The Soundtrack4Life Concert Series: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

The second of our posts in the Concert Series features two shows both recorded on New Year's Eve five years apart from each other. Both are by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. The shows are Audio only (I wish there was actual video footage of the whole shows!). Both of these shows have been released officially by Springsteen and the audio versions below are the Official Releases rather than the Bootlegs.

The first is on the Born To Run Tour at The Tower Theater in Philadelphia. It features songs from his first three albums and some inspired cover versions (including It's My Life originally done by The Animals). This was the last of a Four Night Stand in Philly. Thunder Road is just The Professor Roy Bittan on the Piano and Bruce on Harmonica and Vocal. Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? was played for the last time until 1993 and Mountain of Love was also played for the last time until it resurfaced in St Louis in 2008!

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

The Tower Theater, Philadelphia

31/12/75

The second show is from The River Tour and is the final night of a Three Night Stand in Uniondale NY. The show in its entirity is Three Hours and forty Seven Minutes and packed with 38 songs (though saying that, four of the songs have actually been removed by the Uploader due to Copyright issues, these tracks have been released Officially by Bruce's label so I'm guessing that's the reason why! The songs are Merry Christmas Baby, 4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy), Rendezvous, and Held Up Without A Gun). Despite the missing songs I hope it doesn't spoil your listening pleasure.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Uniondale NY

31/12/80

All the best for the coming New Year, many thanks to all who have visited this blog over the past year. Hope you will continue to do so next year.

Thanks a lot.

Doug

The Soundtrack4Life Concert Series: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1978)

New Year's Eve and what better way to see in the New Year than to Rock your way into it.

In the first of two Concert Series posts today we kick off with a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers double bill with a two night stand in California back in 1978. The first is from San Francisco at the legendary Winterland Ballroom. The second I'm guessing was a TV Special as the set is shorter by almost forty minutes and it's from Santa Monica.

 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Winterland, San Francisco

30/12/78

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Santa Monica

31/12/78

45RPM: #72 Spiral Scratch EP - Buzzcocks (1977)

In 1976 The Damned had been the first of the UK Punk bands to release a single (New Rose) followed by the Sex Pistols (Anarchy in the UK). Whilst The Damned's release had been on a new Indie Label, Stiff Records, the Pistols were signed to (and not for long) EMI.

Enter Buzzcocks from Manchester. They were the first to go the way of DIY without any input from a Record Label, Indie or Major.

Let's rewind a moment.

Reading a review of a Pistols gig in the NME Pete Shelly and Howard Devoto borrowed a car and drove down to London with the hopes of one, seeing the Sex Pistols live and two, the possibility of getting the Pistols to play in Manchester. Both goals were achieved that weekend as they saw the band in High Wycombe in February 1976 and they had got the nod to plan a show in Manchester for the band.

Pete and Howard managed to secure a night at The Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976 and had intended to be the support band for the night but due to other band members pulling out at the last moment it never happend, though they did finally get to support the Pistols when another date was agreed upon a month later. By this time Shelly and Devoto had secured the services of John Maher on Drums and Steve Diggle on Bass.

Come September Buzzcocks were down in London appearing at the 100 Club for a two day Punk Festival that would include the Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Vibrators, Stinky Toys, Subway Sect and a debut outing for Siouxsie and the Banshees featuring Sid Vicious on Drums!

On December 28th 1976 the band entered Indigo Sound Studios in Manchester and after three hours recording and two mixing they had their first EP ready. As they had no label to support them they managed to secure £500 between friends and family to pay for production and manufacture of the EP. One thousand copies were intially made but once released they went very quickly. The band needed to sell 600 copies in order to pay back the loans and by July 1977 they had managed to sell over 16,000 copies, mainly by Mail Order but a few Record Stores did take copies to sell also.

 

I bought my own copy of the EP at HMV in Oxford Street on the same day that I got Television's Little Johnny Jewel on Import.

Four tracks in just over 10 minutes! What an absolute blast it is! It all sounds so simple and yet at the same time so profound.

