD "Compositions", which consists of about an hour's worth of piano demos recorded by John in late 1970. "Eight Arms To Hold You", CHIP MADINGER and MARK EASTER's indispensible guide to solo Beatle recordings says it was recorded in November. Here's the link for the whole CD:

www.gigasize.com/get.php/492528/John_Lennon__Compositions.rar

And here's the track listing:

01 MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR
02 I'M THE GREATEST
03 I'M THE GREATEST
04 HOW
05 CHILD OF NATURE
06 CHILD OF NATURE
07 OH YOKO
08 SALLY AND BILLY
09 SALLY AND BILLY
10 ROCK AND ROLL PEOPLE
11 OH YOKO
12 OH YOKO
13 HELP
14 INSTRUMENTAL
15 HAPPY CHRISTMAS
16 HAPPY CHRISTMAS
17 PEOPLE GET READY / HOW
18 HOW
19 HOW
20 MY HEART IS IN YOUR HANDS
21 MAILMAN, BRING ME NO MORE BLUES
22 I PROMISE
23 YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS
24 I'LL MAKE YOU HAPPY
25 I'LL MAKE YOU HAPPY

And finally, here is audio of Lennon's legendary interview with JAN WENNER from December 1970 in New York that would be published in two parts in Rolling Stone Magazine in early 1971, and would eventually be released as the book "Lennon Remembers". This is not the BBC Radio "Archive Hour" special. Its supposed to be the complete tapes, and it totals more than three-and-a-half hours:

ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW PART 1
ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW PART 2
ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW PART 3
ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW PART 4
ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW PART 5

Cow Palace 1976

2007-03-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is an ad from Bloomingdale's new Spring catalog. The ad is for the dress, but check out the poster on the wall. Its the fake ROLLING STONES Cow Palace 1976 poster.

The poster advertises the Stones, with THE DOOBIE BROTHERS, at San Francisco's Cow Palace on June 26th, 1976. Of course The Stones played there in 1975 (on July 15th and 16th), not in 1976.

Click image to enlarge.

The poster has turned up before; I've seen it for sale on eBay, and it gets a mention at ELCHAE'S VINYL LOUNGE, with a picture.

For the Bloomingdale's ad, it looks like the poster was not-so-cleverly fixed so that it doesn't really actually quite say "The Rolling Stones". Here's a closer look:

And notice the copy of "Exile On Main Street" next to the guy's head. It looks like they added a little red to it, maybe so it wouldn't be as easily recognizable:

Gimme Some Pearl Jam

2007-03-06T18:01:00.000-05:00

I've never been very much of a PEARL JAM fan, but they do come up with some interesting live covers from time to time.

Someone recently sent me this MP3 of them doing JOHN LENNON's "Gimme Some Truth":

GIMME SOME TRUTH - PEARL JAM

2007 Magazine of the Week #9

2007-03-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'll just get a quick Magazine of the Week out of the way, then I promise I'll try to stay on track.

Here's the March 1981 issue of SONGWRITER, with a cover story on HARRY NILSSON.

In the interview, Harry talks about the new "Popeye" movie which he wrote the songs for, and the legendary "Son of Dracula" film that he starred in with RINGO STARR.

JOHN-LENNON is mentioned, but his death is not, so the interview must have taken place prior to December 8th, 1980. The article includes a photo of Harry and John playing pool.

In the "Songwriter Top 40" we find John Lennon at Number 3 with "Woman", and again at Number 16 with "Starting Over". And "Woman" was also at Number 2 in the "Easy Listening Top 10".

Also in the issue is an interview with the great VAN DYKE PARKS, "Popeye's" arranger / conductor.

Click images to enlarge.

BZ RIP

2007-02-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

Very sad news - apparently Bootleg Zone is no more.

This is the message currently on their home page:

"Sorry folks, this site is closed permanently.

Many thanks to all of you for your support during all those years !

-tilleul

PS: don't bother sending mails, all my previous email addresses are either deleted or never checked.

Keep on rocking !"

The end of an era.

2007 Magazine of the Week #8

2007-02-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

The March 1979 issue of GROOVES, featuring more than 20 pages on THE WHO.

Click images to enlarge.

We get some news on what The Who have been up to:

"At present, The Who are working on a film based on Quadrophenia. Called The Kids Are Alright (the title taken from a song on their first album), its dedicated to the kids The Who were and the same kids in each generation who are changing society or just rebelling. As musical director for the movie, Pete will compose about 4 new songs for the soundtrack, while Roger will act in the film along with unknown actors. The film will include interviews with the individual Who members as well as footage of Who concerts throughout their 15-year history."

.In "New Wave News" we get this interesting bit of info:

"The DAVE EDMUNDS / NICK LOWE fall tour came to a grinding halt following the on-stage breakdown of VAN MORRISON in New York. It was a pretty exciting event, however, when at their appearance at the late show ROLLING STONES guitarist KEITH RICHARD got up to jam. Lowe had been quoted as saying it was "embarassing" because Keith was pretty "out of it". Still, the audience loved it as Lowe called out chord changes during Edmunds' well-known opener, "Down Down Down"."

