Teenage Dogs In Trouble

"It's very special night tonight because not only is it Patrick's birthday today, but 19 years ago on this very night, in this very room, I'm not even joking. We played and the show got made in a bootleg..." Chris Murphy announced before launching into the 4th song off Twice Removed, Coax Me. Yes, it was a special night especially if you're a Sloan fan that loved the album, Twice Removed because the band is touring across the country (and the U.S.) performing that album in it's entirety as well as a sampling from their other 9 albums. Since it seems to be trendy and in fashion to perform a whole record (more on that in future posts), the choice of Twice Removed is a clever and popular choice. Before the album was released in 1994, there was talk that their label, Geffen wanted the band to re-record the album citing creative differences in the sound of the record. As a result Geffen didn't promote the release and dropped the band, leaving Twice Removed unpromoted and unheard in many parts of the country. Similar to Wilco's, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot debacle, this album went on to become Sloan's most critically acclaimed record and after the commercial success of their next album, One Chord To Another, fans became aware of what a great record Twice Removed was.

Sloan played two sets, the first was the 12 songs from Twice Removed and the second set was the party set complete with smashing guitars, cake and a birthday singalong for Patrick Pentland's birthday. A couple days earlier on Facebook, the band sent out a request for used guitars (to smash) as a surprise for Patrick. Apparently during the show 19 years ago, Pentland smashed a guitar, so this time one by one band members smashed guitars (and a keytar) on the stage climaxing during their last song of the encore with Pentland destroying a green heavy metal-ish electric guitar (see the photos above and check the videos on the TDIT Facebook page).

Highlights include:

The whole first set- What a great album, the songs flow nicely together in sequence and it's nice to hear deeper tracks that they might not perform much live. It's amazing how a band with 4 songwriters/singers can survive all these years without anyone leaving to do a solo album.
Sound was somewhat decent considering the Pyramid always suffers from terrible sound. I stood close (just in front of the hanging PA speakers) and I had ringing in my ears days later. Towards the end of the show the sound seemed to get louder (and more painful) and during the last song the sound distorts even on my recording. I actually was surprised how good the recording came out considering.
Epic show! The first and second sets added up to over 2 hours. This was my first Sloan show and I'll be back especially if they play One Chord To Another.

Lowlights include:

"It's not the band I hate, it's their fans". Not all, but some are sure aggravating! The chatter around me was kept to a minimum and I didn't shoved around too much, but closer to the front some drunken idiots were tossed out for their efforts pushing and moving side to side, not up and down. Is anyone else annoyed with the amount of people that hold up their iPhones or Smartphones in the air to video and take photos? I don't mind when people put their arms in the air to take a couple of photos then go back to watching the show (I do this), but some fans had them waving in my face and the band's continually. At one point (during Unkind) Chris Murphy grabbed a girl's camera/phone or whatever that she kept shoving in his face and he finally batted it out of her hand to the ground. She was quickly escorted out. I've heard that at some shows people hold up their iPads to take photos and hi-def video...this is really getting out of hand!
Did I mention my ears were ringing days later? Actually this is my own fault, standing too close. I think I'm getting too old for this. The price you pay to get some decent photos and a clear recording, but it was worth it!

As I said earlier, the recording turned out better than I expected. The sound is balanced and the vocals are clearer than I remember. The recording sounds a little muffled in parts and that's from turning from being pushed or when I held my arms in the air over the mic to take photos. This would make a nice bootleg sequel to Is That All I Get (19 years later) in case the Sloan crew is interested, (but I'm sure they must have made a better recording). Let me know!
Enjoy!

SLOAN
Pyramid Cabaret
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
September 20, 2012
Audience Master

Set 1 (disc 1)- TWICE REMOVED
01. Penpals
02. I Hate My Generation
03. People Of The Sky
04. Coax Me
05. Bells On
06. Loosens
07. Worried Now
08. Shame Shame
09. Deeper Than Beauty
10. Snowsuit Sound
11. Before I Do
12. I Can Feel It

Set 2 (disc 2)
01. Everything You've Done Wrong
02. Who Taught You To Live Like That?
03. Rest Of My Life
04. Unkind
05. Beverly Terrace
06. Shadow Of Love
07. Emergency 911
08. She's Slowing Down Again
09. Something's Wrong
10. Traces
11. Fading Into Obscurity
12. Witch's Wand
13. Good In Everyone
14. The Other Man
15. Poor Boy
16. Money City Maniacs
17.
18. "Happy Birthday Patrick"
19. The Rest Of My Life
20. The Lines You Amend
21. If It Feels Good Do It

SLOAN- 2012-09-20 Winnipeg FLAC. rar (Disc 1)
SLOAN- 2012-09-20 Winnipeg FLAC. rar (Disc 2)

Short, but sweet! Thanks to a reader of this blog for informing me that Paul Westerberg has released a new song. My Road Now is streaming all over the net, but whether this is the first of more songs to come or if a album is in the works is unknown. The song is a piano ballad, in the style of Self Defence from Suicaine Gratification. Nothing special, but I still get excited to hear new Westerberg. I realize I can't expect the second coming of the Replacements anytime soon, but I've come to set my expectations to a different level and some Westerberg is better than nothing at all.

He hasn't released a solo recording in two years and through my search to seek info about this single I discovered that he released a couple of songs under the moniker of Mr. F, that was available as a limited edition 7" multi-coloured vinyl (and a bonus digital download of a third song). These songs are sparse sounding and demo quality and in the case of Grandpaboy's Last Stand, a lot of unfocused goofing around.
Enjoy!

Paul Westerberg- My Road Now mp3 (download)

PAUL WESTERBERG
Mr. F 7" (2010)
01. This Machine
02. Foolish Hand Shake
Bonus track: Grandpaboy’s Last Stand

Paul Westerberg- Mr. F 7". rar

When Kathleen Edwards postponed her show back in April I was sadly disappointed. I saw her at the Winnipeg Folk Festival a couple years back, but sitting in a large field far back from the stage isn't the experience I want to remember Kathleen Edwards by. A few weeks ago, there was a report that she suffered Anaphylactic shock from a wasp sting following a show in Windsor, but fortunately she recovered and didn't have to cancel or postpone any shows. Phew!