There's a great little book that's worth getting your hands on if you can called Punk Fiction: An Anthology of Short Stories Inspired by Punk. At the end of the book there's a chapter by John Robb (Goldblade, Louder Than War) where he talks about the importance of Spiral Scratch EP. He said that "the idea that you could make your own record was revolutionary." Regarding the song 'Boredom': "There was also that two -,  maybe, at a push, three-note guitar solo on 'Boredom'. Three notes is enough for a guitar solo, maybe that should be the law - all guitar players must play three notes and then LEAVE IT.

Pete Shelly managed to make a whole statement in those three notes - a guitar solo that was sarcastic, droll and very, very funny. And we haven't even got to the lyrics yet."

On Devoto's lyrics he wrote: " his spikey doggrel on these four songs was so original that they reinvented rock lyric writing - after him came The Fall and Morrissey and a whole host of very northern poets, doing that same trick of making the normal seem so surreal and showing us the inherent ugliness or banality and insecurities of life with a twisted, dark humour."

Not long after the EP was released (some say it was on the eve of the release, others the day after it's release) Devoto up and left the band, already tired of the growing restrictions that Punk had brought. He went back to University, but within months had founded Magazine... a Post-Punk band before Punk even had a chance to be looked at in terms of Post- Anything! ...and that's a whole other story!

Three of the songs on the EP - Breakdown, Times Up and Boredom - have long been considered Punk Classics. Friends of Mine doesn't really come into the picture but it's one of the only songs I've ever heard that use the phrase "a Pre-Raphaelite barb freak" and been able to summon up a picture where "Betty trimmed my nails with pliers while eating avocado pears"...I know, I have no idea either!

The release of Spiral Scratch EP inspired many to do the same, and as a result their were brand new labels formed and one off labels. Some bands recorded a single and then promptly broke up, others stuck at it and found a way to the big leagues where they could become more professional in the way they recorded their music. Buzzcocks were one of them bands who stuck at it and even today Pete Shelly and Steve Diggle are still out there playing live and making new music 38 (heading towards 39) years after they first released their debut 45.

Back in 2012 the orignal band even got back together to play it live. Watch the video here. Sorry it's not brilliant sound quality.

A-Side: Breakdown / Times Up
B-Side: Boredom / Friends of Mine
New Hormones
Produced by Martin Zero (Hannett)
Released 29th January 1977

Buzzcocks
    Howard Devoto – vocals
    Pete Shelley – guitar, backing vocals
    Steve Diggle – bass
    John Maher – drums

Music is the Doctor #34 Sounds of 2015 & Remember the Fallen

The last Music is the Doctor of 2015 and it's time to recall some of the tunes that have been a little special for me and also a spotlight on those Musicians, Songwriters and Legends who have passed out of this world throughout the year.

On The Playlist

Boom Shaka Boom - Chris Spedding.

Nearest Thing To Hip - The Waterboys.

Tenth Avenue Freezeout (Tower Theater 31/12/75) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Blackbirds - Gretchen Peters.

Lord, If I Ever Needed Someone (ft. Mavis Staples) - Van Morrison.

High Blood Pressure - Boz Scaggs.

Down Down (Live at The Roundhouse) - Status Quo.

Lions of Charing Cross Road - The Blow Monkeys.

Shifting - Wire.

Wall of Grace - Graham Parker and the Rumour.

The Traveling Kind - Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell.

Pageant Material (Live at Farm Aid) - Kacey Musgraves.

Beatnik Walking - Richard Thompson.

Speed Trap Town - Jason Isbell.

Man Plans, God Laughs - Public Enemy.

Born To Play Guitar - Buddy Guy.

Glorious You - Frank Turner.

Take A Picture of This - Don Henley.

Shake It Off - Ryan Adams.

Jesus is the Rock that Keeps Me Rollin' (Live) - Darlene Love.

Tomorrow Seems So Far Away - Walter Trout.

You Know It's Dark When Atheists Start To Pray - Jesse Malin.

Walk Away - Michael Monroe.

