Category: Music

Simon & Garfunkel – Medford, MA (03/11/67)

Simon and Garfunkel
March 11, 1967
Tufts University
Cousens Gymnasium
Medford, Massachusetts

Soundboard recording from reel – probably 2nd or 3rd gen. reel. More dynamic range and less hissy sounding than the previous seed. Also includes an extra minute and a half of a partial “Leaves They Are Green” that’s missing from the previous copy and from most lists of this show on the web. This copy was gone through carefully to seamlessly remove many clicks and other minor flaws, and has not been circulated from this source before. There is still quite a bit of tape hiss, but not as loud or in the way of the music as on the other copy.

01 [1:52] The Leaves That Are Green [cuts in]
02 [2:46] Paul Simon talk
03 [3:30] Sparrow
04 [3:00] Homeward Bound
05 [2:13] You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies
06 [3:14] A Most Peculiar Man
07 [3:01] Red Rubber Ball
08 [3:28] The Dangling Conversation
09 [2:59] Paul Simon talk
10 [2:06] The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)
11 [3:32] Richard Cory
12 [0:37] Art Garfunkel talk
13 [3:11] Benedictus
14 [1:16] Paul Simon talk
15 [3:43] Blessed
16 [2:24] Art Garfunkel talk
17 [2:48] A Poem On The Underground Wall
18 [3:55] I Am A Rock
19 [3:19] Anji
20 [5:18] The Sound of Silence
21 [2:49] For Emily Whenever I May Find Her
22 [4:33] A Church Is Burning
23 [2:43] Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.
total: 68:17

Notes: This show has been traded as various dates and places but most call it Tufts University ’66 or march 11, 1967. My reel was labeled “Tufts University Fall 1966” but evidence found on the web shows the date as March 11, 1967. There is an article and ad from the MIT University newspaper that mentions that they are playing that week but does not say that they also played at Tufts in 1966, so I am assuming that March 11, 1967 is the likely date of this recording. I have included those 2 pdf files, plus a poster that I found on the web as part of some artwork. My reel was recorded right around the time that this tape first circulated widely in the late ’70’s. I think it was originally given out by someone who worked at the show. It was not supposed to be traded, but was soon leaked by someone and then bootlegged extensively after that.
Transfer: Revox A700 > Macintosh with Digidesign AudioMedia III sound card > Pro Tools (normalization, minor “nip and tuck” edits and tracking – no equalization or noise reduction) > AIFF files > xAct (Flac level 8 files with sector boundaries verified).

The Dead – New York, NY (03/30/09)

The Dead
03/30/09
Angel Orensanz Center
New York, NY

Taper : Steve T ”AKA” Big Red Bag
Nak 100 Mics W/Shotguns > Sony Sbm 1 > Sony D-7

Jam >
Playing In The Band >
Good Lovin’ >
The Wheel >
Franklin’s Tower
E: Touch Of Grey

The Band:
Phil Lesh
Bob Weir
Mickey Hart
Bill Kreutzmann
Warren Haynes
Jeff Chimenti