An opportunity to see her in a medium/small (indoor) venue, not as an opener, but as a headliner up-close is much more preferred. I probably have more live recordings from her than anyone else, except maybe Wilco and though I sound obsessed I don't feel a urgent need to see her live multiple multiple times. This show filled the bill, I stood dead centre on the floor with a good view of the stage and in the sweet spot for sound, so I was happy. Though I like to complain about the Garrick Centre as being a crappy venue, I must admit it has it's good points. The Garrick is a former movie theatre and it's hall is divided into two sections. The floor (closest to the stage) has had it's seats removed and since it was a theatre the floor slopes up away from the stage. If you can stand the feeling of leaning forward with your feet pushed to front of your shoes, you are treated to a good view because you are elevated on a incline. Beneficial for short people, like myself who have a hard time seeing when tall guys push their way in front of me. The second half of the venue is the seated area (think, movie theatre seating) with one aisle up the middle, usually for the older folks that don't want to stand or care to be close. The sound was better than other shows I've been to there, but it might have been my positioning and there were still signs of that boomy, "big hall sound" because the acoustics in this building are not suited for concerts.

Here are some other thoughts and observations about the concert (I do love point-form!):

Interesting to see what type of crowd Kathleen Edwards draws. There seemed to be a lot of "white-hairs" in the crowd especially in the seated section. There wasn't any empty seats up there, while the floor was unusually sparse and not crowded. There was still a good number of college-age kids and middle-agers like me, but there were a lot of old people and the best way to describe it would be a "folk fest" type crowd...which is cool, of course!
Before performing Human Touch (Bruce Springsteen cover) together, Jen Grant (opener) walked down the stairs from the back of the hall to the stage giving away copies of a book Kathleen had read and enjoyed called, Above All Things by Tanis Rideout. She got multiple copies from the writer and she was going to give some away during her shows, complete with a trivia question. Cross promotion...?
Hockey Skates was performed with only Gord Tough and Jim Bryson on guitars. The trio is touring through the U.S. this month (including Fargo tonight).
8 of the 17 songs performed were from her latest album, Voyageur. Only one song from Back To Me (Back To Me) and four from Failer.
During the first encore song, Sidecar, Kathleen and Jim Bryson performed unplugged with one mic for their vocals and 2 acoustic guitars. Though I wasn't standing too far from the stage, on the recording the sound is soft, so crank up the volume for that one song to hear it.

Overall the recording sounds fine and because I wasn't squeezed by people tightly around me, the crowd chatter isn't too bad. I took lots of photos, but as usual I took a lot of blurry ones so the clearest are the ones I'm posting. Generally Kathleen Edwards is cool with live taping so feel free to trade and share the show (NO selling!!). I'll probably post this on Dime soon, but I wanted to share it here first!
Enjoy!

KATHLEEN EDWARDS
Garrick Centre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
September 29, 2012
Audience master

01. Empty Threat
02. Chameleon/Comedian
03. Asking For Flowers
04. I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory
05. House Full Of Empty Rooms
06. Goodnight, California
07. Going To Hell
08. Hockey Skates
09. Human Touch (w/Jen Grant)
10. Six O'Clock News
11. Back To Me
12. A Soft Place To Land
13. Change The Sheets
14. For The Record

Encore
15. Sidecar (w/Jim Bryson) "unplugged"
16. Mercury
17. 12 Bellevue

KATHLEEN EDWARDS- 2012-09-29 FLAC. rar

Do our fans wish to repeatedly examine our barf? Our forgotten secrecies, guilty pleasures, full-scale embarrassments? What many groups would bury deep in a closet, the Young Fresh Fellows for some questionable reason revel in revealing. The fact that there are those who will find this type of aural portrait at all interesting, or entertaining, or hilarious, or fascinating--and not actually be a member of the band--is still a thrilling mystery to us. Others will find our humble gathering of mishaps tedious, technically insulting, pathetic, and incredibly self-indulgent, not to mention over-priced. This is volume one.
Again we thank you--The Young Fresh Fellows.

Not exactly a sales pitch, but this is portion of the liner notes inside this "fans only" cassette-only release of Gag Fah. If you're a fan or familiar with the band this is a real treat. A fun, not to be taken "too seriously" tape woven together with live tracks, unreleased demos, covers and jokes. I bought my copy directly from the band back in the day (1991-ish?) and it remains one of my favourite Young Fresh Fellow rarities. One suggestion for the band, how about a volume two? Gag Fah draws from material from 1984-1990 and I'm sure there wouldn't be a shortage of material from the past 22 years. (Also someone left a message in the comments section inquiring about the Fabulous Sounds demos, "Big Pile Of Happiness". Anyone know about these or heard them...or have them?)

Sorry for the delay for posting Gag Fah. I have the cassette, but a while ago a friend gave me a ripped CD of the tape (and they might have been mp3's) and I hoped to use that (yes, I am lazy sometimes), but unfortunately there was annoying 3 second gaps between the tracks built into the end of each track. On the tape the tracks flow into each other or are cut off. I tried to correct it with a track splitter, but they didn't line up exactly and still sounded glitchy. I ended up doing a fresh rip of the tape and manually splitting the tracks so there are no gaps just like the tape. It sounds much better! (let me know if it doesn't!)
Enjoy!

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS
Gag Fah
(cassette only release)
1990

    GAG (side A)
    1. This Is Gonna Be A Great Show (1:14)
    2. Gus Theme (1:58)
    3. Boy-Girl (1:41)
    4. Ted, Woody and Junior (2:35)
    5. I Lose Control (2:43)
    6. Time Flies (0:21)
    7. Calendar Girl (1:19)
    8. We Are the Salesmen (2:42)
    9. Watching Scotty Grow (2:43)
    10. Evil Ways (1:35)
    11. Earthbound (1:33)
    12. Leather Taxidermy (0:33)
    13. Sittin' 'Round Doin' Nothin' (2:08)
    14. She's So Far Out She's In (2:45)
    15. The Bittersweet Beluga (4:03)

    FAH (side B)
    16. Lookin' Good (2:52)
    17. Scott, Nobleman of Edenbrook Forest (1:18)
    18. Highway 94 (1:53)
    19. Lovely Is The Life (2:22)
    20. The Family Gun (2:31)
    21. The Interstellar Rebellion (3:44)
    22. Rock Around the Clock (3:07)
    23. "Juiced" (part one) (0:15)
    24. Movin' On (2:29)
    25. "Juiced" (part three) (0:48)
    26. Trek to Stupidity (3:19)
    27. Little Brown Jug Twist (5:41)

YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS- Gag Fah FLAC. rar

photo credit: Danny Clinch

Sorry for the dead-air on the blog, been busy recently with meetings and committees and all that other jazz. Another excuse (good one) is that I've brought my comic collection back home from my parent's basement where it's been stored since I was in my teens. I have safely stored the top valued books at my place for the past few years, but the task of hauling the rest of the collection wasn't high on my priorities. Last week I purchased new bags/backings and cardboard storage books to re-bag the books before cataloguing the titles and conditions. Yes, I was (and still am) a comic book collector and though I have periodically checked their value, I'm now fully realizing this is a good solid collection. I bought new issues in the mid-70's, but maybe a third of the collection is from pre-1970 including many Marvel, DC's, Gold Keys and EC's. Right now, I'm only halfway through the Marvels and if any comic book geeks care, I'll give an update in a couple of weeks. Fun fun!