Traveler - Chris Stapleton

The Fallen

Rest In Peace

Andrae Crouch - Gospel Singer January 8th.

Steve Strange -  Visage February 12th.*

Andy Fraser - Drummer of Free 16th March.

Percy Sledge - Soul Singer 14th April.

Ben E. King - Soul Singer 30th April.

B.B.King - King of the Blues 14th May.*

Chris Squire - Bassist Yes 28th June.

Ernie Maresca - Songwriter (The Wanderer/ Donna the Prima Donna).

Rico Rodriguez - Trombonist 4th September.*

Bryn Merrick - Bassist The Damned 12th September.*

Carey Lander - Camera Obscura 11th October.

Steve McKay - Saxophone The Stooges 11th October.*

 Allen Tousaint - New Orleans Legend 10th November.
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor - Drums Motörhead 11th November.*

P.F. Sloan - Songwriter (Eve of Destruction) 15th November.

Kelvin Knight - Drummer Delta 5 2nd December.*

Scott Weiland - Stone Temple Pilots/Velvbet Revolver 3rd December.

Gareth Mortimer - Racing Cars 17th December.

Steve Wright - The Easybeats 27th December.

Lemmy Kilmister - Motörhead Bassist and all round Legend 28th December.*

John "JB" Bradbury - Drummer The Specials 29th December.*

*track on The Playlist

Of course there were many more and to those now mentioned we offer our heartfelt thanks for their service to music over the years.

The Soundtrack4Life Concert Series: Motörhead & The Head Cat

The S4L Concert Series continutes today with a Lemmy Double Bill

A wee word of warning that there is some strong language at various points in the shows.

Motörhead at The Rock amRing 2010

The Head Cat

Live at The Cat Club

Lemmy Kilmister 24/12/45 - 28/12/15

(Picture by Roberts John)

When The Sky Comes  Looking For You - Motörhead (2015)
 

Motörhead Frontman Lemmy Kilmister passed away four days after his 70th Birthday (24 December). Reports say that two days before his death (26th December) he was diagnosed with an extremely agressive Cancer. He died at his home in Los Angeles on 28th December 2015.

 

As part of The Rockin' Vickers Lemmy released three singles in the 1960's:

1965 – "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" / "Stella" (7" single)
1965 – "It's Alright" / "Stay By Me" (7" single)
1966 – "Dandy" / "I Don't Need Your Kind" (7" single)

In 1969 he joined Psychedelic band Sam Gopal (formerly known as Sam Gopal's Dream) and released the album Escalator and single Horse / Back Door Man.

In 1972 he joined Hawkwind as Bassist (which he had not played in previous bands). It was here he developed his famous stance and style of playing. He sung lead vocals on Hawkwind's huge hit single 'Silver Machine' (that reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart in 1972). Lemmy was fired from the band in 1975.

Teaming up with Pink Faries guitarist Larry Wallis he set about forming the band that he has become most famous for, Motörhead. The name was taken from a song that Lemmy had written for Hawkwind's fifth studio album Warrior on the Edge of Time. The song did not make the album until it was reissued on CD.

Originally the name of the band was "Bastard" that but having been informed by his manager that they'd never get a slot on Top of the Pops with the name it was changed to Motörhead. They made their live debut in July 1975 at The Roundhouse in London, a recording of it exists, it's not brilliant sound by any means but it's worth a listen.

After their debut album On Parole (recorded between December 1975 and February 1976 - produced by Dave Edmunds!) was rejected by United Artists they released their debut single in 1977 on Stiff Records - Leaving Here/White Line Fever. Well, UA put a block on Stiff distributing the single but it did appear on French label Skydog and Swedish label Blitz Records. The original Stiff one is a bit of a rarity, it did finally get a release when Stiff issued a Limited Edition 10 disc Boxset of their first 10 Singles in 1979. The On Parole album would finally see the light of day in 1979 after the band had gained some success (typical record label cashing in!).

