GO HOME PRODUCTIONS - "Christmas Stuffing" Mashups 2008

Good tidings I bring! Namely, the return of Mark Vidler, the stone genius behind Go Home Productions, by my lights the world's best mashup DJ and an all-'round cracking chap.

Sir GHP was out of commish for much of the past year, so we're well chuffed to have the lovely lad back and mashin' fings up. Pip pip wot wot!

Merry/Happy to y'all -- thanks for stopping by, and all the best for all of us in 2009. Let's remember, in the words of Mr. Zappa:

“‘Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, wisdom is not truth, truth is not beauty, beauty is not love, love is not music. Music is the best.’” – Joe’s Garage, 1979

GO HOME PRODUCTIONS
GHP's Christmas Stuffing - 2008
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YES - Columbia, MD 1972

No time to chat, this evenin', no I can't. But Yes I Can...give you a slice of prime-time early Yes, featuring their classic lineup performing tunes from their Holy Trinity of progtastic early-'70s masterpieces, The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge.

Decent audio-qual for a slightly rowdy audience tape of the era, recorded at the lovely Merriweather Post Pavilion, an old hometown shed of mine, where some of Jackson Browne's magnificent Running on Empty would be taped five years later.

O dig, all ye faithful!

YES "Suite Distance"
Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD - August 13, 1972 (AUD)
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AC/DC - Phoenix, AZ 2000

Ah, AC/DC. They're like your average pit bull: loud, dumb, ugly and mean. Now, I'm no fan of pit bulls; I hate the bastards, in fact, and I'm no fan of their owners either.

Not much of an AC/DC fan either...too many samey songs and too many dumbass dumbfuck sex songs. Same reason I'm not big on bands from ZZ Top to Mötley Crüe; dumb sex songs get old fast. (Yeah yeah, cars & girls & rock & roll, I get it -- but it ain't 1972 anymore, dudes. I kinda wish it was, since I was barely here when it was, but it just ain't.)

Black Ice, the "new" AC/DC LP, is just another dumb joke, and I could barely make it to the end before shelving it. (At least I bought it at Amoeba and not Wal-Fart.) Ugh, good gawd, talk about samey! It's not Chinese Democracy awful, mind you, but it's also not charmingly demented and overkilly in the Axl way. Just a generic, boring sort of damp squib, is all.

So why am I posting this? Because it's a great show from their last tour before this new tour, maybe their last tour, which I'm going to on Monday night at my fave hard-rock venue in all the Southland, that being Ye Olde L.A. Forum. Also because it has balls-out FM broadcast sound @ 320 kbps, and because it features the band's last great song, the frisky and driving and ironic-in-light-of-9/11 "Safe in New York City". (Not that AC/DC does irony, of course; just a matter of timing, with the performance here recorded almost exactly a year before 9/11.) A stupendous single by any standard, and in the words of David St. Hubbins, "Wait'll ya see the cover!"

...I mean, that's pretty goddamn fuckin' rock 'n' roll, right?

AC/DC
America West Arena - Phoenix, AZ - September 13, 2000 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

PASSWORD: soundaboard.blogspot.com

GUNS N' ROSES - New York City, 1988

Green Alien Chick is exactly a year old (as of yesterday, I believe). I've switched the URL back to ".blogspot" so more hip surfers will know it's an MP3 blog and not just some regular old website, dig? Same goes for my '60s blog, Heavy Sugar Radio.

So, I have a cold. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm still at work. Obama was elected by 8 million votes. It was the best of times...

it was the worst of Guns N' Roses albums. And I do mean the worst, 'cause Chinese Democracy blows unholy ass! It ain't no Guns N' Roses -- it's Axl N' ProTools, and I couldn't even finish listening to the godawful thing, only made it halfway. 15 more years of work wouldn't have saved it; the songs are simply no damn good.

If you've subjected yourself to it as I have, then best use a nice classic GN'R boot to rinse the bad taste outta your mouth pre-Thanksgiving.

I remember when this show happened, at the old Ritz in NYC, and I almost went (by "almost," I mean really really wanted to). It was taped for MTV airing, so the audio-qual is dead-on perfect; sounds like it's ripped from vinyl, to boot. Axl is in fine feisty form, the band sounds killer, Appetite was still a ways from #1 but everyone, band and audience, knew something big was about to happen. It sure did, and now it's 20 years in the past and it clearly ain't ever comin' back.

Turkeys!

GUNS N' ROSES
The Ritz - New York, NY - February 2, 1988 (SBD; TV)
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MUSE - Rock Am Ring and Pinkpop 2002 (RE-POST @320!)

Back after a couple post-election weeks away with a killer live boot by possibly my favorite band comprising people younger than I am. (And I'm pushing 40 -- I mean like really pushin' it fuckin' hard, maaan -- so that's gettin' to be a lot more bands every day.)

When all of our beloved Classic Rawk dinosaurs finally do pass from the Earth, any day now, we could do worse than to have the tremendous young trio known as Muse pick up the slack and pound our ears 'til Doomsday.

This boot has two European fest shows combined, and gives a fine taste of what they do and how they do it. And if you believe, as I do, that 2001's Origin of Symmetry is possibly the best rock album of this decade, then you'll be most pleased.

