Covered: Randy Newman, Volume 3: 1999-2025

Here's the third and final volume of the "Covered" series for Randy Newman.

Newman's usual solo albums have been released less frequently as he gets older, which is usually the case for songwriters. By now, 2026, he averages about one album a decade. But unlike a lot of aging songwriters, he's kept his standards high. Pretty much every album he's made has been critically praised. 

But he's been much busier and prolific with his other career, composing soundtracks for Hollywood movies. I mentioned in the write-up for "Volume 2" that his career got a big boost starting in 1995, when he composed the soundtrack for the first "Toy Story" movie. That led him to a new line of work making soundtracks for blockbuster movies for kids, such as the other "Toy Story" movies (including "Toy Story 6," released in 2026), "Cars," "A Bug's Life," "Monsters, Inc.," and more. Most of those are a mix of songs with lyrics and background music. I didn't find a lot of songs from these movies sung by others that fit this collection, but there are a few in this volume. 

Some others are from earlier in his career. For instance, "Burn On," a 1972 song based on a true incident of the Cuyahoga River, which runs through Cleveland, Ohio, catching fire in 1969 due to excessive pollution. 

All the songs in all three volumes were officially released, except for the last two on this volume. "I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It)" is from Randy Newman's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2013. It's sung by Newman and Don Henley. The album ends with "I Love L.A.," one of Newman's better known songs. I had trouble finding a worthy version, until I found this one. It comes from the 2025 Grammy Awards ceremony, and features a bunch of stars singing together.

This album is 49 minutes long. 

01 When She Loved Me (Sarah McLachlan)
02 If I Didn't Have You (Billy Crystal & John Goodman)
03 Every Time It Rains (Joe Cocker)
04 Rider in the Rain (Reckless Kelly & Joe Ely)
05 Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father (Kim Richey)
06 Marie (Allison Moorer)
07 Our Town (James Taylor)
08 Burn On (Mason Williams)
09 I Will Go Sailing No More (Los Lobos)
10 Almost There (Anika Noni Rose)
11 Down in New Orleans (Dr. John)
12 Losing You (Mavis Staples)
13 It's Lonely at the Top (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy)
14 I'm Dead [But I Don't Know It] (Don Henley & Randy Newman)
15 I Love L.A. (Dawes, John Legend, St. Vincent, Brittany Howard, Brad Paisley & Sheryl Crow)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZoccZuhY

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/zKj0ZEWCA6LlgOM/file

The cover image is from 1995.

Clint Black, Bill Anderson & Bob DiPiero - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-25-2012

I thought I was done with the "Songwriters' Circle" TV show. There were three episodes I couldn't find, but I'd looked everywhere and came up empty. But the other day, one more of them showed up via SoulseekQT. So here it is. This is a country-themed episode. It stars Clint Black, Bill Anderson, and Bob DiPiero.

I would guess that most people reading this have heard of Clint Black, but haven't heard of Bill Anderson and Bob DiPiero. That's because Black has been a big country star in recent decades, while Anderson and DiPiero have more worked behind the scenes as professional songwriters. 

Here's some information on each of them.

This is the Wikipedia intro for Clint Black: "[He] is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. Signed to RCA Nashville in 1989, Black's debut album 'Killin' Time' produced four straight number one singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Although his momentum gradually slowed throughout the 1990s, Black consistently charted hit songs into the 2000s. He has had more than thirty singles on the U.S. Billboard country charts, thirteen of which have reached number one, in addition to having released twelve studio albums and several compilation albums."

Here's the link to the whole entry:

Clint Black - Wikipedia

Here's the entry for Bob DiPiero: "[He] is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15 U.S. number one hits and several Top 20 singles for Tim McGraw, The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Shenandoah, Neal McCoy, Highway 101, Restless Heart, Ricochet, John Anderson, Montgomery Gentry, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Pam Tillis, Martina McBride, Trace Adkins, Travis Tritt, Bryan White, Billy Currington, Etta James, Delbert McClinton, Van Zant, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, and many others."

And here's the rest of the entry:

Bob DiPiero - Wikipedia

Finally, here's the entry for Bill Anderson. The intro for this one is much longer, so I selected some sentences from it: "[He] is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television host. His soft-spoken singing voice earned him the nickname 'Whispering Bill' from music critics and writers.[1] As a songwriter, his compositions have been covered by various music artists since the late 1950s. ... While in college, he wrote the song "City Lights", which became a major hit for Ray Price in 1958. His songwriting led to his first recording contract with Decca Records that year; shortly afterward, Anderson began to have major hits. In 1963, he released his most successful single, "Still". The song became a major country/pop crossover hit and was followed by a series of top-10 hits. ... His songs were being notably recorded by other artists. ... In the 1970s, Anderson continued having major hits as a recording artist, as well. ... He was dropped from his record label in the early 1980s and began a brief career in television, which included hosting the game shows 'The Better Sex' and 'Fandango.' Anderson began writing songs again in the early 1990s for the next generation of country performers. Collaborating with other writers, he wrote material that went on to become hits for Vince Gill, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, and Steve Wariner in the next two decades. ... In his career as both a writer and performer, he has received awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame."

He is considerably older than the other two stars of this episode. As I write this in 2026, he is 88 years old. Here's the rest of his Wikipedia entry:

Bill Anderson - Wikipedia 

Now, there are just two episodes that I'm still looking for. Both are from 1999. One stars Joan Baez, Matraca Berg and Gretchen Peters. The other one stars Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and John Martyn.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Blue Clear Sky (Bob DiPiero)
02 talk (Bob DiPiero)
03 talk (Clint Black)
04 Killin' Time (Clint Black)
05 talk (Clint Black)
06 The Songwriters (Bill Anderson)
07 talk (Bob DiPiero)
08 The Church on Cumberland Road (Bob DiPiero)
09 talk (Clint Black)
10 Spend My Time (Clint Black)
11 talk (Bill Anderson)
12 Happiness (Bill Anderson)
13 talk (Bob DiPiero)
14 They're Playin' Our Song (Bob DiPiero)
15 talk (Clint Black)
16 Better and Worse (Clint Black)
17 talk (Bill Anderson)
18 Give It Away (Bill Anderson)
19 talk (Bill Anderson & Clint Black)
20 talk (Bob DiPiero)
21 Gone (Bob DiPiero)
22 talk (Clint Black)
23 Code of the West (Clint Black)
24 talk (Bill Anderson)
25 The Tips of My Fingers (Bill Anderson)
26 talk (Bob DiPiero)
27 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Bill Anderson, Clint Black & Bob DiPiero)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/g6t9i6G9 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/9dWf0CCmyFmKDXA/file

Here's an extra special bonus. Normally, I'm not interested in sharing videos. I like listening to music much more than watching it. I also don't want "mission creep" for this blog. But I think this is a great show that has been extremely hard to find. So here is a text file that contains links to the videos of all of the full episodes I could find. I found one from the 1999 season and all of the ones from the 2010 to 2012 seasons. So that leaves two 1999 episodes I don't have the videos for, and two more 1999 episodes I don't have anything for, at least not yet. These are just PixelDrain links. The files range in size from 500 MB to 1.2 GB.

