Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham - Nordwestradio, Bremen, Germany, 10-14-1999

The songwriting team of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham are responsible for many soul classics, such as "Don Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "The Dark End of the Street." I've made two albums of their songs for my "Covered" series. But in addition to being excellent songwriters, they also were excellent performers. In particular, Penn had a soulful voice, and could have been a star if he'd saved his best songs for himself. (He sings lead on most of the songs here.) However, the two of them preferred being songwriters and sessions musicians instead. This concert is a good overview of the best songs, most of which they wrote together.

Penn and Olham began writing songs together in the 1960s, and wrote many hits. Penn put out a solo album in 1973, but it was mostly ignored at the time, and it seems he didn't tour or otherwise promote it. He resumed a solo career in 1993, usually working closely with Oldham. As far as I can tell, they only began touring in 1998, and occasionally toured after that. A live album compiled from various 1998 concerts was released in 1999, called "Moments from This Theatre." I prefer this concert for several reasons. For one, I prefer hearing a single concert, rather than an album cobbled together from lots of different concerts. Also, the official live album has 14 songs on it, and this one is significantly longer, with 21 songs. Plus, this one also has more banter.

This concert was recorded for a German radio station. The music is unreleased, and the sound quality is excellent. 

The concert is basically acoustic, with Penn playing an acoustic guitar and Oldham playing an organ, and not much else. 

This album is an hour and 32 minutes long. 

01 I'm Your Puppet (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
02 Sweet Inspiration (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
03 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
04 Cry like a Baby (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
05 Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
06 I Met Her in Church (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
07 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
08 Lonely Women Make Good Lovers (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
09 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
10 It Tears Me Up (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
11 The Dark End of the Street (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
12 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
13 You Left the Water Running (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
14 A Woman Left Lonely (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
15 I'm Living Good (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
16 Ol' Folks (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
17 Nobody's Fool (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
18 Zero Willpower (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
19 Hello Memphis (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
20 Rainbow Road (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
21 Goodbye London [Edit] (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
22 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
23 These Bars [Made a Prisoner Out of Me] (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
24 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
25 Memphis Women and Chicken (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
26 talk (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
27 I Do (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)
28 Out of Left Field (Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yBuBTwFF

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/MlB0MsVI2exbusf/file

I don't know anything about the cover photo except it was taken in 1996. Oldham has a beard and Penn is shown playing a guitar. 

Jim Croce - KMET, Los Angeles, CA, 7-18-1972

Yesterday, while putting together a Jim Croce "Midnight Special" album (which should be coming soon), I stumbled upon this radio show Croce did. It's very nice, but seems to have been little noticed until now. So I'm posting it to give it more exposure.

This is one of Croce's earliest live recordings. His musical career got little notice until about April 1972, when he released his first major label album, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim." With record company promotion, momentum began to build. But this was right before he became a star. His first single, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim," was released in June 1972 and was starting to climb the charts when this radio show happened. He would have his first national TV appearances a month later.

Because this comes from a radio broadcast, the sound quality is excellent. As the DJ notes at the end of the recording, there were only seven people in the studio, providing a little bit of clapping at the ends of songs. Croce performed in solo acoustic, backed only by Maury Muehleisen on second guitar and backing vocals. The date for this isn't firm, but Muehleisen's wife later guessed it took place on this date, or at least within a couple of days of that, based on records of his travel schedule at the time. 

This recording features some rare songs, especially the cover "Ol' Man River." Also, it's interesting to note that some of his later big songs were already fully formed at this early date. "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" didn't make his debut album that had been recently released at the time. I'll bet nobody, including Croce, had any idea it would be a massive Number One hit in 1973.

This album is 31 minutes long. 

01 Roller Derby Queen (Jim Croce)
02 talk (Jim Croce)
03 Next Time, This Time (Jim Croce)
04 talk (Jim Croce)
05 These Dreams (Jim Croce)
06 talk (Jim Croce)
07 Rapid Roy [The Stock Car Boy] (Jim Croce)
08 Careful Man (Jim Croce)
09 Ol' Man River (Jim Croce)
10 talk (Jim Croce)
11 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Jim Croce)
12 talk (Jim Croce)
13 Dreamin' Again (Jim Croce)
14 You Don't Mess Around with Jim (Jim Croce)
15 talk (Jim Croce)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/tXQsuRJq

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/E0OxqVjiAXngUBv/file

The cover photo comes from an appearance on the TV show "Rollin' on the River" in January 1973. I chose this one because it shows Maury Muehleisen in the background. Muehleisen performed with Croce for nearly all of his concerts, including this radio show. 