MUSE "Micro Cuts on Stage"
Rock Am Ring, Germany & Pinkpop, Holland - May 18 & 20, 2002 (SBD @320 kbps)
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STEVIE WONDER - Los Angeles, CA 1973

The favorite musician of President-elect Obama.

Signed, sealed, delivered, he's ours!

God bless America.

STEVIE WONDER "Live & Alive"
Los Angeles, CA - 1973 (exact date and venue unknown; SBD)
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LITTLE FEAT - San Francisco, CA 1976

Band of the Week is Little Feat.

Man of the Week is Barack Obama (I hope).

Now GO VOTE!

LITTLE FEAT "Rampant Syncopatio"
Winterland Ballroom - San Francisco, CA - February 14, 1976 (FMB)
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JAMES BROWN - Zaire, Africa 1974

Looks like this legendary show, in which Soul Bro #1 played warm-up act to The Rumble in the Jungle, will finally being seeing the light of day soon in some form, courtesy of an upcoming doc entitled Soul Power, sort of a belated musical twin to the Oscar-winning Ali doc When We Were Kings.

Here's to that! It's most bizarre that this professionally recorded and filmed super-show has remained a bootleg for almost 35 years. Here we have JB and his juilant JB's in peak power. Dig or die, sisters and misters!

JAMES BROWN "Zaire '74"
Stade 20 Mai - Zaire, Africa - September 24, 1974 (SBD)
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ZZ TOP - Passaic, NJ 1980

Driving up north tomorrow for Saturday's 22nd Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert. Not too excited, I must say...ticket prices have doubled in the past few years, yet the lineup is absolute ass. Case in point: the only band I was really goosed to see was ZZ Top, who I only like okay, but who I've never seen before...and who cancelled. For no good reason.

So, oh well...bless Brother Neil for still doing it, and I guess a show's a show. But a six-hour drive is a six-hour drive...

Despite that, here's this. It's a "King Biscuit Flower Hour" broadcast, so 'nuff said. Except, be warned, there's no "La Grange". I guess they were sick of doing it even 28 years ago.

ZZ TOP "Fuego A El Paso"
Capitol Theatre - Passaic, NJ - June 15, 1980 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - New York City 1971

If you digs you some hot, sticky, licky, stanky-ass A-Bros., then git to downloadin' right quick. The sonic qualitation of this here slab...well, it flat gits it!

On the reals, there are some who rate them Allmans above not only them Skynyrds but also them good ole Grateful Deads. I can hang with the former opinion (Skynyrd's always been a mite too dumbass-redneck-shitkicky for me), but I jes' cain't feature nobody preferencin' Duane & Co. over Jerry & Co. That dog simply refuses to hunt in this neck o' the woods.

Sure, the grooves and the tight playing are there, the feeling is there and all -- but not the songs. The Allmans simply never came close to the Dead in the songwriting department. The Allmans are just a really, really, really great blooze band. The Dead were far more than that.

Still, if you hadda have only one A-Bros. boot in your life, 't'might as well be this one. It's only about an hour long, but sweet as a Georgia peach, FM stereophonic and super-duper-sonic. Plus, it happens to be among Brother Duane's last recorded performances (he would eat his own personal peach just two months later).

But hey now: as Mama done said, "Half o' somethin' is twice as good as nothin'."

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
A&R Studios - New York, NY - August 26, 1971 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

JACKSON BROWNE & WARREN ZEVON - Holland 1976 (NEW LINK!)

It's only five minutes until The Brother, my man, finishes off The Mummy in tonight's final presidential debate.

Herewith, another epic face-off for the ages, between Mr. Browne and his late compadre Mr. Zevon at a Holland radio station long about 1976, about a month after the election that year, when my father's former boss Jimmy Carter was elected...one of only three Democrats elected in the past 44 years.

So quit whining, Republicans. Once in a blue (or green) moon, the other team gets to take the field for a while and clean up. It's the American way...or so I have read.

Thanks to Archive.org for this beauty; use the direct download link you'll find there.

JACKSON BROWNE & WARREN ZEVON "The Offender Meets The Pretender"
VPRO Radio Studio - Hilversum, Holland - December 8, 1976 (FMB)
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JACKSON BROWNE - Nashville, TN 1978

Another week, another awesome Amoeba Music in-store show and signing with a Rock 'n' Roll Hall o' Famer. Living in greater Hollywood has its perks, lemme tell ya. Makes enduring all the loonies with tinfoil hats and pit bulls worthwhile...

At the moment, it happens to be Running on Empty -- Mr. Jackson Browne's album released in the last few weeks of 1977, and by far his most popular -- that I'm spinning regularly. Here's a fantastic show from that tour, taped two months after the album's release.

But the song that's really blasting my head is the great "Fountain of Sorrow", off 1974's Late for the Sky. Proceed directly to track 3 of this boot to hear the kind of tune they just...do not...write anymore.

JACKSON BROWNE
Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, TN - February 22, 1978 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

BLACK SABBATH - Asbury Park, NJ 1975 (REPOST)

I'm 99.666% sure I've posted this show before, seeing as it's the greatest Ozzy-era Sabbath boot ever made, by wide consensus. Really, ask anyone.

But it's been awhile, and my man Chris Goes Rock recently put up this luxe new version, which comes in the swanky 320 bitrate and includes new and very nifty, official-looking artwork.