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zqFGowKa

The cover photo is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Bob DiPiero, Clint Black, and Bill Anderson. 

Fiona Apple - Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY, 10-10-2012

A few days ago, I made an announcement about a recent leak of dozens of soundboard concerts from a venue in Port Chester, New York. I'm going to wait a little bit to post much more of that music. For one thing, I see some people are breaking the single sound files into songs and/or converting the mono into some stereo separation. That will save me some drudge work. Also, I'm waiting to get more feedback on the poll request I made. But here's one that I felt inspired to fix and post sooner rather than later. It's a Fiona Apple concert from 2012.

The reason I was keen on posting this is because there is a surprising lack of live recordings from her with impressive sound quality. There are a few soundboard-level recordings from the first few years of her music career, in the 1990s. But after that, I believe it's been nothing but audience boots. So this is really welcome, because it's a true soundboard. 

I took the single sound file and chopped it into mp3s. I didn't attempt to fix the mono problem. The audience applause is pretty low in the mix. For some of the songs, I boosted the applause volume.

One reason there aren't a lot of great concert recordings from her is because she hasn't toured that much, so there haven't been many recording opportunities. For instance, I don't believe she's performed in public since 2020 (I'm writing this in 2026.) Her last big tour, so far, was in 2012, supporting the album "The Idler Wheel..." So naturally there a lot of songs here from that album. She ended the concert with a cover of "It's Only Make Believe" by Conway Twitty.

This album is an hour and 25 minutes long. 

01 talk (Fiona Apple)
02 Fast as You Can (Fiona Apple)
03 talk (Fiona Apple)
04 On the Bound (Fiona Apple)
05 Shadowboxer (Fiona Apple)
06 Paper Bag (Fiona Apple)
07 Anything We Want (Fiona Apple)
08 Get Gone (Fiona Apple)
09 Periphery (Fiona Apple)
10 Sleep to Dream (Fiona Apple)
11 Extraordinary Machine (Fiona Apple)
12 talk (Fiona Apple)
13 Werewolf (Fiona Apple)
14 Left Alone (Fiona Apple)
15 I Know (Fiona Apple)
16 Tymps [The Sick in the Head Song] (Fiona Apple)
17 Every Single Night (Fiona Apple)
18 Daredevil (Fiona Apple)
19 Not about Love (Fiona Apple)
20 It's Only Make Believe (Fiona Apple) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ERc5AS7g

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/VGcI09Rd30Lzp0N/file

The cover photo is from 2012, but I don't know the date or venue.

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 7: 1987-2012 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I'm back from my two week vacation from Peru. It got off to a rough start due to the plane flight there, which I posted about. But everything else since then went great, with no more problems. :) I even had good weather the whole time, despite it being the rainy season there.

Here's the last album in a series that contains all the songs written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Though note that there's a bonus album of sorts still to come that will be explained later.

As I mentioned in Volume 6, the Bacharach-David songwriting partnership broke up around 1973, and they didn't collaborate for a long time after that. The second half of Volume 6 consisted entirely of songs written by Bacharach and another successful songwriter, Carole Bayer Sager. (In fact, Bacharach and Sager were married for a few years around this time). 

The Bacharach and Sager collaboration continued for a little while. The first songs are from a 1987, and are all co-written by those two. One song, "Love Power," was a hit. After that, there are a bunch of songs from 1989 to 2011, one song per year with many years skipped. "Sunny Weather Lover" from 1993 is a key song here, because it's the first song Bacharach and David wrote together since about 1972. However, that was a rare collaboration. Their songwriting partnership didn't reignite after that. (They also co-wrote two songs for the 2000 movie "Isn't She Great," but Warwick didn't sing them.) Furthermore, both of them were simply getting older and didn't write songs nearly as often as they used to. 

So the rest of the songs were written by Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" was a Number One hit in the U.S. for Christopher Cross in 1981, and was written by Bacharach with Sager and two others. Track 101 is an unreleased live version by Warwick recorded in 2005.

The last four songs are from a 2012 album called "Now." It was billed as a celebration of Bacharach and David songs. However, it mostly consisted of rerecordings of old hits. The four new songs, presented here, were written by either Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "99 Miles from L.A." was written by David with Albert Hammond, and was a hit for Hammond in 1975. 

Hal David died in 2012, so that ended the chance for any more songs written by both of them. Bacharach died in 2023.

While I was on vacation, a commenter noted that a song, "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" was included on Volume 4 of this series, despite neither Bacharach nor David being involved in writing it. Now that I'm back home, I was able to repost that album with that song removed. That also means that the numbering of all the songs after that has been fixed as well. So you might want to redownload Volumes 4, 5, and 6 if you're a stickler about such things. Also, since I had complaints about the cover art for Volume 1, I've posted an alternate version of the cover at the bottom of my write-up for that album that uses the original black and white photo, in case anyone wants that.

Thanks again to Mike Solof for putting this together.   

This album is one hour long. 

092 Take Good Care of You and Me (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
093 Love Power (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
094 In a World Such as This (Dionne Warwick)
095 Heartbreak of Love (Dionne Warwick & June Pointer)
096 On My Own (Dionne Warwick)
097 Sunny Weather Lover (Dionne Warwick)
098 Captives of the Heart (Dionne Warwick)
099 If I Want To (Dionne Warwick)
100 On My Way (Dionne Warwick)
101 Arthur's Theme [Best That You Can Do] (Dionne Warwick)
102 Keep Me in Mind (Dionne Warwick)
103 99 Miles from L.A. (Dionne Warwick)
104 Is There Anybody Out There (Dionne Warwick)
105 It Was Almost like a Song (Dionne Warwick)
106 Love Is Still the Answer (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ieF2gBUW

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/DKTsSUgj9dgKC43/file

The cover photo shows her in concert in an unknown location, in February 1989.

Covered: Neil Young, Volume 7: 2012-2016

Here we go with another Neil Young “Covered” album. Since I’m still on vacation, I’ll keep this short. Once again, thanks to Fabio from Rio for putting this together. And here’s his comments:

By the early 2010s, Neil Young's influence had spread even further across musical generations. Indie folk, alt-country, and singer-songwriter circles were openly embracing the emotional directness and melodic simplicity that had always defined Young's songwriting. At the same time, the digital era had changed how tribute recordings appeared: covers increasingly emerged from online projects, independent releases, and small tribute compilations rather than traditional label-driven albums. Young himself remained highly visible during this period, releasing politically engaged records and increasingly speaking out on environmental issues, while continuing to inspire younger artists discovering his catalog for the first time. The recordings in this volume reflect that diverse ecosystem: indie reinterpretations, roots-oriented performances, and the occasional stylistic surprise.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and five minutes long.