Of course, this blog's focus is on music and I'm in the process of transferring some of my live concert cassettes to digital format for downloading. I'll start with shorter shows and concerts I've been meaning to transfer for years. I guess I could ask for requests, but you probably don't know what I have. I'll slowly start posting some later this week and let me know what you think.

Today's post, I randomly chose from the hard drive, though I meant to post it a few weeks back. It's a great sounding show from the Figgs home state at Maxwells, but I can't remember where I got the recording, it might have been Soulseek? I have always thought of the Figgs as the quintessential American rock 'n' roll band. They are known by many as the backing band for Graham Parker and Tommy Stinson, but they can definitely hold their own with their deep and prolific discography. Underappreciated and underrated perhaps? I love the Figgs!
Enjoy!

(One word of warning, it's in mp3 format (not FLAC), so it's suitable for playback on your computer or portable device, but please don't sell it or trade it as a uncompressed version.)

FIGGS
Maxwell's
Hoboken, NJ
March 19, 2004
soundboard

01. Start Credits
02. I Bought Kicks
03. No One Here But You
04. Simon Simone
05. Slow Charm
06. Sit & Shake
07. The Trench
08. Ginger
09. Shut
10. Stood Up!
11. Point A Finger
12. Longing For You
13. Attack TCA
14. Je T'Adore
15. Do The Bounce
16. Embrace The Train
17. Running In Place
18. Dance Lesson
19. Somethings Wrong
20. One Hit Wonder
21. Said Enough
22. Wait On Your Shoulder
23. Not Involved
24. If Thats What You Want
25. Fucks Off
26. Metal Detector
27. Static
28. Closing Night

Figgs- 2004-03-19 Maxwells. rar

Last Friday and Saturday night, Winnipeg's West End Cultural Centre celebrated it's 25th anniversary with a pair of shows featuring several prominent Manitoba performers. On Saturday, over a dozen performers took the stage to play covers by other Manitoba singers or bands. The sold out show on Friday night featured local punk icons, Propagandhi who kicked off the celebrations with their usual brand of intense hardcore punk/thrash/metal-core sound. The WECC has seen a wide array of acts over the years, everything from rock to country, folk and punk, practically every style of music and since it's not a bar often shows are all-ages, offering kids, adults and old people a place to watch and listen to music. The venue is a comfortable size (300-350-ish?), the sound is always good and the semi-recently renovated lobby makes for a clean and friendly venue to see a concert. It ranks up there as my favourite live music venue in the city.

Recently, I've been transferring some of my live shows on cassette to the computer, so I thought it would be good timing to share an early Propagandhi show from Gilman St. in Berkeley from 1995. I received this tape back in my tape trading days in the early-late 90's, but I noticed recently it might have been the same show as a bootleg that was released in 1999, titled, Curse of The MTV Punks. I'm almost positive I had this cassette a few years before the bootleg came out. The sound is great, probably a soundboard recording and the show is intense with the band at their confrontational best.

both photos by Chris Bellew

Here are the reasons this recording is essential to any Propagandhi or Winnipeg music fan:

John K. Samson (pre-Weakerthans) is in the band and plays bass. This is the earliest live recording I have of Samson who leaves the band in 1996 to form the Weakerthans. This recording is historic for this reason alone, but also gives us a listen to one of the songs he penned, Gifts with Samson on lead vocals. It's apparent that Samson's songs didn't really fit the sound and musical direction of Propagandhi and these musical differences are what prompted Samson to split from the band.
The crowd baiting and political rants by the band are met with much hostility with fans spitting and screaming at the band. They even allow members of the audience to participate in an "open mike" to vent their hate and anger towards the band. I must admit despite the threats and craziness, the members of Propagandhi (mainly Chris Hannah) hold it together, they push the envelope, but don't let it get out of hand. Man, these guys are brave, cocky as hell, and they get their message out to their audience (fans) without any compromise...gotta admire them. There's more talk, than rock, but it's entertaining and at times scary!

In the most recent issue of Exclaim magazine (a free giveaway paper in Canada), there's an excellent "timeline" article about Propagandhi. The story tracks the band year by year from their forming in 1986 to the present with the release of their new album, Failed States. A well written, detailed article with much information I didn't know. Read it here @ exclaim.ca.
Enjoy!

PROPAGANDHI
Gilman St.
Berkeley, CA
June 17, 1995
soundboard
(tranferred from my cassette copy)

01. Apparently, I'm A P.C. Fascist
02. Nailing Descartes To The Wall (Liquid meat is murder)
03. ...And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea
04. Less Talk, More Rock
05. Middle Finger Response
06. Resisting Tyrannical Government (It's dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it)
07. Gifts / open mike
08. America Rules
09. Stick The Fucking Flag Up Your Goddamn Ass, You Sonofabitch
10. Mutual Friend

PROPAGANDHI- 1995-06-17 Gilman St. FLAC. rar

Here's a show that I thought would be appropriate to post this week. It took place in San Francisco just over a year ago, another rare reunion show for The Fastbacks since they disbanded in 2002 when they played their last show at (the same venue) The Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco. On Sunday (28th), the city of San Fran celebrated the Giants who won the World Series. As well, fellow blog(ger) (from my corner of the world), Music Ruined My Life has been posting some live and studio Fastbacks this past week (and earlier). A reader from this blog commented they had attended this show, so in case they or anyone hasn't heard it yet, here's the recording that someone upped to Dime last year.

photo by Yokokikuchi

It's a nice sounding show, the band still sounds pretty good and gives me hope that I might be able to see them live in the future. Kurt's been busy lately with some Fellows gigs as well as in Peter Buck's new band, Richard M. Nixon. Thanks to whoever recorded and originally posted this show (let me know so I can give due credit) on Dime.
Enjoy!