For the ever-so-discerning Sabbath fanatic, it truly gets no better than this: the Rolls-Royce of Black booties, state o' the art and top o' the line. It is...so choice.

We here at Green Alien Chick certainly hope you enjoy it for all it's worth, and that you have a devilishly nice weekend.

"Are you high? Are you high?!? Well so am I!"

BLACK SABBATH
Convention Hall - Asbury Park, NJ - August 5, 1975 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3

PRETENDERS - US Festival, Devore, CA 1983

Hard left turn from Metallica into something a touch more chica-friendly, perhaps...

Saw Chrissie Hynde and her latest guitarist play in the acoustic mode at Amoeba Music last night. Kinda raw-n-ragged, but the old gal's voice still sounds fantastic, and she looks good too. Clearly a bit of a spiky type, our Chrissie, but that's why we totes heart her.

Plus, she could flat-out kick the asses of every member of Fall Out Boy without spilling her veggie burrito.

As for this show, it's not the "U.S. Festival" as stated above, but the good old 1983 US Festival. Y'know, Van Halen (as previously posted here), Ozzy, The Clash, David Bowie, New Wave Day, Heavy Metal Day and all. Classic boot, great sound, all the hits, can't beat the price. Thanks to Dino & Princess!

PRETENDERS
US Festival, Glen Helen Regional Park - Devore, CA - May 30, 1983 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

PASSWORD: sparkyibew

METALLICA - Istanbul, Turkey 2008

Another day, another weekend, another steel-belted ass-ripper by the Metallifux, this one from Istanbul.

Seems they're done playing such far-off cities as this for awhile, and will soon be playing such cities as, like, Hollywood. (Or at least Inglewood.) Mastaaaaar...

METALLICA
Ali Sami Yen Stadium - Istanbul, Turkey - July 27, 2008 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

METALLICA - Stockholm, Sweden 2007

So as I was saying yesterday, about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? I've said before but it clearly bears repeating:

When as many rap/disco acts as hard rock/heavy metal acts are inducted into the, ahem, ROCK AND ROLL Hall of Fame, credibility issues do arise. Rap and disco are, by their very nature, NOT rock and roll. Hard rock and heavy metal, however, not only ARE rock and roll -- they are rock and roll times ten, times a hundred, times a thousand. Rock and roll as action movie.

So, which belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more? That's all I'm asking here. That's it, and that's all.

I think I promised more of the recently nominated and hopefully soonly inducted Metallica. If not, here's some anyway. Epic, sick, monster-ass show with Jaymz in great growl, perfect sound (and I mean 1000% perfect, @ 320 bitrate no less), and a great setlist heavy on the Ride, Master and Justice.

This one's special too because it includes the rarely performed "No Leaf Clover", IMHO the most underrated ballad by a band that has written a couple of damn heavy ones ("The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters").

METALLICA
Stockholms Stadion - Stockholm, Sweden - July 12, 2007 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3 / DOWNLOAD 4

METALLICA - BBC Radio 1, London 2008

Well, thank the Metal Gods! Today the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pulled its addled head out of its bloated ass, for once, and nominated Metallica in their very first year of eligibility.

Given the eternal black mark on the Hall's record regarding Black Sabbath (ten long fucking years to induct, ehh, y'know, only one of the most influential bands in the entire history of popular music), I was hardly expecting them to get it right this time. But surprise surprise, I guess popularity and longevity do make a difference after all. (Except in the case of the dreaded Bon Jovi. Please, God, never them!)

Of course, Metallica's actual induction, on the first ballot or not, is a whole 'nother matter. I predict a wait of at least five years, during which time eighteen more shitty rap, disco and R&B acts will sail in.

But I predict Metallica still gets inducted before Rush, The Zombies, Todd Rundgren, Yes, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Deep Purple and about 97 other eminently worthy inductees waiting out in the cold who'll probably die of old age (well, except for poor Nilsson) before the Nominating Committee geniuses realize "Wait, you mean we're actually called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a reason?"

Because if there's one group that can always be relied upon to try and look cool, desperately, pathetcially, in defiance of all taste, logic and common sense...it's rock critics. Remember, it took Rolling Stone 34 years to finally do a decent feature on Rush, just this past summer in fact.

So forget about any other metal greats getting in, from Maiden and Priest on down -- that ain't never happening. But more rap acts? You bet your Bentley.

Anyway, that does that, for this year anyway. Here's a wicked killer BBC broadcast from just a week ago (!) in celebration of Metallica's richly deserved nomination and also their rawk-solid new album Death Magnetic. Go dudes go!

METALLICA
BBC Radio 1 Theatre - London, England - September 14, 2008 (FMB)
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PINK FLOYD - "Live at Pompeii," 1972 (R.I.P. Richard Wright) REPOST @ 320!

A final tribute to Mr. Wright, died this year of 2008, and all those poor innocent folks in old Pompeii itself, died on a balmy August day in AD 79. Damn you, Vesuvius!

PINK FLOYD "Live at Pompeii"
Pompeii, Italy and Paris, France - October 1971 and Winter-Spring 1972
(SBD/STU @320 kbps)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

PINK FLOYD - Live 8 in London, 2005 (R.I.P. Richard Wright)

Any day a member of Pink Floyd dies is not a good day. Keyboardist Richard Wright succumbed to cancer yesterday in England, two years after Syd Barrett's passing. Heavy days indeed...

