Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Guess Who - 1975-1-16 - Live at Electric Ladyland, New York, NY


The Guess Who
1975-01-16
Live At Electric Ladyland
New Ork, NY

FM Broadcast recording, very good quality
New upgrade! Now available in Lossless (FLAC) as well as Mp3 (256 kbps)
no artwork


OK, here's a great sounding radio show from 1975 (best sounding Guess Who boot I've heard). Unfortunately, it is from the end of the group's career, after guitarists Winter and McDougall left, and featuring new guitarist Domenic Troiano, promoting the band's next to last album, Flavours. Here, as they are trying to establish the new form of the band, they (purposely, I think) do not play any of the classic GW songs, focusing almost entirely on newer material and their newer (albeit short-lived) sound and style. Mind you, it is still very good. Still well-worth having and listening to, but just not classic GW. Highlights are the best track from Flavours, 'Hoe Down Time', as well as the 'newer classics' 'Sour Suite' and 'Orly', and an angry extended jam on 'Long Gone'. As Willard (formerly of Willards Wormholes blog) said 'It's Burton at his surly best and the song's progression recalls the band's early experimentation with form, highlighting extended, improvised sections and some killer grooves. It also displays an interplay between Burton Cummings and Domenic Troiano that could have been intriguing if pursued further, but wouldn't make it past two albums before The Guess Who split for Burton to go solo.

1. Introduction
2. Dirty
3. Diggin' Yourself
4. Hoe Down Time
5. Dancin' Fool
6. Eye
7. Straighten Out
8. Long Gone
9. Sour Suite
10. Orly

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Guess Who - 1970-08-26 - Washington, DC


The Guess Who
1970-08-26
Carter-Barron Amphitheater, Washington, D.C.

Average Audience Recording
New! Now Lossless (FLAC) version available in addition to Mp3
Mp3 @ 192 kps
No Artwork

Here's a great set from The Guess Who in their prime, this one just a few months after Randy Bachman left the group, and features the dual guitars of new members Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, and of course the great voice of Burton Cummings. Also featured is an extended, scathing 'American Woman' and new songs from their just-released first post-Bachman album, Share the Land. As this tour (and their subsequent albums) indicated, not only would The Guess Who survive the loss of Bachman, but it actually made them a better band. Winter's guitar style and songwriting contributions were immediately felt on songs like 'Bus Rider', 'Hang On To Your Like', 'Hand Me Down World', and 'Coming Down off the Money Bag''. Again, not a very good recording, but a great show, and there are so few available Guess Who boots, it still is a great listen.


1. Bus Rider
2. Undun
3. No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
4. Hang On To Your Life
5. Coming Down Off The Money Bag
6. These Eyes
7. Hand Me Down World
8. American Woman
9. No Time

New Link! FLAC version (06/23/21)
 
Mp3 version (Link Updated 06/23/21)
Guess_Who_1970-8-26_DC.rar

Monday, April 27, 2009

Featured Artist - The Guess Who


Ok, now I’d like to feature a really underrated ‘70’s rock band. This band featured a vocalist, who, as far as I’m concerned, was the best rock n roll vocalist of all time. They also were the greatest rock band to ever come from Canada. Can you guess who? That’s right; it is “The Guess Who”. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. From the late ‘60’s through the mid-seventies, these guys not only laid down an impressive streak of hit singles, but also put out some of the classic albums of that time. They were quite versatile, playing in a variety of different styles and grooves, from sweet pop to hard rock, with jazz, blues, swing, and folk influences thrown in. And they always put on a great live show. Unfortunately, there are very few shows available as bootlegs from their prime period, and no really high quality boots as far as I have heard. The best recorded live Guess Who show is, by far, the official release Live at the Paramount (1972), which on CD has been extended with several tracks not on the original LP. Well worth getting. I do have a couple of shows to share, but the recording quality is only mediocre. Still, they show that the live Guess Who is harder rocking than what might be expected by some of their hit singles.