01 Goin' Back (Beth Orton)
02 Southern Pacific (Jeff Monkman)
03 Thrasher (Andy Hill & Renee Safier)
04 Prime of Life (Gov't Mule)
05 On the Beach [CFCF Remix] (Joakim)
06 Stringman (Stevie Pling)
07 On the Way Home (Ocean Colour Scene)
08 Out on the Weekend (Lee Ann Womack)
09 Revolution Blues (Gov't Mule)
10 Sea of Madness (Ida Sand)
11 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Bluebeaters)
12 Motion Pictures (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
13 Silver and Gold (Frank Fischer & Lavina Williams)
14 Bandit (Melanie Age)
15 Who's Gonna Stand Up (Anne Rynne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UrGS6KRt

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/c4iwuykMMALNvdc/file

The cover photo is from 1993. Peter Buck of R.E.M. was leaning up against his shoulder, but I removed him using Photoshop. 

Bettye LaVette - Season of Change - Non-Album Tracks (2012-2017)

I recently came across a recent Bettye LaVette concert I was impressed by and plan on posting here soon. That reminded me that I've never finished posting a couple more collections of non-album tracks from her. So here's the next one.

As I've mentioned previously, LaVette has had an unusual career. She had some success in the 1960s as a soul singer. But then she struggled for a long, long time, only to have a big and prolonged career revival since the early 2000s. That revival gave her a lot of opportunities to appear in tribute concerts, on other artists' albums, and the like. This album is a mix of those sorts of things.

Tracks 6, 7, 8, and 11 are unreleased. All of them come from appearances at tribute concerts. Track 9 is a live performance too, but it comes from a deluxe edition version of one of her albums. For all these live songs, I used MVSEP to get rid of the crowd noise.

The other songs are all released, and from studio albums. The first two tracks here are actually from an EP she released, called "More Thankful, More Thoughtful." It consisted of extra songs from her 2012 album "Thankful N' Thoughtful." The rest (tracks 3, 4, 5, 10, and 12) are mostly from appearances on albums by other artists, and generally are duets.

By the way, in addition to getting this album ready for posting, at the same time, I went over her past non-album track albums and improved them. I added a song to the "Heart of Gold" collection, a duet with Joe Tex that only recently emerged on YouTube. Here's the link to that one:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2021/04/bettye-lavette-heart-of-gold-various.html

And for the album in this series previous to this one, "Change Is Gonna Come," most of the songs were unreleased live versions. I used the MVSEP program to get rid of the cheering, so they'd fit in with the other songs. I also improved the sound quality of two bonus tracks enough to add them to the main album. Here's the link to that:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/05/bettye-lavette-change-is-gonna-come.html  

This album is 52 minutes long. 

01 Long Time (Bettye LaVette)
02 Save Some Time to Dream (Bettye LaVette)
03 Most of the Time (Bettye LaVette)
04 Yours and Mine (Dynamites featuring Charles Walker & Bettye Lavette)
05 Hustlin' [In the Motor City] (Bettye LaVette)
06 I'm Only Sleeping (Bettye LaVette)
07 Watching the Wheels (Bettye LaVette)
08 I [Who Have Nothing] (Bettye LaVette)
09 Like a Rock (Bettye LaVette)
10 Make You Feel My Love (Will Porter & Bettye LaVette)
11 In My Secret Life (Bettye LaVette)
12 Season of Change (Stone Foundation with Bettye LaVette) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/H6yJnwZY

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/mikQeQOUG5CzXXL/file

The cover is from the "Robert Johnson at 100 Centennial" concert at the Apollo Theater in New York City on March 6, 2012.

Bob Weir - Solo Acoustic Live, Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA, 9-10-2012

Bob Weir, one of the two main singer-songwriters in the Grateful Dead, died about a month ago as I write this. (He died on January 10, 2026, at the age of 78.) I wanted to post some music in tribute to his musical legacy. So I posted a series of concerts for the closing of the Fillmore West venue in San Francisco that included a Grateful Dead concert. But I also wanted to post something that focused more on him. So I'm posting this, which is a solo acoustic concert he did in 2012.

In the Grateful Dead, Weir was always considered kind of second fiddle to Jerry Garcia. In fact, there's a documentary about his life showing on Netflix right now called "The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir" that expresses that second fiddle role right in the title. But had Weir led a band on his own, I think he would have been quite successful, because he was a very talented singer and songwriter. His solo career began as far back as 1972 when he released his first solo album, "Ace." (It's a great album, by the way, as good as the Grateful Dead albums at the time, and so is "Garcia," the 1972 Jerry Garcia solo album.) 

But his solo career didn't become his full time career until 1995, the year Garcia died and the Grateful Dead came to an end. He performed in a variety of bands, including Kingfish, the Other Ones, Furthur, RatDog, Bobby and the Midnites, and the Wolf Bros. It was pretty unusual for him to perform in solo acoustic mode, but that's what he did here. This was part of a short solo tour, while he also did an acoustic trio tour that year.

After the Dead broke up, Weir's songwriting slowed down quite a lot. (That's not so unusual for someone who has been in the music business three or more decades already.) As a result, I think only two of the songs here are songs he wrote after 1995: "Ashes and Glass" and "Big Bad Blues." Most of the rest are original songs once performed with the Grateful Dead or covers.

As for the sound quality, I read that, during this tour, each concert was recorded and then one could buy a CD of it immediately after this concert was over. If so, that would explain the soundboard sound quality. However, I don't know if that's true, because this one gets around in bootleg trading circles some, but I haven't seen the other ones from the tour shared in the same way.

This album is two hours and nine minutes long. 

01 talk (Bob Weir)
02 The Music Never Stopped (Bob Weir)
03 Shakey Ground (Bob Weir)
04 The Music Never Stopped [Reprise] (Bob Weir)
05 New, New Minglewood Blues (Bob Weir)
06 talk (Bob Weir)
07 My Brother Esau (Bob Weir)
08 Loose Lucy (Bob Weir)
09 When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Weir)
10 talk (Bob Weir)
11 Artificial Flowers (Bob Weir)
12 Weather Report Suite (Bob Weir)
13 talk (Bob Weir)
14 Ashes and Glass (Bob Weir)
15 Big Bad Blues (Bob Weir)
16 Easy to Slip (Bob Weir)
17 Peggy-O (Bob Weir)
18 talk (Bob Weir)
19 Hell in a Bucket (Bob Weir)
20 Dear Prudence (Bob Weir)
21 Sugar Magnolia (Bob Weir)
22 talk (Bob Weir)
23 Brokedown Palace (Bob Weir)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UiNPi3Qq

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/U3CBuMTDkWOf2W3/file

The cover is taken from a poster for this exact concert. The poster was rectangular, as posters usually are, so I had to make some edits to make it fit a square space. The main thing I did was I chopped out a section in the middle that included a lot of flowers under the skull. 

Covered: Tom Waits, Volume 3: 2004-2012 (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

Here's "Volume 3" out of four volumes made for the "Covered" series, showcasing the songs of Tom Waits.

Like the other volumes in this series, this was mostly put together by Fabio from Rio. He did all the heavy lifting in finding the source material, and I only helped to winnow down the songs to a reasonable number. Fabio also wrote the notes for each volume, so here's his notes for this one:

In the nineties and early 2000s, Waits fused experimental sounds with stark American roots music—blues, gospel, field hollers, and folk. Themes of death, sin, redemption, and rural myth dominate. This allows for covers that, while highlighting their folk or country origins (sometimes deeply buried at the original recordings, but more perceptible when reinterpreted by performers from diverse backgrounds), still keep their darker spirits through melancholic or nihilistic lyrics.