The White Stripes – Jack White’s Kitchen, Vol. 1

The White Stripes
Jack White’s Kitchen, Vol. 1

Jack On Fire – (2005-09-21 Boston MA)
Oh Well (Jacks Prayer) (2003-07-02 Chicago IL)
Everywhere I Go, I’m Jack (2003-04-15 Detroit MI)
Blackjack Davey (2005-09-10 Columbus OH)
God Makes No Mistakes (2003-10-22 Tokyo Japan)
I Just Can’t Keep From Cryin’ (2005-07-28 Pomona CA)
Red Death At 614 (2004-08-21 Pukkelpop, Belgium)
Sams Place (2004-08-21 Pukkelpop, Belgium)
Five String Seranade (2003-04-30 San Diego CA)
The Air Near My Fingers (2003-07-02 Chicago IL)
Mr Cellophane (2003-05-30 Vienna Austria)
This Protector (2004-08-01 Naeba Japan)
Shoofly > Apple Blossom (2004-08-01 Naeba Japan)
Handsprings (2004-08-21 Pukkelpop, Belgium)
Truth Doesn’t Make A Noise (2005-09-21 Boston MA)
Death tease>If I Had Possession
Over Judgement Day (2005-08-24 St Louis MO)
I Wanna Be Your Dog (2003-10-22 Tokyo Japan)
Wasting My Time (2003-05-30 Vienna Austria)
You Belong To Me (2005-09-22 Boston MA)
Cold Brains (w/ Beck) (2005-08-17 Los Angeles CA)
Walking With A Ghost (2005-09-16 Toronto ON)
I’m Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman >
Whispering Seas (2005-07-03 Prague Czech Rep)
One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below) (2005-09-30 Detroit MI)
Cannon tease > Take Take Take (2005-08-24 St Louis MO)
Broken Bricks > Jambalaya (2005-09-22 Boston MA)
Don’t Blame Me (2003-04-20 Boston MA)
I’m Bored (2001-09-22 Ashville NC)
Do (2005-09-16 Toronto ON)

Our little chat about Jack White in the Raconteurs got me thinking about this set. You can see from the setlist it is a compilation of various things. It is something like a rarities/b-sides set of songs all done live of course. Sound quality varies from great to close to poorly. If you dig him though, this has some cool stuff.

Converted from my CDR collection. – Mat

Dreamin’ Songs – “Cherish” By Madonna

Editors note, I wrote this some 15 years ago.  This is a little embarrassing to read now, but as I wrote in a more recent post, I’ve got to own up to who I was, warts and all.

I admit it. I liked Madonna when I was a boy. I’ll even admit I had something of a boyhood crush on her. Or maybe it was boyhood lust, I don’t know.

This was pre-married to that Brit who used to make interesting, funny, violent films until he got married to an aging pop star and dropped completely off the map. This was pre- way over the top kinky sex Madonna. This was even mostly pre- pushed the envelope way too far with a big, expensive photo book that everyone talked about but no one bought Madonna.

No this was when Madonna was mostly known for her excellent pop music and her pushing the envelope (but not too far) videos. As a kid, I dug her catchy singles and her risqué (but not too risqué) profile.

“Cherish” came in the latter part of my favorite period Madonna (her next album would be the too kinky, too weird, not very interesting Erotica where I lost all interest.) It is a decent, if not all that memorable little tune, but one I still keep on the dial when I find it on the radio.

It is the video, however, that I remember most. It was shot in beautiful black and white by glamor photographer Herb Ritz. It is essentially Madonna dressed in a low-cut, short black dress cavorting in the ocean with a little mer-kid. She looks stunningly gorgeous and appears to be having a great deal of fun. Mainly though I liked the low-cut, short dress in the ocean part. Madonna was always good at showing some skin in those days, and as a pubescent boy, I was always willing to watch.

I don’t have the slightest idea why this song popped into my head this morning. I don’t believe I have heard it recently and lawd knows I don’t really listen to Madonna anymore, but there it was, and here it is.

The Listening Room: “Rocky Top”

I once drove from Knoxville Tennessee to Bloomington Indiana (well, OK, I actually made that drive like 95,000 times, when I was dating the girl who would become my wife and we lived in those two cities.) It was a Friday and it was the day before the University of Tennessee had its opening football game.

If you have ever lived in East Tennessee or known someone from the area it will be impossible to understand exactly what that means. Tennesseans are crazy about many things, but they are plain bonkers about college football.

To start the drive, I listened to a local Tennessee radio station. This particular station decided that the best way to celebrate the opening game was to play the team’s theme song “Rocky Top” about a million times in a row. Well, to be more precise they played every version of the song they could get their hands on. There were reggae versions, hard rock versions, marching band versions, and lot and lots of bluegrass versions.

The thing is, I listened to every single one. All the way through. And I might have been the happiest I’ve ever been doing it.

My father is from Maryville Tennessee which is right there in East Tennessee on the cusp of the Great Smokey Mountains. Though I grew up in Oklahoma we always spent some of the summers out there visiting grandma and grandpa and I came to cherish that little part of the country. I lived there for about a year sometime after college and it is still my very favorite place on this earth.