Brief History
The beginning of the group goes back to the early sixties, when lead vocalist Chad Allan, along with guitarist Randy Bachman, drummer Garry Peterson, bassist Jim Kale and keyboard player Bob Ashley, played in and around Winnipeg, Manitoba under various band names, such as Al and the Silvertones, Chad Allan and The Reflections, and Chad Allan and the Expressions, achieving much local success but little widespread attention. However, in 1965, they recorded ‘Shakin All Over’, and as a publicity stunt, their producer released the single with a blank label that just said “Guess Who?”, in the hopes that people would think it was someone famous and attract more attention. As radio stations began playing the song, they referred to the artist as “Guess Who?”, and the song became a hit, reaching #1 in Canada, and eventually even charting in the U.S. But now with that hit to build on, their record company asked them to change the name of the band to “The Guess Who”. The band reluctantly agreed, but this was never their idea or choice as a band name. They toured extensively and recorded a new album, but by the end of 1965, keyboardist Bob Ashley left the group. He was replaced by a brash teenager with a strong voice, Burton Cummings, who was beginning to make a name for himself with his high school band, The Deverons. Tired of touring and not happy with the harder edge the group was pursuing, Chad Allan decided to leave shortly thereafter, giving the lead vocalist reins to Burton. However, unable to repeat the success of ‘Shakin All Over’, the band had some lean times over the next couple years, and eventually took a gig as the house band for a CBC TV music show “Let’s Go” for a year. Finally, in 1968, after a few more unsuccessful singles, they recorded the album Wheatfield Soul, and released ‘These Eyes’, which soared into the top ten 10 in both Canada and the U.S., and officially launched The Guess Who to the rest of the world. Follow up singles ‘Laughing’ and ‘Undun’ solidified their standing as hitmakers, and in 1970, as they moved toward an edgier hard-rock sound with ‘No Time’ and ‘American Woman’ (from the album of the same name), they established themselves as a legitimate rock band (‘American Woman’ was a U.S. #1 single and an instant classic). Randy Bachman, however, was tiring of the group's lifestyle and left the group shortly to form “Brave Belt” (reuniting with his old friend Chad Allan), and eventually, "Bachman-Turner Overdrive". The Guess Who replaced Bachman with Greg Leskiw and the irrepressible Kurt Winter, and their combined talents brought the group further success with 'Share the Land', 'Hand Me Down World', 'Rain Dance' and 'Albert Flasher'. Nonetheless, there were more personnel changes in 1972 (Leskiw and Kale departed to be replaced by Don McDougall and Bill Wallace) and 1974 (McDougall and Winter left, and Domenic Troiano came in as the sole guitarist. Although these extensive line-up shuffles did undermine the group's progress, they still put out quality records until 1975, when Burton decided to call it quits and pursue (a very successful) solo career. Jim Kale tried to get the band back together in 1977, but neither Cummings nor Bachman were interested, as they had their own successful careers. So, Kale re-formed the rest of the band (Peterson, Winter, and McDougall), toured, and recorded a couple of albums without much success. However, Kale registered the name “The Guess Who”, has control over it, and has continued to tour and perform in some form of the band ever since. In 1983, Cummings and Bachman did reunite with the band for a tour and live album, but then returned to their solo work. They also got back together in 1999 and toured through 2001, again releasing a live album. Once again, in 2003, the full band reunited for a charity benefit. Bachman and Cummings formed their own band in 2005 (just called Bachman-Cummings), and continue to perform and tour, and have released a couple albums.