Chiswick Records signed the band and would eventually release the debut album, Motörhead (the band had basically re-recorded On Parole over a weekend, ditched two songs Fools and Leaving Here, and added were White Line Fever, Keep Us On The Road and a cover Train Kept A-Rollin'. There were some band changes with Fast Eddie Clarke (he had actually joined in 1976) on Guitar and Phil "Philthy Phil Animal" Taylor on Drums in what is now known as the classic Motörhead line-up.

Over the course of 38 years, and with various line-ups 22 Studio Albums , 9 Live Albums, 10 Compilation Albums, 4 EP's and 29 Singles would be released under the Motörhead banner. Their final album, Bad Magic was released in August 2015.

Lemmy also released a couple of albums under the name The Head Cat (Fools Paradise and Walk The Walk, Talk The Talk). The group included Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats and Danny B. Harvey of The Rockats. There's also an album Lemmy Slim Jim & Danny B from 2000 before they took the name The Head Cat (the album used to be up on You Tube but they seem to have taken it down. Here's a track from it though - Stuck On You).

He's guested and collaborated on loads of projects over the years and one of the most famous ones I guess is HeadGirl (Motörhead and Girlschool) for the St Valentines Day Massacre EP. It reached #5 in the charts. A brilliant cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates 'Please Don't Touch' and Motörhead performing Girlschool's Emergency and Girlschool performing Motörhead's Bomber.

Motörhead: Live Fast Die Old Documentary.*

* Warning: Does contain Strong Language

Lemmy wanted the music to be "fast and vicious, just like the MC5". His stated aim was to "concentrate on very basic music: loud, fast, city, raucous, arrogant, paranoid, speedfreak rock n roll ... it will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die".

Motörhead Live at Glastonbury 2015.

The S4L Album of the Year 2015: Something More Than Free - Jason Isbell

From the moment I first heard it I knew that every album that followed had to top this. From July onwards this was already penciled in as The S4L Album of the Year 2015. This is "Thinking Man's Country" as oppossed to some of the nonsense that generally spews forth from Nashville!

His previous album Southeastern was always going to take some beating, such was the high praise for that album (even my mate Colin Busher below speaks with great favour about it) that pleasing the critics with something a little bit different was always going to be difficult. The Good News for Jason Isbell though is that if he, or any other Artist for that matter, relied on sales from the critics then they'd all be pretty poor! A good review, or even a bad review doesn't always matter to an artist who is really on a roll when it comes to crafting great songs. Rather it is the people who will listen and are able to find a little bit of themselves in the music that have the greater say. It is they who buy the album, go to the shows etc so if it sucked they'd vote with their feet and not bother to support it.

Seeing the response to Something More Than Free from the public should encourage Jason Isbell and not hamper  his efforts to day by day become a better songwriter.

Where Southeastern seemed very personal at times Something More Than Free is loaded with characters to spotlight the world he wishes to convey (and in doing that, he's doing no different to what Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul Simon or any other decent songsmith is doing).

There's a diversity of sound as well throughout the album. There's Country, Folk, and a bit of Rock all cleverly dispensed between the 11 songs.

If It Takes A Lifetime appeared at #2 in my Top Ten Songs of the Year. I loved 24 Frames the moment I first heard it (well saw it being played live on a TV show). Speed Trap Town is another favourite, and the title track also is fantastic (though personally I don't think there's a poor track on the whole of the album).

Some might have hoped that Jason Isbell would have failed to live up to the hype that was generated (not by him or his label) by Southeastern but they are all going to be disappointed because Something More Than Free is a work that has clearly triumphed and shows that Mr Isbell will be around for a long time to come yet!
 

Something More Than Free - Jason Isbell

Southeastern Records

Produced by Dave Cobb

Released 17th July 2015

US Billboard 200 Albums #6

US Billboard Top Country Albums #1

US Billboard Folk Albums #1

US Billboard Independent Albums #2

US Billboard Top Rock Albums #1

UK Album Chart #17

Tracklist*

(Click on the Links to Listen to the Music)

01. If It Takes A Lifetime    
02. 24 Frames    
03. Flagship    
04. How To Forget    
05. Children Of Children    
06. The Life You Chose    
07. Something More Than Free    
08. Speed Trap Town    
09. Hudson Commodore    
10. Palmetto Rose    
11. To A Band That I Loved.