THE FASTBACKS
October 29, 2011
Bottom of the Hill
San Francisco, CA

AK40 >> LC3 >> KM100 >> R-09 >> WAV @ 24bit/44.1KHz
Adobe Audition 3.0 >> Ozone 4 VST >> stereo image >> loudness maximizer >> dither to 16 bit (MBIT+ algorithm)

01 Kurt Bloch banter
02 Out Of The Charts > No Information (@1:08)
03 In The Summer
04 Apologies
05 Trouble Sleeping
06 On Your Hands > Went For A Swim (@2:38) > Old Address Of The Unknown (@4:29)
07 Like Today
08 Goodbye, Bird > It's Your Birthday (@2:44)
09 Stay At Home
10 Gone To The Moon
11 They Don't Care > K Street (@2:21)
12 I Was Stolen > 2:45 of banter/applause
13 Come On, Come On [Cheap Trick]
14 In America
15 One More Hour > Set Me Free [Sweet] (@2:39)

THE FASTBACKS- 2011-10-29 FLAC. rar

On this blog I try to post music that is hard to find, out of print or live recordings that I have recorded or in most cases shows I've downloaded or received in a trade. I have on occasion received copyright infringement take down warnings which I have abided by and respected and I have been careful not to post anything that could jeopardize this blog's existence. In the past year, many excellent blogs (many with large readership) have fallen by the waste side either from being banned and locked out of their online storage that links to the music or taken down by Blogger or whatever platform they use. Often they are reported by a band, a record label or music copyright owner. In the past year, I have removed links to albums from the Volcano Suns, the Crust Brothers and Best Kissers In the World (because it was finally being officially released, buy it here!) As I have stated in the past, please contact me if you would like a link removed or if I haven't given credit where credit is due, thanks!

I was recently informed by reader DW that the Mary Lou Lord EP that I posted a while back is still in print and suggested it wasn't appropriate to offer a download for it. This is the type of feedback I seek and in this case I assumed the CD wasn't still available and after a quick Internet search for the EP/CD I still couldn't find physical CD's for sale (please correct me if I'm wrong), but it is available as a digital download on iTunes and Amazon. In the future when I post an album I will double check that it isn't available for sale (except for eBay etc...), especially if the artist will be deprived of a sale. I do have some vinyl LP's I would like to post in the near future, so from now on I will be more careful with what I post. With this in mind, I will remove the links for the MLL EP and possibly the unreleased Neil Young album, Chrome Dreams (which has caused grief for some ex-blogs in the past) in the next 24 hours.

Here's a radio broadcast from the good ol' CBC on a show that aired on Saturday nights called, Radiosonic that featured live concerts and "in-studio" sessions and sometimes an interview. I sourced a lot of good recordings from this program that I captured on my tape deck or gretto-blaster-type cassette player/recorder. I am in the process of transferring other concerts from tape to digital. This might have been my first exposure to MLL and she instantly appealed to me not only because I loved the songs, but because she's such a sweet and unpretentious performer. I have to warn you I didn't get great reception on my radio and there is some static. My fault, as I was trying to fine tune to the station better, otherwise it's a great mini-set of fine tunes.
Enjoy!

MARY LOU LORD
CBC Studio
Toronto, ON
May 20, 1998
FM Master
FM> cassette> wav> FLAC> rar

01. Intro
02. She Had You
03. Book
04. That Kind Of Girl
05. His N.D. World
06. I Figured You Out

MARY LOU LORD- 1998-05-20, CBC, Toronto FLAC. rar

photo by Mockstar

I didn't quite time this properly, the U.S. election was last week and this concert actually took place back in 2004 when George W. Bush was running for re-election against John Kerry. Leading up to that election a series of Rock for Democracy benefit concerts were held to gather up supporters to get rid of Bush. One such show took place in Minneapolis with a who's who of Twin Cities bands lending their support for this worthy cause.

Bands that night were: The Flops, Iffy, Honeydogs, Jessy Greene, David Poe, Kraig Johnson & The Program, Dana Thompson, Sideways, Ike Reilly Assassination, Martin Devaney, The Jayhawks, Golden Smog and Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy from Soul Asylum. A review of the show can be found here and a song by song analysis of the Jayhawks and Golden Smog sets can be found here.

I'm not sure if the other bands were recorded, but fortunately someone did capture the Dave and Dan, Jayhawks and Golden Smog sets and posted it on Dime after the concert in 04. The sets are short, but sweet and one of the highlights has to be when a guy interrupted the Jayhawks during the start of their first song to loudly encourage voters to vote out Bush (click the second link above to read more) because his brother's being sent to Iraq. The Golden Smog set sounds fun with a bunch of covers and a couple of false starts. Even Dave Pirner joined the band for some songs. I didn't hear about as many similar concerts this election compared to 2004 and 2008, except for the usual Bruce Springsteen tour to boost Obama's profile. Unfortunately, the American people had to put up with Republican related concerts with the likes of Kid Rock, Meatloaf and pretty much every country singer/band in the States...yikes!
Yay, 4 more years!
Enjoy!

ROCK FOR DEMOCRACY
First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
July 18, 2004
AUD recording

Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum
01. Intro
02. Black Gold
03. Crazy Mixed Up World
04. Lately
05. Outro

The Jayhawks (Gary Louris/Marc Perlman/Tim O'Reagan/Karen Grotberg)
06. Intro
07. One Man's Problem (aborted due to audience member climbing onstage)
08. One Man's Problem
09. Pray For Me
10. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (Tim-lead vocal)
11. Tailspin
12. Outro

Golden Smog (Gary Louris/Marc Perlman/Dan Murphy/Kraig Johnson/Peter Anderson)
13. intro
14. Starman (Gary- lead vocal)
15. That's When I Reach For My Revolver (Dan-lead vocal)
16. Powderfinger (Kraig-lead vocal)
17. Do Anything You Wanna Do (Dan-lead vocal)
18. The Dream Is Never Over (false starts) (Gary and Dave-lead vocals)
19. The Dream Is Never Over (Gary and Dave Pirner-lead vocals)
20. I'm Eighteen (false starts) (Dave- lead vocal)
21. I'm Eighteen (Dave- lead vocal)
22. Shooting Star (Dave-lead vocal)
23. Outro

ROCK FOR DEMOCRACY 2004-07-18 First Avenue, Mpls, MN FLAC. rar

Hey, it's Saturday night and if you need something to spice up your party, here's a great rockin' concert from 1986. This show was from around the time I first heard the Beat Farmers, first hearing the first album, Tales Of The New West and then buying, Van Go. What caught my attention was a couple of really good covers, There She Goes Again (Velvet Underground) and Powerfinger (Neil Young) from the first two albums. Both records received heavy rotation on my turntable at the time and their catchy country-rock sound led me to listen to other similar-named and sounding bands, Beat Rodeo, Blue Rodeo and later the Blue Shadows. They also turned me onto bands such as the Long Ryders, The Blasters, Jason and the Scorchers and E-I-E-I-O. Yes, the mid-eighties was a good time for country-esque college rock and even today listen to these bands quite often.

