Live CD: Catching up on Springsteen

[review by Bill Glahn]

Bruce Springsteen: The Complete 1978 Radio Broadcasts (Sound Stage SSCDBOX10, 15 CD box set, 2015 release)

Venue: (CD 1-3) The Roxy Theater, West Hollywood, CA 7/7/78 (CD 4-6) Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH 8/9/78 (CD 7-9) Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ 9/19/78 (CD 10-12) Fox Theater, Atlanta, GA 9/30/78 (CD 13-15) Winterland Ballroom, San Frrancisco, CA 12/15/78

Sound Quality: Excellent throughout

Cover: High quality clam shell box set with glossy individual jackets inside, each show identifiable by a different photo from the tour. Also contains a 24-page booklet containing articles from Melody Maker (Harvey Kubernik), Rolling Stone (Dave Marsh), 1978 program notes (Cleveland show, but probably generic to all the tour programs), and liner notes by the manufacturer (quite good).

 Tracklist: (CD1) Intro-No private parties/ Rave On/ Badlands/ Spirit In The Night/ Darkness On The Edge of Town/ Candy’s Room/ For You/ Point Blank/ The Promised Land/ Prove It All Night/ Intro-Alice in Wonderland/ Racing In The Street/ Thunder Road/ outro-incredible performance/ (CD2) Paradise by the C/ Fire/ Adam Raised A Cain/ Mona/ She’s The One/ Growin’ Up/ It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City/ Backstreets/ Heartbreak Hotel/ Rosalita/ (CD3) Independence Day(solo piano)/ Born To Run/ Because The Night/ Raise Your Hand/ radio comments-incredible/ Twist & Shout/ (CD4) Intro/ Summertime Blues/ Badlands/ Spirit In The Night/ Darkness On The Edge of Town/ Factory/ The Promised Land/ Prove It All Night/ Racing In The Street-Thunder Road/ Jungleland/ (CD5) Kitty’s Back/ Paradise By The C/ Fire/ Sherry Darling/ Not Fade Away/ Gloria-She’s Gone/ Growin’ Up/ Backstreets/ Rosalita/ (CD6) Born To Run (actually not – this is a little over a minute of audience applause followed by a few chords of Born To Run strummed for tuning purposes before the encores begin)/ 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)/ Born To Run/ Because The Night/ Raise Your Hand/ Twist & Shout/ (CD7) Intro/ Badlands/ Streets of Fire/ Spirit In The Night/ Darkness On The Edge of Town/ Independence Day/ The Promised Land/ Prove It All Night/ Racing In The Street/ Thunder Road/ Meeting Across The River/ Jungleland/ (CD8) Kitty’s Back/ Fire/ Candy’s Room/ Because The Night/ Point Blank/ Not Fade Away/ She’s The One/ Backstreets/ Rosalita/ 4th of July, Asbury Park (listed simply as Sandy)/ (CD9) Born To Run/ 10th Avenue Freezeout/ Detroit Medley/ Raise Your Hand/ (CD10) Good Rockin’ Tonight/ Badlands/ Spirit In The Night/ Darkness On The Edge of Town/ Independence Day/ The Promised Land/ Prove It All Night/ Racing In The Street/ Thunder Road/ Jungleland/ (CD11) Santa Claus Id Coming To Town/ Night Train/ Fire/ Candy’s Room/ Because The Night/ Point Blank/ Not Fade Away-Gloria-She’s The One/ Backstreets-Sad Eyes/ (CD12) Rosalita/ Born To Run/ 10th Avenue Freezeout/ Detroit Medley/ Raise Your Hand/ (CD13) Badlands/ Streets of Fire/ Spirit In The Night/ Darkness on the Edge of Town/ Factory/ The Promised Land/ Prove It All Night/ Racing In The Streets/ Thunder Road/ Jungleland/ (CD14) The Ties That Bind/ Santa story/ Santa Claus Is Coming To Town/ he Fever/ Fire/ Candy’s Room/ Because The Night/ Point Blank/ Mona-Preacher’s Daughter/ She’s The One/ Backstreets/ (CD15) Rosalita/ Born To Run/ Detroit Medley/ 10th Avenue Freezeout/ Raise Your Hand/ Quarter to Three

Comments: As the European market opened up to legal, but unauthorized broadcast recordings, Sound Stage was quick to release this lavish box set as their initial release in 2015. It was a stunning set, containing the best source tapes (including the Atlanta broadcast in previously unavailable quality, even among the most serious of tape traders), expert mastering combined with outstanding packaging, liner notes and photos (also unauthorized). Sound Stage has continued to release box sets by other artists in equally spectacular quality and has assumed the position of the standard bearer for all such labels.

In late 2014, Bruce Springsteen began releasing vintage concerts on his official website in multiple formats [CD, lossy (MP3) downloads, and lossless (FLAC) downloads]. The price for CDs is a very reasonable $23 per show. Downloads were equally inexpensive, about $10 for MP3, $13 for FLAC. By 2020, every one of these shows had become available in the only way these shows could be improved upon – from the Boss’s own master recordings. The UK-based distributor of Sound Stage pulled this set from the market, dumping remaining copies at incredibly low prices (I got one for less than $30, postage included). Times being what they are, and limited to a Social Security budget, when faced with the choice of $115 vs $30, I chose the cheaper option. Would I rather be in a financial position to afford the official versions? Absolutely. 

What did I get for my money? Well, I got hard copies (silver CDs) of 5 complete shows in excellent quality with some well-chosen articles contained in the booklet. The most revealing is by Dave Marsh, which gives insight into how the shows could have such varied setlists and still be such tightly constructed performances at the same time – the 3-hour soundchecks/rehearsals before every show on the tour, whether it be in Des Moines, Iowa or high profile gigs in New York or L.A. No audience was ever too insignificant to matter, no venue too large or small where Springsteen would not personally go out to the seats, from front row to nose-bleed to make sure the sound was equally pleasing. For an even more in-depth look at how that worked, I’d recommend Marsh’s Bruce Springsteen On Tour book – which contains a cover photo of Springsteen doing exactly that.

In between the lines, it also illustrates that when Springsteen became the public face of the RIAA’s anti-bootleg campaign of the mid-to-late ‘70s, Springsteen had different motives than the RIAA. Often overlooked (and the source of to-this-day grudges by old-line bootleg collectors) is that for the industry it was always about profits. For Springsteen it was about control of his art – which he clearly extended to live performances as well as studio albums. But, as every working class laborer knows, absolute control of our lives is a futile, if noble, endeavor. What was off limits in the ‘70s, for Springsteen, was not off-limits by 2014. And perhaps Springsteen was right then. While most of the Springsteen bootlegs up to that point had been high-quality fan-generated recordings of spectacular FM-broadcasts, what would follow in the ‘80s were some god-awful recordings by bootleggers that shared the same interests as their official industry counterparts – cashing in on Springsteen’s rising star power.

Darkness on the Edge of Town was a tough record for me to like, or even listen to. I was so consumed with the wreckage of my own life at that time (first child still-born, second with a birth defect that would leave him with a near-total loss of hearing in one ear – he will always hear in mono) that I was incapable of listening to an album that was rooted in wreckage. That it contained hope as well went mostly unheard. 

It was the bootlegs from the ’78 Darkness tour that revealed what the studio effort had failed to reveal. There was joy in rock ‘n’ roll that could overcome anything. I still hear that joy in these recordings in a year (2020) full of wreckage. I save the last words for Little Richard..