In this volume, the country side of Waits' music is quite perceptible via covers by Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, and Claudia Bettinaglio. One may also feel the sexiness and smoky-room cabaret ambiance at Diana Krall's "Temptation", Monique Maion's "Walking Spanish," and Clara Bellino's "Swordfishtrombone." 

Traces of rockabilly and R&B can be found with Mark Lemhouse's "No One Can Forgive Me" and English seventies folk with Plant and Krauss' "Trampled Rose", along with blues and rock tracks like Hart and Bonamassa's "Chocolate Jesus" and Goldheart Assembly's "Clap Hands." Overall, this makes for an eclectic selection, much like the average Tom Waits album. An acoustic, home-demo-like version of "In the Neighborhood" by Peter Gabriel, recorded in 2012 for a benefit album for war-torn regions, closes the volume on a poignant note.

--- 

This album is 57 minutes long. 

01 Innocent When You Dream (Elvis Costello)
02 Temptation (Diana Krall)
03 Long Way Home (Norah Jones)
04 Big in Japan (Shane Nicholson)
05 Swordfishtrombone (Clara Bellino)
06 Eyeball Kid (Michael Stanley)
07 Cold Cold Ground (Claudia Bettinaglio)
08 Trampled Rose (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss)
09 All the Time in the World (Southside Johnny)
10 No One Can Forgive Me (Mark Lemhouse)
11 Walking Spanish (Monique Maion)
12 Chocolate Jesus (Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa)
13 Clap Hands (Goldheart Assembly)
14 In the Neighborhood (Peter Gabriel)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yUHGi7qy 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/i96wIB252GpXMcV/file

The cover photo shows Waits at a movie premiere in Leicester Square, in London, on October 6, 2009. (As usual with this series of course, I replaced the background with blank light blue).

Martin Simpson, Michael Chapman & Steve Tilston - Songwriters' Circle, Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-18-2012

Here's another episode of the "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. Just like other episodes, this one features three singer-songwriters taking turns performing their songs. In this case, the songwriters are Martin Simpson, Michael Chapman, and Steve Tilston. The episode has a theme, because all three of them are famous figures in British folk music.

Martin Simpson's career started in the 1970s. He didn't have any hits or famous albums. But he's steadily built up a following by releasing dozens of albums and touring frequently. He's mostly performed cover songs, especially of traditional music. He's still alive, and 76 years old, as I write this in 2026.

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Martin Simpson - Wikipedia 

Michael Chapman's music is hard to describe, so I'll just quote the lead paragraph of his Wikipedia entry, which says he was a "British singer-songwriter and guitarist who released 58 albums, displaying a 'fusion of jazz, rock, Indian and ragtime styles [that] made him a cult hero.' He began playing with jazz bands, mainly in his home town of Leeds, and became well known in the folk clubs of the late 1960s, as well as on the progressive music scene." Note the use of the past tense, because he died in 2021 at the age of 80. He's probably best known for his 1970 album "Fully Qualified Survivor," which contains his most famous song, "Postcards of Scarborough."

Here's his Wikipedia page:

Michael Chapman (singer) - Wikipedia 

That just leaves Steve Tilston. Like the other two, his music career began roughly around 1970. Also like the other two, he's had a long career with British folk music, releasing dozens of albums. 

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Steve Tilston - Wikipedia 

To be honest, I wasn't familiar with the music of any of these three musicians. But this was a nice listen, with the three of them all playing good songs and making interesting comments. It's a bit curious and disappointing that it didn't end with all three of them performing a classic song together, like all the other episodes I can remember of this TV series. But all three of them were/are talented guitarists, and often helped out with songs when it wasn't their turn to sing.

By the way, sadly, this appears to be the last episode of the TV series, in terms of broadcast order. I still have two more that I plan on posting. And there are another three or so that I haven't found, at least not yet. 

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 An Englishman Abroad (Martin Simpson)
02 talk (Martin Simpson)
03 Postcards of Scarborough (Michael Chapman)
04 talk (Michael Chapman & Steve Tilston)
05 Weeping Willow Replanted (Steve Tilston)
06 talk (Martin Simpson)
07 Never Any Good (Martin Simpson)
08 talk (Michael Chapman)
09 In the Valley (Michael Chapman)
10 talk (Steve Tilston)
11 The Road When I Was Young (Steve Tilston)
12 talk (Martin Simpson)
13 Will Atkinson (Martin Simpson)
14 talk (Michael Chapman)
15 Just Another Story (Michael Chapman)
16 talk (Steve Tilston)
17 The Reckoning (Steve Tilston)
18 talk (Martin Simpson)
19 Home Again (Martin Simpson)
20 talk (Michael Chapman)
21 A Cowboy Phase (Michael Chapman)
22 talk (Steve Tilston)
23 The Slip Jigs and Reels (Steve Tilston)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FszeUKwt

alternate:

The cover photo is from this exact concert, kind of. I couldn't find any good images of the three of them together, since they didn't play a song together at the end, like most episodes. But at the start of the video of this concert there was some footage of the three of them practicing together before the concert, so I took a screenshot of that. From right to left: Steve Tilston, Michael Chapman, and Martin Simpson.

Steve Earle, Diana Jones, & Tom Morello - Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-11-2012

Here's another episode of the excellent BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." Like other episodes, it features three singer-songwriters who take turns performing their songs on guitar or piano. This one consists of Steve Earle, Diana Jones, and Tom Morello.

Before I say anything more, I want to thank a musical friend named Peter. I had hit a wall finding many episodes of this series, but he sent me a bunch. As I write this, I think only three are still missing.

For this show, in my opinion, Steve Earle and Tom Morello are quite famous, while Diana Jones is relatively unknown. Earle has had a long and successful career in rock, folk, and country since the mid-1980s. While he hasn't had many hits, he's gained lots of respect as a songwriter, with many big names covering his songs. He's also won three Grammy Awards. Here's his Wikipedia link if you want to know more:

Steve Earle - Wikipedia 

Diana Jones released her first album in 1997. But, as he Wikipedia bio points out, "Jones's career gained wider critical acclaim in 2006 with the release of her album, 'My Remembrance of You.' The album made a number of critics end-of-the-year 'best of' lists." Her music has mixed country and folk. Here's the rest of her Wikipedia entry:

Diana Jones (singer-songwriter) - Wikipedia 

Finally, there's Tom Morello. He first came to fame as the lead guitarist for the band Rage Against the Machine. He's also been a member of the rock bands Audioslave and Prophets of Rage. However, he's done very different music in a parallel solo career, often under the name the Nightwatchman, consisting of acoustic folk music. That also is more of an outlet for his socialist, political views. The music he performed in this concert is in his solo style, and miles away from his rocking Rage Against the Machine style. Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Tom Morello - Wikipedia 

The Songwriter's Circle show didn't last long. There were a few episodes in 1999. Then it seemed the show was cancelled, but it came back for more episodes in 2010 and 2011. There were just three final episodes in 2012, and this was one of them. 