Lots and lots of great photos in this magazine. Also a big pull-out poster with pics of ROGER DALTREY, CHEAP TRICK, STEVIE NICKS, HALL AND OATES, and STYX, and 18 pages on ALICE COOPER.

All the world is birthday cake.....

2007-02-25T11:01:00.000-05:00

To celebrate what would have been GEORGE HARRISON's 64th birthday, here are some cool cover versions of his songs.

Happy birthday George!

.
.

SOUR MILK SEA - JACKIE LOMAX

BLUE JAY WAY - BUD SHANK w/ CHET BAKER

SAVOY TRUFFLE - ELLA FITZGERALD

IF I NEEDED SOMEONE - THE HOLLIES

TRY SOME, BUY SOME - RONNIE SPECTOR

TE NECESITO (I NEED YOU) - LOS MUSTANG

SOMETHING - SONNY & CHER

MY SWEET LORD - PAUL MAURIAT

And head over to THE BEATLE SOURCE for more birthday treats.......

More Funny Pages

2007-02-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a cute one I came across today - its by PHIL SELBY.

.
.Here's the page I got it from:

THE RUT - SELBY COMIC

And here's a page with all of the ROLLING STONES-related comic strips I posted last year:

CULPA DIRECT - THE FUNNY PAGES

ChocoReed

2007-02-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

If I was giving out "Blog of the Month" Awards, this month the award would go to CHOCOREVE, hands down. They've posted a bunch of different VELVET UNDERGROUND bootlegs just in the past week or two.

Check out this page and scroll down for lots of cool VU (and you might even find some ROLLING STONES!):

CHOCOREVE.BLOGSPOT.COM

And speaking of Velvets' boots, HEAR ROCK CITY also has one - called "The Psychopath's Rolling Stones". Its here:

VELVET UNDERGROUND - THE PSYCHOPATH'S ROLLING STONES

UPDATE: There must be something going around. Someone just pointed out that KWAYA NA KISSER has a live NICO show from Ronnie Scott's in London, April 8th, 1985. Its here:

Nico: Live at Ronnie Scott's, London, April 8, 1985

2007 Magazine of the Week #7

2007-02-22T16:08:00.000-05:00

Better late than never, here's what should have been last week's Magazine of the Week.

Its the February/March 1977 issue of TROUSER PRESS, "America's Only British Rock Magazine". According to the writing at the top of the cover, it arrived in-store exactly 30 years ago today.

The cover story is on DAVID BOWIE, "The Man Who Fell From Grace", by JOHN WALKER.

There's an excellent interview with JOHN ENTWISTLE. Here are some excerpts:

TP: You are working on a cartoon book. How is it progressing?

JE: Well, according to the Inland Revenue, I am supposed to be drawing it on this tour, you see, so its going very well. I'm drawing [looks up, rolls eyes] an awful lot.

TP: Will it be released in this country as well as England?

JE: Oh yeah, I should imagine roughly the same time as the next WHO album. We will try to get it out then.

TP: What are the contents?

JE: It starts off with some imaginary ancestors of the band's members. Each ancestor has a little bit of the character of one of the group. I have about four ancestors for each one of us. Completely imaginary, of course. They have nothing to do with our real ancestors. The names have been changed to protect the guilty. Then it goes into the history of The Who, written from my point of view; from when I first started playing going all the way through to when I met the rest of the band.

They also discuss John's solo albums, and John had this to say about his 1975 solo tour:

"Well, it cost me quite a bit; I lost about $70,000. But it was worthwhile to me. It gave me a sense of self-confidence. I had to make the announcements, play the lead, and sing. I learned a lot about my voice and its capabilities. So if I had to do it over, I probably would. There were problems in the way of a slight conflict between myself and my lead gutarist [Robert Johnson]. I hate the guy; I'll never play with him again. But all in all I learned a lot. To head off your next question, there are no immediate plans for another tour, but it's on my mind."

There's an article on "The British New Wave", plus "America Underground", and a bunch of record reviews, including STEVE HILLAGE, DENNY LAINE, and BLONDIE.

Click images to enlarge.

Another Beatles cover

2007-02-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

GORILLA VS BEAR has an MP3 of KEVIN BARNES doing a nice version of THE BEATLES' "I Will".

Here's the page:

GORILLA VS BEAR - I WILL

John Lennon Remembered

2007-02-21T21:06:00.000-05:00

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER: JOHN LENNON REMEMBERED

By Vic Garbarini and Brian Cullman with Barbara Graustark. Introduction by Dave Marsh.

Shortly after Lennon's death there was a spate of quick and cheap paperbacks and magazines published to cash in. This Bantam Books Extra is actually copyright 1980, so it must have come out quickly indeed. This one is interesting if only for the fact that it contains 40 pages of John's exclusive interview with Newsweek magazine from 1980.

Click images to enlarge.