“I consider Long Tall Sally sacred. It’s a song of love and joy in a world of chaos and commotion and strife. We need a little joy.” (Little Richard)

Bonus views: 

Live Vinyl: Captain Beefheart Kansas City 1974

 

[review by Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen]

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band: Live at Cowtown Ballroom, Kansas City, 22 April 1974 (Radio Looploop RLL 034)

 

Venue: As titled

 

Sound Quality: Very good quality FM broadcast (KUDL), decent stereo mix

 

Cover: Familiar shot that looks to be from the same photo sessions that produced the cover for the official Grow Fins – Rarities 1965-1972 album

 

Tracklist: (side a) Mirror Man/ Upon the My-O-My/ Full Moon Hot Sun/ Keep on Rubbing/ Be Your Dog (side b) Crazy Little Things/ Sugar Bowl/ This Is The Day/ Sweet Georgia Brown/ Abba Zaba/ Peaches

 

Comments: The first thing most people think of when they think of Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), if they think of him at all, is Trout Mask Replica, his 1969 album that critics frequently call a masterpiece and one that became something of a talisman to alternative rockers in the 1990s (whether they actually listened to it or not). But that album's singular sound is an outlier in the Beefheart catalog, emphasizing polytonal non-conventional sounds in a way that the rest of his oeuvre doesn't. That's not to say Beefheart was ever conventional, but most of his work is considerably more accessible than the record most frequently hailed as the pinnacle of his career.

 

But musical throughlines—Delta blues, Howlin' Wolf, and free jazz—are the same no matter how "outside" Beefheart got, and Van Vliet was a singular artist. After brief stints with A&M Records and Buddah, he signed with his friend Frank Zappa's Straight Records to produce his most experimental work. By the time of this recording, his avant-garde tendencies took a back seat to the blues (he'd embrace them again later in the decade), but the music is every bit as powerful (though Beefheart purists maintain the music represented here lacks the challenging rhythms and improvisation that made Beefheart, well, Beefheart).

 

In addition to being a musical iconoclast, Van Vliet was, by almost all accounts, an asshole. His original Magic Band were either fired or quit just before the 1974 tour, and the band on this recording became known among fans as the "Tragic Band." Live at Cowtown Ballroom is at least the third release of this show, and it not only truncates the 12-song performance to 11, it also rearranges the setlist, according to the "Captain Beefheart Radar Station" blog. So, while most of the songs here are from the Unconditionally Guaranteed sessions, none of the musicians who recorded that album appear here. No Zoot Horn Rollo or Alex St. Clair, though what Dean Smith and Fuzzy Fuscaldo might lack in imagination they make up for in power. (This, of course, also means that the photos on the album cover do not reflect the personnel that actually play on the album inside.)

  

It's fascinating to hear Beefheart push against the confines of a more conventional band with his usual squawks and howls on "Be Your Dog," and blow his harmonica while saxophonist Del Simmons (who did play on the Unconditionally Guaranteed album) skronks his way through "Full Moon Hot Sun." "Crazy Little Thing," from 1972's Clear Spot, might be the only song in Beefheart's catalog that would pass unnoticed on classic rock radio, with an utterly conventional guitar solo and a choogling groove.

 

"This is the Day," the closest thing that Beefheart ever came to a traditional love song, is an unexpected highlight, even as you can hear Van Vliet laugh as he delivers some of the lines, getting a kick out of his own joke (rock's premier experimenter singing lines like "This is the day that love chose to play/ one minute here, one minute there"). The version of "Sweet Georgia Brown," however, is forgettable.

 

Only on "Abba Zaba," from Beefheart's 1967 debut Safe as Milk is there a sense of anything rhythmically or harmonically outside of blues-rock tropes. Those aforementioned Beefheart purists might reject this band and this era outright, but they're missing the point. Though at times the music sounds like The Rolling Stones or Cream, Van Vliet uses his vocals and harmonica to subtly (and sometimes not-so-subtly) subvert cliches at every turn.

 

Grade: B

Bonus view:

Tom Waits live vinyl! My Father's Place 1977

 [review by Bill Glahn]

Tom Waits: Live at My Father’s Place in Roslyn, NY 10 October 1977 (Radio Looploop RLL 043)

Venue: as titled

Sound Quality: Good WLIR radio broadcast, with some “tweaking” to raise the voice and audience levels that aren’t typical of known off-air master cassettes on other WLIR broadcasts. A mono-esque and saturated source tape leads to some distortion. A fine recording as bootlegs go, but one that could have been better considering the availability of vintage broadcast recordings these days.

Cover: Attractive single pocket jacket, black and white photos of Waits on front and back with red lettering.

Tracklist: (side a) Standing on the Corner/ I Never Talk To Strangers/ Depot, Depot/ Jitterbug Boy (side b) Pasties and a G-String/ Invitation To The Blues/ Eggs and Sausage/ Step Right Up (side c) I Wish I Was In New Orleans/ Small Change/ The Piano Has Been Drinking/ Emotional Weather Report (side d) Muriel/ California Here I Come/ Tom Traubert’s Blues

Comments: With his Satchmo voice, beatnik persona, and novelist heart, Tom Waits was clearly a man out of time when his first album, Closing Time, was released in 1973. That it was released on Asylum Records (a label that was distributed by the Warner Music Group) is no surprise, given that Warners had already established itself as an artist friendly label and distributor willing to take chances. By the time of this broadcast, Waits had already released 5 albums and garnered a growing and loyal audience. 

Waits projected a confident, if unusual singing style, with an affinity for writing about lost and wayward souls, street criminals, and the seedy underbelly of urban life. In essence, he was the counter-persona to Warners’ other “weird voice,” Randy Newman, a neurotic who was focused more on melody and world events. Where Newman wrote “Mama Told Me Not To Come,” Waits went and bathed himself in “forbidden” culture with no apologies. It was easy to see why Newman’s songs were more readily attractive to other artists at the time, although Waits’ first album did yield “Ol’ 55,” which The Eagles recorded an almost unrecognizably sterile version.

By the time of this recording, however, almost completely consumed by whiskey and cigarette-drenched talking lyrics over a jazz band (free-form), Waits was in immanent danger of self-parody. He wasn’t in any danger of maintaining his stature as a critics’ darling or popularity on NPR and college stations, but with narrowing formats on commercial radio (of which WLIR was one), Waits would be squeezed out of any notions of mass popularity. Despite his unyielding innovative approach (or because of it), Waits would become the object of fandom by sociology “geeks” as a conduit of the lives of everyday people to their more educated brethren. A pity, because Wait has only become more accessible (and his characters more fleshed out) as the years have rolled along. 

This broadcast contains only two songs from his just released (at the time) album, Foreign Affairs, mixed with his more popular earlier material such as “Invitation To The Blues,” “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda),” and a jazzbo cover of “Standing On The Corner.” While those songs keep the performance interesting, the new songs only added to a routine that was already becoming stale. Waits would recover. WLIR would become more streamlined. It’s a tough call on whether it’s Waits’ last hurrah on commercial radio or commercial radio’s last hurrah at presenting challenging artists. 

Grade: B- (half point reduction for sound quality)

Bonus view:

Back Pages: A Tidal Wave of Smashing Pumpkin Bootleg CDs, September 1996 issue

 

[In the September 1996 issue of Live! Music Review, we took a look at the tremendous number of Smashing Pumpkin bootlegs as they reached peak popularity with Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. The band, it seems, was ill-equipped to handle fame on that level. In-fighting, drugs, deaths, and a creative drought brought on a quick decline. The popularity of this era of Pumpkins, however, continues with both new CD and vinyl releases from today’s protection gap specialists. At the time, the CD market ruled and vinyl releases were non-existant in the bootleg world. These days, quite a few of the shows once found only n CD are showing up for the first time on vinyl. But that's the subject of a future blog.]

Tidal Wave of Smashing Pumpkins [by Bill Glahn]

The Smashing Pumkins have moved from indie scene hipness (Gish) to chart-busters (Siamese Dream) to superstar status (Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness) with each successive album. When the much anticipated Mellon Collie album finally arrived in October of ’95, the critics divided into two camps; those that listed it among the year’s best, and those that condemned it as an overblown piece of self-indulgence. Containing two full length CDs, a deluxe packaging, and a seemingly endless parade of non-LP b-sides that filled out the singles from the album, the Mellon Collie project was an easy target for the “self-indulgent” tag. But very little of what is contained would be considered “filler” on the works of any other rising stars proliferating on the charts and MTV rotation these days. In fact, Mellon Collie holds up well against even the most highly rated double LP sets.