* Links might not necessarily be the version of the song that appears on the record. You Tube once again seem to have removed tracks from the album they seem to have uploaded to a playlist themselves when the album came out. Apologies for this. Hope it doesn't spoil your listening pleasure.

Something More Than Free 
Some thoughts by Colin Busher 

"an album a lot of artists would sell their family for!"

2013's Southeastern is the best album I've heard in the last 15 -20 years. It stopped me in my tracks.

I told myself and others, when waiting on the follow up that a Southeastern only comes along every 20 years or so and expecting SMTF to be as good was foolish. Its not as good in my opinion, but only by the shortest of margins. If a record can have a 'lived in' feel about it, then SMTF has it. Isbell is a great storyteller and you feel immediately immersed in his tales and his characters.
From the couple in Flagship to the working class father in the title track which for me captures perfectly the life of the hard working man.

The standout track for me is Speed Trap Town a song that just pulls at your emotions. A song where you live every moment with the protagonist. Storytelling at its best. Who hasnt at some point wanted to be "a thousand miles away from a speedtrap town"?

Just shy of the perfection of Southeastern, SMTF is an album a lot of artists would sell their family for.

8 Days of Christmas #8: The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl

There could only be one song for Christmas Eve and it gets mentioned in the very first line of the song. 

It was written by Jem Finer and Shane McGowan (you can see the BBC documentary The Story of A Fairytale of New York below).

It was first released in 23rd November 1987 and it reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart. In Ireland it was #1.

It has been reissued 12 times and made the Top 20 eleven times. It is the most played Christmas Song of the 21st Century.

In 2012 it was voted on TV Britain's Favourite Christmas Song

"It was Christmas Eve Babe in the drunk tank...."

8 Days of Christmas #7: Nick Lowe

Seeing that I am not a huge fan of Christmas Music, I do like some of course but I honestly cannot abide the constant playing of it from October to December!! My custom has always been to begin playing Christmas Music a week or so before the event, that way I do not tire of it (and I don't play it on repeat!!).

There's a few Classic Christmas albums like Spector's 'A Christmas Gift For You',  'The Beach Boys' Christmas', B.B. King's 'A Christmas Celebration of Hope', The Blind Boys of Alabama's 'Go Tell It On The Mountain', 'Dig That Crazy Christmas' by Brian Setzer Orchestra, any Johnny Cash Christmas album, but the one I like coming back to is Nick Lowe's 'Quality Street'. It only came out two years ago and although not a smash hit as such, for me it will be always be considered one of the classic Christmas Albums.

Strummer Day #5: The Clash Live Shows/Recordings

More Live Shows of The Clash

The Roundhouse - 5th September 1976.

Amsterdam - 14th May 1977.

Sussex University - 25th May 1977

Very Rare Black and White Film Footage of The Clash in action at this show.

Part One.

Part Two. 

De Montfort Hall, Leicester  - 28th May 1977.

Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism Rally, Victoria Park - 30th April 1978.

Music Machine, London - 24th July 1978.

Paris - 16th October 1978.

Cleveland, Ohio - 13th February 1979.

The Palladium, New York - 21st September 1979.

Hammersmith Odeon - 27th December 1979.

 

Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ - 8th March 1980.

Paris - 27th May 1980. 

Turin, Italy - 3rd June 1980.

Hammersmith Palais - 17th June 1980.

Bonds, New York - 9th June 1981.

Bonds, New York (Last Show of NY Dates) - 13th June 1981.

Paris - 29th September 1981.

Lyceum, London -22nd October 1981.

Tokyo, Japan - 1982 (they played four dates in Tokyo not sure what date this was filmed).

Brixton Fairdeal, London - 30th July 1982.

Orpheum, Boston 7th September 1982.

 Orpheum, Boston 8th September 1982.

Jamaica World Music Festival - 27th November 1982.