The MusicThe early singles ('These Eyes', 'Laughing', and 'Undun') established the group as radio mainstays, but it was the album American Woman (1970) that established their rock credentials as a force to be reckoned with. Lead by the melodic rock of ‘No Time’ and the surly toughness and defiance of ‘American Woman’, American Woman (both single and album) soared up the charts and became an anthem during those politically-charged times of the early seventies. Another stand-out track on the album was the fusion of two separate songs to become a tour-de-force arrangement as ‘No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature’ (probably my favorite track of theirs). Despite this success in 1970, there was turmoil within the group and Bachman left (or was asked to leave). Contrary to popular belief, however, the group did not peak with Bachman, then decline when he left. Although American Woman (last album with Bachman) was the groups biggest hit (both single and album), their music got even better with their next few albums (most notably Share The Land and Rockin’), and was highlighted by a very strong songwriting collaboration and personal bond between Cummings and Winter (as well as Winter’s versatile and dynamic guitar work) that added new dimensions to the groups sound and repertoire. Share the Land (1970) featured an environmental message and was probably their overall strongest album, boasting songs such as ‘Bus Rider’, ‘Hand Me Down World’, ‘Do You Miss Me Darlin?’, ‘Hang on to Your Life’, and the title track. On their next couple albums (So Long Bannatyne and Rockin’), they lightened up a bit from the seriousness of American Woman and Share the Land and seemed to have a lot more fun, including a few throwaway just-for-fun ditties (oddities?), and also experimenting with different styles and types of songs. The results were superb, making rich, enjoyable, though not as radio-friendly albums. So Long Bannatyne (1971) includes some favorites, ‘Rain Dance’ ‘Pain Train’, and ‘Sour Suite’, and Rockin’ (1972), for me, was the best of all their albums, filled with quirky delights and styles, from the rockers ‘Heartbroken Bopper’, ‘Guns Guns Guns’, ‘Smoke Big Factory’ to the more offbeat but delightful ‘Get Your Ribbons On’, ‘Back to the City’, ‘Arreviderci Girl’, ‘Nashville Sneakers’, and their send-up of fifties songs ‘Don’t You Want Me’ and ‘Heaven Only Moved Once Yesterday’ included in the hilarious ‘Hi Rockers’ bit. What a great album. However, Rockin’ produced no big hits, and the group’s popularity was beginning to slide in the U.S. The next few albums continued to be strong (#10, Artificial Paradise, and Road Food, 1973-74), containing several notable songs, including ‘Glamour Boy’, ‘Orly’, ‘Follow Your Daughter Home’, and ‘Star Baby’), but were not as consistently excellent, and generally did not produce any hit singles (at least in the U.S., they remained superstars in Canada), except for the novelty song ‘Clap for the Wolfman’ in 1974, which was TGW’s last U.S. hit single). When guitarists Winter and McDougall left the group in 1974 (after Road Food), they were replaced with Domenic Troiano, and the group moved toward a jazzier pop sound and feel for their last two albums (Flavours and Power in the Music), which were decidedly different from previous albums, but still had their moments (such as ‘Hoe Down Time’ and ‘When The Band was Singin’ Shakin All Over’).
There are many different compilation albums available for the Guess Who, but don’t be fooled by any of the single CD collections. There are just too many great songs to be adequately represented by a single disc collection. I highly recommend the 2-CD Collection titled “Anthology” It contains all the hits and many other additional and noteworthy tracks not available on the other collections. This is a great place to start for anyone wishing to get a good overview of the great music put out by The Guess Who over the years. However, even this collection leaves off several stand-out cuts from throughout their career (most notably from Rockin’, which I believe is their best album). Thus, with the purchase of Anthology, and perhaps 1 or 2 other individual albums (Most Highly Recommended: Rockin’, Live at the Paramount, and Share the Land), you can have a great representation of the best of the Guess Who.

The Guess Who - 1972-11-20 - Budokan, Japan


The Guess Who
Budokan, Japan
November 20th 1972

Average Audience recording
Mp3 @ 192kps
Artwork Included

Ok, here is a show from a great and underrated '70's band (and features one of the great rock 'n roll vocalists of all time, Burton Cummings).
Although this is only a so-so recording, this is the best bootleg of a full show I could find from this period (The Guess Who at their prime). Unfortunately, there appear to be very few available shows by this great band. If anyone has other (better?) Guess Who shows, let me know, I'd love to hear them. For now though, enjoy this one.

