Various Artists - The Thrill Is Gone - A Tribute to B.B. King, Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, 2-16-2020

The great blues legend B.B. King died in 2015, at the age of 89. I'm not sure what took so long, but five years later, there was this tribute concert celebrating his music. This is unusually long compared to most tribute concerts, at nearly four hours long. The vast majority of it was professionally recorded for a webcast, so the sound quality is mostly excellent. 

Note that I said "the vast majority" of this was professionally recorded, not all. That's because it seems a couple of performers didn't allow their songs to be included in the webcast. For those, I tried to find the songs elsewhere. I found a couple of the missing songs on YouTube, but the sound quality on those isn't as good as the rest. I couldn't find "You Shook Me" performed by Ann Wilson and Robert Randolph, as well as "Night Life" and "Take It Home" by Jamey Johnston. If anyone has those, please let me know and I'll add them in.

There was an impressive list of musicians who performed for this concert, including Buddy Guy, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, John Scofield, Ann Wilson (of Heart), David Hidalgo (of Los Lobos), Ivan Neville (of the Neville Brothers), Jimmie Vaughan (of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Little Steven, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Shemekia Copeland, William Bell, and more.

Actually, this concert was performed two nights in a row, but only one night was broadcast. I don't know how different the other night might have been. 

The music here remains unreleased. The sound quality is excellent, except for the few I took from other sources. Most of those are near the end, for instance "When Love Comes to Town" by Ann Wilson.

This album is three hours and 47 minutes long. 

01 talk (Wavy Gravy)
02 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
03 BB's Theme [Instrumental] (Tony C.C. Coleman)
04 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
05 You Upset Me Baby (Tony C.C. Coleman)
06 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
07 I Got a Mind to Give Up Living (Bob Margolin)
08 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
09 Let Me In (Bobby Rush)
10 talk (Bobby Rush)
11 Garbage Man (Bobby Rush)
12 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
13 Hummingbird (Val B. King & Frank Bacombe)
14 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
15 Let the Good Times Roll (Little Steven)
16 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
17 Beautician Blues (Southside Johnny)
18 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
19 Never Make a Move Too Soon (John Scofield & Ivan Neville)
20 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
21 Why I Sing the Blues (Kingfish)
22 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
23 Powerhouse [Instrumental] (David Hidalgo)
24 talk (David Hidalgo)
25 Need Your Love So Bad (David Hidalgo)
26 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
27 Please Love Me (Jimmy Vaughan)
28 talk (Jimmy Vaughan)
29 Woke Up This Morning (Jimmy Vaughan)
30 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
31 Blue Shadows (William Bell)
32 talk (William Bell)
33 Ain't Nobody Home (William Bell)
34 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
35 Paying the Cost to Be the Boss (Shemekia Copeland)
36 talk (Shemekia Copeland)
37 Call It Stormy Monday (Shemekia Copeland & John Scofield)
38 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
39 Three O'Clock Blues (Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi)
40 talk (Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi)
41 You Don't Know (Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi)
42 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
43 So Excited (Warren Haynes)
44 How Blue Can You Get (Warren Haynes)
45 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
46 Ghetto Woman (Robert Randolph with Ivan Neville)
47 talk (Robert Randolph & Ivan Neville)
48 Don't Cry No More (Robert Randolph & Ivan Neville)
49 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
50 I Like to Live the Love (Robert Cray)
51 Troubles, Troubles, Troubles (Robert Cray)
52 When Love Comes to Town (Ann Wilson)
53 Sweet Little Angel - It's My Fault (Buddy Guy)
54 talk (Buddy Guy)
55 The Thrill Is Gone (Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Ann Wilson, Robert Cray & Shemekia Copeland)
56 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
57 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
58 Everyday I Have the Blues (Everybody)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/YVLheabH

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/90vA8uFEYrvrlzM/file

The cover photo shows an encore from this exact concert. In the front row, from right to left: Robert Cray, Warren Haynes, William Bell, Susan Tedeschi, Shemekia Copeland, and (probably) Robert Rudolph.

Heart - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 7-28-2005

Here's an unusually long episode of the "PBS Soundstage" TV show, featuring the band Heart, from 2005.

The actual TV show edited down performances to fit an hour long time slow. But this is sourced from a DVD, so it includes the entire concert. It includes all of Heart's best known songs, as well as some that were relatively new at the time. Just a year prior to this concert, the band released their first studio album in over ten years, "Jupiters Darling." It was well received by critics, perhaps because they skipped their 1980s "adult contemporary" sound, and went back to more of their 1970s classic rock sound. The following songs come from that album: "Oldest Story in the World," "The Perfect Goodbye," "Lost Angel," "Fallen Ones," "Make Me," "Things," and "Enough."