Mick Jones final gig with the band

US Festival, San Bernadinio, LA - 28th May 1983.

 Whilst I normally wouldn't give any kudos to the remaining days of The Clash with only Simonon and Strummer of the originals plus Pete Howard on Drums, Nick Sheppard & Vince White on Guitars, I thought I'd at least post one show from what was basically a disaster waiting to happen!

The Clash Mark II

Barrowlands, Glasgow - 10th February 1984.

 

 

 

Strummer Day #4: Three Song Tribute To Joe and The Clash

 Two of the finest tributes to Joe Strummer and The Clash can be found in the first two songs. First one is from the Guitar and Drum album by Belfast's Stiff Little Fingers and the second from Sink or Swim, the Debut album of New Jersey's The Gaslight Anthem.

The third song in this little trio of tribute is by New Orleans based band Cowboy Mouth. It's actually a bit of a giggle about having to dump a girlfriend because she didn't know who Joe Strummer was!

Strummerville - Stiff Little Fingers

Live Version of Strummerville.

I'da Called You Woody, Joe - The Gaslight Anthem

Live Version of I'da Called You Woody Joe.

Joe Strummer - Cowboy Mouth

Live Version of Joe Strummer.

Strummer Day #3: Music is the Doctor #33: The Music of Joe Strummer and The Clash

A Special Music is the Doctor today as the #33 spotlights the music of Joe Strummer and The Clash. The Playlist includes a number of Cover versions as well to show how vast the influence of Joe had upon other bands.

On The Playlist

Coma Girl - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

White Riot - The Clash.

Somebody Got Murdered - Chelsea.

Johnny Appleseed - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

Tommy Gun - The Clash.

Clampdown - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Mondo Bongo - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

Guns of Brixton - The Clash.

Clash City Rockers - Saves The Day.

Hitsville UK - Carbon Silicon.

Love Kills - Joe Strummer.

London Calling - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

London's Burning - The Clash.

1977 - Edwyn Collins.

Hateful - The Clash.

I Fought The Law - The Clash.

Redemption Song - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

Death or Glory - Jesse Malin.

Rock The Casbah - Los Mondo Bongo.

What's My Name? - Manic Street Preachers.

Minstrel Boy - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

It seemed fitting to end the Playlist with some scenes from one of Joe's final ever gigs at Acton Hall in support of striking Firemen. (the final one would be 7 days later at the Liverpool Academy 22nd November 2002). Mick Jones was in the audience for the show and he jumped on stage and played on Bankrobber, White Riot and London's Burning.

White Riot/London's Burning - Joe Strummer & Mescaleros (with Mick Jones). 

Strummer Day #2: S4L Top Ten - The Clash

S4L Top Ten - The Clash

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

 #10. Garageland.

#9. Gates of the West.

#8. Armagideon Time.

#7. Tommy Gun.

#6. London Calling.

#5. Stay Free.

#4. White Riot.

#3. Clash City Rockers.

 

#2. Complete Control.

#1. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais

 

8 Days of Christmas #6: Slade

Well you couldn't do a Christmas Music Countdown without Noddy and Slade could you?

At this time in 1973 this was the #1 song and it seemed to come out every year since then! Old Noddy Holder and Jimmy Lea have made a packet on this (in 2013 apparently they had over £500,000 in sales alone on this song!).

It was released 7th December and stayed in the charts up until February 1974!

"We'd decided to write a Christmas song and I wanted to make it reflect a British family Christmas. Economically, the country was up the creek. The miners had been on strike, along with the grave-diggers, the bakers and almost everybody else. I think people wanted something to cheer them up – and so did I. That's why I came up with the line 'Look to the future now, it's only just begun'. Once I got the line, 'Does your Granny always tell you that the old ones are the best', I knew I'd got a right cracker on my hands." - Noddy Holder, 2007.