Here is an FM broadcast of Wright's last performance with Floyd, at the historic 2005 Live 8 reunion, their first gig together in 24 years and, as of yesterday, the final Pink Floyd performance ever.

So thank the gods of rock, and bless the bickering boys, for (carefully) burying the axe and pulling it together one last time and going out on a high note. R.I.P. Rick!

PINK FLOYD - Live 8
Hyde Park - London, England - July 2, 2005 (FMB)
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BOB DYLAN - "Blood on the Tracks" New York Sessions, 1974

Not much of a segue...but wasn't Judas Priest actually named after a Dylan song?

As promised, some Bobby D The Bard for your weekend of regret, heartache and misery. Chin up, lads!

BOB DYLAN
"Blood on the Tracks" New York Sessions
CBS A&R Studios - New York, NY - September 1974 (STU)
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JUDAS PRIEST - Denver, CO 1980

As promised, some fukken heavy-ass classic Priiieeeeest!!!

This one's from back in the glory days when Halford was "hetero," recorded at the (appropriately named) Rainbow Music Hall, in a world...in a time...

when "Living After Midnight" was the new single. Rrrip it!

JUDAS PRIEST
Rainbow Music Hall - Denver, CO - June 25, 1980 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD

BLACK SABBATH - Boston, MA 1992

"Got those heavy boots of lead...make you dead!"

In recognition of how utterly fukken aweschom!!! Heaven and Hell (i.e., Dio-Sabbs) were at last weekend's aforementioned Metal Masters fest, I post another quality boot from the boys in black. It's every bit as official-release perfectoid as last week's.

In other news, went to a Brian Wilson event at Amoeba Hollywood yesterday morning, and am seeing Bob Dylan tonight in Santa Monica. Next week's posts will likely reflect these developments.

Meantime enjoy this, and y'all come back for one last metallic jolt of some killer Priest by week's end...

BLACK SABBATH "Black Bloody Black"
Orpheum Theater - Boston, MA - August 9, 1992 (SBD)
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BLACK SABBATH - Tokyo, Japan 1980

Tomorrow it's the Metal Masters Tour in the sweaty crack of San Berdoo. Six hours of middle-aged metaaal maaadness!

Will let y'alls know if the Priest measures up to their reputation (via "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" of course). Never seen 'em before, nor Heaven and Hell nor Motorhead nor Testament neither. I'm ever so psyched.

Meantime, a short and wicked sweet one-disc, early-Dio-era Sabbath show. Ten eveeel tracks, demonically excellent sound. Definitely dynamite! Okay, awriiight!

BLACK SABBATH "Angel and Demon"
Nakano Sun Plaza - Tokyo, Japan - November 18, 1980 (SBD)
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BOB DYLAN AND TOM PETTY - Sydney, Australia 1986

Having seen Tom Petty at the Hollywood Bowl this past June, I can certainly vouch for the quality of his recent concerts (look for that very show somewhere below, in fact.) As for Bob Dylan, hallelujah and hot diggity-damn, I'm seeing the Bard in two weeks at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

This is a brief but brilliant Westwood One broadcast from the so-called Hard to Handle Tour in the depths of the Awful Eighties. Today, everyone -- including Dylan himself -- talks about how lousy he sounded on these big moneymaking tours back then, with Petty and/or the Dead. (Not to mention how ghastly were the Empire Burlesque and Knocked Out Loaded albums, which now serve only as recorded evidence of Dylan's mid-'80s nadir; their slick-n-sterile production sounds even worse today, if possible. The Wilburys and Lanois rescue squads were still a few years away.) Anyway, I never got close to seeing any of these dudes back then, having been more of a Van Halen/Zeppelin/Queen/Metallica fan in high school.

But the two sure sound nice together for this gig. And you can never lose with "Masters of War", especially these days. Talk about a tune that is, sadly, more relevant than ever...

BOB DYLAN AND TOM PETTY "Duelling Banjos"
Entertainment Centre - Sydney, Australia - February 24-25, 1986 (FMB)
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GRATEFUL DEAD - Oakland, CA 1982

Saw Etta James and Solomon Burke at the Hollywood Bowl last week. Wonderful show, if a bit traumatic in the sense that Etta was given to licking her microphone, rubbing her crotch and breasteses, and writhing around...in her swivel chair. She's 70. That's older than my mother.

Anyway. Here's the Grateful Dead's New Year's show from 1982, featuring Etta and also the Tower of Power in the third set.

Now excuse my while I attempt to wash out my brain.

GRATEFUL DEAD with Etta James and Tower of Power
Oakland Auditorium - Oakland, CA - December 31, 1982 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3

RADIOHEAD, THE RACONTEURS and WILCO at Lollapalooza - Chicago, IL 2008

Seems these were the three best sets at last weekend's event. They certainly would have been my top three to see, had I been anywhere near there. (Click on the poster above to see the rest.)

I've actually never been to any Lollapalooza anywhere, ever, which is exceedingly odd considering how many dag-blasted shows I've seen in my life. I did manage to catch good ol' Jane's Addiction at Madison Square Garden in spring 1991, just before the inaugural edition of Lollapalooza, but that's a whole 'nother gig.