To live there is to love their football team, whether or not you actually care about the game. I could care less about football, but I love the Volunteers. This event also occurred during a time in my life when I wasn’t exactly the happiest chap in the world. Truth is I was pretty stinking depressed. You see I had not long ago dropped out of graduate school and learned that a BA in English doesn’t go very far in getting you anywhere.

This was also after having worked at a high-stress-funded-by-government job where upon we were also raided by the FBI and told to sit down, shut up, and don’t move one fine sunny day. Which was followed up by what I thought would be a stress-free mail room job that turned into the job from H-E-L-L.

All of this is to say I wasn’t exactly in the happiest of states during this time in my life. The one ray of light was my dear girlfriend. As she lived in Indiana, I gladly trekked the 350 miles to see her every few weeks.

And here we are back to that song. I don’t know what it is about “Rocky Top” that makes me so happy, but it does. It has the nostalgic appeal of reminding me of my childhood. It has the enthusiasm of an entire state (and one that I dearly love) behind it. And it is a silly, fun, entirely upbeat little bluegrass number.

What’s not to love?

So there I went listening to every conceivable version of it for a couple of hours. I actually made it to the end of their broadcast before the station died from me driving too far away. I don’t suspect I would ever do that again, as my circumstances are much different (Indiana doesn’t have nearly that same enthusiasm.) As I listened to the song moments ago, it was lovely but mostly forgettable.

But on that long ride, there was nothing better.

I Might Have To Rethink Tom Waits

My brother: “You ever heard of Tom Waits?”

Me: “Yeah, he’s a good song writer, but I just can’t get past that voice.”

Brother: “I know, it is like a sick hippopotamus gurgling Castor oil. A friend of mine swears by him, but I just can’t take it. I’d rather listen to a three-headed cat fight with the odd head.”

My brother and I have had this conversation at least twice. Which is odd because we usually converse about movies and steer clear of music, since our tastes in music are far and wide and different. It isn’t like Mr. Waits comes on the radio or anything either. But there it is, us talking about him.

For my part, I am not as adamant as my brother and I mean what I said. When I hear his songs I typically think the songcraft is really interesting, but his voice just tears out my lungs. I have several of his albums and try as I might to get through them I usually stop short somewhere just before the end.

Sitting here in the library, scanning documents for my wife so that she can take some things with her to China in the digital medium of her choice, rather than bulky books, I plugged into some live Waits from 1977 (a year that looms large in the live bootleg world, at least for me anyway.) I suppose you could ask why I downloaded a show from a man of whom I can’t make it through a single album.

It would be a good question, were you to ask it. But since I am alone, writing a wee blog post and you shall not read it until I answer, I shall answer. The critics love Tom Waits, and more importantly, my musical friends love Tom Waits. As I already said (twice now I think) I find Tom Waits to be a good writer with a miserable voice. As such, I keep wanting to fall in love with him. Like a spouse who overlooks his lover’s strange birthmark in the shape of Jesse Jackson, or a third nipple, I keep hoping I will be able to overlook and even enjoy Wait’s voice. Ok, maybe enjoy is a little much, but I keep thinking I can get used to it.

Also, downloading bootlegs is what I do. The more obscure the better. The fewer times I’ve seen bootlegs by an artist, the better. The less I have in my collection the more I want it.

But yeah, listening to this bootleg I began to see why he was so praised by so many. Here I began to see him as not so much a singer, but as a carnival barker. As the old, perverted drunk of an uncle that no longer gets invited for Christmas dinner.

There were times when he was talking to the audience when I couldn’t tell if it was part of a song, or just him talking. That voice isn’t there for the singing, but as something larger, something deeper, something less understandable. I once listened to an interview with Waits where he talked about how he had intentionally strained his voice early on to creat that distinct growl. His songs aren’t meant to be pretty, and neither is his voice.

I get that now.

