Rewind: 31st July 2012 Helsinki - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

31st July 2012 was the final show on the European Leg of The Wrecking Ball Tour and what a show! His longest show ever!

Click on the links to enjoy the show.

(read the report from Springsteen's website)

Four Hours and Six Minutes!! Yep, you read that correctly.

"This is our last stop in Europe, let's do it right!"

Pre-show acoustic set:
I'll Work For Your Love/Leap of Faith/No Surrender/For You/Blinded By the Light

ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD
Night
Out in the Street
Loose Ends
We Take Care of Our Own
Prove It All Night ('78 intro)
Wrecking Ball
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?/Be True
Jack of All Trades
Downbound Train/Because the Night
Lonesome Day
Darlington County

 Light of Day
Shackled and Drawn (partial)
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
BACK IN YOUR ARMS AGAIN
The Rising
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
* * *
We Are Alive
Born in the U.S.A.
Born to Run
DETROIT MEDLEY
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
  "The Finns are finished!" - Bruce after Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out ends.
 
I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME
HIGHER AND HIGHER (with Jon Landau on Guitar)
Twist and Shout (with Jon Landau on Guitar)

(Jon Landau on Guitar)

  52mins and 40 Secs of Highlights 

Tidy Tune #212: Unsafe Building - The Alarm

The Alarm Live Version

The Alarm 1990 Version.

Mike Peters Solo Version.

The Alarm Original 7" Version.

Happy Birthday Buddy Guy 78 Today

Updated from last year's post

Born on this day in 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisianna, the Blues Legend Buddy Guy. Today he is 78 years old! And he's still making music having released his 69th album called 'Rhythm and Blues' on RCA Records last year!

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

Damn Right I Got the Blues - 1995 (Full Album).

Live in Solana Beach 1995 Full Show.

Live at Glastonbury 2008 Full Show.

Buddy Guy Interview from 2012.

Living Proof - 2010 (Full Album).

Live at Red Rocks 2013.

This is Buddy Guy! - 1968 (Full Album).

Buddy Guy at The Guitar Center 2014.

Buddy Guy Live! The Real Deal.

Tampa Bay Blues Festival 2014 (Full Performance).

Tidy Tune #211: The Six Teens - Sweet

Happy Birthday 

to

Andy Scott

Guitarist 

Rewind: 1974 - The Death of Mama Cass Elliot

 On this day (29th July) back in 1974 Mama Cass Elliot passed away from a heart attack following a performance in London.

September 2013 Post on 'Remembering Mama Cass Elliot'.

Creeque Valley.

California Dreamin' - The Songs of The Mamas and the Papas (Sky Arts Documentary).

Monterey Pop Festival 1967.

Straight Shooter

Spanish Harlem

Somebody Groovy

Got A Feelin'

California Dreamin'

I Call Your Name Monday Monday

San Francisco (with Scott McKenzie)

Dancing in the Streets.

Happy Birthday Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff)

Birthday Greetings to Miles Hunt

Lead Vocalist of The Wonder Stuff.

Miles is one of my favourites from The Black Country.

Click on the links to enjoy the magical sounds of The Stuffies and more.

Welcome to the Cheap Seats (Letterman).

Friendly Company.

The Size of a Cow (Live).

On the Ropes.

Far Far Away.

Hot Love.

Save It For Later.

Eight Legged Groove Machine Full Album Playlist.

Never Loved Elvis.

Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls.

All the News that's Fit to Print.

Here Comes Everyone.

I Can't Shape Up.

Cake.

Blackberry Way.

Stay Scared Stay Tuned.

Immaculate Fools.

Closer to Fine.

 In Between Days.

Far Far Away.

Plans in the Sky.

Fill Her Up and Foot Down.

Mission Drive.

Tidy Tune #210: Looking for Elvis - Patti Scialfa

Tidy Tune #209: Grey Skies Turn Blue - MxPx

Tidy Tune #208: Ship in a Bottle - The Bouncing Souls

Promo Video

Live Version

S4L Top Ten: The Bouncing Souls

To celebrate 25 years of The Bouncing Souls here's my favourite Top Ten tracks by the band.

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

#10

Night Train.