Ever since Heart was formed in the 1970s, they've had a strong fondness for the band Led Zeppelin, and often covered their songs. I've even put together an entire album of Heart covers of Led Zeppelin songs, which I've posted at this blog. This continues on this concert, with no less than three Led Zeppelin covers: "The Battle of Evermore," "Black Dog," and "Misty Mountain Hop."

This album is an hour and 48 minutes long. 

01 talk (Heart)
02 Sand (Heart)
03 talk (Heart)
04 Kick It Out (Heart)
05 Straight On (Heart)
06 talk (Heart)
07 Oldest Story in the World (Heart)
08 The Perfect Goodbye (Heart)
09 These Dreams (Heart)
10 The Battle of Evermore (Heart)
11 talk (Heart)
12 Love Song (Heart)
13 talk (Heart)
14 Lost Angel (Heart)
15 talk (Heart)
16 Magic Man (Heart)
17 Crazy on You (Heart)
18 Bebe le Strange (Heart)
19 talk (Heart)
20 Fallen Ones (Heart)
21 Make Me (Heart)
22 talk (Heart)
23 Even It Up (Heart)
24 talk (Heart)
25 Dog and Butterfly (Heart)
26 talk (Heart)
27 Alone (Heart)
28 Things (Heart)
29 Love Alive (Heart)
30 talk (Heart)
31 Enough (Heart)
32 Barracuda (Heart)
33 Black Dog (Heart)
34 Misty Mountain Hop (Heart)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/4utbM8H8

alternate:

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

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from a video of this exact concert.

Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, 3-29-2001

Here's something that any fan of the Beach Boys will certainly enjoy. I don't know much about the backstory for this one (maybe someone else can explain?) - I'm guessing it was an anniversary of some sort. But in 2001, a bunch of great musicians got together to celebrate the music of Brian Wilson. That's basically the same thing as celebrating the music of the Beach Boys, since I think all but one of the songs performed here was originally recorded and released by the Beach Boys. (The lone exception, "Love and Mercy," is from Wilson's more hit and miss solo career.) 

In my opinion, most of these kinds of tribute concerts have more dud performances than good ones. But this one is solid pretty much all the way through. It's hard to go wrong with Beach Boys songs, for starters. But also, a lot of big names took part, such as Paul Simon, Elton John, Billy Joel, Heart, David Crosby, Aimee Mann, and many more, and it's hard to go wrong with them as well. Plus, Brian Wilson himself joined in at the end.

Most or all of the performances are unique, meaning these particular artists never did these songs before, and probably not since. They were special versions just for this show.

This concert has never been released in any kind of audio format, as far as I know. But the songs here all come from a DVD that has been released. I edited it down somewhat to remove some speeches praising Wilson. I wanted to keep it more focused on the music. (One section I removed was a talk by Beatles producer George Martin about the song "Good Vibrations.")  However, I did keep all the talking that directly preceded or followed each song that was relevant.

Unfortunately, there was a lot more to this concert that was not included on the DVD, and I can't find it anywhere else. For instance, Wilson sang lead or co-lead on five songs at the end of this album. But in the concert, he sang a few more: "Lay Down Burden," "Do It Again," "Caroline, No," and "Surfin' U.S.A." If anyone has more than I do, please let me know so I can add it in.

This album is an hour and 12 minutes long.

01 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
02 Our Prayer (Boys Choir of Harlem)
03 California Girls - Help Me, Rhonda (Ricky Martin)
04 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
05 Surfer Girl (Paul Simon)
06 Surf City (Go-Go's)
07 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
08 In My Room (David Crosby, Carly Simon & Jimmy Webb)
09 talk (David Crosby)
10 The Warmth of the Sun (Vince Gill)
11 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
12 I Get Around (Evan & Jaron)
13 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
14 God Only Knows (Elton John)
15 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
16 I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
17 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Billy Joel)
18 Don't Worry Baby (Billy Joel)
19 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
20 Sail On Sailor (Darius Rucker & Matthew Sweet)
21 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Chynna Phillips)
22 You're So Good to Me (Wilson Phillips)
23 talk (George Martin)
24 Good Vibrations (Heart)
25 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
26 Surf's Up (David Crosby, Vince Gill & Jimmy Webb)
27 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Brian Wilson)
28 Heroes and Villains (Brian Wilson)
29 talk (Elton John)
30 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Elton John & Brian Wilson)
31 talk (Brian Wilson)
32 Barbara Ann (Brian Wilson & Everyone)
33 Fun, Fun, Fun (Brian Wilson & Everyone)
34 talk (Brian Wilson)
35 Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson with the Boys Choir of Harlem)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16584567/VA-_2001AllStrTrbtetBrnWlsnRdoCtyMsicHllNwYrkC__3-29-2001_atse.zip.html

I have to admit, the cover is a bit fakey. I found a photo of Elton John, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon sharing the same microphone during a finale at this concert. But since it's a Brian Wilson tribute and he was there, I wanted him on the cover too. So I Photoshopped him in, using a photo that also comes from the finale at this concert. They were on stage together, just not this close. The lighting is pretty accurate. For instance, there's a shadow falling on his body that actually fell on someone else standing there.