Neil Finn - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 3: 2002-2014

This is the third and final album I'm posting of Neil Finn's acoustic radio sessions. The title says 2002 to 2014, but note that all but the last song is from the 2002 to 2004 time frame.

Unfortunately, when I posted Volume 2 in this series, it got taken down to due a copyright issue. I have since restored that post without the download link... but you may find a useful link in the comments section there. We'll see if this lasts. I was surprised that one was taken down, because all but two of the performances were unreleased. For this one, all but three of the performances are unreleased. But I guess one never knows, so grab it while you can.

This comes from the same source of the kind person who sent me a bunch of Crowded House related music a few years ago. I'm sure Finn has continued to perform more for the radio, but this is all I have from that source. If I come across more, perhaps there could be a Volume 4 someday. If anyone has the material to help with that, please send it along.

As I mentioned above, only three songs here have been officially released. Those are tracks 1, 11, and 12. Track 11 ("Won't Give In (Acoustic Version)") was a B-side, while the other two are from various artists compilations. Most of the rest come from appearances on the radio shows "Morning Becomes Eclectic" and "World Cafe."

The vast majority of the songs are originals. But the last two are interesting cover versions of classic songs by Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley. "Persuasion" is actually sung by Richard Thompson, with Neil Finn and Tim Finn only playing guitar. The song was originally written by Thompson as an instrumental and included in a movie soundtrack in 1991. But Neil Finn liked the song, added lyrics to it, and included it in his 1993 album "Before and After." Since then, Thompson has performed the song a lot, and always sings the Finn lyrics, like he does here.

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 Private Universe (Neil Finn)
02 Faster than Light (Neil Finn)
03 Weather with You (Neil Finn)
04 Whaling (Neil Finn)
05 Secret God (Neil Finn)
06 The Climber (Neil Finn)
07 It's Only Natural (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
08 Persuasion (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn] & Richard Thompson)
09 Love Is All That Remains (Neil Finn)
10 Pineapple Head (Neil Finn)
11 Won't Give In [Acoustic Version] (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
12 Sexual Healing (Neil Finn)
13 Waiting in Vain (Neil Finn)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/cUvmyMU9

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/HzkcJgR8HAqaZg5/file

The cover photo is from a 2001 concert at the Palace Theatre (wherever that is).

Neil Finn - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 1: 1996-1999

At the end of last year (2023), I posted two albums consisting of unreleased acoustic radio sessions by the New Zealand/Australia band Crowded House. The material for these albums was given to me years ago by someone whose name I have unfortunately forgotten. At the same time, he provided me with material for three albums of acoustic radio sessions by Neil Finn, the main singer-songwriter for Crowded House. Here's the first of those three.

Just like the Crowded House material, this all has excellent sound quality, despite being totally unreleased. And also just like that material, this had fallen into total obscurity. I doubt any of this would survive to be shared on the Internet had it not been for that one fan recording it at the time and passing it on to me. So I wish to thank that person yet again.

Most of the songs here were originally done by Crowded House, which put on a final concert in 1996 (though they reunited years later). But there's a few cover songs rarely done by Finn elsewhere, such as "Southern Man" and "I Can See Clearly Now." Also, four of the songs here were performed by Neil Finn with his brother Tim Finn, another talented singer-songwriter and sometime member of Crowded House. Tim Finn was also the leader of Split Enz, a band in which Neil Finn was a member for most of their successful years. Split Enz had a big hit with the song "I Got You," written by both Finn brothers, and that song was performed here as well.

All the songs are from in-person radio station performances around the world. Only one, "12 Guitars," was done before an audience. A few were from BBC performances, but not enough for me to deem this a BBC album.

This album is 51 minutes long.