The Radiohead performance here is a complete monster, a full 23 tunes, in tip-top audio quality. The version of "Nude" in particular is staggering. I think we can agree that Radiohead is, like, good.

All three shows were taken from XM Satellite Radio broadcasts. Dig 'em!

RADIOHEAD
Lollapalooza, Grant Park - Chicago, IL - August 1, 2008 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD

THE RACONTEURS
Lollapalooza, Grant Park - Chicago, IL - August 1, 2008 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD

WILCO
Lollapalooza, Grant Park - Chicago, IL - August 2, 2008 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD

THE HOLD STEADY - Philadelphia, PA 2008

Saw these dudes in Hollywood a couple nights back. Fantasterrific! Besides Muse they're probably my favorite band of under-30s (more like under-40s I guess) on the planet right now.

All props to the sensibly named Hold Steady Taped Shows Archive.

Crack a road soda and rock this bitch 'til the wheels fly off.

THE HOLD STEADY
NON-COMMvention, World Cafe Live! - May 30, 2008 - Philadelphia, PA (FMB)
DOWNLOAD

RUSH Playing “Tom Sawyer” on Rock Band at "The Colbert Report"

Rush attempt to play their song “Tom Sawyer” on Rock Band backstage prior to their appearance on The Colbert Report.

And, in case you missed it, here is Geddy, Alex and Neil's appearance on the show last week:

ROOT BOY SLIM & THE SEX CHANGE BAND WITH THE ROOTETTES - Debut LP, 1978

Now see here: I make a point of never posting actual LPs. The only reason I'm posting the debut LP (1978, Warner Bros.) of D.C. freak-funk legend Root Boy Slim is because A) I happen to be from Our Nation's Fair Capital and had never heard their first jaw-dropping, ass-shaking slab of discoid Beefheart until this very day, B) It was in print on CD for about five minutes, and now the only copy for sale on Amazon is listed at $135.00, and C) "My Wig Fell Off" is my New All-Time Fave Rave:

"Tryin' to pass for eighteen/Is a tough thing to do/You can't make it in the disco/When you're forty-two/Been looking for love/Every disco in town/My wig's gettin' shaky/My truss is slippin' down... [Chorus] My wig fell off/Hand my toupee to me/I'm quittin' the disco/I'm almost forty-three..."

(Well, not quite yet. But not too far off...!) Big-ass shout-outs to Camarillo Brillo for this one.

"Gimme back my dentures/'Fore I have to use kung fu!"

ROOT BOY SLIM & THE SEX CHANGE BAND WITH THE ROOTETTES
S/T Debut LP - Warner Bros. Records - 1978 (STU)
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TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS - Hollywood, CA 2008

Last show attended: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Hollywood Bowl on June 25, 2008.

Last show posted: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the Hollywood Bowl on June 25, 2008.

One Traveling Wilburys tune, two or three choice B-sides, two numbers with opener Steve Winwood, an epic cover of "Gloria," and oh so very many hits...

With big honkin' thanks to Girl on LSD.

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
Hollywood Bowl - Hollywood, CA - June 25, 2008 (AUD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3 / DOWNLOAD 4

U2 - Mexico City, 1997

Just got back from Ireland, and boy is my shillelagh tired.

Not a big fan of U2's "ironic disco" phase...hell, not really a big U2 fan at all. But I did happen to catch their infamous PopMart Tour at the Los Angeles Coliseum, and -- with the help of my bro David D. and about nine hits of ecstasy -- managed to have a righteous blast. "Bullet the Blue Sky", with its Roy Lichtenstein jetfighter combat graphics across that vast goddamn video screen, was absolutely fantasterrific -- especially from way up top at the rim of the stadium, where we climbed in order to behold the entire stage, the crowd, the universe, man.

People thought of PopMart as a bad joke at the time. But here we are now and gone are the days of stadium concerts, it seems...I mean, what band of the last ten or fifteen years could even come close to filling stadiums for an entire tour?

Love it or hate it, here's a nifty document of the production, a 2000 fan club-only release entitled Hasta la Vista Baby! The fact that the best thing about the show is the opener, a slammin' technoid remix of M's 1979 hit "Pop Muzik", kinda says it all...

U2 "Hasta la Vista Baby!"
Foro Sol - Mexico City, Mexico - December 3, 1997 (SBD)
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METALLICA - Three Summer 2008 Shows

Well, last night I had a brand-new 500 gig hard drive catch a virus, zapping two solid months of music files. That may not sound like much, but I tend to download a great deal, and have now lost it all. I guess it was inevitable...but then, adding insult to injury, the drive itself completely melted down. As Queens of the Stone Age would say, "The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died".

I guess that's what I get for straying from the true path, the brotherhood of boots, and attempting to download...well, items I shouldn't have been downloading (let's just say there were albums I was curious to hear, but not to pay for.) I can hear the RIAA laughing from here! So, lesson learned -- it's a sick and nasty and dangerous world out there, I'm tellin' y'all...

...and the best part? The cold realization that, unlike in nature, these goddamned computer viruses are entirely and maliciously man-made, designed solely to wreck your and my scene. So may their creators be "For Whom the Bell Tolls"...may "Creeping Death" hunt them down and, well...Kill 'Em All.