#9

We're Coming  Back.

#8

Bullying the Jukebox.

#7

Anchors Aweigh.

#6

We All Sing Along.

#5

The Ballad of Johnny X.

#4

Ship in a Bottle.

#3

Kids and Heroes.

#2

Better Things.

#1

True Believers.

Bonus

Playlist for Stone Pony Show - 19th July 2014.

 

 

Tidy Tune #207: Drift Away - Dobie Gray

Happy Birthday Dobie Gray

Born on this day in 1942.

Click on the links to enjoy more versions of this classic song.

Rolling Stones Version

Happy Birthday Mick Jagger

Born on this day in 1943

Waylon Jennings Version.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Version.

Roy Orbison Version.

Humble Pie Version.

Ringo Starr Version.

Doobie Brothers Version.

The Heptones Version.

Mud Version.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Live At The Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ, September 19th 1978 (28th July 2014)

Next week sees the release by Klondike Records of one of Bruce Springsteen's classic shows from the 'Darkness at the Edge of Town Tour' in 1978.

Bit puzzled that Klondike seem to have left the mis-spelling of Passaic (Passiac according to them!) on the front cover!

The three disc set covers the whole broadcast by WNEW-FM 102.7.

Tracklist:

Disc 1

1. Badlands
2. Streets Of Fire
3. Spirit In The Night
4. Darkness On The Edge Of Town
5. Independence Day
6. The Promised Land
7. Prove It All Night
8. Racing In The Street
9. Thunder Road
10. Meeting Across The River
11. Jungleland
12. DJ Chat with John Scher

Disc 2

1. DJ Chat with John Scher
2. Vin Scelsa interview
3. DJ Chat
4. Kitty’s Back
5. Fire
6. Candy’s Room
7. Because The Night
8. Point Blank
9. Not Fade Away
10. She’s The One

Disc 3

1. Backstreets
2. Rosalita
3. DJ Chat
4. 4th Of July
5. Born To Run
6. Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
7. Detroit Medley
8. Raise Your Hand
9. Closing comments

The first of a three night stand at The Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey, was the 74th show on the tour and over the years it has been widely bootlegged.

Complete Audio of Night 1.

Night One Part 1 (Black and White Film, not great quality).

Night One Part 2
(Black and White Film, not great quality).

Night 2 Part 1 (Black and White Movie - Newly Restored).

Night 2 Part 2  (Black and White Movie - Newly Restored).

Complete Audio of Night 3.

Tidy Tune #206: Living Proof - Bruce Springsteen

Written on the day that his first child was born.

Evan James Springsteen was born on this day in 1992.

How Do You Discover New Music?

I always loved Thursday mornings when I was a kid at school. Not because I liked school, nothing could be further from the truth on that issue! Thursday was a great day because it was the day the new Music Papers came out. Back then I was an avivd reader of Sounds, NME and Melody Maker.

 Sounds 1977 Issue

 NME 1977 Issue

 Melody Maker 1977 Issue

Record Mirror was often avoided because it dealt in far too much pop music and would only be purchased when a favourite artist would appear on the front cover!

 Record Mirror 1978 Issue

This was the primary way we discovered new music when were kids. Yep, we read the Music Papers from cover to cover in search of something new or some little piece about our favourite bands of the time. The Gig reviews were vital of course, though some of the reviewers you wondered what on earth they had been watching (especially if it was a show you happened to be at!). The Singles of the Week were always the first port of call when opening up the paper, followed by the album reviews.

We would revel in the musings of Nick Kent, Tony Parsons, Charles Shaar Murray, Paul Morley and Danny Baker at the NME. Over at the Melody Maker it was Vivien Goldman, Mary Harron and Mick Watts. At Sounds it was Savage Pencil (Edwin Pouncey), Garry Bushell, Penny Valentine and Geoff Barton. Few of those names would mean that much to folks today but they were just some the writers who were informing young and old minds back then.

Music Radio of course was another source of for musical discovery, not daytime radio with the likes of Tony Blackburn and Gary Davies etc but night time radio with the likes of John Peel, Kid Jensen (his show was between 4.30-7pm though he did end up doing the 7-10pm slot as well), and of course Andy Kershaw (who was on before Peel in the 8-10pm slot). Between the hours of 8pm and Midnight when the station closed down for the night (24 hour radio was a few years down the line from these heady days!). And boy did we discover loads of great music between those three!
 