01 Better Be Home Soon (Neil Finn)
02 Angels Heap (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
03 Six Months in a Leaky Boat (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
04 Suffer Never (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
05 Weather with You (Finn Brothers [Neil Finn & Tim Finn])
06 I Got You (Neil Finn)
07 Last One Standing (Neil Finn)
08 Southern Man (Neil Finn)
09 Try Whistling This (Neil Finn)
10 Falling Star (Neil Finn)
11 She Will Have Her Way (Neil Finn)
12 What I Get Paid For (Neil Finn)
13 King Tide (Neil Finn)
14 Only Talking Sense (Neil Finn)
15 12 Guitars (Neil Finn)
16 I Can See Clearly Now (Neil Finn)
17 Four Seasons in One Day (Neil Finn)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1C9mtMtf

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/gUPm17IahWncrja/file

The cover photo is from the Concert for Linda McCartney at London's Royal Albert Hall in April 1999.

Leonard Cohen - Columbia Records Radio Hour, The Complex, Los Angeles, CA, 4-18-1993

I have some interesting Leonard Cohen rarities I'll be posting in the very near future. But first, I'm posting this because I recently posted a Rosanne Cash concert recorded for the Columbia Records Radio Hour, and that reminded me that I also have this one. It definitely needs posting, because he was supporting one of his best albums, 1993's "The Future," and the sound quality is fantastic.

The reason this sounds so good is because it was professionally recorded and released... but only to radio stations. This was his first concert of his 1993 tour (and his first concert since 1988). So the idea was that radio stations could play select songs from it to drum up interest in the tour. The whole thing was also broadcast to over 100 radio stations, but having a record of it meant the sound quality was a little better than just recording it off the radio.

Also, since this concert predated all the others on the tour by about a week, Cohen was still rehearsing for the tour, so some of these songs have different arrangements than on the other dates from this tour. And while he didn't have any banter per se between songs, for multiple songs, he spoke some of the songs' lyrics before the music kicked in.

The recording from this concert is only 49 minutes long. But I found three more songs he did in Paris on that tour that have nearly as good sound quality, so I added them in as quasi-bonus tracks for the last three songs. I also patched in some applause after each of those songs from earlier songs so the applause better matched.

This album is an hour and seven minutes long. But, as mentioned above, the main concert in Los Angeles is only 49 minutes long.

01 talk (Leonard Cohen)
02 First We Take Manhattan (Leonard Cohen)
03 Ain't No Cure for Love (Leonard Cohen)
04 Coming Back to You (Leonard Cohen)
05 Dance Me to the End of Love (Leonard Cohen)
06 Democracy (Leonard Cohen)
07 Waiting for the Miracle (Leonard Cohen)
08 The Future (Leonard Cohen)
09 I'm You Man (Leonard Cohen)
10 Closing Time (Leonard Cohen)
11 I Can't Forget (Leonard Cohen)
12 Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16116246/LENRDCHN1993_ClumbiRecrdsRdioHurThCmplxLsAnglesCA__4-18-1993_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is most likely from the exact concert. I say "most likely" because the caption said it was recorded in Los Angeles in April 1993, and I believe this was the only concert he did in that city in that month.

David Gilmour - On TV and Radio, Volume 3: 2006-2017

Here's the third and final album of David Gilmour "on TV and radio." As I explained with the previous two volumes, this started out as a BBC sessions series, but I found a bunch of interesting recordings from non-BBC TV and radio shows, so I expanded the scope. That said, this volume does happen to be particularly BBC heavy, with all but four of the tracks from BBC TV or radio shows.

By chance, the four tracks not from the BBC are the ones that are officially released. "Dark Globe," a song written by Pink Floyd's first leader, Syd Barrett, was recorded at an unknown location in 2006 and included on the "Remember That Night" DVD. "Astronomy Domine" and "Echoes" were both done in the studio with former Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright, and were also included as bonus tracks on the "Remember That Night" DVD. "Wots... Uh the Deal," a great song from the 1972 Pink Floyd album "Obscured by Clouds," was played at the Gdansk concert that was the subject of the "Live at the Gdansk" DVD. However, I've included it here because it was merely included as an iTunes only bonus track.

That leaves nine unreleased songs. The first three tracks are from a 2006 appearance on the "Later... with Jools Holland" TV show.  Tracks 8 and 9 are from another appearance on that same show two years later. Note that "Remember a Day" was written and originally sung by Richard Wright, and was done as a tribute, since he'd died in the days before the TV show appearance. Track 10 is from a different BBC appearance in 2008. Then tracks 11 and 12 are from yet another appearance on "Later... with Jools Holland," this time in 2015. Finally, the last song was done in the studio for the TV show "Front Row."