I never saw the Beat Farmers live, but from I've read and heard they were an amazing live band. The next best thing is this live recording which was a radio broadcast so it boasts outstanding sound as the band plows through this set of circa, Van Go and pre-Pursuit of Happiness songs. Loud and plowed and...an excellent soundtrack for Saturday night!
Enjoy!

BEAT FARMERS
China Club, NYC, NY
September 30, 1986
WNEW-FM Broadcast

01. Death Train
02. There She Goes Again
03. This Broken Heart Of Mine
04. Ridin
05. Deceiver
06. The Future Today
07. Lonesome Bunny Call
08. Happy Boy
09. Big Ugly Wheels
10. Bigger Stones
11. Powderfinger
12. Selfish Heart
13. Texas
14. Beat Generation
15. Be Here By Me
16. Reason To Believe
17. God Is Here Tonight
18. Riverside
19. California Kid
Encore:
20. Revenuer Man

BEAT FARMERS- 1986-09-30 China Club, NYC FLAC. rar

I've probably had more requests for Johnny Thunders (and the Heartbreakers) than anyone else and it prompted me to flip through boxes to find more and in doing so found this nice recording that I don't remember listening to much. It features some previously unheard studio recordings Thunders made around 1990, a year before his untimely death. The songs are interesting and worth a listen if only to hear that Johnny was interested in possibly putting out a future album around this time. The songs are heartfelt and show a depth that he hadn't shown in a while and it's a treat to hear what could have been. This collection was released as, Sticks and Stones with bonus material which includes an undated concert with some ex-Dolls, as well as four acoustic songs recorded in 1982. Unfortunately, the version I'm posting doesn't include the four songs from 82 and I'm not quite sure why. I downloaded this file from Dime years ago, so either the poster didn't include them because they were officially released (are they the same versions as on Hurt Me?) or this was compiled before this bootleg was released or their source just didn't include those tracks. Either way this is well worth a listen and it's release is one of the better posthumous Johnny Thunders collections. And yes, I did find more Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers shows in the boxes...stay tuned!
Enjoy!

JOHNNY THUNDERS
Sticks & Stones: The Lost Album (2009)

Tracks 1-8 Studio Demos
01. Help The Homeless
02. Disappointed
03. Children Are People
04. Night Lives
05. Glory, Glory
06. Familiarity Breeds Contempt
07. Some Hearts
08. Tell The Truth

Tracks 9-19 "The Night Of The Living Dead"
Live concert at Max's Kansas City (with David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain and Peter Perrett)
09. Ask Me No Questions/Wizard
10. Pipline
11. (I'm Not) Your Stepping Stone
12. Great Big Kiss
13. The 10 Commandments Of Love
14. These Boots Are Made For Walking
15. Like A Rolling Stone
16. Endless Party
17. Pills
18. Hootchie Coochie Man
19. Personality Crisis

JOHNNY THUNDERS- Sticks And Stones. rar

photo by Jason Perry

After posting the Beat Farmers show last week, I had a request for some True Believers, a band Alejandro Escovedo formed in 1982, in Austin, Texas. Escovedo was previously in the Nuns and played in Rank and File before inviting his brother, Javier to form the True Believers. The band released their self-titled album in 1986 and recorded a follow-up in 1987 that was pulled by their label two weeks before it was to ship. The unreleased record along with the first album was included in a retrospective of the band in 1994, called Hard Road. This is a fine collection of a band that deserved a much better fate. If their label had released the second album in 1987, who knows, we might have been able to enjoy the True Believers more often than their occasional reunion shows, regardless, their influence is undeniable.

I'm sure how many times the True Believers have reunited, but I do know they did a perform a mini-4 song set during Alejandro Escovedo's concert at SXSW in 2010 and the show I'm posting today. The 2002 reunion is a full length set with many cool covers (Velvet Underground 3 times!) and highlights from their two albums. The performance is inspired and the quality of this soundboard recording is excellent! This is a must listen for any fans of this band and Alejandro Escovedo and if your curious of this near-legendary band, buy Hard Road, then have a listen to this show...amazing!
Enjoy!

TRUE BELIEVERS
Continential Club
Austin, TX
April 3, 2002
Reunion gig!

sbd>dat>cdr>eac>flac>rar

DISC 1
01. She's Got
02. Rebel Kind
03. All Mixed Up Again
04. Please Don't Fade Away
05. Home
06. Just Like Tom Thumb Blues (Dylan)
07. Wild Eyed And Wound Up
08. Foggy Notion (V.U.)
09. Train Round The Bend (V.U.)
10. I Wanna Be Your Dog (Stooges)
11. Lucky Moon
12. One Moment To Another
13. 20th Century Boy (T.Rex)

DISC 2
01. Who Calls My Name
02. Nobody's Home
03. I Get Excited
04. So Blue About You
05. Rain Won't Help You When It's Over
06. Hard Road
07. Tell Her
08. Sweet Jane (V.U.)

Alejandro Escovedo- guitar
Javier Escovedo- guitar
Jon Dee Graham- pedal steel
Denny Degorio- bass
Hector Munoz- drums

TRUE BELIEVERS- 2002-04-03 FLAC. rar (disc 1)
TRUE BELIEVERS- 2002-04-03 FLAC. rar (disc 2)

Been extremely busy during this holiday season, not really having time to reflect on any holidays, at least not yet and will be glad when this time of year is less stressful. Once Christmas comes and goes, I'm taking some time off from work between Christmas and New Years and I assure you the posts on this blog will be much more frequent.

Speaking of stressful, the people of the U.S. East coast are still rebuilding and trying to piece back their lives after Hurricane Sandy wrecked it's havoc a few months back. A benefit concert was held on 12-12-12 at Madison Square Gardens in New York City, appearing were some of the biggest British names in "classic rock", The Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, Roger Waters and Sir Paul McCartney. Local representation included Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Alicia Keys and Billy Joel. I could have put together a further list of cool (not so old and "classic") bands from the New York/Jersey region that would rival the old rockers that I would have paid $$ to see, bands like Yo La Tengo, The Feelies, Fountains Of Wayne, They Might Be Giants, The Figgs, Candy Hearts, Sonic Youth (?) and maybe even an old-timer like, Lou Reed (p.s. all these artists have been featured at TDIT!).

One of my favourite NYC bands in the 80's were The Del-Lords that was founded by Scott Kempner formerly of the "near" legendary, Dictators. The Del-Lords released four studio albums and are set to release their first full length record in 22 years. Back in February 2010, they played their first live gigs in 20 years and the new record will complete the comeback. If you missed them the first time I have a great sounding FM broadcast from 1986 after the release of their second album, Johnny Comes Marching Home. Brings back a lot of great memories!
Enjoy!