"Merry Xmas Everybody" was featured in the "Famous Last Words" section of the December 1999 issue of Melody Maker magazine, in which Noddy Holder explained some of the song's lyrics. For the line "Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?", he stated "I always hang up a stocking on the wall if the wife lets me. This lyric was originally very different - it was taken from the first song I ever wrote, in the acid flower power days of 1967: ‘So won’t you buy me a rocking chair to watch the world go by and a looking glass to look you in the eye’. You can imagine why we never released that." 

For the line "Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?", Holder stated "It’s the one day Father Christmas has got to stay sober, cos he’s got a big job to do, so he’s got to lay off the booze for one day of the year. I like a hot toddy when I get up on Christmas morning, then I shall have a drop of wine at lunchtime. Maybe then I’ll progress on to a little vodka and, after that, I’ll move on to brandy." 

For the line "Are you waiting for the family to arrive?", Holder said "Lyrically, I wanted it to be a working-class thing. Christmas is a family time, and you always want the family around. But there’s another side to it. Quite often, in a lot of families, you invite people that you don’t really like, out of a sense of duty. Though I’m lucky, cos I get on with all my family."

For the line "The old songs are the best", Holder stated "When your granny comes round at Christmas time, and you put on the modern songs, she always says they’re not as good as they were in her day. As soon as she’s had a couple of sherries inside her, she’s up dancing, showing her knickers off. Old songs aren’t always the best. There are good songs today, as there were in the past."  

For the line "Look to the future now", Holder stated "I always wanted this song to be our optimistic song and certainly this year, with the new millennium, it works even better. I’ve got a lot of things on the horizon, like the BBC1 documentary on Slade, with guest stars like Noel Gallagher and Ozzy Osbourne talking about us." 

For the line "Do you ride on down the hillside", Holder stated "I always remember as a lad we used to knock these old sledges together with old orange boxes and go tobogganing down this big old quarry. In the older days, it always used to snow regularly at Christmas, so using your sleigh was something we did." 

For the line "Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?", Holder stated "I do like a white Christmas and we don’t seem to get many nowadays. It sets the mood for the whole of Christmas, I reckon. And yes, I will be outside building a snowman with my little lad if it does snow." 

For the line "Everybody’s having fun", Holder stated "I want everyone to have fun. If you have fun and a sense of humour, you can get by in most situations. When I’ve had a few drinks, I like to have a good party. It takes me a bit of time to warm up these days, but my enthusiasm has not waned over the years. At parties, I tend to get too pissed to care what anyone else thinks, ha ha!"

Strummer Day #1: A Tribute To Joe Strummer 1952-2002

A nice collection of tunes by various Frontmen from bands like Chelsea, The Alarm, The Vibrators, The Business, 999, and U.K. Subs and a couple of others like Duncan Reid, Peter and the Test Tube Babies and RZT.

Tracklist

White Riot (Gene October)
Train In Vain (Knox)
White Man In Hammersmith Palais (Mike Peters)
London Calling (Mike Peters)
I Fought The Law (Gene October)
Police On My Back (Micky Fitz - The Business)
Complete Control (Kid Reid)
Tommy Gun (Nick Cash)
Rock The Casbah (Peter of Test Tube Babies 'fame')
Guns Of Brixton (RTZ Global)
Should I Stay Or Should I Go (Knox)
Police and Thieves (Charlie Harper)
Clash City Rockers (Micky Fitz)

The Soundtrack4Life Concert Series: Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros

On the anniversary of the passing of Joe Strummer I thought it would be good to spotlight a show from New York at The Roseland Ballroom that took place in November 1999. The show was filmed for TV and the video below is what was broadcast. The set features some classics from The Clash as well as a few songs from his at the time current band.

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros

Live at The Roseland Ballroom, New York

8 Days of Christmas #5: Bruce Springsteen

Well you can't have Christmas Music and not have Bruce Springsteen can you?

Here's three from the Boss to tide you over!

 Blue Christmas

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Merry Christmas Baby

The S4L Boxset of the Year 2015: The Ties That Bind - The River Collection

The S4L Boxset of the Year 2015 was only ever going to have one winner.