We all need to work out a bit of anger from time to time. And yet, tomorrow is the first day of summer. May these three perfect-sounding, face-ripping, ear-raping focking Metallica shows help you soothe your anger and enjoy your first weekend of summer.

METALLICA
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Irvine, CA - May 17, 2008 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD

Slaski Stadium - Chorzów, Poland - May 28, 2008 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3

Nürburgring Racetrack - Nuremberg, Germany - June 7, 2008 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

PARLIAMENT-FUNKADELIC - Hampton, VA and Washington, DC 1978

For the weekend, a double shot o' The Fonk fo' ya. Sometimes ya just needs it; this time ya flat gots it, for them what needs it. (And who don't?)

Both shows are from way way back in the day in my neck of the woods, ol' Virginny and Our Nation's Capital of Chocolate City. Both shows were recorded for a live album, so the quality is perfect. We're talkin' the One Nation Under a Groove tour here, the absolute peak of power and popularity for these particular Thumpasorus Peoples...

Misters and sisters, give it up for the Black Grateful Dead!

PARLIAMENT-FUNKADELIC
Hampton Coliseum - Hampton, VA - June 3, 1978 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD

Howard Theatre - Washington, DC - November 1, 1978 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD

IRON MAIDEN - BBC Session 1979

This is to celebrate the one-week anniversary of me scoring a free ticket!!! to Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back in Time show down at the former Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, a couple hours south of Hollywood. It was a long-ass drive, note-for-note the exact same show at The Forum three months ago, and 1000% worth it.

It comprises only four tunes, mind you, but they are perfect and pristine. Hell, anything from the brief Paul DiAnno era is worth a spin, 'cause there sure ain't much of it.

Thanks as always to my bestest fwend and boot-brother over at The effin' Amazing, Astonishing, Unbelievable Ultimate Bootleg Experience. Up the Irons, mate!

IRON MAIDEN "BBC Friday Rock Show"
BBC Studios - London, England - November 14, 1979 (FMB)
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WEEZER - The Black Sessions 1995 and KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas 1994

Sorry for the long break; too much work and not enough rock...

Since it's been a while, let's mix it up and post something relatively recent, to mark this week's release of Weezer's new album, which I might as well nickname the Big Red One. The disc seems to be getting mixed reviews, but to my mind it's their best since the classic 1994 debut. (Sure, the three tunes by the other boys in the band don't quite measure up, but the four bonus tracks on the deluxe version make up for it.) I especially adore "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived," a 6-minute epic which may well stand as Rivers Cuomo's peak moment of demented pop genius, his "Good Vibrations" or "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "Paranoid Android."

Anyway, I haven't found a whole lot of the Weez online, but these two are the best, no question...

You got yer pristine FM broadcast, originally on Paris radio station France Inter, from a series called the Black Sessions. The performance is spot-on, and between songs DJ Bernard Lenoir pronounces the band's name "Wee-zair" (I mean, when is a French DJ not funny?)

Then you got yer quick-n-dirty FM broadcast, originally on L.A.'s own KROQ, a station I haven't listened to in nearly 10 years (Korn, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park killed it for me, permanently.) It's from the '94 Almost Acoustic Christmas show, just as the band was really taking off. They're introducted by Mr. Henry Winkler, The Fonz himself, and the show includes an early airing of the magnificent "Jamie", arguably my most beloved B-side of the '90s (besides a few stray Jellyfish and Ben Folds tracks, that is). Rivers even slips a few lines of "Creep" into "Undone—The Sweater Song"...who'da thunk, back then, that both Weezer and Radiohead would still be on top of the rock world 15 years later? (I wish their lesser contemporaries, like the dreaded Live and Oasis, would retire already, but no such luck.)

Nerd on, brothers and sisters!

WEEZER "The Black Sessions"
France Inter Radio - Paris, France - February 12, 1995 (FMB)
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WEEZER "KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas"
Universal Amphitheatre - Universal City, CA - December 11, 1994 (FMB)
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Q-UNIT - "Greatest Hits" Queen/50 Cent Mashups 2005

Out fo' the weekend. Happy Memorial Day. Hope you digz this rekkid. Nuttin' mo' 2 say.

Q-UNIT - "Greatest Hits" CD - 2005
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THE KLEPTONES - "A Night at the Hip Hopera" Mashups 2004

As promised last week, more mashups for y'all. It gets no better than this...

God bless Mr. Eric Kleptone. I don't know how the hell he does what he does, but I'm sure as hell glad he does it. In 2004, he took his deep knowledge and love of Queen, threw it in a blender with about 10,000 samples and beats of all shapes, sizes and sounds...and created his masterpiece, the single greatest, most cohesive statement of mashup culture ever, and for all time.

And it's fun as hell to listen to, all 78:18 of it! (Fits on one CD too, every last Galileo, Figaro, Scaramouche and Bismillah.) That's what I call some killer Queen...

THE KLEPTONES - "A Night at the Hip Hopera" CD - 2004
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Also check out the Kleptones blog Hectic City, where you will find "Bo Rhap," Eric's berserk, moving, hilarious and altogether astonishing "Bohemian Rhapsody" mashup (done a year before the Flaming Lips covered it on tour): DOWNLOAD.