While it doesn’t have the cohesiveness in theme of The Who’s Quadrophenia or Tommy, it certainly contains a tremendous outpouring of great song writing and creative musicianship not seen by a single band is such quantity since the glory days of The Who (1968-73), The Rolling Stones (1969-72), and The Beatles (1966-70). Dylan is the only rock artist that I can think of that was at the top of his game for a far lengthier frame of time and even he never put out such a massive body of work in one chunk.

Mellon Collie is most often compared to The Beatles’ White Album, another classic double album that contained a diverse selection of styles. While it is true that most of what is on The White Album can be taken as “brillient” when broken down into individual songs, it never really worked as a complete piece of work. It was always too democratic in its approach, whereas Mellom Collie is almost exclusively the vision of Billy Corgan. Mellon Collie is actually a more superior body of work as a result and it will probably end up being viewed as one of the great rock albums of all time.

Bootleggers, with their uncanny ability to recognize great talent, have picked the Pumpkins worldwide tour in support of Mellon Collie as THE tour to document this year. There appears to be a little fandom returning to the bootleg ranks, something we haven’t seen in awhile. For example, Moonraker is quickly gaining a reputation as the label of choice for both Prince and The Smashing Pumpkins as they continue to release every quality recording they can get their hands on both artists. Other labels, such as KTS and Oxygen, are releasing the broadcast recordings as they become available, but it’s Moonraker who is also tracking down high quality recordings from other venues. While Monraker has also shown a tendency to “follow the charts” with their other releases, their Smashing Pumpkins and Prince titles are becoming available at a dizzying rate. Clearly they are operating from a fan’s perspective with these releases. Even the packaging is exemplary.

The first live broadcasts of Mellon Collie material came from a British broadcast of the ’95 Reading Music Festival and a worldwide broadcast from Chicago on the album’s release day (available in its entirety only on the Moonraker 2CD set, Starlight). That broadcast featured only a few numbers from the band’s back catalog and was dominated by material from Mellon Collie. Since that time, the set list has been overhauled several times with some of the obscure b-sides finding their way into the live set and some older songs being resurrected. For a band that questioned even if they would tour at all, the tour has gone on for a lengthy period with several visits to Europe, some time in Asia and Australia, and a journey through the States. Things only came to an end with the tragic heroin-related death of the tour’s keyboardist, Jonathan Melvoin, and subsequent firing of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, who was in possession of heroin and with Melvoin at the time of his death. Supposedly, the band is auditioning new drummersand will continue to tour in the future.

Other mishaps also happened during the tour such as the death of a 17 year old girl named Burnadette O’Brien who was crushed at a concert in Dublin. The death was attributed to excessive moshing and the band has taken a position against mosh pits.

Despite what some might call a jinx, the music remained great throughout the tour. There is an abundant amount of live CDs to choose from and a lot of duplication. Getting the same show twice could pose a problem, so collectors need to be careful. However, the sound quality on recordings from this tour have proven to be consistently well above average, and in some cases, spectacular. Here’s the details on what we’ve located so far, minus a few that we’ve covered in previous issues.

Smashing Pumpkins: The Mellon Collie Demos (Moonraker 123)

Source: Demos & outtakes from Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness plus a radio interview

Sound Quality: Very good to excellent studio recordings

Cover: Dark, fuzzy, and extremely hard to read. Not up to the usual Moonraker standards.

Tracklist: Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness/ Lily (My One and Only)/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Here is No Why/ Galapogos/ Instrumental/ Strolling (1979 demo). Ugly/ Wishing You Were/ Thirty-three/ Beautiful/ Interview

Comments: Fascinating stripped down acoustic versions make this disc a must have. Most of the demos feature just Corgan and his acoustic guitar. The interview isn’t wasted space either. Billy Corgan gives insights into the band and the audience actually asks more interesting than the DJs (KROQ Los Angeles). In fact, one of the jocks makes a complete ass out of himself by trying to be too cute and making a big issue out of Corgan’s new “no hair” look. Thankfully he turns the questions over to the listeners early in the interview.

Smashing Pumpkins: Tune In, Turn on, Rawk Out (Moonraker 115)

Venue: Various TV and radio appearances from the Mellon Collie tour: *Saturday Night Live 11/11/95, **Canal+ (French TV) 12/10/95, #The White Room (BBC) 1/96, ##American Music Awards 1/29/96, ^KROQ Breakfast Roadshow (LA, CA) 2/3/96, ^^Triple J Radioshow (Sydney, Australia) 3/13/96

Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings

Cover: Very cool 10-page fold-out insert with lots of basic biographical information

Tracklist: Bullet With Butterfly Wings*/ Zero*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings**/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings#/ 1979##/ 1979^/ Landslide^^/ Tonight Tonight^^/ 1979^^/ Cupid De Locke^^/ Thirty-Three^^/ Take Me Down^^/ To Forgive^^/ Muzzle^^/ Interview^^

Comments: Moonraker has managed to compile a complete cD from various short broadcasts that other companies are using for filler. This is probably the best way to get the acoustic broadcast from Sydney and to my knowledge, the KROQ track hasn’t appeared anywhere else. As they often do, Moonraker completes this CD with an interesting intervfiew that fans will find fascinating and scribes can use as reference material, but you probably won’t play it very often. The extensive repeating of songs on this will probably relegate it to fan and hard-core collector interest, but I play it a lot anyway and enjoy it every time.

Smashing Pumpkins: Exit Under Burning Skies (Wired Sounds WSCD 001)

Venue: Reading Festival, UK 8/25/95, *unknown bonus track

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording

Cover: Simple, but eye-appealing

Tracklist: Jellybelly/ Zero/ Today/ Disarm/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Rocket/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Siva/ Cherub Rock/ Mayonnaise/ X.Y.U./ Silverfuck*

Comments: The worldwide broadcast of the Chicago release party in October of ’95 may have been most people’s introduction to the music contained on Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness but the band actually had performed many of the songs several months earlier at the world famous Reading Music Festival. Wired Sounds’ version of the performance is the most complete and sonically pleasing to surface so far on CD. They’ve left most of the between-song banter intact and also added a broadcast version of “Silverfuck” (possibly BBC) to fill out the disc.

Smashing Pumpkins: Wrapped Up In The Pleasures of the World (KTS 542)

Venue: The Reading Festival, UK 8/25/95

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording. The mix is lacking when compared to later broadcasts of this tour.

Cover: Somebody at the KTS art department got a little over-zealous with their computer imaging.

Tracklist: Jellybelly/ Zero/ Today/ Disarm/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Rocket/ Thru the Eyes of Ruby/ Siva/ Chrub Rock/ Mayonnaise/ X.Y.U.

Comments: The KTS version of this show.

Smashing Pumpkins: Billy The Kid (Flying Tigers FTCD 079)

Venue: The Riviera, Chicago, Il 10/23/95

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast

Cover: A collection of SP photos from different time periods.

Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Zero/ Today/ Disarm/ Fuck You (An Ode To No One)/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Geek U.S.A./ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ If You Want My Love/ Auf Weidersein (listed as Mayonnaise)

Comments: Yet another version of the Mellon Collie album release party. KTS, Oxygen, and Moonraker were all quick out of the chute with this show that leaves Flying Tiger playing the mop-up role. For the casual fan who missed out on the previous releases of this show, this version is now readily available at many bootleg outlets with an inferior cover – but there still is a hot show contained on the disc. Flying Tigers has made some odd choices in their editing, choosing to edit out the blackout that occurred near the start of the show. I guess Flying Tigers couldn’t find the last song on any Smashing Pumpkins album and weren’t familiar with the Cheap Trick song, so they just called it “Mayonnaise.” You can rest assured that Flying Tigers didn’t somehow score an unbroadcast version of “Mayonnaise” from this show. There is a level fluctuation in “Cherub Rock” that doesn’t appear in other versions of this show.

Smashing Pumpkins: Disconnect (Oxygen OXY 046)

Venue: The Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland 12/12/95, *Reading Festival 8/25/95, **Universal Amphitheater, 12/12/93 (says Europe ’95), +American Music Awards, Shrine Auditorium, LA, CA 1/29/96 ++Studio outtake 1995

Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings except ** (very good audience) and ++ (very good studio

Cover: Typically professional job by Oxygen, listing tour dates from January to May 1996. We’ll forgive them for the error on the recording information for “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” We had to track that one down ourselves.