Ever since Springsteen released the Darkness Boxset rumours abounded that a Boxset for The River was in the works and finally back in October this year, a day before the 35th Anniversary of the release of The River album it was announced that it would be released on December 4th.

I had even speculated a year prior to the annoucement what might be on the set and apart from a few things I was almost correct!

It was great seeing what could have been the album had it been released in 1979 as just a single album. I've had a bootleg of this for years and have always really liked it, especially the Rockabilly version of You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) and the fact that Loose End was included to begin with.

Also good was seeing that songs that had been previously issued on the Tracks Boxset that were recorded during the making of The River are all brought together in one place (the 4th CD of the set. There's a number of my favourite Bruce tunes included in that little lot (Take 'Em As They Come, Roulette, Where The Bands Are, and Restless Nights).

The Crown Jewel of the Boxset has to be The Live Show from Tempe, Arizona filmed on 5th November 1980. And of course there are after little extras like the Note book with Springsteen's written words and a book with many unseen photos and the story of the making of The River Album.

Tonight on BBC4  (for viewers in the UK) you can get a chance to watch The Ties That Bind Documentary and the Tempe Show from 11pm. Set your recording devices so you don't miss it.

 

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection Track List
CD 1
The River - Record One (Remastered)
1. "The Ties That Bind"
2. "Sherry Darling"
3. "Jackson Cage"
4. "Two Hearts"
5. "Independence Day"
6. "Hungry Heart"
7. "Out In The Street"
8. "Crush On You"
9. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"
10. "I Wanna Marry You"
11. "The River"

CD 2
The River - Record Two (Remastered)
1. "Point Blank"
2. "Cadillac Ranch"
3. "I'm A Rocker"
4. "Fade Away"
5. "Stolen Car"
6. "Ramrod"
7. "The Price You Pay"
8. "Drive All Night"
9. "Wreck On The Highway"

CD 3
The River: Single Album
1. "The Ties That Bind"
2. "Cindy"                     
3. "Hungry Heart"         
4. "Stolen Car" (Vs. 1)            
5. "Be True"
6. "The River"
7. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" (Vs. 1)
8. "The Price You Pay" 
9. "I Wanna Marry You"
10. "Loose End"

CD 4
The River: Outtakes
Record One
1. "Meet Me in the City"
2. "The Man Who Got Away"  
3. "Little White Lies" 
4. "The Time That Never Was"          
5. "Night Fire"
6. "Whitetown"  
7. "Chain Lightning"   
8. "Party Lights"  
9. "Paradise By The "C""
10. "Stray Bullet"  
11. "Mr. Outside"          

Record Two
12. "Roulette" 
13. "Restless Nights"
14. "Where The Bands Are"
15. "Dollhouse"
16. "Living On The Edge Of The World"          
17. "Take 'em As They Come"
18. "Ricky Wants A Man Of Her Own"
19. "I Wanna Be With You"
20. "Mary Lou"
21. "Held Up Without a Gun"
22. "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)"

DVD 1
The Ties That Bind (Documentary)

DVD 2
The River Tour, Tempe 1980
Concert – Part 1
1. "Born to Run"
2. "Prove It All Night"
3. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"
4. "Jackson Cage"
5. "Two Hearts"
6. "The Promised Land"
7. "Out in the Street"
8. "The River"
9. "Badlands"
10. "Thunder Road"
11. "No Money Down"
12. "Cadillac Ranch"
13. "Hungry Heart"
14. "Fire"
15. "Sherry Darling"
16. "I Wanna Marry You"
17. "Crush on You"
18. "Ramrod"
19. "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)"

DVD 3
The River Tour, Tempe 1980
Concert – Part 2
1. "Drive All Night"
2. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
3. "I'm A Rocker"
4. "Jungleland"
5. "Detroit Medley"
6. "Where The Bands Are (Credits)"

BONUS: The River Tour Rehearsals
- Ramrod
- Cadillac Ranch
- Fire
- Crush On You
- Sherry Darling

Now that The River Boxset is out I guess we can now get the rumour mill running for either a Nebraska Boxset or a Born in the U.S.A. Boxset to come next!