DEL-LORDS
Tower Theater
Philadelphia PA
May 3, 1986
FM

01. Heaven
02. True Love
03. St. Jake
04. Burning in the Flame of love
05. Soldier's Home
06. Love Lies Dying
07. Dream Come True
08. Johnny 99
09 How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times & Live
10. I Play the Drums

DEL LORDS- 1986-05-03, Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, PA FLAC. rar

Continuing on my stroll through the 80's, here's a rare radio promotional issue of Spin Radio's live concert series featuring, Green On Red. If you can your mitts on the original double vinyl, it's worth a pretty penny. Nice sounding radio broadcast quality with a live concert recording from the I-Beam in San Francisco along with interview segments with Dan Stuart from Green On Red. This is the band circa, Gas Food Lodging/No Free Lunch (my favourite G on R era!) when Chuck Prophet joined the band. Complete with commercials, this is pretty cool, get this!
Enjoy!

GREEN ON RED
"Spin Radio Concert Series"
I-Beam
San Francisco, CA
1985
FM broadcast

01. show intro/
02. /show intro
03. Hair Of The Dog
04. Down To The Bone> interview
05. Apartment 6> interview
06. commercial
07. interview
08. The Drifter> Sympathy For The Devil
09. interview
10. Funny How Time Slips Away
11. commercial
12. interview
13. Thats What Dreams Were Made For
14. This I Know
15. Fading Away
16. commercial
17. interview
18. Snake Bit
19. interview> Easy Way Out
20. interview> Brave Generation
21. commercial
22. interview> No Free Lunch
23. interview
24. show outro

GREEN ON RED- 1985 Spin Magazine Concert Series FLAC. rar

Happy New Year!
Last year, I meant to post my favourite albums of 2011, but unfortunately it didn't happen. I won't even attempt to pretend I have the time or the energy to recall all the new music I heard this past year. As usual, I listened to a lot of music, but not necessary "new music" as I was in a "reflective" mood re-listening and rediscovering a lot of bands from my youthful days (80's and 90's). In the last few years there seems to be a large amount of reissues and special edition anniversary collections being released to reignite interest (and sales?) of "classic" or overlooked albums.

Another continued trend is the reformation of original or classic lineups of bands that had either been broken up or have been inactive for a prolonged period of time. A recent example would be Dinosaur Jr, Guided By Voices, Graham Parker (and the Rumour), and the Jayhawks who have reformed classic lineups to record and tour. Off the top of my head, other favourite groups of mine that have reformed and stayed to together (maybe only temporarily or maybe for longer than originally) include: The Pixies, The Feelies, Descendents, Dead Milkmen, The Posies, Del Lords, Camper Van Beethoven, Pavement, Fastbacks, Ben Folds Five, Rolling Stones (?), Mission of Burma...just to name a few. (Any other bands you were excited when they reunited?)

Some interesting reunions I'm looking forward to in 2013 include Ben Deily, co-founder and ex-Lemonhead reuniting with Evan Dando, along with Juliana Hatfield and Ryan Adams (!) for a new Lemonheads album. Deily hasn't recorded or performed with the band since 1989, hopefully a tour will follow. It would be nice to hear more pre-It's A Shame About Ray songs performed live.

A semi-reunion of the Replacements (at least on vinyl) will see Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson release a 4-song, 10" EP, Songs for Slim limited to 250 copies with proceeds going to benefit the ex-Replacements guitarist, Slim Dunlop who suffered a stroke last February. Founding member/drummer, Chris Mars is not performing on the tracks, but does the cover artwork. Mars recorded his own benefit song for Slim that can be purchased at Chris's website.

Speaking of Minneapolis, reunions and New Year's (eve), I have a cool show from 2004, Mark Olson's first show with members of the Jayhawks since he left the band in 1995. This impromptu set was recorded at the small intimate 400 Bar in Minneapolis and was advertised as Mark Olson and Friends, opening with Mark's solo material followed by Jayhawks songs as he was joined by Gary Louris, Marc Perlman and Tim O'Reagan. This concert with Olson back in the fold was proceeded by a joint tour and album with Louris, then a full Jayhawks reunion with the Tomorrow The Green Grass-era "classic" line-up in 2008, in Spain. This was followed by a extended tour and an album of new material. The sound on this recording is good and clear and the performances as expected were a little rusty, but the enthusiasm of the crowd and the band are evident. Mark Olson's solo material doesn't excite me, but the Jayhawks songs with this lineup and the familiar Mark/Gary vocal harmonies are worth a listen. Sounds like a fun time!
Enjoy!

Mark Olson and Friends
400 Bar
Minneapolis, MN
December 31, 2004
Audience DAT recording
source: SP-CMC-8 premium stereo cardioids > SP-SPSB-1 > Sony PCM-M1 (@44.1) >
7 pin to coax > Audiophile2496 > SoundForge > CDWav > FLAC Frontend > FLAC

Disc One (first set)
01. Poor GW
02. Say You'll Be Mine
03. Walking Through Nevada
04. Blue*
05. Will I Be Married*
06. George Bush Industriale
07. King Of Kings*
08. Image Of Me* [Harlan Howard]
09. I Still Miss Someone* [Johnny Cash]
10. Waiting For the Sun*
11. Walk With Them
12. Portrait Of a Sick America > Crowded In the Wings > Linda Lee

Disc Two (second set)
01. December's Child
02. One Eyed Black Dog Moses
03. Pray For Me
04. Sing Me Back Home [Merle Haggard]
05. Over My Shoulder*
06. Clouds*
07. If You Really Want Me To, I'll Go* [Delbert McClinton; recorded by the Sir Douglas
       Quintet on their classic album, "Mendocino"]
08. Two Angels*
09. End Of the Highway, Rumsfeld
10. Ain't No End*
11. Martin's Song*
12. Reason To Believe* [Tim Hardin]
13. Six Pack On the Dashboard*
14. My Own Jo Ellen*
15. Take Me With You (When You Go)*
16. Still We Have a Friend In You*
17. -encore break-
18. I Must Be Somebody Else You've Known*   [Merle Haggard; recorded by the
       International Submarine Band on their classic album, "Safe At Home"]
19. Get the Load Out*
20. Crowded In the Wings*

Mark Olson - vocals, electric guitar, bass, dulcimer, keyboards
Gary Louris - vocals, electric guitar
Marc Perlman - bass on *
Tim O'Reagan - drums, vocals
(Karen Grotberg was listed on the bill, but wasn't there...)