Tracklist: Jellybelly/ Zero/ Disarm/ Today/ Fuck You (Ode To No One)/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Where Boys Fear To Thread/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ Geek USA/ Silverfuck/ Siva*/ Mayonnaise*/ Rudulph The Red-Nosed Reindeer**/ 1979+/ Jackie Blue++

Comments: The primary feature here is the broadcast from the Milky Way (Melkweg). Although excellent in quality, the mix is a little substandard from that presented on the Rockpalast broadcast. “Rudolph” is more than a novelty. “Jackie Blue” is a cool cover of a song originally by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. However, this version is officially released as a non-lp b-side. High marks all around for this one, but still not pick of the litter.

Smashing Pumpkins: Twilight (Moonraker 039)

Venue: Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland, *Saturday Night Live 11/11/95, ** Canal (French TV), #unknown

Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings

Cover: Another fine twist on the Mellon Collie artwork by Moonraker

Tracklist: Porcelina of the Vast Oceans#/ Jellybelly/ Zero/ Disarm/ Today Fuck You (Ode to No One)/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Where Boys Fear to Tread/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ Geek USA/ Silverfuck/ Zero*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings**

Comments: “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” is not from the Amsterdam broadcast. Moonraker has edited onto the front of “Jellybelly” by starting the first notes during the feedback/fade-out of “Porcelina.” Anyone with a taped copy of the broadcast knows that it just didn’t happen that way. This practice of creating your own “unique” version is bogus and I wish these companies would stop doing it. However, I know some tape traders who make claims to “complete soundboard versions” of some broadcasts who court bootleg companies with their “insider” copies “straight from the soundboard” in exchange for money or copies of the finished product as payment. Sometimes the labels simply don’t know they’re getting bogus tapes and with Moonraker’s reputation for fine SP releases maybe the benefit of the doubt is deserved here. In any case – a pox on the house of the perpetrator of this hoax. Leave the shenanigans to the official labels.

Smashing Pumpkins: Dusk (Moonraker 063-64)

Venue: The Phoenix, Toronto, Canada 1/3/96

Sound Quality: Very good audience DAT recording

Cover: Moonraker uses the “magic show” theme for this one, but provide little more than a track listing and date. One of their weaker efforts.

Tracklist: 9(disc 1) Tonight Tonight/ In The Arms of Sleep/ Cupid De Locke/ Thirty-three/ Today/ Lily (My One and Only)/ Take Me Down/ Beautiful/ Rocket/ Galapogos (disc 2) Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness/ Where Boys Fear to Tread/ Zero/ Fuck You b(Ode To No One)/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ 1979/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Jellybelly/ Disarm/ Cherub Rock/ Geek USA/ X.Y.U./ Farewell & Goodnight

Comments: The complete show displays the band’s decision to expand the style of their live presentation past the all-out rock style of the record release party. Moonraker has come up with a fine audience recording from a part of the tour that hasn’t received much coverage elsewhere. The dynamics of a two-hour show prove to be more interesting than the truncated broadcasts, despite the less spectacular sound quality.

Smashing Pumpkins: Turpentine Kisses (KTS 531)

Venue: Sydney, Australia 3/13/96, *Reading Rock Feswtival, UK 8/25/95

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings

Cover: Not up to the usual KTS standards and the catalogs are back in place after a short absence.

Tracklist: Landslide/ Tonight Tonight/ 1979/ Cupid De Locke/ Thirty-three/ Take Me Down/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ To Forgive/ Today*/ Disarm*/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings*/ Siva*/ Mayonnaise*/ Cherub Rock*

Comments: The Australia broadcast is acoustic. These shorter sets don’t usually hold up well against the longer shows but the acoustic performance offers something off-beat for the more serious fan. The Pumpkins have always been very adept at presenting excellent acoustic versions of even their hardest rockers. Check out the acoustic “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” done as a dirge. Very cool! Corgan may not like his own voice, but it works just great here. The six Reading Festival tracks are also available on another KTS release, Wrapped Up In the Pleasures of the World, making almost half of this disc worthless to fans who bought that one. “Landslide,” which opens other versions of the Sydney radio broadcast, is missing here.

Smashing Pumpkins: Secret Destroyers – Unplugged in Oz (Oxygen OXY 076)

Venue: Sydney, Australia 3/13/96, *live b-side, ** Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy 4/24/96

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings

Cover: Attractive fold-open insert in typical Oxygen fashion with quotes from Billy and D’arcy

Tracklist: Landslide/ Tonight Tonight/ 1979/ Cupid De Locke/ Thirty-three/ Take Me Down/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ To Forgive/ Tonight Tonight*/ Zero**/ Fuck You (Ode to No One**/ To Forgive**/ By Starlight**/ Muzzle**/ Cherup Rock**/ Mayonnaise**/ Bodies**

Comments: Although different locations are listed on the KTS and Oxygen versions of the Sydney broadcast (KTS falsely states “The Request Lounge” and Oxygen correctly states “Triple J Studio) both of these releases feature the same performance. Some of the between-song commentary has been edited differently. The recording from Milan contains many splices and audience cross-fades. Almost all between-song banter has been deleted, running one song into the next with hardly a pause.

Smashing Pumpkins: (We Salute You) Naked Man (Oxygen OXY 068)

Venue: Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany /7/96

Sound Quality: excellent broadcast recording

Cover: Outstanding effort this time on the part of Oxygen. Their liner notes are probably the best written for a Smashing Pumkins bootleg giving “the story so far.” A list of May 1996 tour dates is also included. A selection of cool photos is spread around the booklet and tray card, most coming from the Rockpalast TV broadcast from which this recording was pulled.

Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Zero/ Fuck You (Ode To No One)/ Today/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ Muzzle/ Cherub Rock/ 1979/ X.Y.U.

Comments: The mix for this show was as good as any others that you may come across, but that is to be expected from a Rockpalast broadcast. The performance is equally dynamic and the long extended “rawk” ending to “Thru The Eyes of Ruby” is absolutely incredible. Consider this show the one to have if you’re having only one.

Smashing Pumpkins: Dawn (Moonraker 104)

Venue: Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96

Sound Quality: Excelent broadcast quality

Cover: Almost as nice as the Oxygen release featuring this show. Lots of pictures from the Rockpalast broadcast including full frontal male nudity of “The Naked Man.” If you’re a prude, don’t open the booklet.

Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Jellybelly/ Fuck You (Ode to No One/ Today/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ Muzzle/ Cherub Rock/ 1979/ X.Y.U.

Comments: Moonraker has chosen a slightly different track list is trimming this down to a single disc.

Smashing Pumpkins: Secrets of Your Dreams (KTS 545)

Venue: Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording

Cover: KTS covers are beginning to get a bit too arty with computer enhanced graphics but virtually no substance. But their covers still beat the hell out of those cheap one or two page inserts found on the vbudget labels.

Tracklist: Tonight Tonight/ Zero/ Fuck You (Ode To No One)/ Today/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru The Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ Muzzle/ Cherub Rock/ 1979/ X.Y.U.

Comments: KTS has used the heaviest hand when editing this Rockpalast TV broadcast (4 minutes shorter than both the Oxygen and Moonraker versions) making it the least desirable of the versions available so far. This show may end up being one of the all time most bootlegged recordings, rankinf up there with Led Zeppelin’s 1971 BBC show, the Beatles 1966 Budokan show and Nirvana’s 2/94 Rome broadcast. And why not? It’s a great recording by a band that may be the late ‘90s most important.

Smashing Pumpkins: The Berlin Bullet (Moonraker 124/5)

Venue: The Arena, Berlin, Germany 4/1596

Sound Quality: Very good to excellent audience recording. Monoesque, but good dynamics. The interview is an excellent broadcast recording.