Even so, I still must admit that I struggled to get through the entire show. After an hour or so, I was ready for it to end. I was ready for something more readily understood as much. I was ready for a couple of chords and a guitar solo.

No, I wouldn’t put myself strongly into that corner labeled “fan” just yet, but I’ve moved a lot closer to understanding the sideshow that is Tom Wait.

I think I like it.

Dreamin’ Songs – “World Leader Pretend” By R.E.M.

Our air conditioner is broken again, and as it was 86 degrees inside our home last night, the wife and I decided to take a trip to some fine air-conditioned air in the local Barnes and Noble. As most of our CDs are now locked inside cardboard boxes we were limited in our music choices for the drive.

We wound up choosing REMs major label debut, Green. I say we, but it should be noted that in fact, the decision was really nothing but my wife putting it in the CD player. I make that distinction as I probably would not have chosen that particular album. It turned out to be a good choice, as it is an excellent album. A fact I tend to forget.

I say all this to point out the sheer simplicity of understanding why “World Leader Pretend” floated back into my brain this early morning.

It is what I would call an underrated classic.“Pop Song” and “Stand” tend to get the glory from this album, or even the beautiful “You Are Everything” but “WLP” should get high praise as well.

Musically it is a little mid-tempo number with lilting guitars and a bit of a cadence on the drums. It sounds a little military – well military with background vocals by Mike Mills. The sound fits the lyrics which use a great deal of military language to discuss deeper, personal ideas.

It juxtaposes the concept of governments raising walls and preparing their defenses with the singer’s own emotional walls and defenses, proclaiming at last that he raised these walls and he will have to be “the one to knock it down.”

That’s a pretty universal sentiment and one that has struck large chords with me at various times in my own life when I raised my own defenses.

It is also, I believe, the only time REM has printed the lyrics of a song in their liner notes.

First Thoughts On The White Stripes’ Icky Thump

icky thump

I finally, um, obtained the new White Stripes album, Icky Thump. There has been some weird championing of it since it is (mostly) a return to their loud, blues/garage rock roots after moving into a lighter, more layered soundscape with their last album, Get Behind Me Satan. I say it is weird because when Get Behind Me Satan was slathered with a lot of high praise, but now it seems everyone has forgotten how much they loved that album and want nothing more than loud guitars.

Whatever, I really liked GBMS, and while I’m  not the world’s biggest White Stripes fan, I tend to listen to it more than others. I’ve mentioned before how my middle-agedness has turned me a lot more mellow and thus the music I tend to listen to has much softer edges than the grunge/punk/alternative stuff I dug in my youth. While I dig the older, Rockin albums of the White Stripes, I really dug how they created a fuller, more rich sound with Satan.

With Icky Thump they have returned to a louder, more guitar-based sound (mostly as songs like “prickly thorn, but sweetly worn” are softer and more cuddly.) I’ve only given it a listen and a half, so I can’t really give it a full review, but I’m liking what I’m hearing.

Even in middle age I still like a little edgy guitar riff to throw my (ever-thinning) head about. As usual, Jack and Meg have put together a turn-to-eleven, slam up against each other rock fest. I dig Jack’s periodic talking blues pieces, even if I’m not exactly sure what the crap he’s talking about, and I like the more experimental sound collages.

I don’t think this will be replacing GBMS anytime soon, but it is a nice album to put on, crank up and pack my house to.

Poison Covering Justin Timberlake’s “Sexyback”

Seriously. The 80’s hair metal messiahs have released a new album full of unusual covers, including the recent Timberlake hit. I liked Poison in their hay day. Ok, I loved them and all their hair. But I was like 13 and hair metal was a big deal. I still like them for their cheesy nostalgic bliss, but dear gawd, I don’t need them to release new material.

Just tour on the greatest hits package boys.

I’m not a fan by any means of Timberlake, though if pushed I will admit he has the best sound of any of his contemporary boy band mates. He at least gets out some interesting beats. But one thing this song didn’t need, was more bad metal guitar. Whatever, here is a video of the song not made by the band (but by a fan) but it apparently now has the approval of the band.