This album is an hour and four minutes long.

01 Take a Breath (David Gilmour)
02 On an Island (David Gilmour)
03 Arnold Layne (David Gilmour)
04 Dark Globe (David Gilmour)
05 Wot's... Uh the Deal (David Gilmour)
06 Astronomy Domine (David Gilmour with Richard Wright)
07 Echoes (David Gilmour with Richard Wright)
08 Remember a Day (David Gilmour)
09 The Blue (David Gilmour)
10 Here I Go (David Gilmour)
11 Rattle That Lock (David Gilmour)
12 Today (David Gilmour)
13 A Boat Lies Waiting (David Gilmour)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16030500/DavdGlmour_2006-2017_OnTVndRdioVolum3_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2006.

James - BBC In Concert, Brixton Academy, London, Britain, 12-9-1993

When it comes to the British band James, generally speaking, I only like them at about the "greatest hits" level. However, I make an exception for their 1993 album "Laid." I think a lot of people agree. If you look at their page at the crowd-sourced rateyourmusic.com, "Laid" gets the highest rating, as well as way more votes than their other albums. Perhaps it was the fact that they collaborated with producer Brian Eno for the first time that took their creativity to a higher level. But whatever the reason, I consider that a five-star album.

Given my opinion on that, I was very pleased to recently discover that James did a BBC concert in late 1993 to promote the "Laid" album. Since that fits into my big BBC project, it's a no-brainer that I post this unreleased concert here.

The sound quality is excellent. My only quibble is that there's no banter between songs whatsoever. Perhaps the BBC cut that out as part of their frequent habit of cutting concerts down to fit into an hour-long radio show, I don't know.

Actually, I had another kind of quibble, that some of the excellent songs from that album weren't included in the BBC broadcast. (Again, probably due to the BBC cutting things down.)  So I found another concert James did in France just two weeks earlier, which was broadcast on French radio at the time. Most of the songs played were the same, but three were different. So I've included those three at the end of this album.

This album contains ten of the 13 songs from "Laid." But the band has other very good songs, as the four non-Laid songs here show.

This album is an hour and eight minutes long. Just the BBC portion is 53 minutes.

01 Born of Frustration (James)
02 Sound (James)
03 Laid (James)
04 Knuckle Too Far (James)
05 Honest Joe (James)
06 Out to Get You (James)
07 Low Low Low (James)
08 Skindiving (James)
09 P. S. (James)
10 Lullaby (James)
11 Sometimes [Lester Piggott] (James)
12 Come Home (James)
13 Five-O [Edit] (James)
14 Say Something [Edit] (James)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16023995/Jmes_1993b_BBCInConcrtBrixtnAcadmyLondnBrtain__12-9-1993_atse.zip.html

I couldn't find any really good pictures of the band in concert in 1993. So I used one that only shows the band's lead singer, Tim Booth. This is from the 1994 Woodstock concert.

David Gilmour - On TV and Radio, Volume 1: 1978-1986

David Gilmour, the lead guitarist of Pink Floyd, has had a fairly successful solo career, but he's been pretty selective about his album releases. He put out his first solo album way back in 1978, but since then, he's only released three more solo albums, plus two live albums. He's never put out a box set or any other significant archival releases. So I decided to make a series of stray tracks of TV and radio performances focused entirely on his solo career, avoiding any Pink Floyd performances. Here's the first of three albums in that series.

For the duration of this album, it was clear Gilmour's solo career took a back seat to his role in Pink Floyd, one of the biggest bands in the world. He released solo albums in 1978 and 1984 because they were mostly inactive years for Pink Floyd. As for concerts, the only tour he did during this time was in 1984, during a particularly long break while Pink Floyd fell apart and then reformed.

The first five songs are from 1978. Although he put out the solo album "David Gilmour" that year, he didn't perform any concerts to support it. However, he did play these five songs "live" in a studio with no audience. That performance was recorded and his record company released it only to radio stations to help promote the album. So while these five songs are from his 1978 album, the performances are totally different.