Heart - BBC Rock Hour, Paris Theatre, London, Britain, 5-11-1978

Oftentimes, US musical acts weren't in Britain enough to do multiple BBC studio sessions, but they'd have a London concert recorded by BBC radio. In 1978, Heart got that treatment.

For Heart, 1978 was a particular good year for a concert bootleg. If you like their rocking 1970s style, this is all killer, no filler. Pretty much all of their big 1970s songs are included here, plus a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." There's no talking between songs. It's all rocking. For instance, how can you beat the classic "Magic Man" followed by the classic "Barracuda" followed by the classic "Crazy on You?"

As you'd expected from a BBC recording, the sound quality is excellent. I didn't have to do any tinkering.

The concert is rather short at only 44 minutes. But, like I said, it's all killer and no filler.

01 Silver Wheels [Instrumental] (Heart)
02 Dreamboat Annie (Heart)
03 Little Queen (Heart)
04 White Lightning and Wine (Heart)
05 Rock and Roll (Heart)
06 Kick It Out (Heart)
07 Sing Child (Heart)
08 Magic Man (Heart)
09 Barracuda (Heart)
10 Crazy on You (Heart)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15291911/Hert_1978_BBRockHourParisTheatre__5-11-1978_atse.zip.html

I couldn't find any really good photo of the sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson on stage from 1978. But I found a nice one of the two of them off stage from that year, so I used that one.

Heart - Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, 1-26-1979

When it comes to posting full concerts here, I try to post the really excellent ones that fill a gap in a musical artist's discography. The band Heart went in a slick "adult contemporary" direction in the 1980s and were hugely successful with it. But I much prefer before then, in the 1970s, when they were in a classic rock mode. Yet even though the band has released a handful of official live albums, none of them adequately cover this time period. The closest is a "Greatest Hits/Live" album released in 1980. But there are only seven live tracks on that, and those generally don't include versions of their best known 1970s songs.

So I worked back from the idea that I wanted to hear a kick ass 1970s concert from them. The ideal year, in my opinion, would be 1979. That would allow one to include all their best songs through that year, but not include the 1980 songs that ended up on that "Greatest Hits/Live" album. I listened to the most popular bootlegs from around that year, and was pleased to find there is an excellent bootleg from 1979. Naturally, this is it.

As far as I can tell, the band's concert set lists didn't differ much in 1979. The several bootlegs I heard all had good performances, so what made this stand out was the sound quality. This was professionally recorded, because it was broadcast live on a radio station at the time. They actually did some others like that, including one the very next night, but the sound of this one was the best. 

There was only one snag with the bootleg recording: it lacked the final encore song, "Without You" (a cover of the famous Badfinger song). Luckily, as I mentioned right above, there was another show broadcast on the radio from one night later, so I took that song from there. The sound quality is similar, so I don't think you'll notice it comes from another concert.

By the way, speaking of covers, all the other songs are Heart originals, except the second to last song, which is a cover of the Led Zeppelin classic "Rock and Roll."

01 Cook with Fire (Heart)
02 High Times (Heart)
03 Heartless (Heart)
04 Devil Delight (Heart)
05 Straight On (Heart)
06 Magic Man (Heart)
07 talk (Heart)
08 Love Alive (Heart)
09 talk (Heart)
10 Magazine (Heart)
11 Mistral Wind (Heart)
12 talk (Heart)
13 Dog and Butterfly (Heart)
14 talk (Heart)
15 Silver Wheels (Heart)
16 Crazy on You (Heart)
17 Kick It Out (Heart)
18 Barracuda (Heart)
19 White Lightning and Wine (Heart)
20 Rock and Roll (Heart)
21 Without You (Heart)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16693288/HERT1979_CapitlThatrePssicNJ__1-26-1979_atse.zip.html

The cover art features Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart in a 1978 concert. Ann is the brunette and Nancy is the blonde with the guitar.

Heart - Heart Plays Led Zeppelin - Selected Cover Versions (1975-2017)

I'm proud to present this album, because I think it's really good. If you're a fan of Heart and/or Led Zeppelin at all, you should give this a listen. It kind of plays like Led Zeppelin's greatest hits, but with a famous kickass female vocalist.