Disc 1
01. Introduction
02. Bus Rider
03. Pain Train
04. Albert Flasher
05. Samantha's Living Room
06. New Mother Nature
07. Bye Bye Babe
08. Runnin' Back To Saskatoon
09. Raindance
10. These Eyes
11. Guns Guns Guns
12. Heart Broken Bopper
13. Lost and Found Town

Disc 2
01. Follow Your Daughter Home
02. Those Show Biz Shoes
03. Sour Suite
04. Hand Me Down World
05. American Woman Blues
06. American Woman
07. Drum Solo and Flute Jam
08. Truckin' Off Across The Sky
09. Share The Land
10. No Time

New Links! (Updated 07/27/21)
Disc 1: The_Guess_Who_-_Budokan_Japan_-_11-20-72_d1.rar

Monday, April 13, 2009

One Year of Occasional Blogness

Believe it or not, it has now been a full year since I made the first post on this fledgling blog. Now I know that I haven’t exactly been making regular posts throughout that year (only 19 total posts?), but still, I suppose, it does mean something to make it through a full year. Although I knew when I started that it would be a somewhat sporadic venture, as I just didn’t have much time to devote to it, I had intended make more regular and varied posts than I have managed to date. In particular, I planned to have more regular features of commentary and discussion on music and musicians of interest, and not just the music posts alone. Nonetheless, I have managed to post some pretty nifty music offerings, and I have been proud to be able to find and share these with everyone. So, I do plan to keep this going for awhile, and I will try to do a better job of making regular and worthwhile posts. So, here on this 1-year anniversary, from now on I pledge to average at least 2 posts a month or more, and to provide more than just bootleg recordings for download. Now, this will never be some major music site by any means, it will remain a small, relatively obscure outpost. I will only post things that are not already available on the primary web sources for ROIO and bootleg recordings (such as T.U.B.E, G101forum, BigO, and others listed in the sidebar), nor will I try to post the really rare, obscure, or OOP recordings, as there are many sites that do this much better than I can (such as Rare Mp3 Music and others). What I will try to do is provide links to download live music and sessions by some of my favorite artists that maybe you haven’t heard before, and to provide some interesting information, opinions, and commentary on the music and some music issues. For those that have found this site to have something of interest, I thank you for your patronage, and I hope this remains a place you come back to periodically to check out and enjoy. Mostly though, I want to thank all the others out there who have made so much of this incredible music, which is not available for purchase anywhere, freely available to all who wish to download and enjoy it. So, to all the other bloggers, forum posters, and music fans that have collected these recordings and made them available over the internet, as well as to all the great artists and musicians out there that allow these recordings to be freely exchanged, I offer a huge and heartfelt Thank You. It has been a tremendous experience to have the opportunity to collect and listen to such a wide variety of great concerts, shows, and sessions that I never knew existed before or never would have heard, and it has only increased my interest in these musicians and their music (and yes, that includes buying more of their official releases). Thus, if I can share some of that joy with even just a few others through this blog, than it surely is worth it. So, thank you all and keep listening.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Eric Clapton - 1994-11-03 - Kind of Blues


Eric Clapton
with Jimmy Vaughn
November 3, 1994
The Forum, Los Angeles, CA
(except *Fillmore, 11/8/94)

Kind of Blues (MVR 003/004)
Ex. Soundboard
mp3 @ 320 kps
Artwork included


Here is a great recording of a 1994 blues show from Eric Clapton. I had been trying to track this down for a quite awhile before finally finding it (and thanks to the generous soul that provided it to me). But here it is, and it's a real beauty. This is a great quality recording (from Mid Valley Records, who produce the BEST Clapton Boots) and great show from Eric's legendary '94 Blues Tour. Great stuff. Hope you enjoy this.