Cover: Elegant with attractive designs on the discs as well

Tracklist: (disc 1) Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness/ Tonight Tonight/ Zero Fuck You (Ode to No One)/ Here is No Why/ To Forgive/ Bullet With Butterfly Wings/ Thru the Eyes of Ruby/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Disarm/ By Starlight/ Geek USA/ Cherub Rock/ Muzzle (disc 2) 1979/ X.Y.U./ Interlude/ Today/ Mayonnaise/ Bodies/ Silverfuck/ Farewell and Goodnight/ Interview

Comments: A full concert with some great audience interaction from Corgan. He apologizes for comments about “Rudi,” a German football (soccer) striker that he made during the Rockpalast show a week earlier. Apparently Rudi didn’t have a very successful world cup. “Fairwell & Goodnight” makes a great set closer with a beautiful duet between Corgan and D’arcy. The Band seems to genuinely bond with this audience and also seem to grow closer as a band the longer the tour goes on. The unlisted interview that appears at the end of disc two is with a German commentator and again proves to be very interesting. It’s this kind of examination of the artist’s thoughts, motives, and driving forces that leads me to believe that these Moonraker releases come more from fan interest that simply an interest in profits.

Smashing Pumpkins: The Live Devine (Moonraker 12)

Venue: Tracks 1-4 are from the Brixton Academy, London, UK 5/15/96* and tracks 5-13 are from Palatrussardi, Milan, Italy 4/24/96. There is another unlisted interview segment at the conclusion of this disc.

Sound Quality: All excellent broadcast recordings.

Cover: Bizarro world photos of the band. Also included in the 12-page insert is a photo of the poster for the Brixton gig and a backstage pass.

Tracklist: Tonight Tonight*/ Cupid De Locke*/ Thirty-three*/ 1979*/ Tonight Tonight/ Fuck You (Ode to No One)/ By Starlight/ Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/ Cherub Rock/ X.Y.U./ Mayonnaise/ Bodies/ Silverfuck/ Interview

Comments: A very cool Hawaiian style guitar is featured in “Tonight Tonight” during the Brixton show. It’s very prominent in the  mix. The Milan recording features different tracks than what appeared on Secret Destroyers (Oxygen) but the between song edits are still cut very tightly. It makes it appear as if the band is racing to the finish. The interview featured on this disc is with British radio and Corgan explains in no uncertain terms the band’s problems with the British media.

Smashing Pumpkins: Fishing Blue (Mic Records MIC 150)

Venue: The first 13 tracks are a re-scrambling of songs found 0n the Shine bootleg (Bullseye CD-EYE-05). The source is Madison, WI 6/16/90 and 10/16/91. “Hello Kitty Kat,” “Today,” and “Obscured” are from official singles.

Sound Quality: The manufacturer as re-eq’d everything on this disc to bad effect. The result is a harsh sounding disc which fluctuates in quality. 

Cover: Ugly and irrelevant.

Comments: A look at the early Pumpkins but the manufacturer has botched this one so badly that it isn’t even worth the price of a bad cup of coffee.

Smashing Pumpkins: Tribute to BOC (Sugarcane SC 52004)

Venue: Cambridge, MA 2/9/91

Sound Quality: Harsh and distorted audience recording

Cover: bare bones picture of D’arcy

Tracklist: Ride On/ Siva/ Rhinocerous/ Bury Me/ I am One/ Window Paine/ Snail/ Slunk/ Tristessa/ Godzilla

Comments: Another audience recording that has been eq’d into an ear-piercing mess. You’d have to be a masochist to listen to this one with any kind of regularity. Skip it.

Smashing Pumpkins: Retrospective (Sugarcane SC 52019/20)

Venue: Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ 2/8/91, Madison, WI 6/16/90*, Toer Records, Chicago, IL 7/26/93**, Milwaukee, WI 10/22/91+

Sound Quality: The Maxwell’s show is another distorted audience recording from Sugarcane. Ditto, Madison. The Tower Records show is a very good FM broadcast that has been done better and the Milwaukee show is a decent audience recording, but with Sugarcane’s typical eq flubs.

Cover: Grainy photo of James Iha.

Tracklist: (disc 1) Tritessa/ Ride On/ Rhinoceros/ Bury Me/ I am One/ Window Paine/ Siva/ Godzilla/ Tritessa*/ Snail*/ Rhinoceros*/ I am One* (disc 2) Rocket**/ Cherub Rock**/ Today**/ Mayonnaise**/ Hummer**/ Blue+/ Siva+/ Smiley+/ Suffer+

Comments: A cheap and not very impressive package.

Smashing Pumpkins: We Can Work It Out (Vivid Sound Productions VSP 51009)

Comments: Vivid Sound Productions are the same people that bring you Sugarcane Records and this is just a duplication of disc 2 of Retrospective. Mark under scam. The cover sucks just as bad, too.

Smashing Pumpkins: Daydream Kisses (Hawk 013)

Venue: Whiskey A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA 12/12/91

Sound Quality: Good to very good audience recording. Some loud mouths and screamers in the audience.

Cover: Unflattering grouping of pictures

Tracklist: Rocket/ Bury Me/ Window Paine/ Snail/ Siva/ Drown/ I am One/ Crush/ Silverfck

Comments: Not the most enjoyable audience recording you will ever hear, but with so many bad ones from this period finding their way onto CD, this might not be a bad one to pick up. Contains some good extended versions. File this one under “average” for both performance and fidelity.

Smashing Pumpkins: Versions (Not Guilty NG480594)

Venue: States “live in USA” but some of these tracks are from Europe.

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings

Cover: Cheapo cheapo with nothing to do with this band

Tracklist: Cherub Rock/ Disarm/ Rocket/ Cherub Rock/ Today/ Disarm/ Spaceboy/ Dancing In The Moonlight/ Rocket/ Quiet/ Today/ Rhinoceros/ Geek USA/ I am One/ Disarm/ Cherub Rock

Comments: A copy of the Mayonnaise Dream (KTS), an excellent bootleg which didn’t give source information either. Acostic and electric broadcast recordings.

Smashing Pumpkins: Dream (Moonraker 138)

Venue: Crosby Auditorium, San Diego, CA 102693

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recording, the mix is a little dense

Cover: Attractive 8-page fold-out insert which gives the entire tour schedule for 1993 & 1994

Tracklist: Geek USA/ Rocket/ Today/ Disarm/ Drown/ Hummer/ Quiet/ Cherub Rock/ Mayonnaise/ Bury Me

Comments: While every other company is jumping on the latest broadcasts of Mellon Collie gigs, Moonraker is also digging for older archival material such as this recent release. To my knowledge, this one hasn’t surfaced on any other bootleg. The band’s dynamics are still not as well developed as on later shows and the Pumpkins basically try to pulverize their audience with volume on this one. However, Corgan’s fabulous sense of melody doe emerge on songs such as “Today,” “Dream,” and of course “Cherub Rock.”

Bonus view:

Costello, Dylan, and the Sex Pistols: Some Back Pages from the February 2000 print edition of Live! Music Review

 

[Rev. Keith A. Gordon takes a look at some boot CDs in the February 2000 print edition of Live! Music Review. Available, now, for the first time on the Internet.]

Elvis Costello: Time To Play B-Sides! (Tendolar #TDR-142; 76:09 min)

SOURCE: Studio outtakes, non-album B-sides, CD singles and unreleased live performances. Tracks 24 and 25 were originally released as bonus tracks on the Imperial Bedroom album.

SOUND QUALITY: As is usual with any disc compiled from several different sources, it varies from track to track. Overall the material ranges from good to near excellent (7-9) and is quite an easy listen.

COVER: Typical Tendolar, which is to say a fair-to-middling’ package with a single-sided front cover insert with a dominant high-contrast photo of Costello surrounded by smaller screened doppelgangers of himself. Back cover has a B & W pic of Costello with the Attractions and a (lengthy) tracklist.