A few days ago, while looking for some Led Zeppelin material for the BBC series I'm currently posting, I came across an album a fan created called "Heart Plays Led Zeppelin." (Unfortunately, I couldn't find the name of the person who did it.) I liked the idea, but the problem was that pretty much all the songs on it came from average sounding audience bootlegs. I've redone it with totally different sourcing. It's all live performances, but some are from official albums and all the others are from excellent sounding soundboard bootlegs. So the entire album sounds as good as an official release, in my opinion.

The reason this album is possible is because Ann and Nancy Wilson, the sisters who lead the band Heart, absolutely love Led Zeppelin. From the start of their career, they've been called "the female Led Zeppelin," and with good reason. Except for the 1980s, when they went for a slick pop sound, their music has closely followed the Led Zeppelin model, with their band capable of writing and playing everything from mellow acoustic songs to hard rock songs, just like Led Zeppelin does.

So it's no surprise that they've played covers of Led Zeppelin songs in concert. What is surprising is how many different ones they've played, and what songs they've chosen. Generally speaking, they've boldly played Zeppelin's most famous and best songs. Who would dare cover legendary songs like "Stairway to Heaven" and "Kashmir?" Heart, that's who.

Does Heart try to put their own unique spin on these songs? Not really. They pretty much follow the original arrangements. But what's great about these is that Ann Wilson has one of the best female voices in rock (and Nancy Wilson is no slouch either), and she can belt these out in a way that probably even impresses Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant. In fact, it turns out that the members of Heart and Led Zeppelin have been friends since the 1970s, as a kind of mutual appreciation society.

I really love how this album came out, because I was able to find virtually every song I was looking for at a really good sound quality. The only one I found at lesser quality is "Four Sticks." I left that off so the sound could stay at a high level throughout.  Heart has also played "Whole Lotta Love" and "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," but only a few times at most, and I couldn't find any of their versions of those songs at all.

The first five songs come from 1975 and 1976. Heart played some of these songs lots of times, especially "Rock and Roll," which they've done hundreds of times, and still do. But it wasn't until the 2000s when they decided to go bazongas and cover many more Zeppelin tunes. In 2013 and 2014, they toured with Jason Bonham, a drummer who is the son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. After John died in 1980, Jason has been the drummer for most of the brief Led Zeppelin reunions, and his ability to channel his father's drumming style is uncanny. Five of the songs here feature him on drums. For those two years, they played entire sets of up to an hour with him, doing just Zeppelin tunes.

One other song here, "What Is and What Should Never Be," feature former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.

This ends up being an unusually long album. At 120 minutes I could have easily split it into two albums. But I liked it better as one long album. I generally ordered the songs chronologically, except I made a couple of slight tweaks to have fitting starting and ending songs.

"You Shook Me" comes from the 1977 Heart album "Magazine." It's from a concert in 1975, and was performed as part of a medley with "Mother Earth Blues." However, the "Magazine" album was released without the band's permission, and it was quickly withdrawn. It was rereleased that same year with some band-approved changes, and that's how it's been ever since. "You Shook Me" was only on the early withdrawn version, so it's very rare. I've edited the medley to remove the "Mother Earth Blues" section, which started the song.

My only other comment is that while Heart has played "Immigrant Song" a lot since the 2000s, I found a version of Ann Wilson singing it with Gov't Mule that I like much better. Wilson did a version of it for a 2007 solo album that made the hard rock song more mellow, and Heart generally followed that version. It was an interesting experiment, but I much prefer it in its original hard rock style, which is how Gov't Mule plays it.

Oh, one more thing. Thanks to an excellent comment by Uncle Dan, one day after I first posted this, I've decided to include Heart's 2012 Kennedy Center Honors version of "Stairway to Heaven" as a bonus track of sorts at the end. It's different than the 1976 version also included here in that it features a full orchestra and choir, as well as Jason Bonham on drums. You should check out the video of it on YouTube, which has over 20 million views. It's touching to see the reactions of famous people in the audience, including Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, President Obama, and more.

01 Rock and Roll (Heart)
02 You Shook Me (Heart)
03 Stairway to Heaven (Heart)
04 The Rover (Heart)
05 The Battle of Evermore (Heart)
06 What Is and What Should Never Be (Heart with John Paul Jones)
07 Black Dog (Heart)
08 Misty Mountain Hop (Heart)
09 Going to California (Heart)
10 The Ocean (Heart with Jason Bonham)
11 Kashmir (Heart with Jason Bonham)
12 The Rain Song (Heart with Jason Bonham)
13 The Song Remains the Same (Heart with Jason Bonham)
14 Immigrant Song (Gov't Mule with Ann Wilson)
15 No Quarter (Heart)
16 Stairway to Heaven [Orchestral Version] (Heart with Jason Bonham)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16693291/HERT1975-2017_HrtPlysLedZppln_atse.zip.html

For the cover photo, I used a publicity photo of Ann and Nancy Wilson from around 1976. Nancy is the blonde in front.