John Peel

David "Kid" Jensen and John Peel on TOTP

Andy Kershaw and John Peel

Our other source of discovering new music when we were younger was going to the Record Shop. Fortunately for us we had two that we would frequent:

Treble Clef was in Sydenham and I still have fond memories of seeing bands like XTC and Eddie and the Hot Rods on the TV and rushing down to the shop before closing time at 5.30 in order to pick up the Limited Edition 12"'s of 'Science Friction" (AKA '3D EP') and 'Do Anything You Wanna Do', and a host of other releases.

Counterpoint Records was the other one and that was in Forest Hill. Actually Counterpoint became a hangout for many of us young punks and we would often bunk off school and be found pestering Andy Ross to play us new music. He had a band called the Disco Zombies and their 2nd release, 'Drums Over London' (they had released an EP called 'Top of the Pops' - about six months prior to The Rezillos having a chart hit with the same titled song), was something we helped Andy Ross with by stamping the labels and folding the sleeves and even taking a trip to Rough Trade Records to help distribute the single.

That was just an aside. Now, where was I? Oh yes, visiting the Record Shops as a way of discovering new music. The guys who worked in these places had a good knowledge of music and loved it themselves so it was no bother for them to play stuff you asked to listen to. These days it's hard finding a Record Store so if you have a local one value it with your life. When a lot of the bigger stores like HMV and Virgin were putting the small stores out of business the service they gave was minimal and even some of the staff had no clue about music! So finding a place that has people who love music and are happy to make a connection with you as a customer is priceless I think.

The last two avenues of seeking out new music were going to gigs (listening to others talking up bands and then going yourself to a show and also DJ's at the gigs - far too few venues these days have a DJ that plays between the sets) and of course your friends' record collections. Besides being a total music nut myself I was fortunate enough to have some great friends around who shared a passion for music and was able to make many new discoveries by roaming through their collections.

It's all a little bit different these days with the Internet and having unlimited access to music via things like You Tube and Spotify. Even how we are now able to enjoy a show that was only played the night before (or even hours before) is there for us at the click of a mouse.

It's funny though just looking at what I've written above because apart from no longer really listening to Music Radio (I dabble from time to time) and visiting an actual Record Store, the ways I discover new music for myself has pretty much remained steady for more than thirty years:
I still read the music press, monthly rather than weekly (though I do dabble on some music press sites on a daily basis as well), and I still go to gigs (not as many as I would like), and more importantly I still have friends who have a love and passion for music and am constantly discovering music via them that's new to my ears.

What about you? How do you keep on the ball with your own musical discoveries. Feel free to drop a comment, I don't bite!

Tidy Tune #205: Sadie Hawkins Dance - Relient K

Original Album Version by Relient K.

Bluegrass Tribute Version.

Vitamin String Quartet Version.

Piano Tribute Version.

Happy Birthday Alison Krauss (2014)

This is updated from a post made a year ago.

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

Born on this day 1971 in Decatur, Illinois. Alison Maria Krauss got her recording debut alongside her brother Viktor, appearing on the 1985 independent album 'Different Strokes'.

Grey Eagle and Nick's Noodle 

from 'Different Strokes'.

In 1985 she also signed to Rounder Records and would release her debut album, 'Too Late To Cry' in 1987. Listen to 'Foolish Heart' Here. Union Station were her back-up band.

Her first band, 'Two Highways' album with Union Station credited on the cover followed in 1989. The album earned them their first of many Grammy Nominations (41 up until 2012) for Best Bluegrass Recording despite not charting.

Teardrops Will Kiss the Morning Dew.

Two Highways.

Apparently the deal with Rounder Records meant that she would alternate between solo album and band album and so her 1990 release, 'I've Got That Old Feeling' finally broke the charts and stalled at #61. The title track was also the first song that she ever filmed a video for. She also received the first of her 27 Grammy's as the album was nominated and won Best Bluegrass Recording.