TRACKLIST: You’re No Good/ The Room Nobody Lives In/ Point Of No Return/ The Ugly Things/ Veronica (demo)/ Couldn’t Call It Unexpected (live)/ Hurry Down Doomsday (live)/ Idiophone/ A Drunken Man’s Praise Of Sobriety/ Puppet Girl/ Basement Kiss/ We Despise You/ Step Inside Love/ You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away/ Sticks And Stones/ Life Shrinks/ Brilliant Disguise/ Almost Ideal Eyes/ I Hope You’re Happy Now (demo)/ My Resistance Is Low/ Congratulations/ Do You Know What I’m Saying?/ London’s Brilliant Parade (alternate)/ Night Time/ Really Mystified 

COMMENTS: Whew…where does one start? To say that Elvis Costello is one of pop music’s most prolific artists would be an understatement. Time To Play B-Sides! showcases just a small portion of the talented singer/songwriter’s extensive recording history, collecting various non-album B-sides from vinyl 45s and CD singles, obscure songs from movie soundtracks, live tracks and other flotsam and jetsam from Costello’s nearly twenty-five year career. Suffice it to say that there are people who certainly know more about Costello’s output than this humble scribe, and even a couple of hours trying to track down the sources of the over two-dozen tracks included here only resulted in a raging headache. Fortunately, listening to the collection helps cure said cranial distress, Time To Play B-Sides! providing a wonderful sampling of Costello’s skills as both a songwriter and performer. From brilliant, passionate covers like the Beatles’ “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” or Springsteen’s “Brilliant Disguise” to lively originals like “Veronica” or “Puppet Girl,” Costello seldom disappoints. Whether venturing into the avant-garde (“The Room Nobody Lives In”), sixties-styled British pop (“Hurry Down Doomsday”), rocking rave-ups (“We Despise You”), exotica (“Life Shrinks”) or just bittersweet unrequited love (“I Hope You’re Happy Now”), Costello is a master at what he does. Costello fans may have some of this material on various discs, but it hasn’t been collected in one place like this that I can find. Until somebody else compiles a legitimate box set of Costello rarities (an overdue event considering the artist’s output), kudos are due Tendolar for their exhaustive work and excellent results.   (RK)

Bob Dylan Rock Solid (Junkyard Angel #Junk 004.A; 47:39 min)

SOURCE: Tracks 1 – 7, Massey Hall, Toronto Ontario, Canada; April 19, 1980. Track 8 claims to be from the next night’s soundcheck in Montreal Quebec, Canada. According to most references, however, Dylan didn’t play at Le Theatre Saint-Denis in Montreal until April 22nd, leaving one to believe that this cut might have been from one of the four nights (April 17 – 20) that Dylan played in Toronto.

SOUND QUALITY: Very good soundboard (7-8) with significant song separation providing disconcerting “empty spots” between songs. 

COVER: Front cover insert is double-sided with full-color shots of Mr. Zimmerman on both. Rear cover has pic of a perplexed Bobby looking at the tracklist and venue information and scratching his head. Tray insert offers another color shot of Dylan while the silver disc has a nice silk-screened two-tone label with the title and the old “Promotion Copy” ploy printed on it. A very nice package put together for Dylan collectors from the Junkyard Angel.

TRACKLIST: Gotta Serve Somebody/ Covenant Woman/ When You Gonna Wake Up?/ Precious Angel/ Slow Train/ Solid Rock/ In The Garden/ Coverdown/ Breakthrough

COMMENTS: The many facets of Bob Dylan’s career have been covered so often and in such detail that I won’t try to make an addition to the pile of information that exists concerning Mr. Zimmerman. Rock Solid captures part of an exciting 1980 performance that comes from the peak of Dylan’s “Christian” period. Dylan’s controversial conversion to Christianity was first expressed artistically with 1979’s Slow Train Coming album. His religious period stretched across three albums in as many years, running through 1980’s Saved and ending with Shot Of Love (with its K-Tel cover) in 1981. I’ve always thought this to be Dylan’s slightest creative period, but upon hearing songs like “Solid Rock” and “In The Garden” from Saved or “Gotta Serve Somebody” and “Precious Angel” from Slow Train Coming performed in full band mode, I’ll have to reconsider.

The performance captured by Rock Solid is dynamic, Dylan singing passionately and with some force, with background vocalists like Helena Springs and Regina Havis hitting the choruses and creating an outright gospel feel to the material. The songs from Saved were perfectly while on tour, the live arrangements subsequently copied months later in the studio. Unfortunately, only seven songs from the performance are included here – another eight songs have been dropped from the set offered here (perhaps the reason why there are long pauses placed between songs in the editing). There’s enough material from this single performance to fill a two-disc set which I, for one, would have liked to hear. A different show from Dylan’s four-night stretch came out a few years ago as the two-disc set Solid Rock on Wanted Man Music, featuring twice the material including these songs here.

As for the eighth track included here, “Coverdown/Breakthrough,” I can find absolutely nothing about. It’s evidently not a Dylan composition, but because it fits in with these songs so well it may be a cover of a gospel song. It matches Dylan’s mindset at the time, however, finishing the album on a high point. A valuable document of a little-known period of Dylan’s career, Rock Solid captures a significant performance. If you can’t track down the full two-disc set mentioned above you could do worse than finding a copy of the single disc Rock Solid.    (RK)     

Sex Pistols Spunk (Original Copy Original CD-R #OCO-27; 63:50 min)

SOURCE: Tracks one through twelve are studio demos taken from the Pistols’ first and third Denmark Street sessions with producer Dave Goodman in July 1976 and January 1977, respectively. Tracks thirteen through nineteen, not on the original vinyl version of Spunk, seem to be outtakes from the February 1977 sessions with producer Chris Thomas.

SOUND QUALITY: The original twelve Spunk cuts are very good (6-7) rough soundboard recordings from early Pistols’ recording sessions. Tracks thirteen through nineteen are good to very good (5-6) studio outtakes with a fair bit of scratchiness and vibration. 

COVER: Single-sided front cover insert offers a kinda grainy four-color shot of the band flinching in the face of some unidentified flying substance; back cover has the track listing and an ultra-cool pic of a British “Zodiac Guide” circa 1977 that proclaims the Pistols to be “an astro disaster!”

TRACKLIST: Seventeen (a/k/a I’m A Lazy Sod)/ Satellite/ No Feelings/ I Wanna Be Me/ Submission/ Anarchy In The U.K./ God Save The Queen/ Problems/ Pretty Vacant/ Liar/ EMI/ New York/ EMI/ Submission/ Satellite/ No Feelings/ Seventeen/ New York/ Submission

COMMENTS: One of the best things about the CD-R revolution is that no worthwhile bootleg title never has to go out of print again. The “up from the basement” release of the Sex Pistols’ classic boot Spunk is a perfect case in point. Proving to have more lives than old lady Dooling’s eight cats, the collection of studio demos that make up Spunk pop up time and time again in varying forms. The original vinyl version offers up twelve aggressive punk tunes recorded by producer Dave Goodman for Pistols’ manager Malcom McLaren, who submitted them to EMI as the band’s first album. Shocked by cuts like “God Save The Queen,” “Anarchy In The U.K.” and “Pretty Vacant,” the label unceremoniously dumped the band. A & M Records subsequently signed the Pistols, proffering an advance that, like your uncle’s favorite fishing tale, has grown in legend as the years have passed by. A couple of weeks later A & M also dropped the band due to their “controversial nature.” They landed at Richard Branson’s Virgin Records, who placed them in the studio with producer Chris Thomas, the results released as the one legitimate album of the Sex Pistols’s brief career. 