Return of the Grievous Blogger

2007-02-20T17:18:00.000-05:00

"Far out.......sorry you had to wait....."

After an unintentional week off from blogging I'm back and rarin' to go. Coming up are last week's Magazine Of The Week, this week's Magazine, another ROLLING STONES vinyl bootleg, some more JOHN LENNON stuff, and of course something for GEORGE HARRISON's birthday.

And while I'm at it, Happy Belated Birthday to YOKO ONO, whose 74th was last Sunday, February 18th. Here's "Why Not", from her 1970 LP, "Yoko Ono / Plastic Ono Band". Its a pretty interesting track, with just John Lennon on guitar, RINGO STARR on drums, KLAUS VOORMAN on bass, and Yoko warbling a bit:

WHY NOT - YOKO ONO

See ya soon!

Hear Rock Covers

2007-02-12T23:02:00.000-05:00

The HEAR ROCK CITY blog has been posting some very cool stuff the past week or so, including a collection of GRATEFUL DEAD and related bands doing covers of ROLLING STONES songs.

Here's the page:

HEAR ROCK CITY - OUT OF OUR DEAD HEADS

Lots of other goodies there, too.......

JFK Stadium '78

2007-02-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

On June 17, 1978 THE ROLLING STONES played at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Its not necessarily known as one of the better shows of the '78 tour, but I was there, so I have some fond memories of the (rainy) day (and night before - "sleeping out" at the stadium in the hope of getting close to the stage at the general admission show).

I haven't seen this show posted anywhere else yet, so here it is. This is a rip from the old vinyl boot "JFK Stadium '78", a double-LP on the Phoenix label. Its not broken down into individual tracks, its just one MP3 for each of the four LP sides.

JFK STADIUM '78 - SIDE 1
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/374739/JFK_78_Culpa_side_1.mp3 Let It Rock
All Down The Line
Honky Tonk Women
Star Star
When The Whip Comes Down

JFK STADIUM '78 - SIDE 2
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/374764/JFK_78_Culpa_side_2.mp3
Miss You
Just My Imagination
Respectable
Beast Of Burden

JFK STADIUM '78 - SIDE 3
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/374790/JFK_78_Culpa_side_3.mp3
Far Away Eyes
Love In Vain
Shattered
Satisfaction

JFK STADIUM '78 - SIDE 4
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php/374817/JFK_78_Culpa_side_4.mp3
Sweet Little Sixteen
Tumbling Dice
Happy
Brown Sugar
Jumpin' Jack Flash

Notice that my ticket stub only says "ONES", or at best "TONES", instead of "ROLLING STONES". They weren't very careful when tearing tickets back then!

And here's a link to my post from last year with a newspaper ad for the show:
http://culpadirect.blogspot.com/2006/05/jfk-78.html

2007 Magazine of the Week #6

2007-02-09T22:31:00.000-05:00

Here's another one from the Golden Age of Rock Mags -

the February 1976 issue of CREEM.

Click on images to enlarge.

There's the BOB DYLAN cover story by JIM JEROME (with photos by BOB GRUEN).

Bob says:
"Music is just what I do. If I'm workin' I'm happy. I don't even know if its music, to tell you the truth. But I work on multi-levels. Music is music, I don't think of country music, pop, and rock and roll. I just think of music. I'm not going to be stuck in a pattern of anything."

There's a story on THE WHO by ROY CARR. KEITH MOON talks about getting back together for the LP and tour:

"Obviously, it came as a great relief to me to start working with the band yet again. I'd become so bored, that I'd been spending all my time making life-size models of the Queen out of nose-pickings. It had been well over a year since we'd finished the Tommy movie and truthfully, the prospects of the 'Oo coming together again seemed less likely."

LESTER BANGS has a long article on LOU REED. Of course they talk quite a bit about Lou's "Metal Machine Music" LP.

Lou says:

"Just sit down and you can hear Beethoven right in the opening part of it. Its down there in, like, you know, about the fifteenth harmonic. But its not the only one there, there's about 17 more going at the same time. It just depends which one you catch. And when I say Beethoven, you know, there are other people in there. Vivaldi.....I used pretty obvious ones....."

Lester also reviews PATTI SMITH's "Horses", and there's a review of TELEVISION's "Little Johnny Jewel (Parts 1 & 2)" Limited Edition 45 rpm.

LISA ROBINSON's "Eleganza" feature takes a look at the fashion aspects of Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue", and she also has an article on ROXY MUSIC.

And in "The Christgau Consumer Guide", critic ROBERT CHRISTGAU gives PINK FLOYD's "Wish You Were Here" an A Minus, and "The WHO By Numbers" a B Plus.

Lou America Remix

2007-02-07T07:11:00.000-05:00

I don't know how I missed this one - apparently its been around for a while, but I'd never heard of it until just now. Its LOU REED's "Blue America Remix" of "Walk On The Wild Side", featuring a new verse about the Iraq War. Yikes!

Here's the page at FIREDOGLAKE with the MP3:

FIREDOGLAKE - FROM LOU TO YOU