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)
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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

THE ROLLING STONES - Kansas City, MO 1981

It seems the Stones '78 show from last week got pulled by the original uploader. That would be the late, lamented Nargo the Bort. (I'd link to his blog, but there ain't no blog no more -- the dude's vanished like a fart in the wind.) He's sorely missed, believe me... anyway, I'll try to repost it when I can.

The rock must go on, though. So in tribute, here's another of Nargo's great Stones shows, which I post in the man's honor. Just found the links today, so I haven't had a chance to listen yet. It's an epic soundboard from their epic 1981 U.S. tour in support of Tattoo You. You'll recall this as the first-ever sponsored rock tour, the one with all the, uh, Jōvan frgarances logos. Apparently they're still in business, too -- just like the Strolling Bones. (In fact, this very weekend the gents try their hands at being movie stars again, courtesy of Mr. Scorsese.)

Bonus blast: guest guitarist for this show is good old Mick Taylor.

THE ROLLING STONES
Kemper Arena - Kansas City, MO - December 14, 1981 (SBD)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3 / DOWNLOAD 4