The next two songs, tracks 6 and 7, are from 1984. I have an entire BBC concert I'll be posting from that year. But the theme of this series of albums is TV and radio performances, so I can't draw on just any concert recordings. These two songs are from an appearance on the British TV show "The Tube."

The remaining five tracks are from a concert appearance in 1986. He didn't tour that year, but he played a set for the Colombian Volcano Disaster Appeal Benefit. Luckily, that whole benefit concert was broadcast on TV, so I'm able to present his entire short set here.

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

01 There's No Way Out of Here (David Gilmour)
02 So Far Away (David Gilmour)
03 No Way (David Gilmour)
04 I Can't Breathe Anymore (David Gilmour)
05 Mihalis [Instrumental] (David Gilmour)
06 Until We Sleep (David Gilmour)
07 Blue Light (David Gilmour)
08 You Know I'm Right (David Gilmour)
09 Run like Hell (David Gilmour)
10 talk (David Gilmour)
11 Out of the Blue (David Gilmour)
12 Comfortably Numb (David Gilmour)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16010823/DavdGlmour_1978-1986_OnTVndRdioVolum1_atse.zip.html

The photo is from a concert in Chicago in June 1984.

Crowded House - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 2: 1991-1994

I recently posted "Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 1" by Crowded House, and this one picks up right where that one left off. Like that one, these are generally full band performances, but they're done with all acoustic instruments. And like that one, all the performances here are unreleased, and come from in-person radio station appearances.

The first three songs are from 1991, the next three are from 1993, and the rest are from 1994. That roughly corresponds to the time the band was together, until reunions over a decade later. The songs here go through April 1994, and that month is when drummer Paul Hester quit the band. They played some concerts after that, with a final concert in 1996, but they didn't put out any more studio albums. So between this volume and the previous one, pretty much all the best known songs from the band's first era are included.

The sound quality is generally excellent. Three of the songs, tracks 8, 9, and 10, were played in front of a small audience, but that didn't overlap the music much. In case you're curious about the BBC, like I am, tracks 4 through 8 were done for a BBC radio show.

Thanks again to the person who sent me all this music a while back. Sorry it took so long for me to get around to posting it.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 World Where You Live (Crowded House)
02 Whole Lotta Love (Crowded House)
03 Four Seasons in One Day (Crowded House)
04 Locked Out (Crowded House)
05 Private Universe (Crowded House)
06 In My Command (Crowded House)
07 Nails in My Feet (Crowded House)
08 Distant Sun (Crowded House)
09 Pineapple Head (Crowded House)
10 Black and White Boy (Crowded House)
11 Fingers of Love (Crowded House)
12 Fall at Your Feet (Crowded House)
13 Catherine Wheels (Crowded House)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15945840/CrwdedHous_1991-1994_AcoustcRdioSessonsVolum2_atse.zip.html

I wanted to use a photo of Crowded House playing acoustic instruments from this era. I couldn't find a good one though, so I went with a publicity photo from 1991 instead.

Crowded House - Acoustic Radio Sessions, Volume 1: 1988-1991

Quite a while back, a very big Crowded House fan gave me a bunch of unreleased recordings from Crowded House and lead singer Neil Finn. Unfortunately, that was a couple of years ago at least, so I've forgotten the person's name. But if they're still around, they should step forward and take a bow, because I've searched the Internet and I haven't seen most of this material anywhere else. Thanks to this person, I'll be posting two Crowded House albums and three Neil Finn ones. They all consist of acoustic performances. 

This album is made up of acoustic radio sessions from 1988 to 1991. But just the first three songs are from 1988, and the rest are from 1991, with nothing in between. Eight of the 13 songs are from BBC studio sessions, but I've decided against calling this a BBC album, because most of the second album in this series is not from BBC sources, and what really unifies all the performances are the acoustic nature of the performances. Mind you, these are band performances, usually with bass and drums, but it's all done with acoustic instruments.

If you're a Crowded House fan, you're in for a treat. Typically, their albums had lush, full production. And that's fine, it usually worked for them, but it's nice to hear their songs done in a very different manner.

