Thursday, April 30, 2015

Brian Doherty - Treat and Release

Free album download from Rock drummer Brian Doherty (from his website)

I got an email from rock drummer Brian Doherty recently. Brian has been a part of great bands such as  They Might Be Giants, The Silos, and XTC, as well as also having played with the likes of Ben Folds, Marshall Crenshaw, and Mike Viola. Blog readers should also remember that Brian was responsible for making the excellent live Silos compilation, Flipping the Bird, available to everyone. Well, Brian just wanted to let me (and you readers) know that his first original solo rock album is now available for download through his website. The album is called Treat + Release, with a basic rock trio set-up of Brian on drums and vocals, John Yates on bass, and Ted Novak on guitar, and also featuring various guest musicians on individual tracks, including Marshall Crenshaw on guitar for a couple tracks, and Mike Viola on assorted instruments and vocals (and sharing producing credit) on another track. Although the album has been available through iTunes and Amazon for some time now, for a limited time, Brian is offering the album as a free download through his website.  I listened to the album right before posting this, and it's pretty good, with interesting songs and a nice pop-rock sound and style. Certainly worth checking out. So, thanks to Brian for making this available and for letting us in on this share. While you're getting the download from Brian's website, be sure to check out the rest of his site, as he also has some drum tracks available in addition to his previous interesting blog posts about his experiences as a professional musician.  Anyway, here is the link to Brian's site to download the album  

http://briandohertydrummer.blogspot.com/p/treat-release.html



Friday, April 17, 2015

Upgrade April (and May, too)

New uploads and upgraded (more Lossless and high grade [320 kbps] mp3) files and posts

I will update here with links to the updated pages as I upload new updates and upgrades for previously available files and posts. In many cases, this will mean more Lossless files and upgrades to 320 kbps from the older 192 kbps files posted previously (as available of course). So check back to see what additional updates and upgrades have been made.

Early America (1972) Shows Upgraded! (Updated 04/17/15)
New upgraded quality. Lossless files now available, cut in recording fixed
America_1972_Philadelphia_FM_upgrade

New improved recording quality (alternate source), Lossless and 320 kbps mp3 files now available
America_1972 Radio Sets_LA&Netherlands_upgraded

Counting Crows - 1991 - Flying Demos (Updated 04/22/15)
Now available as Lossless (FLAC) and upgraded (320 kbps) mp3 files
Counting Crows_1991_Flying Demos upgraded files

The Band - The Complete Last Waltz Bootleg (1976) (Updated 04/26/15)
Now available in Lossless (FLAC) and upgraded (320 kbps) mp3 versions
The Band - 1976-11-25 - The Complete Last Waltz Bootleg upgraded files

The Kinks - Multiple shows upgraded (Updated 05/03/15)
New upgraded quality, Lossless now available for
The Kinks_1980-12-31 - Palladium - NY

New upgraded and expanded edition (now includes complete Hippodrome show/broadcast)
The Kinks - In Concert 1974 (upgraded&expanded)

New upgraded quality, Lossless and 320k mp3 files now available
The Kinks_1973-04-01_Boston Music Hall (upgraded)

Now available in Lossless (FLAC) (Updated 05/28/15)
The Kinks_1977-12-03_Pawtucket RI_FLAC 

Eric Clapton - classic 4-piece 1990 RAH show (Updated 05/04/15)
Now upgraded and expanded (complete broadcast recording) version, now in Lossless and upgraded (320 k) mp3
Eric Clapton_1990-01-24_RAH_London (Complete show)

Neil Young - Multiple posts upgraded (Updated 05/11/15)
New upgraded quality, Lossless and 320 k mp3 files now available.
Neil Young_1971-02-27_Royal Festival Hall_London (upgraded)

New upgraded quality, higher fidelity mp3 files (now 320 k instead of 192 kbps)
Neil Young_Rock N' Roll Cowboy (Live Comp.)_1966-1994_mp3-320 upgrade

New upgraded quality, Lossless and 320 k mp3 files now available (Updated 05/20/15)
Neil Young_1973-03-11_Bakersfield_plus_Last Album (upgraded)

More coming soon.


Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Seven Years of BB?