RUSH - Tampa, FL 2007

Planning to post more mashups soon, but having seen my boys yet again last night - this time at the cozy new 7,000-capacity Nokia Theatre - I couldn't resist posting this epic show, which has already ascended to the top rank of Rush boots. I believe it was taped on only the third night of the Snakes & Arrows tour last summer, which I'm here to tell ya is still going strong.

Geddy Lee made a crack about the band needing a set break "due to the fact that we're no longer spring chickens" (speaking for us all, truly)...but c'mon now: at over three hours? Almost 30 songs? I don't wanna sound old farty, but show me an emo band that could manage half that.

This is an audience recording that's so high-quality it is now being used among audio geeks as an example of how to properly record a show from out in the stands. As far as the setlist, think of it as an alternate version of the just-released live album...their 8th!

All the world's indeed a stage, more than ever.

RUSH "Snakebites in Tampa"
Ford Amphitheatre - Tampa, FL - June 16, 2007 (AUD)
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GO HOME PRODUCTIONS - "Spliced Krispies" Mashups 2008

Something a bit different for the week. My dirty li'l secret, musically speaking, is that I loves me some mashups. I mean I adore the things, as the hundreds of tracks crammed into my hard drives will attest. I think a well-done mashup is about the most damn fun you can have with music these days. Two or three or four great tastes that taste great together...some classic rock, soul and punk spiced up with fresh beats, toss 'em in a blender and zap them shits hard...what could be better?

And DJ Mark Vidler, a.k.a. Go Home Productions, is the absolute king, the super-genius, the Masher Blaster of all time. Whatever Little Richard says he is to rock 'n' roll, GHP is to the mashup. He's put together a whole new CD of his latest, any description of which will do it no justice. So read about it here -- there's even a video to go with each track! -- and get it here...

GO HOME PRODUCTIONS - "Spliced Krispies" CD - 2008
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PINK FLOYD - London, England 1974

In lieu of my usual hoo-hah and wah-wah, allow me to simply pay tribute to the memory of the Father of LSD, Dr. Albert Hofmann, who embarked on The Ultimate Trip yesterday at age 102...

And, while I'm at it, I'll also nod in the direction of Mr. Roger Waters' recent, by all accounts triumphant appearance as the closing act at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. The story of the flying pig is especially tasty.

There are many versions under many titles (Time in London, Brain Damage, Screaming Abdabs etc.) of this classic Floyd show from their tour in the winter of 1974. I have many versions, and though I can't pin down the title of this one, it is the best one I've heard.

It contains a complete performance of The Ultimate Acid Album (no title required), with an encore of "Echoes", and is a crystal-clear stereo FM broadcast recording. So trip on!

PINK FLOYD
Wembley Empire Pool - London, England - November 16, 1974 (FMB)
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RADIOHEAD - Manchester, TN 2006 (NEW LINKS!)

According to no less an authority than Mr. David Fricke and Rolling Stone (in the words of Frank Zappa, "aren't they some kind of authority on these matters?"), "The best live band in rock played its greatest concert ever on June 17th, 2006, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival." (Well, at least since Glastonbury '97 or '03, their previous greatest concerts ever.) I saw them at the Greek Theatre here in L.A. about two weeks after Bonnaroo, and I must say it was rather epic indeed.

Thom Yorke apparently agrees with Mr. Fricke's assessment; not long after the gig, Yorke spoke of an official DVD release:

"We did this festival called Bonnaroo. We did 2.5 hours. And there's 80,000 people; admittedly they've been smoking the sticky green all day – probably wouldn't go anywhere anyway. It was just amazing. We played loads of new stuff. We did whole sections of quiet piano songs and it sounds like the most grotesque, self-indulgent nonsense, but it probably is my favorite gig for years and years and years. It was a really mellow evening. Actually it's all been filmed, but we're sitting on it because there's loads of new stuff on it...because we're mean like that. It will come out eventually."

Until that time, I have dutifully scraped this up for you – and it weren't easy. (Thanks to I Guess I'm Floating.)

It's a solid audience recording, with the best sound quality that can be expected from a tape rolling right next to some dude's hairy beanbag...in the sweat, heat, mud and miasma of reeking hippies and delirious hipsters...not to mention the beef-brain frat boys who, during the contemplative quiet of "Exit Music (For a Film)," have to remind everyone in earshot that the band is "RADIOHEAD!" and the festival is "BONNAROO!" Amazing they don't yell "CREEP!" too, which would be major truth in advertising. Yes, gents, whenever there's a quiet bit and you get fidgety, by all means fill the space with your own loud, obnoxious voices.

Oh well, that’s what happens when drunk Young Republicans get lost on the way to the NASCAR track and end up at a rock concert. When GreenAlienChick is king, they will be first against the wall...

But I digress. So! One of the world's best bands in their official Best Show Ever, with good sound and a big 28-song setlist (though lacking "Creep" and my all-time fave rave, "Subterrenean Homesick Alien"). Certainly sufficient until the aforementioned magical DVD comes along, whenever that might be.

Is it wind noise, or is it thunder...?