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Sister Madly (Crowded House)
02 When You Come (Crowded House)
03 Better Be Home Soon (Crowded House)
04 Weather with You (Crowded House)
05 Chocolate Cake (Crowded House)
06 There Goes God (Crowded House)
07 It's Only Natural (Crowded House)
08 Don't Dream It's Over - All I Have to Do Is Dream (Crowded House)
09 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Crowded House)
10 Italian Plastic (Crowded House)
11 Into Temptation (Crowded House)
12 Fame Is (Crowded House)
13 Spellbound (Crowded House)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15941584/CrwdedHous_1988-1991_AcoustcRdioSessonsVolum1_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from Crowded House playing MTV Unplugged in Los Angeles in April 1990. It was the only photo I could find of them from that time period playing all acoustic instruments.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW Studios, Santa Monica, CA, 11-4-2019

I'm back from my vacation. I had a really great time. Thanks for all the well wishes.

I've been on a kick of posting Beck's performances for the KCRW radio show "Morning Becomes Eclectic," so it's fitting that I get back to posting one of those. This one comes from 2019. It's his most recent appearance as I write this in 2023. But then again, his last studio album, "Hyperspace," came out in 2019, so hopefully he'll be back once he gets another album out.

This was another full band performance. There are many similarities between this concert and his 2017 one. They both were supporting studio albums that weren't particularly well received by fans or critics, compared to his previous albums. Both albums were marred by bad production choices, in my opinion. As a result, both KCRW shows are big improvements, because most of the band production is left behind when songs are performed live. Also, just like the 2017 concert, he spiced things up by playing some older favorites, like "The New Pollution" and "Where It's At."

This album is only 29 minutes long.

01 Uneventful Days (Beck)
02 talk (Beck)
03 The New Pollution (Beck)
04 Devil's Haircut (Beck)
05 Night Running (Beck)
06 talk (Beck)
07 Saw Lightning (Beck)
08 Dark Places (Beck)
09 talk (Beck)
10 Up All Night (Beck)
11 talk (Beck)
12 Where It's At (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15565081/BeckH_2019_MornngBecomesEclecticSntaBrbraCA__11-4-2019_atse.zip.html

The cover photo appeared on KCRW's website, and comes from this exact concert.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW Studios, Santa Monica, CA, 11-7-2017

I'm really determined to post all the performances Beck did on the KCRW "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio show. I'm finally almost there. As I write this in 2023, I just have one more to go after this one.

In October 2017, Beck released the studio album "Colors." Personally, I'm not a big fan of the album. Many other Beck fans feel the same way, because at the crowd-sourced rateyourmusic.com website, it's one of his lowest rated albums. I think a big problem with it is that it was overproduced. Here's what one reviewer said at rateyourmusic, and I totally agree: "Not helping is how absolutely over-produced this thing sounds - every sound is so cleanly cropped it all just has this gross, artificial sound that's about as far from sounding organic as one can go."

The good news that the songs sound much better in this KCRW concert. Being forced to play live means you have to leave most production techniques behind. One problem though was that his voice was relatively buried in the mix. But I used the UVR5 audio editing program to bring his voice forward. 

So even if you don't like "Colors," you might like this one. Mixed in with a bunch of "Colors" songs are a few older ones, like "Devil's Haircut" and "Nausea."

The last two songs are not actually from this KCRW concert. They're from concerts in 2018. But I liked then and didn't have a better place to put them in my music collection, so I stuck them at the end.

This album is 40 minutes long. Just the KCRW portion is 32 minutes long.

01 Dreams (Beck)
02 Up All Night (Beck)
03 Think I'm in Love - I Feel Love (Beck)
04 Devil's Haircut (Beck)
05 Wow (Beck)
06 Colors (Beck)
07 Go It Alone (Beck)
08 Nausea (Beck)
09 Black Tambourine (Beck)
10 I'm So Free (Beck)
11 Seventh Heaven (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15528705/BeckH_2017_MornngBecomesEclecticSantaMonicaCA__11-7-2017_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from the KCRW website and comes from this exact concert.

J. J. Cale - Two Meter Sessies, NOB Radiostudio, Hilversum, Netherlands, 9-21-1994

J. J. Cale rarely performed in solo acoustic mode, but I think he excelled when it did. I already posted one acoustic concert from him; here's another.

In 2006, a Cale archival triple album collection was released called "Collected." Mostly, it was a collection of his best album tracks. But at the very end, this performance was included. It's from a long-running Dutch radio show called "Two Meter Sessies." The sound quality is excellent, and there was no audience. 