I got this from Peter as one big, high-quality video file. I converted it to audio, then broke it into mp3s. The music is unreleased and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 57 minutes long. 

01 talk (Steve Earle)
02 Guitar Town (Steve Earle)
03 If I Had a Gun (Diana Jones)
04 talk (Tom Morello)
05 Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine (Tom Morello)
06 talk (Steve Earle)
07 The Rain Came Down (Steve Earle)
08 talk (Diana Jones)
09 Pony (Diana Jones)
10 talk (Tom Morello)
11 No One Left (Tom Morello)
12 talk (Steve Earle)
13 Mountain (Steve Earle)
14 talk (Steve Earle & Diana Jones)
15 Henry Russell's Last Words (Diana Jones)
16 talk (Tom Morello)
17 The Garden of Gethsemane (Tom Morello)
18 talk (Steve Earle)
19 The Devil's Right Hand (Steve Earle)
20 talk (Diana Jones)
21 Poverty (Diana Jones)
22 talk (Tom Morello)
23 One Man Revolution (Tom Morello)
24 talk (Tom Morello, Steve Earle & Diana Jones)
25 This Land Is Your Land (Tom Morello, Steve Earle & Diana Jones)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/VXxT9Nzu

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/zL4vJV8JznMzioe/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Steve Earle, Diana Jones, and Tom Morello.

Covered: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Volume 3: 2012-2024

Here is the third and final Covered album celebrating the songwriting of Antonio Carlos Jobim.

I didn't get around to writing about the basics of Jobim's life with the first two volumes in this series, so let me do that now. Jobim was born in 1927 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the 1940s, he made a living playing piano in bars and nightclubs in Rio. His first song to be recorded by someone happened in 1953. But he didn't have significant success until 1958, when Joao Gilberto recorded what would become one of his most famous songs, "Desafinado (Out of Tune)." Then, in 1964, he really hit it big with "The Girl from Ipanema." A version of that song by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto reached the Top Five in the U.S. singles chart. But its success went way beyond that. In fact, it has become the second most recorded song of all time, behind only "Yesterday" by the Beatles.

This song led many people to discover not only other songs written by Jobim, but songs from Brazil in general, especially bossa nova music. For a couple of years, there was a sort of bossa nova craze in Western countries, especially in the jazz world. Jazz musicians in particular fell in love with Jobim's songs, because they were both musically complicated and interesting while being tuneful and catchy. Many of his songs became standards. Looking at the website secondhandsongs.com in 2025, which tallies cover versions, I count 34 songs written or co-written by Jobim that have been covered over 100 times. It may not sound like a lot, but that's a crazy amount. By comparison, only 18 songs by Bob Dylan have been covered over 100 times. Or consider Carole King, one of the most successful songwriters of all time. Only eight of her songs have been covered over 100 times.

Jobim released several dozen albums, with about half of them being collaborations with other famous musicians. He often collaborated with singers, since he wasn't much of a singer himself. His own albums didn't sell that well, but his collaboration albums often did. Overall, he had much more success with other musicians covering his songs. 

Here's his Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

Antônio Carlos Jobim - Wikipedia 

He died in 1994 at the age of 67. As a result, all of the songs here are from well after his death. Most of them were written in the 1950s to 1970s, and it just so happens these are the versions that Fabio from Rio and I liked the best (since all three of these albums were put together by Fabio and myself). As with the two previous volumes in the series, the focus was on songs sung in English, when in fact there are even more covers of his songs in other languages, especially Portuguese, which is spoken in his home country of Brazil.

Thanks again to Fabio of Rio for his helping putting this Jobim albums together. I already had plans to make Covered albums from Jobim on my own. But they wouldn't have been nearly as good without Fabio's input, since he's much more familiar with this type of music than I am. 

This album is 46 minutes long. 

01 I Love You [Eu Te Amo] (Alessandra Maestrini)
02 Somewhere in the Hills [O Morro Nao Tem Vez] (Lisa Sanchez & Jon Eriksen Quartet)
03 Forever Green [Sempre Verde] (Trudy Kerr)
04 Photograph [Fotografia] (Stephanie Patton)
05 Little Bird [Passarim] (Daniel Vincke)
06 Once I Loved [O Amor em Paz] (Baila Nova)
07 This Happy Madness [Estrada Branca] (Delicatessen)
08 Useless Landscape [Inutil Paisagem] (Emma Pask)
09 Meditation [Meditacao] (Nicole Magolie)
10 One Note Samba [Samba de Uma Nota So] (Arpi Alto)
11 Wave (Natalie Jacob, Tamir Hendelman, Anthony Wilson & Kevin Winard)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/uUAZTVi5

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/kSoOFxh4c0rb9Nm/file

The cover photo is cropped from a photo of Jobim with Sting. I don't know when it was taken, but I'd guess it's from the 1990s, because the two of them collaborated on a song around then which was released in 1996. The original version was black and white, but I colorized it with the help of the Kolorize program.

Suzanne Vega - Close-Up on Suzanne Vega Album (2012) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

This was an idea of guest poster Mike Solof. Between 2010 and 2012, Suzanne Vega rerecorded many of her earlier songs in acoustic mode, and then released them as four albums, each with different themes. Mike noticed that all of the songs from her 1985 self-titled debut album were included. So he gathered them all, then reordered them to the same order as the original album. Finally, he added "Left of Center," which was only released on a movie soundtrack in 1986.

The result is an alternate version of her 1985, with a more acoustic sound. So it's just a nice option if you want to hear that album in a different way sometimes. 

As usual, Mike has more info (and photos) in the PDF file included with the download. 

This album is 42 minutes long. 

01 Cracking (Suzanne Vega)
02 Freeze Tag (Suzanne Vega)
03 Marlene on the Wall (Suzanne Vega)
04 Small Blue Thing (Suzanne Vega)
05 Straight Lines (Suzanne Vega)
06 Undertow (Suzanne Vega)
07 Some Journey (Suzanne Vega)
08 The Queen and the Soldier (Suzanne Vega)
09 Knight Moves (Suzanne Vega)
10 Neighborhood Girls (Suzanne Vega)
11 Left of Center (Suzanne Vega)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/oJ5agEih 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/devWB7lK6MqdMWd/file

For the album cover, Mike and I wanted something similar to the original album cover, but different. That one had a black and white photo of Vega in the middle, with the names of the songs on the sides. I colorized the photo, using the Kolorize program. Then I enlarged it instead of keeping the song titles. Finally, I made some changes to the text.

Various Artists - MusiCares Tribute to Paul McCartney, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2-10-2012

Here's another MusiCares tribute show. This one celebrates Paul McCartney's music career. It's a bit short as far as these types of concerts go, but what's here is very good.

The usual format for these kinds of tribute concerts is a series of stars sing covers by the performer being honored, then there's an acceptance speech, and then the performer plays a couple of songs at the end. That's how this one went as well, except Paul McCartney performed two songs at the beginning as well as three at the end.