 The Seven-Year Stitch

Well, here we are, at, quite unbelievably, the 7th anniversary of this blog. That's right, it's been a full 7 years since I started this little endeavor, and although it has never quite become what I had hoped it would (just haven't had the time to put into it), it has kept chugging along as what it is, averaging about a post a week throughout that 7 year's time. So, it hasn't been the most consistently updated of these types of things, but even at that rate of posting, it has amounted to nearly 400 music shows, bootlegs, and rarities files available for downloading. So many other music blogs have come and gone in that time (some much better than this one), but I have kept on plugging along through thick and thin. And what I have put out here is some really quality stuff, some obscure, much well-known, but all music and artists that I personally enjoy very much, available in as fine of sound quality as possible, and many of these shows are (or at least were) not generally available anywhere else. I try to provide some background and context to the music and artists, as well as my own commentary, rather than just unadorned music files, to give those new to these artists some perspective and history, to explore the music further. And in that sense I hope that what I have provided here has been useful and worthwhile, as well as musically satisfying. And so, I am somewhat proud of what I have assembled here over the last 7 years, and I hope it has been something that you come back to often and have been introduced to some new music here that you really enjoy, as well as the artists that you already knew and liked, to expand your musical horizons and enjoyment in addition to your music collection. I also take pride that most of the music that has ever been posted here, is still available for download, even multiple years after first posting. I try to keep the links up to date as much as possible, so that the music will continue to be available for all to sample. I have been pleasantly surprised that most files have received fairly regular downloads (to keep them active), even for the older posts going back several years. Sure, some of the more-obscure stuff needs to be refreshed every now and then, but overall, shows are still being downloaded pretty regularly, which pleases me to see. I guess it indicates that new people are finding the blog and going back through the older posts. So, that's all good. We seem to be pretty steady regarding visits and pageviews, not increasing, but not declining either.

And once again, as I have each year at this time, I also want to take this time to thank and celebrate all the others out there who have made so much of this great music, which is not available for purchase anywhere, freely available to all who wish to download and enjoy it. I am only able to offer these downloads because others before me have made them available. So, to all the other bloggers, tapers, 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. And again, I implore everyone to purchase all the official releases of your favorite artists. The music here serves to supplement, not replace, all of their officially released music. They are supported by fans like us.

As for the future of the blog, well, who knows? I certainly wouldn't say there will be 7 more years ahead, but you never know. I have contemplated shutting it down several times over the past few years (following various shutdowns, closures, and loss of files), but it continues. At least for the time being,  it will continue pretty much as it has been, that is, on the same limited basis (one or two posts a week, tops). I very much enjoy doing it, but just have a very limited time I can devote to it. So, please be patient, as it may take me some time to get around to posting things, etc. But I will always strive to provide new and interesting content that is generally not available from the other usual music blogs.  As I've said previously, I do wish I could get more comments, feedback, and discussion from you, the readers of this blog. Please, let me know what you think of what is here, provide your own insight and perspective, and some real discussion of some of this great music. I would love to hear and see more from you, if possible.

For the immediate future, I have collected upgraded versions (FLAC or 320 kbps vs. 192k files) for many of the older posts, but just haven't gotten the chance to get the posts updated and improved. so, for the rest of April, rather than posting much new stuff, I'm going to take this chance to get things on the blog updated and upgraded. So, stay tuned for news of these and other changes that will be part of Upgrade April. Hope you like and can use some of these upgraded versions and improvements to the site.


Sunday, April 5, 2015

Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon - 2002-11-15 - St.Louis, MO

Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon
2002-11-15
Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, MO

Soundboard recording, excellent quality
mp3 @ 320kbps

More Leo Kottke, and this show brings us up to more contemporary times (and finishes this brief retrospective of his career). In 2002, Leo released a duet collaboration album with Mike Gordon (bassist for the band Phish) titled Clone. Although this may seem an odd pairing, Gordon (as well as fellow bandmate Trey Anastasio) had been of fan of Leo's ever since he played at the University of Vermont (where Gordon and Anastasio were students) back in the '80's, and had communicated with Kottke and they wanted to collaborate for years. They finally got their chance during a Phish hiatus in 2001, and they got together and recorded Clone, featuring new songs written by both artists. The album was critically acclaimed and featured intricate interplays of Mike's bass and Leo's guitar, as well as vocal collaborations and harmonies as well. The collaboration was so succesful that the duo recorded another album together in 2005, Sixty Six Steps, as well as another tour together. However, although Kottke continues to perform and tour regularly (he is currently on tour in 2015), Sixty Six Steps remains his last studio album released to date. The show featured here is from the tour in support of the 2002 album, and in addition to songs from that duets album, features re-workings of songs from both the artists past catalog. Here is an excellent soundboard recording from their St. Louis show.

Tracklist:
1. Disco
2. Living in the Country 
3. I'm Going Back to the Old Home 
4. The Collins Missile 
5. William Powell 
6. Stage Banter
7. Rings 
8. Stage Banter
9. From Pizza Towers to Defeat 
10. I Can't Hang 
11. Standing in My Shoes 
12. Last Steam Engine Train 
13. Crowd-Banter
14. Te Veo 
15. Crowd-Tuning
16. Cripple Creek 
17. Banter
18. Clone
19. Middle of the Road
20. Corinna  Corinna
21. Car Carrier Blues 
22. Ya Mar 
Encore:
23. Deep River Blues 
24. Eight Miles High 

New Links (Updated 07/04/21)
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon_2002-11-15_St.Louis.part1.rar
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon_2002-11-15_St.Louis.part2.rar