The Faces with Keith Richards - The Midnight Special, Kilburn State Gaumont Theatre, London, Britain, 12-23-1974

Here's one of the top vote getters from my recent poll about the "Midnight Special" TV show. The Faces were number two in that poll. The Faces only appeared in one episode of the show, which was broadcast on April 25, 1975. But it was a special show in three respects. For one, the entire show was dedicated to just them, which was very unusual for that show. Two, it took place at a different location, even a different country, months earlier. And three, they were joined by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who played lead guitar on three songs.

The involvement of Richards in this concert is pretty interesting if one considers how it fit in to the break up of the band. By the time of this concert at the end of 1974, the Faces were well on their way to breaking up. The main problem was lead singer Rod Stewart. He'd become a superstar as a solo act, so it was easier for him to pursue that, where he could call all the shots, instead of remaining in the Faces. The last album the Faces put out was in 1973. They would only manage to tour and release a couple of singles after that. As a sign of Stewart's growing popularity, by the time of this concert, they were getting billed as "Rod Stewart and the Faces."

Meanwhile, Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones in 1974, meaning that more successful band needed a new lead guitarist. By early 1975, the top choice was Ronnie Wood of the Faces. He actually started touring with the Stones beginning in June 1975, although he wasn't an official member of that band yet. It seems Wood tried to juggle being a member of both the Faces and the Stones for a while, because when the Stones tour ended in early August, he joined a Faces tour starting in late August. But problems between members of the Faces grew and grew, until they announced their break-up at the end of 1975. Wood officially joined the Stones in early 1976.

Given that context, the appearance of Richards here wasn't just random. One could see this as part of a process of Wood moving from the Faces to the Stones. Perhaps it was part of Richards trying to woo Woods into the Stones, and/or see how well he and Woods clicked while performing in concert.

There's one bonus track. In the middle of the episode, there was seven-minute long interview of the band's lead singer Rod Stewart by the show host Wolfman Jack. Clearly, it was recorded at a different time and place than the concert, so it didn't fit. But I figure some people might be interested, so I stuck it in as a bonus track. 

Normally, the sound quality on all these Midnight Special shows has been excellent. But for this one, I noticed the lead vocals were low in the mix. So I boosted them up for all the songs. I also did the usual trick of getting rid of commercial breaks by editing out little bits (especially host Wolfman Jack announcing the breaks) and using more applause to get of the cuts between songs. 

Mere minutes after posting this, a commenter corrected me on the date and location, and also told me there was an extra song not broadcast on Midnight Special, namely, "I'd Rather Go Blind." So I found a different version of this concert that included that song, and added it in. I also added in some banter between songs by Stewart that was edited out by the TV show. Otherwise, the two versions are basically the same. It seems this concert later got released as a movie called "Rod Stewart and the Faces - The Final Concert." It has since come out on DVD, but not in an audio format. 

You can watch this concert/ episode on YouTube. Although Richards doesn't sing (except some very brief backing vocals), his lead guitar work with Woods is excellent. 

This album is an hour and three minutes long, not including the bonus track. 

01 talk by Wolfman Jack (Faces)
02 talk (Faces)
03 It's All Over Now (Faces)
04 talk (Faces)
05 Take a Look at the Guy (Faces)
06 Bring It on Home to Me - You Send Me (Faces)
07 Sweet Little Rock and Roller (Faces with Keith Richards)
08 talk (Faces with Keith Richards)
09 I'd Rather Go Blind (Faces with Keith Richards)
10 talk (Faces)
11 Angel (Faces)
12 I Can Feel the Fire (Faces)
13 You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Faces)
14 talk (Faces)
15 Twistin' the Night Away (Faces with Keith Richards)
16 You Wear It Well (Faces)
17 Maggie May (Faces)
18 We'll Meet Again (Faces)

interview (Faces) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hzhFMx66

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/ulSGDNNzhUI9E4t/file

The cover image is a screenshot taken from this exact concert. From right to left: Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Rod Stewart. For once, I didn't have to move them closer together in Photoshop, since they were all trying to get near the microphone.

Poll Results

Here are the results of the recent poll to find out which potential "Midnight Special" albums people would be most interested in. 