  Before Virgin could release Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, however, copies of Spunk appeared on the streets of London, Manchester and other British Sex Pistols hot spots. The resulting chaos has been documented by Clinton Heylin in his book Bootleg, the author calling Spunk the “seventies most legendary bootleg.” This CD-R release captures the original tracks offered by Spunk, adding a few additional variations on familiar songs like “Sub-Mission” and “EMI” at the end. The sound quality is pretty good, especially on the first dozen tracks (which are not “A & M Demos” as stated on the cover but rather demos commissioned by McLaren for EMI). However, this material, as I stated before, has been recycled so many times, both legitimately and otherwise, that there’s really no reason to pop up $25 - $30 for a CD-R copy of it. If you’re doing a flat disc-for-disc trade, I’d recommend it – after all, it is one of the most notorious boots that’s ever been released. Otherwise, I’d just track down one of the cheaper CD versions of it (the Goodman sessions most recently released by Cleopatra as Pretty Vacant). It’s a valuable part of the Sex Pistols’ legacy; a great rock & roll swindle, at that.   (RK)

Pick of the month: Black Crowes The Broadcast Collection '90 - '93 5CD box set

 

Artist: Black Crowes

Title: The Broadcast Collection ’90 – ’93 (Sound Stage SS5CDBOX52)

Venue: (disc 1) Trump Plaza Hotel, Atlantic City, NJ August 24, 1990 plus 3 tracks from The Cabaret, San Jose, CA November 3, 1990 (disc 2) Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA June 15, 1991 (disc 3) World Broadcast Special, July 5, 1992. Although not listed, recorded at Southern Track Studios in Atlanta, GA. Radio program to promote The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion release (disc 4 & 5) Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, TX Feb. 6, 1993

Tracklist: (disc 1) Twice As Hard/ Kick The Devil Out of Me/ Sister Luck/ Jealous Guy/ Hard To Handle/ Could I’ve Been So Blind/ You’re Such A Pity/ Stare It Cold/ Jealous Again/ Encore break/ Struttin’ Blues/ Honky Tonk Woman/ Thick and Thin/ You’re Wrong/ She Talks To Angels (disc 2) Thick and Thin/ You’re Wrong/ Stare It Cold/ Seeing Things (w/ Jellyfish)/ Sister Luck/ Hard To Handle/ Could I’ve Been So Blind/ Shake It Down> Get Back> Walk With Jesus/ radio announcer encore break/ She Talks To Angels/ Dreams/ Jealous Again (disc 3) Intro & Chris interview/ Black Moon Creeping/ Twice As Hard/ Hotel Illness/ Chris Interview/ Seeing Things/ No Speak No Slave/ Chris interview and outro (disc 4) No Speak No Slave/ Sting Me/ Hard To Handle/ My Morning Song> jam/ Thorn In My Pride/ Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye/ Twice As Hard (disc 5) Black Moon Creeping/ Thick And Thin/ Hotel Illness/ Stare It Cold/ Three Little Birds/ Sometimes Salvation/ Jealous Again/ Remedy

Sound Quality: excellent (9-10), most likely sourced from off-air master cassettes and transcription CDs. Disc 1 claims to be from an NPR broadcast, but it is actually from WMMR, Philadelphia’s long standing rock powerhouse, as indicated by the DJ comments, quite possibly with a live feed to other affiliated stations around the U.S.

Cover: Well designed glossy clamshell box with equally well-designed individual sleeves inside with an 8-page booklet containing decent (and original) liner notes. An unfortunate oversight being that, besides on the disc one cover, long time bass player Jonny Colt is not listed among the musician credits.

Comments: We’ve got a winner! As far as I can ascertain, nothing here has been pulled from any official source, a problem that seems increasingly prevalent among the latest incarnation of live release specialists taking advantage of European loopholes. Sound Stage may not have located the rarest of material, but they surely have found some excellent sources. 

Disc one starts off with a bang, finding the Crowes riding high on the phenomenal chart success of their debut album and a couple of hit singles (so far). Def American Recordings would continue to mine the album for more singles and radio play throughout 1990 and 1991, 4 in all. “Jealous Again,” their first, would reach Number 5 on the Billboard charts, “Hard To Handle,” the follow-up would reach number 1 in 1990. “Twice As Hard” peaked at number 11 and “She Talks to Angels” would become their second number 1. Quite an accomplishment for a debut LP. The band worked the road hard. With only one album to draw on, they extended their sets with unrealized originals and covers, of which the Atlantic City show features plenty (“Kick The Devil Out of Me,” “”Jealous Guy,” “You’re Such A Pity,” “Struttin’ Blues,” and a rousing rendition of “Honky Tonk Woman” to close out the show. The 3 cuts from San Jose include “You’re Wrong,” the seed for what would become “Sting Me” on their next album. 

The following year, at the Greek Theater, they would stick to album tracks before establishing a foot in the jam band genre with a medley of “Shake It Down> Get Back> Walk With Jesus” and the Allman Brother’s “Dreams” as one of 3 encore tunes.

Anticipation was high for a new album, but with a heavy tour schedule, it would still be another year before their second LP, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion – an album recorded in 8 days and released with great fanfare across the world with a broadcast originating from an Atlanta, Georgia studio. This broadcast is featured on disc 3 with the studio album tracks faded out into snipits. (No way those could be included, even under lax European law.) The disc consists of interviews with Chris Robinson sandwiched around a short 5-song live set (included)  The interviews are revelatory, Robinson mapping out the bands attitudes and career path for the next 2 ½ decades with what turned out to be a high degree of accuracy. As for the live set, “Twice As Hard,” from the first album has grown into a significantly longer opus, complete with extended guitar and organ breaks. Marc Ford had replaced Jeff Cease as second guitarist and keyboardist Eddie Harsch was now a fully integrated into the band. Don’t pass this disc over to avoid the interview segments. It’s all great.

Southern Harmony picked up where Shake Your Money Maker left off with 4 singles, all reaching number one on the Top 40 charts. The band soldiered on with the roadwork, now with two albums of material and twice as many hits that crowds demanded. The jams became longer, but the cover tunes became scarcer. “Amorica,” the bands third LP (1994) would cure that problem. Although 3 singles were released, none of them topped the U.S. charts and the album was hampered from the beginning with production disagreements (it was salvaged from a different rejected release called Tall). To further complicate matters, the band chose to use a photo of a young lady’s mid-section clad only in a micro bikini made from stars & stripes fabric, complete with visible pubic hairs. The mainstream retailers howled and refused to stock it. A concession was made by blacking out the entire cover – all except the bikini. Album sales dropped. Drastically. True to the words Chris Robinson spoke on that disc 3 interview, making money for big corporations was never intended to be the band’s career path. Partying onstage with a bunch of like-minded fans was. And if sibling rivalries interrupted the process now and then (also mentioned in the interview) so be it. And, damn if that isn’t the way it worked out. [Bill Glahn]

Bonus view: "You're Wrong" live at Toad's Place, New Haven, CT 4/30/91

Parliament-Funkadelic & Stoneground: Two music collectives receive live CD releases

Live CDs: Short Reviews

[This time around, we take a look at a couple live CDs that feature bands that can more accurately be described as “collectives” – groups that contained a multitude of members floating in and out (and back in again) with great frequency and interchangeable parts. Community collaboration, so to speak. Reviews by Bill Glahn] 

Artist: Parliament/Funkadelic

Title: Detroit 1977 (Rox Vox RVCD2122)

Venue: Other than the title, none given. Rox Vox is not known for accurate information. The tracklist suggests it’s a show in support of the Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome album, which was released on November, 28, 1977. Two dates have been suggested as a source, a New Year’s Eve (77/78) radio broadcast or April 1, 1978 at Cobo Arena in Detroit.

Cover: 8 page booklet and tray card. An unaccredited article from the September 11, 1977 issue of The Detroit Free Press is reprinted with photos (also unaccredited) in the booklet.

Tracklist: Funkentelechy/ Jam/ Cosmic Slop>Jam/ Mothership Connection>Jam/ Swing Down Sweet Chariot/ Flashlight>Jam

Sound Quality: Probably a radio broadcast as advertised but a high generation tape source. Shrill thin sound at the beginning, but improves significantly by Cosmic Slop. It never, however, gets to anything resembling master tape quality, no mater how much “digital remastering” is applied. (3-7)

Comments; There is no doubt that this was recorded in Detroit, as verified by George Clinton’s comments to the crowd. P-Funk were Detroit-based and performed frequently there. Saving “Flashlight” for the closing number suggests that the April 1, 1978 date is closer to accurate – not 1977 at all. “Flashlight” was the band’s first #1 single on the R&B charts and reached #16 on the Top 40 chart. Which makes this release a good companion piece to the official Live: P-Funk Earth Tour, which documented the previous year’s tour.