But that was only 23 minutes long. I thought that was rather short, so I found something else acoustic to add to the end. The last four songs come from a Canadian radio show called "Swingin' on a Star," from 1993, just a year earlier. The sound quality is excellent for that as well, although there was a cheering audience for those songs. Two songs, "Rose in the Garden" and "Tijuana," were played in both shows. But since this album is still pretty short, I figured I'd include both versions of those two.

This album is 32 minutes long with the four extra songs at the end included.

01 Travelin' Light (J. J. Cale)
02 talk (J. J. Cale)
03 Tijuana (J. J. Cale)
04 talk (J. J. Cale)
05 Hold On (J. J. Cale)
06 talk (J. J. Cale)
07 Rose in the Garden (J. J. Cale)
08 talk (J. J. Cale)
09 After Midnight (J. J. Cale)
10 Ride Me High (J. J. Cale)
11 talk (J. J. Cale)
12 Devil in Disguise (J. J. Cale)
13 talk (J. J. Cale)
14 Drifter's Wife (J. J. Cale)
15 Rose in the Garden (J. J. Cale)
16 Out of Style (J. J. Cale)
17 Tijuana (J. J. Cale)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15535781/JJCal_1994_TwoMetrSssiesNOBRdiostudioHilversmNtherlnds__9-21-1994_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from a photo session in San Diego, California, in 1989.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW, Santa Monica, CA, 1995-1996

Just a few minutes ago, I posted an album of Beck's 1993 and 1994 appearances on the KCRW radio show "Morning Becomes Eclectic." While I'm at it, here's his next two appearances on that show, from 1995 and 1996. As with the 1993 and 1994 album, there are some songs here I've put on other stray tracks albums. But I figure some people may appreciate having all the KCRW performances gathered together.

The first seven tracks here are from a performance on January 6, 1995. The remaining songs are from a performance on June 19, 1996. During this time, he was a remarkably prolific songwriter. But in my opinion, he didn't do a good job of putting those songs on albums. Interestingly, his very popular album "Odelay" was released on June 18, 1996, just one day before his second performance here. But you'd never know that because he played none of the "Odelay" songs here, although "Strange Invitation" is a renamed, very different acoustic version of the "Odelay" song "Jack-Ass." 

"Odelay" is a very rocking album, with lots of rap and funk influences. But for these two performances he was mostly in acoustic mode. In fact, some of the songs here are covers of old blues or country songs, like "Devil Got My Woman," "John the Revelator," "Grinnin' in Your Face," and "Waitin' for a Train" that are drastically different from his "Odelay" style. Some of the originals he did here were never officially released. "Cancelled Check" would later appear on his 1998 album "Mutations" done in a different style.

This album is 32 minutes long.

01 Devil Got My Woman (Beck)
02 Woe on Me [Feel the Strain of Sorrow Never Ceasing] (Beck)
03 Cancelled Check (Beck)
04 Curses (Beck)
05 John the Revelator (Beck)
06 Spirits (Beck)
07 Grinnin' in Your Face [Piano Version] [Edit] (Beck)
08 Somewhere Far Along (Beck)
09 Two Bit Cares (Beck)
10 Strange Invitation (Beck)
11 Waitin' for a Train (Beck)
12 Until It's Time for You to Go (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15532931/BeckH_1995-1996_MornngBcomesEclectcKCRStdiosSntaMonicaCA__1995-1996_atse.zip.html

The cover photo of Beck is from a Lollapalooza concert in New York City, on July 29, 1995.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW, Santa Monica, CA, 1993-1994

I've posted so many albums of Beck performing for the KCRW "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio show (with more to come) that I decided I should go back and post the ones he did in the early years of his career. I hadn't done that before, because he played many otherwise unreleased songs on those shows, and I used those on some of the stray tracks albums I've made. But I figure it won't be the end of the world if I have the same performance on two albums every now and then.

Beck performed on this show five times between 1993 and 1996, generally in acoustic mode. For one of those shows, he apparently only did the song "Whiskeyfaced, Radioactive, Blowdryin' Lady," on September 13, 1993. I can't find that anywhere, so if you have it please pass it on and I'll add it in. I've divided the other shows into two albums. 