MARK OLSON AND FRIENDS- 2004-12-31 400 Bar, Mpls, MN FLAC disc 1. rar
MARK OLSON AND FRIENDS- 2004-12-31 400 Bar, Mpls, MN FLAC disc 2. rar

I always thought the 80's got a bad rap when people joke about music from that decade. Personally, some of my favourite music and bands formed and produced their best work during the 80's, but unfortunately the mainstream perception of the decade is of Madonna, U2, Bon Jovi, Live Aid, Boy George, George Michael, Michael Jackson's glove, baggy pants, bad hairstyles, leg warmers...you get the picture! In my last post, I celebrated band reunions and a good many of the groups I mentioned originated from the 80's. This past week, three of the members of the Replacements collaborated on a project that has been put up for auction. This is their first musical collaboration (Songs For Slim) since their breakup in 1991 (I know, but their heyday was in the 80's) with much anticipation of a possible reunion show or something further in the future with Stinson and Westerberg (don't hold your breath).

The 80's also saw the rise of some regional music scenes getting much deserved attention with some great bands coming from those cities. In Minneapolis, the Replacements and Husker Du spawned many bands that captured the attention of the alt-music scene at the time. Soul Asylum, the Suburbs, the Jayhawks, Gear Daddies, Trip Shakespere, Run Westy Run, Babes in Toyland are just some of the Twin Cities bands I remember in my university days. Around this same time, Athens, Georgia garnished much interest with the rise of a band called R.E.M. and many like-sounding jangly-guitar bands that caused a stir from music journalists and music fans flocking to see what the big deal was in Athens. There was a few decent bands that rode on the coattails of R.E.M., but the only one that I gave serious attention to was a band from nearby Marietta, Georgia, Guadalcanal Diary. They formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1989, but reformed and reunited a few times in 1997 (see below for download!) and in 2011 to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Guadalcanal Diary had a similar sound to R.E.M. and many mistakenly billed them as part of the Athens scene, but their sound and songs were distinctly unique and definitely not a R.E.M. soundalike. Murray Attaway described their music, "It was great fun to be able to take a line from a revered blues song, a drum pattern from Africa, and a guitar or bass riff from The Stooges, and squeeze it all into some loud, tongue-in-cheek mush". and since I suck at describing a band's sound (according to Wikipedia), "This under appreciated Georgia quartet distinguished itself from any number of smart, tuneful American guitar combos by combining accessible songcraft with provocatively twisted lyrics. Singer/guitarist Murray Attaway's songs reflect a bizarre variety of far-flung interests, from a preoccupation with the supernatural to a fascination with American cultural imperialism; the band delivers them all with rootsy irony".

I had the pleasure of seeing Guadalcanal Diary live here in my hometown in 1989 touring their final album, Flip-Flop and it was a an amazing, memorable show. I would love to see them again and I guess with their frequent reunions, there's always the possibility I'll have a chance. Today's post is a recording I pulled from Dime many years back. I have a few of their live shows (including their pair of 1989 "farewell" shows), but this one has the best sound and the setlist (circa, 2x4) is great. The original poster found this tape with other master tapes from The Catalyst stored in a box in the basement. The sound is sweet because it's a matrix mix of the soundboard feed and various microphones in the room.
Enjoy!

Bonus: Guadalcanal Diary- Live From Your Birthday (1997 reunion)

GUADALCANAL DIARY
The Catalyst
Santa Cruz, CA
February 3, 1988

Soundboard with microphones- live matrix mix from cassette master

01. Trail Of Tears
02. Michael Rockefeller
03. Things Fall Apart
04. Ghost On The Road
05. Newborn
06. Say Please
07. Please Stop Me
08. Gilbert Takes The Wheel
09. Get Over It
10. Little Birds
11. Litany (Life Goes On)
12. Under The Yoke
13. Let The Big Wheel Roll
14. T.R.O.U.B.L.E.
15. unidentified intro
16. Country Club Gun
17. Lips Of Steel
18. Watsui Rodeo
19 Encore break
20. Immigrant Song
21. Cattle Prod
22. Encore break
23. Dead Eyes
24. Kumbayah
25. Murray talking
26. Staying Alive
27. Kumbayah
28. End- outro

GUADALCANAL DIARY- 1988-02-03, The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA FLAC. rar

Another hotbedfor talented bands in the 80's was in and around the Boston area. If you've frequented this blog you'll know I have a keen interest in many bands from this region. I should also clarify I don't live in this area, nor do I even live in this country. It's just that there is a lot of bands for whatever reason I enjoy and still follow from the state of Massachusetts. Some favourite bands that I have (or haven't yet) featured on TDIT from include: Pixies, Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom, Belly, Big Dipper, Scruffy The Cat, Mission Of Burma, The Breeders, Volcano Suns and Juliana Hatfield. Juliana's first band was the Blake Babies who formed in 1986 and gathered a modest following during the late 80's and early 90's and like many of the previously mentioned bands didn't receive much in the way of mainstream radio play, but instead relied primarily on college radio stations to spread the music. And speaking of comebacks, pretty much all the bands I listed have reunited or reformed in recent years and the interest in their earlier works has introduced their music to wider audiences that may have missed them the first time or have only heard them now for the first time.

After disbanding in 1991, the Blake Babies reunited in late 1999 (New Years Eve?) and they toured the U.S. in 2001. I still regret not travelling to Minneapolis in June of 01' to see the Babies (for the last time ever?), but I hope to see Juliana Hatfield again sometime in the future. The show I've posted is the earliest Blake Babies (or Juliana Hatfield) I have and it's a gem of a recording! The band was just hitting their stride with the release of Earwig and they werestill a couple years from their breakthrough album, Sunburn. I received this in a trade over 10 years ago and I've been hoarding it ever since, but I want to share it because it's one of my personal favourites. I don't recall seeing this available anywhere else online, but I'm sure there must be others that have heard or own this recording. This is an in-studio live radio session followed by an interview with the band. The sound quality is excellent and it's another in a series of recordings from Metrowave on WERS at Emerson College that I have previously posted. This is a must listen for any Blake Babies/Juliana Hatfield fans!.
Enjoy!