ELO                                       XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Faces                                      XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Byrds / Roger McGuinn        XXXXXXXXXXXX
Golden Earring                      XXXXXXXXXX
Guess Who                            XXXXXXXXXX
Randy Newman                     XXXXXXXXX
Todd Rundgren                      XXXXXXXXX    
Leon Russell                          XXXXXXXX
Paul Williams                        XXXXXXXX    
Bill Withers                           XXXXXXXX    
Steve Miller Band                 XXXXXXX
Ray Charles                           XXXXXX
Bee Gees                               XXXXXX
Curtis Mayfield                     XXXXXX
B.B. King                              XXXXX
Jerry Lee Lewis                     XXXXX
Earth, Wind & Fire                XXXXX
Bobby Womack                     XXXXX
Wilson Pickett                       XXXX
Billy Preston                         XXXX
Spinners                                XXXX    
Ike & Tina Turner                 XXXX    
Neil Sedaka                           XXXX
Linda Ronstadt                      XXXX
Hoyt Axton                            XXX
Joan Baez                              XXX
Blood, Sweat & Tears           XXX
James Brown                         XXX
Canned Heat                          XXX
Fats Domino                          XXX
Dr. Hook                                XXX
Little Anthony & Imperials   XXX
Ohio Players                          XXX
Rufus / Chaka Khan              XXX
Pointer Sisters                       XXX    
Chuck Berry                          XX
Jose Feliciano                        XX
Four Tops                              XX
Waylon Jennings                   XX
Edgar Winter Group              XX    
Seals & Crofts                       XX
Olivia Newton-John              XX
Frankie Valli & 4 Seasons     X
Barry White                           X    
Stylistics                                X
Righteous Brothers                X
Smokey Robinson                 X
Helen Reddy                          X
Paul Anka            
Leo Sayer            
Marty Robbins            
Anne Murray            
Mac Davis            

Keep in mind that I'm not necessarily going to post all the albums from these musical acts above a certain cut off point, as I have done in earlier polls. I just did this to see where the demand was. For instance, the most surprising result of this poll for me was how high Paul Williams ended up. I thought he was considered very "uncool," like Paul Anka and Mac Davis, both of whom got zero votes. But Williams made it into the top ten. So I'll have to post an album by him, when I previously almost certainly wouldn't have. I was also particularly surprised how high Golden Earring ended up. And I was surprised by how few votes some acts got, especially Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and Smokey Robinson, both with just one vote.

To be honest, I really like this Midnight Special material, so I imagine I'll end up posting albums from the vast majority of these musical acts by and by. But I'll try to prioritize the ones that got the most votes sooner rather than later. Thanks again for your feedback.

Gloria Estefan - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 8-16-1993

Here's an episode of Gloria Estefan performing for the great "PBS Soundstage" TV show.

Gloria Estefan's music isn't my cup of tea. But her record sales exceed over 100 million, making her one of the best selling musical acts of all time. And she's even won a Gershwin Prize. So I figure I should post her episode for the people who want it.

(By the way, note that this episode took place in the one year the show was called "Center Stage." But I'm just calling it "Soundstage" for consistency with all the other episodes I'm posting.) 

This was one of those episodes where, unfortunately, the producers tried to spice things up with more than just music from the concert, for instance interviews. I cut that extra stuff one. In a few cases, there was some overdubbed talking related to that extra stuff that went over the actual music. So I used the UVR5 audio editing program to get rid of the talking. That's why three songs have "[Edit]" in their titles.

This concert took place a couple of months after the release of her studio album "Mi Tierra," which was one of her best selling albums. It also was her first all-Spanish-language album. However, all but a couple of songs here are sung in English.

This unreleased album is 54 minutes long.

01 Rhythm Is Gonna Get You (Gloria Estefan)
02 talk (Gloria Estefan)
03 Words Get in the Way (Gloria Estefan)
04 talk (Gloria Estefan)
05 Here We Are [Toda Pra Voce] [Edit] (Gloria Estefan)
06 Live for Loving You (Gloria Estefan)
07 Can't Stay Away from You (Gloria Estefan)
08 Don't Wanna Lose You (Gloria Estefan)
09 talk (Gloria Estefan)
10 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me (Gloria Estefan)
11 Oye Mi Canto (Gloria Estefan)
12 talk (Gloria Estefan)
13 Anything for You [Edit] (Gloria Estefan)
14 Coming Out of the Dark [Edit] (Gloria Estefan)
15 Conga (Gloria Estefan)
16 talk (Gloria Estefan)
17 Always Tomorrow (Gloria Estefan)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/P1MvNm58

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/xAEwvI5LAKRWXBr/file

The cover image is from an appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," on June 21, 1993.