Actually, he did one more: a cover of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" performed as a duet with Diana Krall. However, this is sourced from a DVD, and that wasn't included, so I don't have it here. Also, Katy Perry sang "Hey Jude," and the Foo Fighters sang "Jet," and those aren't here either, for the same reason. If anyone has those missing songs, please let me know and I'll be happy to add them in. 

Additionally, Cirque du Soleil started the concert with a medley of "Get Back," "Hello Goodbye," and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." But I edited that out because it was a visual performance done to the record versions. 

What's here is pretty great though, which isn't shocking considering McCartney was one of the best and possibly the most commercially successful songwriters of all time. Particularly interesting is the finale, a version of the Beatles medley "Golden Slumbers - Carry That Weight - The End" with McCartney, Joe Walsh, and Dave Grohl dueling on guitars.

As mentioned above, this has been officially released on DVD. However, there have been no audio releases. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 54 minutes long.

01 talk (emcee)
02 Magical Mystery Tour (Paul McCartney)
03 Junior's Farm (Paul McCartney)
04 talk (emcee)
05 talk (Alicia Keys)
06 Blackbird (Alicia Keys)
07 talk (emcee)
08 No More Lonely Nights (Alison Krauss & Union Station)
09 talk (emcee)
10 And I Love Her (Duane Eddy)
11 talk (emcee)
12 Oh, Darling (Norah Jones)
13 talk (emcee)
14 I Saw Her Standing There (Neil Young)
15 talk (emcee)
16 The Fool on the Hill (Sergio Mendes)
17 We Can Work It Out (Coldplay)
18 Yesterday (James Taylor with Diana Krall)
19 talk (James Taylor)
20 For No One (Diana Krall with James Taylor)
21 talk (emcee)
22 talk (Neil Portnow)
23 talk (Paul McCartney)
24 My Valentine (Paul McCartney, Diana Krall & Joe Walsh)
25 Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (Paul McCartney)
26 Golden Slumbers - Carry That Weight - The End (Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh & Dave Grohl)
27 talk (Paul McCartney) 

This album is 54 minutes long. 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/KaZyTRqs

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/MaVF1LXhP4bCOhQ/file

The cover photo is from the finale of this exact concert. From left to right on guitars: Joe Walsh, Paul McCartney, and Dave Grohl. 

Various Artists - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Honoring Burt Bacharach & Hal David, White House, Washington, DC, 5-9-2012

I'm particularly psyched to post this album, because all the Gershwin Prize tribute concerts are nice, but most are very hard to find, and I want to post them all. Another tough one has been conquered. This one is a tribute to the great songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

By the way, with this one, I've posted ten of the Gershwin Prize concerts. That leaves four that I'm still missing. These four. If anyone has any of them, please let me know!: 

2013 Carole King
2016 Smokey Robinson
2017 Tony Bennett
2019 Gloria & Emilio Estefan 

The timing of this concert was fortuitous, because it turned out Hal David died only a few months later, in September 2012, at the ripe old age of 91. He was too ill to attend the concert, and had his wife Eunice David accept the award on his behalf. But at least he lived long enough to know that he and his songwriting partner won this prestigious award. Bacharach died in 2023 at the age of 94. As an aside, I've included them in the "Covered" songwriter series, with five albums of their music.

This one was a real challenge to put together, which is why I said up above I feel like I "conquered" it. At first, it seemed easy, and I found a download for it at a popular bootleg sharing site. But while that got me the first two thirds, the file for the last third was corrupted. I asked if anyone could fix it, and waited a couple of months, but nobody ever helped. So then I found a list of all the songs performed and went to find the missing ones on YouTube. After much digging, I found them all, including the speeches at the end. This was a lucky break, because YouTube didn't have some of the songs from earlier in concert. 

All's well that ends well. Everything should be here, and in excellent sound quality. I only cut out a couple of unimportant bits, such as a track at the start where the emcee named all the music acts that would perform in the concert.

This follows the usual pattern of various stars performing covers of songs by the prize winners, then an acceptance speech, then the prize winners performing a song or two. One surprise was that comedian and director Mike Myers performed. But instead of doing a comedy routine, he sang a song. He didn't embarrass himself, and he said some comments showing that he was huge Bacharach-David fan.

This album is 53 minutes long. 

01 talk (emcee)
02 I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Sheryl Crow & Lyle Lovett)
03 talk (Stevie Wonder)
04 Make It Easy on Yourself (Stevie Wonder with Arturo Sandoval)
05 talk (emcee)
06 talk (Diana Krall)
07 The Look of Love (Diana Krall)
08 talk (emcee)
09 Anyone Who Had a Heart (Shelea & Arturo Sandoval)
10 talk (emcee)
11 What's New Pussycat (Mike Myers)
12 talk (Mike Myers)
13 talk (emcee)
14 A House Is Not a Home (Rumer)
15 talk (emcee)
16 [There's] Always Something There to Remind Me (Lyle Lovett)
17 talk (emcee)
18 Walk on By (Sheryl Crow)
19 talk (emcee)
20 talk (Michael Feinstein)
21 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Michael Feinstein)
22 talk (emcee)
23 Alfie (Stevie Wonder)
24 talk (Stevie Wonder)
25 talk (Barack Obama)
26 talk (Eunice David)
27 talk (Burt Bacharach)
28 What The World Needs Now Is Love (Burt Bacharach & Everybody)
29 talk (Barak Obama)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/rHCqVPqb

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/MaAmDxJqb4273cL/file

The cover photo of President Obama giving the award to Bacharach is from this exact concert. 

Covered: Stevie Wonder, Volume 7: 2005-2018

Here is the seventh and last volume of Stevie Wonder's "Covered" series. Just as a reminder, like all the "Covered" albums I post, the emphasis is on the songwriting. So these are all songs written or co-written by Wonder, but performed by others.

By the time period of this album, 2005 to 2018, Wonder's songwriting had slowed way down. In fact, writing this in 2025, Wonder still hasn't released a new studio album since 2005. So all the songs here are covers from earlier years, especially from his golden era of the 1970s. "You Met Your Match" is the oldest song here, from 1968.

Finally, with this volume, the full scope of Wonder's songwriting genius can be seen. Some of his best songs don't show up until this volume. So all seven volumes should be seen as a whole. 

Just by chance, I didn't find any covers that I liked best from after 2018. But I'm sure more great covers will emerge in the years to come.

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 I'm Going Left (Eric Clapton)
02 You Haven't Done Nothin' (Joe Cocker)
03 Village Ghetto Land (Jen Chapin)
04 You Met Your Match (Tower of Power)
05 Sir Duke (Devon Allman)
06 Do I Do (Cuban Jazz Combo)
07 True to Your Heart (Wailing Souls)
08 Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer (Phil Collins)
09 Part-Time Lover (Hyannis Sound)
10 Jesus Children of America (Michele Thomas)
11 Master Blaster [Jammin'] (Minnie Driver)
12 Happier than the Morning Sun (Venice)
13 Another Star (Denise King & Massimo Farao Trio)
14 He's Misstra Know It All (Beverley Knight)
15 I Just Called to Say I Love You (John Prine)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hHACZWCK

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/h1RStCF8XSMhnvi/file

The cover photo is from 2003.