No musician credits are given for this show. The great Eddie Hazel, so instrumental in introducing the groups “psychedelic” element, was off working on a solo album at this time and is not present on this line-up. But long-time P-Funk guitarist and child prodigy, Michael Hampton is a more than capable substitute. Although Bootsy Collins had already formed Bootsy’s Rubber Band, he was still part of the P-Funk collective, as were the key members Jerome Brailey (drums), Bernie Worrell (keyboards), and James Brown alumni, Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker (horns). 

This particular recording has received several bootleg releases under different titles – all attributing it to “Detroit 1977” with no other specifics. The assumption here is that it is basically the same group that recorded Funkentelechy.

The show is a dynamic one, hitting on past glories and their then current assault on the mainstream airwaves. It would wind up being both the group’s apex and foundation for long term cult popularity that exists to this day. If the “classic rock” radio format had any self-respect Parliament/Funkadelic would be a staple on radio, but when’s the last time you heard one of their tracks while cruising down the highway? Perhaps the Afro-centric space-trek themes in their philosophy (yes, PF had a philosophy) are just too much for the folks who lay out the massively white play lists that frequent that format. But they’re selling their audience short. For the past several decades George Clinton & the P-Funk All-stars have continued to play in front of large and racially diverse audiences. It’s a collective thing. Journalists take note. The bootleggers already have.

Grade: C+ (downgraded a full point for sound quality)

Artist: Stoneground

Title: Live In Haight-Ashbury 1971 (Keyhole KHCD 9067)

Venue: KSAN Studios, March 1971

Cover: 8 page booklet and tray card with unaccredited photos and, curiously, a review of a short Hyde Park concert (London) from the pages of the UK music publication Melody Maker, September 19th, 1970 predating the band’s first album by almost 7 months.

Tracklist: It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry (instrumental version)/ Stroke, Stand/ DJ Babble/ If You Gotta Go, Go Now/ DJ Babble/ Dreaming Man/ DJ Babble/ Come Back Baby/ DJ Babble/ Don’t Waste My Time With Your Jive/ Added Attraction/ DJ Babble/ Brand New Start/ DJ Babble/ Great Change (mistitled “Strange Change”)/ DJ Babble/ Bad News/ Roll On Elijah/ Gypsy Lover/ Colonel Chicken Fry/ Total Destruction of Your Mind/ Corrina/ Rainy Day In June/ Have You Seen My Baby/ DJ Babble

Sound Quality: very good low generation off-air recording (8-9)

Comments: Up until the early-60s, Warner Bros. Records was primarily an intellectual property holder, set up to reap dividends from the songs used in their movies and television productions. Among their publishing holdings were the works of George and Ira Gershwin and an as-yet undiscovered songwriter named Bob Dylan (Witmark Publishing). But their actual output aimed at the popular recording market was limited to vocal/spoken word albums by artists already under contract to the film division (Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens), comedy albums (Bob Newhart), soundtracks, TV theme albums, and “safe” music for stodgy audiences (Henry Mancini). In fact, the label was so noted for putting out dogs in the burgeoning rock ‘n’ era that they were in no danger of breaking new markets, or competing for space on the single or album charts. Or making money, for that matter. There was an attempt to sign already established stars like the Everly Brothers (who continued to have hits) and Bill Haley (who did not).

Bob Newhart became their biggest star and best income source. With a new influx of executives in 1961, Warner Brothers became a little more inventive in chasing the charts, but not too inventive. Albert Grossman, Warner’s partner in the Witmark deal, held auditions for a new folk group and Peter, Paul and Mary were born, promptly fed a dose of Bob Dylan songs, and the company began making headway. They still looked for comedy albums as their ticket to cutting their losses, though, with best-selling albums by Allan Sherman and Bill Cosby. The biggest coup, however, may have been the purchase of Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label, which brought label manager Mo Ostin into the fold. Finally Warner Brothers had somebody capable of reading the rapidly developing musical landscape. Buying up U.S. distribution deals of several overseas artists, Reprise had instant credibility for it’s rock ‘n’ roll roster with the addition of the likes of The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix. The parent company did likewise, entering a distribution deal with Pye Records, which allowed them to steal away Petula Clark from Laurie Records just in time for her biggest hit, “Downtown”. 

Other key employees brought into the fold by Warner Bros., were art director Ed Thrasher and head of A&R Lenny Waronker who had worked at a small San Francisco label called Autumn Records, co-owned by impresario (DJ, artist manager, label exec, and to use a modern term, “influencer”) Tom Donahue. Add to that, Andy Hickman, the companies “resident hippie,” who procured the talents of some of the labels best selling artists (Jethro Tull, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young), and the record division was no longer the poor sister of the film division. In fact, the film division was looking to the record label to improve its diminishing success. Hoping to capitalize on the music counterculture, WB Pictures suggested a hippy caravan across the country as a project called Medicine Ball Caravan (WB was manufacturer and distributor for Frank Zappa’s Bizarre/Straight label and Alice Cooper was included on the tour – which lead to another important signing for the label). This is where the Stoneground story begins.

In 1970e Tom Donahue was managing the band, a three piece fronted by hot-shot guitarist Danny Barnes, but which often included a collective of other San Francisco musicians and singers in their concerts. Donahue suggested that Sal Valentino, the singer for Autumn Records' defunct band (but Autumn’s greatest success), the Beau Brummels, join Stoneground as lead singer and put them on the road as the house band for the MBC project. By the time the tour was over, Stoneground was a 10-piece unit with 7 different lead vocalists, mixing gospel, soul, and folk songs – all delivered with a hard-edged rock sound.

But before their first release there was a soundtrack album for the movie, featuring a glimpse of Stoneround live. Stonegrounds “Freakout/ It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It takes a Train To Cry” medley proved to be a great preview of the band’s explosive live set, with Annie Sampson (one of four female vocalists in the band by this time) giving a full-on orgasmic performance to what, basically is a jam in structure, which blends into the more structured, but no less rocking, Dylan tune, fronted by both Sampson and Valentino.

In between the caravan’s conclusion and their first album release, Stoneground would make an appearance on the BBC and continue to perform around their East Bay home base. As members of the greater San Francisco metro area, they continued to be community supporters in an area that was desperately sinking into hard times after the utopian hippie dreams following the “Summer of Love.”

Live In Haight-Ashbury 1971 features Stoneground performing at a KSAN radiothon to raise funds for a desperately needed free health clinic to assist in the influx of young people from around the country, who came ill-equipped to deal with the realities of capitalism’s diametrically opposed view to utopianism. Capitalism was eating them alive with increasing real estate values and few jobs, leaving many homeless, sick, and drug addicted.

As a fundraiser, you get all the problems with this CD that you would encounter with any studio-based fundraising performance – the constant interruption of hosts who are there to encourage donations while the artists are there to draw an audience. In this case, it happens between every song. Although the track listing would suggest that there are fewer interruptions towards the end of the show, there are not. I think that whoever mastered the disc just got tired of making a separate track for “DJ babble” after “Bad News.”

The upside far outweighs any complaint. The songs all near completion before the DJs enter the picture and they are fine performances. As usually the case, Stoneground’s live repertoire far exceeds their studio output. They start the set with “It Takes A Lot To Laugh,” a staple of their live shows that would get an encore performance after MBC on their second album, Family – a two record set that was mostly recorded live. This time, though, the techs hadn’t placed Valentino’s mic into the mix yet and it serves only as a soundcheck or intro music. With the exception of “Looking For You,” the entirety of their first album (released a few weeks after this performance), get live renditions here. Other tracks, such as the great rendition of Swamp Dogg’s “Total Destruction of Your Mind,” were already mainstays of their live set and would appear on the live portion of Family. As with the record, if features a rotating group of lead singers, 7 in all.

All in all, Live in Haight Ashbury 1971 offers the winning combination of being mastered from a low generation tape of high quality and solid performances. There is only 1 other Stoneground bootleg that I am aware of, but you have to go back to the early days of vinyl for that and it’s impossible to find. It’s good to see the modern era of broadcast releases (on CD anyway, not so much on vinyl) taking some chances with lesser known, but equally deserving, artists.

Grade: A-