RADIOHEAD
Bonnaroo Music Festival - Manchester, TN - June 17, 2006 (AUD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

THE BEATLES - "Let It Be" Acetates, 1970

The Beatles remasters by Purple Chick are going to explode all over the musical Interwebs after getting a sweet shout-out in the new Rolling Stone.

This is my first Beatles post, by the way. The real news, though, is that I managed to find everything today -- every Purple Chick remaster of every album.

I posted the White Album mono mix by Purple Chick on my sister blog, Heavy Sugar Radio.

Here, I give you their remasters of the Let It Be acetates. More on the way, believe me.

'Nuff said for now, except...long live the people of Purple Chick!

THE BEATLES - "Let It Be" Acetates - 1970 (STU)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3 / DOWNLOAD 4

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND - Bryn Mawr, PA 1975

I've been meaning to post this legendary Bruce gig for a while...at least since I went, courtesy of my bro David, to a fantastic E Street Band show down in Anaheim two Mondays ago. Yes, the one with Tom Morello's already-legendary, shrederrific guest spot on "The Ghost of Tom Joad".

Sadly, the death yesterday of longtime E Street keyboardist Danny Federici seems like the best possible reason to share, so here it is. (Federici was such a long-timer, in fact, that it was he who first invited Bruce to join his own band, some 40 years ago.)

Look on any list of Best Boss Boots and you will find this one – variously titled The Saint, the Incident & the Main Point Shuffle, You Can Trust Your Car to the Man That Wears the Star, Main Point Night or, since a recent remaster, Prodigal Son – very near the top. It contains, among other gems, Bruce covering Dylan’s "I Want You" and Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A."; a wonderfully energetic "Growin’ Up," my first and still all-time fave Boss tune; and the earliest known performance of "Thunder Road," when the song was still called "Wings for Wheels," with substantially different lyrics and arrangement (i.e., Mary of the waving dress used to be named Angelina – who knew?) The hot-off-the-press Born to Run numbers are so new that, for example, there's not a peep from the audience during the piano intro to "Jungleland."

Even better, since the show was broadcast on WMMR-FM in Philadelphia, it's perfectly recorded; we're talking A+ dead-on 100% flawlessly perfect. Yet the thing remains thick with smoky-clubby atmosphere. Also, at 160 minutes, it was one of longest shows up to this point (though there would certainly be longer ones down the road…) Like all tip-top quality bootlegs, how this was never officially released is a mystery.

Quibbles? Only one: no "10th Avenue Freeze-Out." But hey, Bruce can tell ya that life ain’t no prom dance...

R.I.P. Danny Federici!

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND
The Main Point - Bryn Mawr, PA - February 2, 1975 (FMB)
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THE CLASH - New York, NY 1981 (HOT NEW LINKS!)

Sometimes I forget about The Clash for long stretches, who knows why...only to snap to and remember how bloody cool they were. One of a kind, really. Poor Joe.

Anyway, I've dug up a mess of boots from all over the place; there actually don't seem to be that many top-shelf shows to be had, but certainly enough for 3 or 4 posts. This, the first, was a clear choice due to the incredibly crisp, release-quality audio. Again, to me, the best kind of boot is the one where five seconds in you think "Oh, okay -- sounds like a CD." Done!

The setlist is from their amazing 17-gig residency at some sort of remodeled casino in Manhattan, heavy on the Sandinista! The first disc is all-around impeccable, especially a "Complete Control" that I must have rocked 10 times today. The second half of disc two gets a bit shonky in terms of guitar tuning and vocal wear-out, but the energy and enthusiasm carry through to the end. This classic lineup of the band would hang on for less than a year longer, before the wheels came off and the train truly was in vain.

THE CLASH "Chaos in New York"
Bond's International Casino - New York, NY - June 4, 1981 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

BOB DYLAN & THE BAND - Los Angeles, CA 1974

Vat? Vat dis you say? Two compact discs mit thoity-one tracks of Uncle Bobby Zimmerman and His Band -- there is more you should be wanting? Feh! Download dis already, and quit kvelling!

BOB DYLAN & THE BAND "Paint the Daytime Black"
The Fabulous Forum - Inglewood, CA - February 14, 1974 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2

METALLICA - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 1986

I'm bolting out for the weekend, but here's this up yer arses. Metallica, Master of Puppets tour...I mean, come on. I quote Pink Flamingos: "Kill everyone now!"

The upload info said that it's a) Cliff and b) soundboard, neither of which is true. The fatal bus accident in Sweden had happened two and half months earlier, so this is an early Newsted performance, only about a month after his first-ever show with the band. And this has to be an audience recording, due to "ambience," but believe me when I assert it's the good kind, the you-are-there kind. The performance is just ferocious, and the set list stomps, rapes and murders -- it's everything you wanna hear off the first three albums. Easily a Top-10 Metallica boot by any measure.

Now, these boys better goddamn well be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the very first ballot, one year from now. It took ten bloody years to get Black Sabbath in, an eternal stain on the Hall's shaky track record. I say "shaky" because I'm not 100% on Madonna getting in -- not that soon, anyway -- and Grandmaster Flash's induction last year means there are as many hip-hop acts as metal acts in the Hall, which is flat wrong, period, end of story.

Now..."MASTER! MASTER!"

METALLICA "The Metal Masters"
Playhouse Theatre - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - December 13th, 1986 (AUD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2