Paul Weller - BBC Sessions, Volume 16: 2010-2017

Once again, it's time for another Paul Weller BBC album. I'm trying to get through these sooner rather than later so I can focus on posting albums from other musical acts. This time, it's a collection of BBC studio sessions.

All the songs here are unreleased, except for one. The second track, a cover of the Zombies classic "Time of the Season," was included on the deluxe edition of the "More Modern Classics" compilation album.

The first two songs are from different 2010 sessions. Then tracks 3 through 10 are from two sessions in 2012. Tracks 11 and 12 are from a 2015 session. Finally, the last five tracks are from three different sessions in 2017. If you want more details, as always, check the mp3 tags for each song.

This album is 53 minutes long.

01 Andromeda (Paul Weller & Corinne Bailey Rae)
02 Time of the Season (Paul Weller)
03 Tales from the Riverbank (Paul Weller)
04 Carnation (Paul Weller)
05 Town Called Malice (Paul Weller)
06 Around the Lake (Paul Weller)
07 That Dangerous Age (Paul Weller)
08 The Attic (Paul Weller)
09 Wake Up the Nation (Paul Weller)
10 When Your Garden Is Overgrown (Paul Weller)
11 These City Streets City (Paul Weller)
12 I’m Where I Should Be (Paul Weller)
13 Long Long Road (Paul Weller)
14 I've Never Found a Girl [Who Loves Me like You Do] (Paul Weller)
15 Woo Se Mama (Paul Weller)
16 The Cranes Are Back (Paul Weller)
17 My Ever Changing Moods (Paul Weller)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/porSqNFY

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/MAZv2gDxc86aUhZ/file

The cover shows Weller on the Biz Nation radio show in London on August 25, 2010.

Ron Sexsmith - Reasons to Believe, Volume 6: 2012-2013

It's been almost a year since I last posted a volume in this series of non-album track albums for singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith. To be honest, I just kind of forgot about it, as I sometimes do with these things. Luckily, I recently remembered. I've made two more volumes after this, so hopefully I won't take nearly as long to get to those.

Seven out of the 14 songs here are officially unreleased. "Small Emotions" and "Family Tree Theme Song" are from TV shows. The other unreleased songs, tracks five through eight and 14, are either from concerts (with the audience cheering removed with the MVSEP program) or radio shows.

As for the officially released songs, most of them come from appearances on other artist's albums. A couple are from tribute albums.

As with past volumes, I want to mention that this series was the idea of Pete the Greek, and I wouldn't have done it without his instigation and continual help. 

This album is 49 minutes long. 

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:  

01 Small Emotions - Ron Sexsmith
02 Regrets - Abalone Dots & Ron Sexsmith
03 Since I Don't Have You - Skyliners
04 Where's My Everything - Nick Lowe
05 Days Gone Down - Gerry Rafferty
06 Right Down the Line - Gerry Rafferty
07 On My Way to Town - Kate & Anna McGarrigle
08 Love and Understanding - Blue Rodeo
09 All Good Things [Come to Those Who Wait] - Ryan Granvile-Martin with Ron Sexsmith
10 Family Tree Theme Song - Ron Sexsmith
11 Don't Be Scared - Ron Sexsmith
12 Imaginary Friends - Ivy Quainoo with Ron Sexsmith
13 Halloween [Bonfire Night] - Steve Nieve & Ron Sexsmith
14 Nowhere Is - Ron Sexsmith

 Here's the usual song list:

01 Small Emotions (Ron Sexsmith)
02 Regrets (Abalone Dots & Ron Sexsmith)
03 Since I Don't Have You (Ron Sexsmith)
04 Where's My Everything (Ron Sexsmith)
05 Days Gone Down (Ron Sexsmith)
06 Right Down the Line (Ron Sexsmith)
07 On My Way to Town (Ron Sexsmith)
08 Love and Understanding (Blue Rodeo & Ron Sexsmith)
09 All Good Things [Come to Those Who Wait] (Ryan Granvile-Martin with Ron Sexsmith)
10 Family Tree Theme Song (Ron Sexsmith)
11 Don't Be Scared (Ron Sexsmith)
12 Imaginary Friends (Ivy Quainoo with Ron Sexsmith)
13 Halloween [Bonfire Night] (Steve Nieve & Ron Sexsmith)
14 Nowhere Is (Ron Sexsmith)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/vJ4Hryfq

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/s5zM7yCV2mIuQCO/file

The cover photo is from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on January 30, 2013. The curtain behind Sexsmith happened to be almost exactly the same color as the writing I've been using for this series, so I used Photoshop to change the curtain color.

The Beach Boys - BBC In Concert, Mermaid Theatre, London, Britain, 9-24-2012

It seems that every musical act of reasonable popularity gets to perform for the BBC eventually. That's less so for American acts who don't make it over to Britain much, such as the Beach Boys. It seems they almost missed doing something special until decades after their heyday, when they did this concert in 2012. If it was just the Mike Love-led version of the band, bereft of nearly all original members, I wouldn't bother posting it. But in 2012, the Beach Boys had a legitimate reunion to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a band, putting out a very good new album called "That's Why God Made the Radio." So I'm posting this concert that took place shortly after the release of that album.

The Beach Boys were great for many years. But by 1997, founding brothers Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson had died, and the band's genius songwriter Brian Wilson had long ago left the band for a solo career. Founding member Mike Love kept the band going with lots of touring, but it was a nostalgic oldies act that just played the same hits over and over again. So it was a surprise in 2012 when all surviving members of importance reunited for a new album and tour: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks. It was even more surprising to me when their new album of original material was so good.

Unfortunately, the reunion didn't last long. Love was making a very good living performing concerts with his version of the band, with only Johnston of the other long-time members taking part, and he wanted to get back to that without having to share the profits with the others. Plus, there were long standing tensions between Love and Wilson in particular. Despite strong demand for more albums and touring, the reunited band only did about 75 concerts. This one was the third to last one, with the reunion ending four days later. 

It's probable that the BBC edited this unreleased concert down to fit an hour-long time slot, as the BBC often does. If so, they probably cut out songs from the band's then-new album "That's Why God Made the Radio." There's only one song here from that, "Isn't It Time."

This album is an hour long.

01 talk (Beach Boys)
02 Do It Again (Beach Boys)
03 Catch a Wave (Beach Boys)
04 Surfin' Safari (Beach Boys)
05 talk (Beach Boys)
06 Please Let Me Wonder (Beach Boys)
07 Then I Kissed Her (Beach Boys)
08 talk (Beach Boys)
09 Isn't It Time (Beach Boys)
10 talk (Beach Boys)
11 Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Beach Boys)
12 Don't Worry Baby (Beach Boys)
13 talk (Beach Boys)
14 I Get Around (Beach Boys)
15 Heroes and Villains (Beach Boys)
16 God Only Knows (Beach Boys)
17 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Beach Boys)
18 California Girls (Beach Boys)
19 Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)
20 Help Me, Rhonda (Beach Boys)
21 Rock and Roll Music (Beach Boys)
22 Surfin' U.S.A. (Beach Boys)
23 Barbara Ann (Beach Boys)
24 Fun, Fun, Fun (Beach Boys)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/qXrJ8EGX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/vzxqoETNImuOO7N/file

The cover photo isn't from this exact concert, but it's close. It's from their next concert, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on September 27, From left to right: Brian Wilson, David Marks, Mike Love and Al Jardine.