BLAKE BABIES
WERS "Metrowave"
Emerson College
Boston, MA
May 9, 1989
FM Broadcast

01. Outta My Head
02. Lament
03. Look Away
04. Your Way Or The Highway
05. Dead & Gone
06. From Here To Burma
07. Grateful
08. Alright
09. You Don't Give Up
10. Don't Suck My Breath
11. Tom & Bob
12. interview

(note: the date in the info file incorrectly lists the date as May 5, oops sorry)

BLAKE BABIES- 1989-05-09, WERS, Boston, MA FLAC. rar

Sometimes second chances can be a good thing and in the case of Camper Van Beethoven, the second time around has led to a longer than originally expected career. When Camper Van Beethoven broke up in the Spring of 1990, they had recorded five full length albums and were together for seven years. The band reformed in 1999 (and played they're first live shows again in 2002) and have been together ever since. They have now been together longer the second time than the first time they were together. Last month, CVB released the followup to New Roman Times, La Costa Perdida, their third album since their reformation and their eighth full length total.

I was heavily into CVB in the mid/late 80's and bought all their vinyl and owned a cool band t-shirt that has since been thrown out (?) because I wore it until is was riddled with holes. I have yet to see the band live and I guess the closest I came was when they were scheduled to play the WFF in July 1990, but they broke up in April. They have since played the fest in the mid-2000's, but for whatever insane reason, I didn't attend that year. With a new album to tour behind I'm hoping they'll come slightly close to home and this time "I promise" I might even take a (day's) drive to see them live...crossing my fingers!

The live in-studio radio broadcast I'm posting is a show I received in a trade many years ago. I was preparing to transfer my cassette copy to my hd when I decided to check archive.org to see if they had this show. If you've never checked out archive.org, I highly recommend it! They have literally thousands of shows by known and unknown artists that are cool with allowing fans to post their shows and most of these musicians are also taper friendly who allow their fans to record their shows. CVB presently has 289 shows to listen to and download and for fans of Cracker there are over 380 shows. Anyways, I found this show at the archive, and to save time I decided not to transfer my tape, but to post that version. A short set of "traditional" Camper Van Beethoven songs performed acoustically, a nice contrast to the studio album versions. I really like this recording! Stay tuned, the next post will be their session on KCRW from 1989.
Enjoy!

Camper Van Beethoven
August 10, 1987
KCRW Snap Session
Santa Monica, CA
FM Broadcast

1. Ambiguity Song
2. Six More Miles To The Graveyard
3. Medley: Payed Vacation: Greece - Processional
4. Sad Lover's Waltz
5. One Of These Days
6. Crossing Over
7. Take The Skinheads Bowling

Performing artists: David Lowery, Jonathan Segel, Victor Krummenacher, Chris Molla
- Acoustic performance

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN- 1987-08-10 KCRW FLAC. rar

Here's part two of the CVB KCRW live in-studio broadcasts. Similarly to the 1987 session, the band plays songs live along with interview segments. This time Morgan Fichter replaces Jonathan Segel on violin and she adds a female voice to the band's sound with additional harmony vocals. A very nice listen, the sound is stellar, they play some rarities and the band is in good spirits. A nice companion (they fit together perfectly on disc) to the 1987 show for another trip through the 80's.
Enjoy!

Camper Van Beethoven
September 14, 1989
Snap, KCRW
Santa Monica, CA

FM radio broadcast

01. Opening Theme
02. Sweethearts
03. That Was Before I Met You
04. Introductions
05. When I Win the Lottery
06. Staying at Home with the Girls in the Morning
07. O Death
08. All Her Favorite Fruit
09. Loser
10. One of the These Days
11. Lincoln Shrine
12. Closing Comments, outro

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN- 1989-09-14 KCRW FLAC. rar

About a month ago, I downloaded a recording of a Soul Asylum show that took place near the end of 2012 at the First Avenue in Minneapolis. I looked at the lineup and as expected there was Dave Pirner and drummer Michael Bland, but what I didn't expect was the absence of guitarist, Dan Murphy and bass player, Tommy Stinson, as they have been replaced by Justin Sharbono and Winston Roye. Apparently, this lineup change took place in October with a statement from Dan on the band's (forum) website. Tommy had been filling in for Karl Mueller, so his departure isn't a surprise, but Dan Murphy is a co-founding member of Soul Asylum and he helped shape the sound and direction of the band with Pirner. Personally, I have been a solid fan of the band since I first heard Made To Be Broken and I stood by the band (though much less enthusiastically) when they broke into the mainstream and back again. They really haven't released anything that compares with MTBB, And The Horse They Rode In On and Hang Time on their latest albums and i can see why Murphy has lost some of his fire and passion. I saw them live when they toured Grave Dancers Union and around 2001 (?) (when they weren't touring any new album). They have always been known as a great live band and my only regret I didn't see them in the late 80's when their live shows were amazing (at least on the recordings I have). For me, Soul Asylum won't be the same without Murphy and it'll be more like Dave Pirner and his band, playing the songs of Soul Asylum. Imagine Paul Westerberg touring under the Mats name without Stinson or the Stones without Richards or the Feelies without Million or Husker Du without Hart...etc. Hopefully, Dan Murphy's departure from Soul Asylum won't mean he's quitting music completely because I'm still holding out hope for another Golden Smog album and more live shows.

Hang Time was Soul Asylum's major label debut released in 1988. Dan Murphy contributed the song, Cartoon to the record and it remains my favourite Murphy penned tunes. The demos don't differ too much from the versions released, but it's always interesting to hear the rawer, less produced versions of a major label record. The sessions also include 4 songs that would be released on the delightful, Clam Dip & Other Delights EP.
Enjoy!

SOUL ASYLUM
Hang Time Demos

Sometime To Return
Ode
Secret No More
Twiddly Dee
Standing In The Doorway
Endless Farewell
Down On Up To Me
P9
Artificial Heart
My Saving Grace
Forever In A Day
Just Plain Evil
Jack Of All Trades

SOUL ASYLUM- Hang Time Demos FLAC. rar

Sloan- Is That All I Get?...19 Years Later

Paul Westerberg- My Road Now

Kathleen Edwards- Garrick Centre September 29, 2012

Young Fresh Fellows- Gag Fah

Figgs- Maxwell's 2004

Propagandhi- Gilman St. 1995

Fastbacks- San Francisco 2011

Mary Lou Lord- CBC 1998

Rock For Democracy 2004

Beat Farmers- China Club 1986

Johnny Thunders- Sticks And Stones: The Lost Album

True Believers- 2002 Reunion Show

The Del-Lords- Tower Theatre 1986

Green On Red- Spin Radio Concert 1985

Mark Olson and Friends (Jayhawks)- New Years Eve 2004

Guadalcanal Diary- Live At The Catalyst 1988

Blake Babies- Live On WERS 1989

Camper Van Beethoven- KCRW 1987

Camper Van Beethoven KCRW 1989

Soul Asylum- Hang Time Demos