Tracklist
Disc 1:
1) Motherless Child* (Fillmore)
2) Malted MIlk
3) How Long Blues
4) Kidman Blues
5) County Jail
6) .44
7) Blues Leave Me Alone
8) Standin' Around Crying
9) Hoochie Coochie Man
10) It Hurts Me Too
11) Blues Before Sunrise
12) Third Degree
13) Reconsider Baby
14) Sinner's Prayer
15) Can't Judge Nobody

Disc 2:
1) Someday After a While
2) Tore Down
3) Have You Ever Loved a Woman
4) Crosscut Saw
5) Five Long Years
6) Crossroads
7) Groaning the Blues
8) Aint' Nobody's Bizness
9) Sweet Home Chicago

New Links! (Updated 07/07/21)

Enjoy!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Eric Clapton - 1990-01-24 - RAH - London


Eric Clapton
1990-01-24
Royal Albert Hall, London, UK

FM Broadcast Recording, Excellent Quality

New expanded and upgraded version, now contains complete broadcast recording plus bonus tracks not included in broadcast.

New Links!
Now available in Lossless (FLAC) and upgraded mp3 (320 kbps)

By request, here's a great show and recording from the Journeyman Tour, and one of the unique series of shows performed at the RAH for the '24 Nights' project in 1990 and 1991. Different nights featured different band configurations and sets. This show features the 4-piece 'rock' band. There also was a 9-piece band, a 13-piece band, the 'Blues Band', and a full Orchestra. Several other high quality (both official and unofficial) recordings from these shows are also available.  Excellent soundboard boots are also readily available (check T.U.B.E.) for the 2/3/90 Blues show ('Blues Night') featuring Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, the 2/10/90 full Orchestra show ('Orchestra Night'), the 2/17/91 9-piece show ('Blues Night'-Star), and the 2/25/91 Blues Band Show ('Play With Fire').
This upgraded and expanded version includes songs that were not included in the previous ('London at Night') version of this show. I have also included (as bonus tracks) 2 songs that were played but not included in the broadcast recording. These recordings all come from the Mid-Valley bootleg release, Touring Forever.

Tracklist:
CD1
01. Pretending Piano Intro
02. Pretending
03. Running On Faith
04. I Shot The Sheriff
05. White Room
06. Bad Love
07. Lay Down Sally
08. Before You Accuse Me
09. Old Love

CD2
01. No Alibis
02. Tearing Us Apart
03. Wonderful Tonight
04. Band Introduction
05. Cocaine
06. A Remark You Made
07. Layla
08. Knocking On Heaven's Door
09. Crossroads
10. Sunshine Of Your Love
Bonus Tracks (From Same Concert but not included in BBC broadcast, from video source)
11. Breaking Point (played after Running On Faith)
12. Can't Find My Way Back Home (played after White Room)

The band:
guitar,vocals: Eric Clapton
bass: Nathan East
keyboards: Greg Philinganes
drums: Steve Ferrone

FLAC - Eric Clapton_1990-01-24_RAH_London (Complete) FLAC.part1.rar
        Eric Clapton_1990-01-24_RAH_London (Complete) FLAC.part2.rar

mp3 - Eric Clapton_1990-01-24_RAH_London (Complete) mp3.part1.rar
       Eric Clapton_1990-01-24_RAH_London (Complete) mp3.part2.rar

Friday, April 3, 2009

Jason Mraz - 2008-09-30 - Cologne, Germany


Jason Mraz

Live in Cologne
09-30-2008

Cologne, Germany
Radio Broadcast, Excellent Quality (Pre-FM or SBD)
mp3 VBR ~160 kbps


Here is an excellent quality show by vocalist extraordnaire Mraz. And, although there are many good Mraz shows available at the Live Music Archive website (http://www.archive.org/details/etree), for some reason, this one is not there. So, here is a great fairly recent show for fans of Jason Mraz.

Tracklist
01. The Remedy
02. Make it mine
03. If it kills me
04. Live High
05. Lucky
06. You and I both
07. Only Human
08. The Dynamo of Volition
09. I'm Yours

TOTAL Time: 50:16 min

Note: I just learned that this show is copyrighted, and thus the download link has been deleted. It is no longer available for download. Sorry.