Chris Isaak - Acoustic, Volume 3: 1998-2016

Recently, a commenter pointed out to me that I had posted two volumes of Chris Isaak performing a third, yet I hadn't posted the third one. That was a very good point. I sometimes have albums all ready to go but then get distracted and fail to post them for some reason or another. So here's Volume 3.

As I mentioned with Volume 2 in this series, I really like how Isaak isn't afraid to perform songs just with an acoustic guitar or two. Typically, he's done this during short appearances, like in-person radio station promotions, where it probably isn't worth it for him to bring his entire band along. So this is mostly a compilation of unreleased performances from TV shows and radio shows. As usual, check the mp3 tags for all the details.

The only exceptions to that are tracks 7, 8, and 9. Track 7, "Forever Blue," is an acoustic version released on the album "Best of Chris Isaak." Tracks 8 and 9, "Don't Leave Me On My Own" and "Waiting," are also acoustic versions from the "Best of Chris Isaak" album, but only as bonus tracks on the iTunes version of that album.

Isaak's music career has been slowing down as he gets older, so this probably is the last album in this series. But never say never, I suppose.

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 Don't Get So Down on Yourself (Chris Isaak)
02 Sweet Leilani (Chris Isaak)
03 Blue Darlin' (Chris Isaak)
04 Speak of the Devil (Chris Isaak)
05 One Day (Chris Isaak)
06 Let Me Down Easy (Chris Isaak)
07 Forever Blue [Acoustic Version] (Chris Isaak)
08 Don't Leave Me On My Own [Acoustic Version] (Chris Isaak)
09 Waiting [Acoustic Version] (Chris Isaak)
10 Only the Lonely (Chris Isaak)
11 Somebody's Crying (Chris Isaak)
12 Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)
13 I Want You to Want Me (Chris Isaak)
14 Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaak)
15 It Hurt Me So (Chris Isaak)
16 Great Balls of Fire (Chris Isaak)
17 Ring of Fire (Chris Isaak)
18 Oh, Pretty Woman (Chris Isaak)
19 My Happiness (Chris Isaak)
20 Live It Up (Chris Isaak)
21 Blue Christmas (Chris Isaak)
22 Perfect Lover (Chris Isaak)
23 Please Don't Call (Chris Isaak) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gpUPv5Xj

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/BpKi5r1ZG4I4Sh2/file

The cover photo shows Chris Isaak performing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in November 2004.

Covered: Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier & Eddie Holland, Volume 8: 1975-2012

Here, finally, is the last of eight albums in my Covered series highlighting the songwriting genius of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, a.k.a. Holland-Dozier-Holland.

By 1975, the bulk of hits first written by Holland-Dozier-Holland were behind them. That was especially true since Lamont Dozier broke with the Holland brothers in 1973. Some lawsuits between them followed regarding splitting the profits from their record companies. However, despite these battles, the three of them remained friends and even occasionally wrote songs together after that.

But still, by 1975, generally speaking, the classic Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team was done. The Holland brothers generally still wrote songs together while Dozier went his own way. 

Weirdly, given that Holland-Dozier-Holland were caught in non-stop legal battles with Motown Records from about 1968 until the end of the 1970s, the Holland brothers wrote a lot of songs for Motown acts in the late 1970s. Apparently, the love of music overcame hard feelings. Dozier later commented, "The lawsuit was just our way of taking care of business that needed to be taken care of -just like [Motown owner] Berry Gordy had to take care of his business which resulted in the lawsuit. Business is business, and love is love." 

The first three songs here were written by the Holland brothers for the Motown acts Michael Jackson and the Supremes in 1975 and 1976. And "I Just Can't Walk Away" was a rare example of a new song written by the entire Holland-Dozier-Holland team after their 1973 falling out, and released by the Four Tops in 1983.

Most of the other songs here, however, were written by Dozier, either by himself or with other songwriters besides the Holland brothers. He had the most songwriting success by far after the 1970s. For instance, "Two Hearts," co-written by Dozier and Phil Collins, was a Number One hit for Collins in the U.S. in 1988. 

A couple of big hits here, though, weren't exactly willing collaborations. "Roll with It" was a Number One hit in the U.S. in 1988 for Steve Winwood. Originally, Winwood co-wrote it with a songwriter named Will Jennings. But it was so similar to the 1960s song "(I'm a) Roadrunner" written by Holland-Dozier-Holland that they were added to the songwriting credits. The exact same thing happened to the 1990 hit song "The Other Side" by Aerosmith. Holland-Dozier-Holland were added to the songwriting credits due to the similarity of that song to "Standing in the Shadows of Love," which they wrote for the Four Tops in 1966.

As far as business concerns went, the Holland-Dozier-Holland record company Invictus went out of business in 1977. That wasn't too surprising because that was around the time classic soul music went out of fashion, to be replaced by disco and then other musical trends. Note that Stax Records went out of business in 1975, and even Motown Records shrunk way down and then was sold off in the late 1980s.

However, after the decline of Invictus, Holland-Dozier-Holland carried on with a new record label, HDH Records and Productions. But while they did release some new music, that was more about managing the rights to their earlier successes. The three of them also reunited to write 22 new songs for a musical play called "The First Wives Club" in 2009. However, the play wasn't that well received, and it never made it to Broadway. 

The three of them remained friends until 2022, when Dozier passed away at the age of 81. As I write this in 2024, Brian Holland is still alive at the age of 83, and Eddie Holland is still alive at the age of 85. In 2021, Dozier released a memoir and the Holland brothers released one too. 

Shortly before his death, Dozier commented in an interview, "I feel like Eddie and Brian are my family. We have had great times and not so great times with each other, but all in all we have so much love for one another and nobody can ever change that. We wrote some incredible songs, and our catalog songs are like our children."

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 Just a Little Bit of You (Michael Jackson)
02 I’m Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking (Supremes)
03 You’re My Driving Wheel (Supremes)
04 Going Back to My Roots (Richie Havens)
05 I Just Can't Walk Away (Four Tops)
06 Invisible (Alison Moyet)
07 Infidelity (Simply Red)
08 Two Hearts (Phil Collins)
09 Loco in Acapulco (Four Tops)
10 Roll with It (Steve Winwood)
11 The Other Side (Aerosmith)
12 Like I Do (For Real)
13 Spoiled (Joss Stone)
14 While You're Out Looking for Sugar (Joss Stone)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17429308/COVRDHOLLNDDZRHLLND1975-2012Vlum8_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/s9dsXwjG

The cover photo shows Holland-Dozier-Holland in 2003. From left to right, that's Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Brian Holland.