Monday 30 January 2023

TOM VERLAINE (December 13, 1949 – January 28, 2023)


TELEVISION
02 ABC, Glasgow, Scotland
8 June 2016


PERSIA (20:56)

This show was the only time I managed to see Television. I had been hoping to see their support slot with Billy Idol last year but it was unfortunately cancelled.

The show consisted of just ten songs but three of them were epics in length and stature, Little Johnny Jewel, Persia & Marquee Moon.
There are numerous performances of Little Johnny Jewel and Marquee Moon and they can be found on many of the sites listed in the Bootlegs of the Year document.

It is to 'Persia' we return. This near 21-minute performance of an unreleased song. If Television had got round to recording a fourth studio album, then surely this would have take up one side of the vinyl release.

Standing watching this performance live I was rooted to the spot, the audience had quietened down from a boisterous beginning, an altercation near the centre front of the stage. There was a guy dressed like Jimmy Rip with accompanying hat being jostled by some younger guy, who was trying to show off his dance moves to a woman he was trying to impress. (Dance moves at a Television show! see also the Mogwai post.)

It's interesting that the person recording this show moved position to the left as I did to get peace to concentrate and enjoy the show without any distractions, he must have been close to where I was standing. The sound quality in the venue was stunning as was the performance. 

It's a great shame that one of Glasgow's newer iconic music venues suffered such a fate of having to be knocked down, after damage because of the fire to the nearby Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Glasgow School of Art in 2018. The O2 ABC had the largest mirror ball suspended from the ceiling that I've ever seen, not one you would have felt comfortable standing underneath.  

Lineage:
CA14 Cards-CA 9200-Sony PCM-M10-Sandisk Ultra Class 10 Micro SDHC 16gb sd card-Audacity,amplify 4db,Compresser,CD Wave-Traders Little Helper level 6 to flac (Recorded at first 30ft center till 3rd song, then 30ft left hand PA speaker.)

Band:
Tom Verlaine-Vocals & Guitar / Jimmy Rip-Guitars / Fred Smith-Bass / Billy Ficca-Drums

LINK

 

                                  R.I.P. Tom

Monday 16 January 2023

EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL - Black Sessions 1993

Black Session no. 29
Recorded live at Studio 105, Paris, France.
June 1, 1993

French FM Radio broadcast

A quantity of high quality recordings of the John Peel show were made available for the first time last summer on the John Peel Wiki. These range from 1979 through 1983 with the majority of them from 1980. 

Included were 25 Peel shows from 1983, most of these included the complete shows plus the ten o'clock news. I've listened to a few of these this year on the exact date but forty years on. It's a strange experience listening to radio shows again that I first heard on their original broadcast as a young man. 1983 would be my last year as a regular weekly listener of the Peel show. I would return now and again throughout the years but my most regular listening took place in the seven year period between 1977 and 1983. 

The rapid change in the music scene was incredible and is documented extremely well in Jon Savage's book 'England's Dreaming' and Simon Reynolds book 'Rip It Up And Start Again.' There are many high quality shows from this era available on the Peel Wiki site and I will feature one of the best on a future post.

I coincidentally downloaded this show on the same day that I listened to the 5 January 1983 Peel show recording. The second track Peel played was by Tracey Thorn, 'Plain Sailing' included on her solo debut album in 1982 and later re-recorded for release as a single. By the time Tracey Thorn had formed Everything But The Girl with Ben Watt and released their debut album 'Eden' in 1984, she had already been through two bands and a short solo career.

Everything But The Girl released their eighth album in 1994, 'Amplified Heart' which took them into mainstream success via the remixed single 'Missing.' The follow up in 1996, 'Walking Wounded' was also highly successful and the 90's closed with their tenth album, 'Temperamental.' Tracey had twin daughters with Ben in 1998 and this led to the dissolution of the band in 2000.
 

They will return in spring with a new album, 'Fuse' their first in twenty-four years, scheduled for release on April 21st. A new single 'Nothing Left To Lose' is out now and this post may hopefully nudge you into exploring their back catalogue.

There is little lineage information with the download notes but it's a superb sounding recording and has been made using high quality audio equipment. Those who have a copy of the 'Bootlegs of the Year' pdf document will know how great the best Black sessions recordings sound. This is another to add to your collection and is the equal of those listed in the pdf above. 

Tracklist:

1.  Love is Strange (Mickey & Sylvia)
2.  Lonesome for a Place I Know
3.  Each & Every                 
4.  My Hometown (Bruce Springsteen cover)
5.  I Didn't Know I Was Looking for Love    
6.  Sugar Finney
7.  I Don't Want to Talk About It (Danny Whitten, Crazy Horse cover)
8.  Me and Bobby D
9.  The Road
10. Another Bridge
11. Only Living Boy in New York (Simon & Garfunkel cover)

Lineage: Unknown CDr > EAC > You

LINK 

 

                    scheduled release date: 21 April 2023

 

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