Released in 1992, 'Everytime You Say Goodbye' would bring another Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album of the Year. A year later Alison would become the youngest member at the time of The Grand Ole Opry and the first Bluegrass artist for almost three decades to join the cast. 

1994 saw her collaborate with The Cox Family on with the album 'I Know Who Holds Tomorrow', and yet another Grammy came her way.

This 1995 Collection would become one of Alison's biggest hits and biggest sellers. The title track, 'Baby, Now That I've Found You', won a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and 'When You Say Nothing At All' would win her a CMA Award for Single of the Year.

'So Long So Wrong' would also win a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, though some critics thought it was quite "Untraditional". Two other tracks from the album would win a Grammy, 'Looking in the Eyes of Love' (Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal) and 'Little Liza Jane' (Best Country Instrumental Performance).

The 1999 album 'Forget About It' contained a whole bunch of beautiful songs: the Title Track, 'Stay', and 'Ghost in This House'.

2001 saw the release of the ninth studio album by Alison Krauss and Union Station. Jerry Douglas had joined the band full time after the departure of Adam Steffy in 1998. Douglas had played in the studio with band sice 1987.

'New Favourite' would win a Grammy for Best Bluegrass album and 'The Lucky One' would win two Grammy Awards (Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Country Song).

A live CD/DVD would follow in 2002 filmed at Louisville Palace over two nights in April the same year. The show saw them at their best performing a wide range of music from previous releases.

'Let Me Touch You For Awhile'.

'The Boy Who Could Hoe Corn'/'Take Me For The Longing'.

'Lonely Runs Both Ways' released in 2004 is probably my favourite of all the albums released thus far. As per usual it won a truck load of Grammy Awards and the song 'A Living Prayer' got the nod for a CMA Award (Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year). Also checkout 'Restless', 'Goodbye is all We Have', and 'My Poor Old Heart'.

Another collection was released in 2007 that contained Duets with the likes of Sting, Brad Paisley, James Taylor and a cracking single alongside John Waite. 

    'A Hundred Miles or More - Live from the Tracking Room'.

'Missing You' (with John Waite).

Molly Ban (with The Chieftans).

How's the World Treating You (with James Taylor).

Whiskey Lullaby (with Brad Paisley).

Lay Down Beside Me (with John Waite).

2007 also saw one of the most bizzarest collaborations that Alison Krauss has ever been involved with, a team-up with Robert Plant! I can remember thinking when I first heard about this project that there was no way on earth it was ever going to work. After hearing 'Raising Sand' for the first time I had to eat my own words!

'Please Read the Letter', 

'Killing the Blues',

'Gone, Gone, Gone',

 'Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us'.

Some of the live performances were pretty outstanding as well. 

'Black Dog',

 'When the Levee Breaks', 

'Battle of Evermore', 

 'Nothin'.

In the Mood.

CMT's Crossroads Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.

 

In 2009 there was another compilation, 'Essential Alison Krauss' that contained songs hand picked by Alison herself.

Then in 2011 the first Alison Krauss and Union Station album for 7 years!!

'Paper Airplane' (Letterman Show).

'Dust Bowl Children' (Live).

'My Love Follows You Where You Go' (Live).

Lay My Burden Down (Letterman Show).

 

More Alison Krauss

I Believe in You (Bob Dylan Cover) - with Jerry Douglas and Ally Bain for Transatlantic Sessions.

Down to the River to Pray - with Ricky Skaggs at the Country Music Hall of Fame 19/10/13.

Gospel Set with Willie Nelson - St Augustine FL 18/05/14.

Alison Krauss and Union Station Live - Murry, KY 21/05/14.

I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - Rama, Ontario 15/07/14.

When You Say Nothing At All - Live at The White House.

Goodbye is all We Have - Austin City Limits 2005.

The Boxer - with Shawn Colvin and Jerry Douglas.

Lay My Burden Down (Later with Jools Holland).

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow/Ghost in this House - Country Music Hall of Fame Fundraiser 2010.

 

Tidy Tune #204: Homework (Live at The Marquee) - Nine Below Zero

Happy Birthday

Dennis Greaves

23rd July 1957

Other Marquee videos

Tore Down.

Can I Get A Witness.

Keep on Knockin'.