The first seven tracks here are from a July 23, 1993 show. His single "Loser" had been released in March 1993, and had been slowly gaining enough traction for him to get an appearance on a radio show like this. But it wouldn't be until 1994 when it really caught fire and made it to the Top Ten in the U.S. I cut out all of the interview dialogue between songs for all these shows. However, this version of "Loser" was preceded by a recording of Woody Guthrie talking that Beck had selected to lead into the song, so I kept that.

The remaining tracks are from a show on March 1, 1994. One more song was played, "Beercan." But that actually was just an airing of the record version, and the KCRW DJ talked over much of it before cutting it off halfway, due to the end of the radio show, so I didn't include that. What is included was all played live in the studio, though there were some backing tracks in some cases, and one song, "Howling Wolves," had been prerecorded earlier that day.

This album is 46 minutes long.

01 Loser Intro- Woody Guthrie Speaking (Beck)
02 Loser (Beck)
03 Mexico (Beck)
04 Death Is Coming to Get You (Beck)
05 Whimsical Actress (Beck)
06 Pay No Mind [Snoozer] (Beck)
07 MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack (Beck)
08 Bogusflow (Beck)
09 Dead Man with No Heart (Beck)
10 Hard to Compete (Beck)
11 Howling Wolves (Beck)
12 It's All in Your Mind (Beck)
13 Totally Confused [Edit] (Beck)
14 It's All Gonna Come to Be (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15532327/BeckH_1993-1994_MornngBcomesEclectcKCRStdiosSntaMonicaCA__1993-1994_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from one of Beck's appearances in the KCRW studios in the 1990's. I'm pretty sure it's from either the 1993 or 1994 shows, due to his changing fashion sense in those years. The photo was in black and white, but I used the Palette program to colorize it, then made some further changes to get the colors more to my liking.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, Apogee Studios, Santa Monica, CA, 4-16-2014

Here's yet another one of Beck's performances for the KCRW radio show "Morning Becomes Eclectic." There are at least two more coming after this.

According to setlist.fm, Beck actually played a concert of 15 songs in front of an audience. But for whatever reason, KCRW only played seven of them on the radio. If anyone has any of the other songs, please let me know and I'll add them in.

Beck was there to promote his 2014 album "Morning Phase." All the songs except "Soldier Jane" and "Lost Cause" come from that album.

This album is pretty short. But as I've said before, there aren't a lot of soundboard level live recordings of him. These KCRW shows have him performing his songs with the highest sound quality.

This album is 27 minutes long.

01 Blackbird Chain (Beck)
02 Soldier Jane (Beck)
03 Don't Let It Go (Beck)
04 Waking Light (Beck)
05 Country Down (Beck)
06 Lost Cause (Beck)
07 Blue Moon (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15520058/BeckH_2014_MornngBecomesEclecticSntaBrbraCA__4-16-2014_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW, Santa Monica, CA, 1-27-2010

This is part of my recent effort to post all the major appearances Beck has done on the Morning Becomes Eclectic radio show. But while this features Beck singing and/or playing guitar on every track, it's much more of a Charlotte Gainsbourg album.

I need to give some background to this. Charlotte Gainsbourg is a French-British actress and singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and British actress and singer Jane Birkin. Serge Gainsbourg in particular is kind of a musical legend in France (and Beck is a huge fan of his work), so she's had some very big shoes to fill. But although her album releases have been sporadic and her sales haven't been that great, her music has been critically acclaimed. Personally, I really like her stuff. I can easily see why Beck wanted to collaborate her, and not just as a nod to her father (who died in 1991, by the way).

In 2010, Charlotte Gainsbourg released the album "IRM." It's almost like a Beck album but with Gainsbourg singing the lead vocals, because Beck was the sole songwriter for all but three of the 13 songs, and he even co-wrote two of those. Furthermore, he produced the album, played instruments on all the songs, did backing vocals, and sang a duet on one song, "Heaven Can Wait."

But Beck naturally was also very busy with his own music career, so I haven't seen any sign that he went on tour with Gainsbourg to promote the album. However, they did do this one radio show together, so it's pretty unique. As with the album, Gainsbourg sang lead on nearly all the songs (with the exception of the "Heaven Can Wait" duet again). But Beck sang backing vocals so prominently that some of the other songs veered on duets too, and he played guitar on everything as well.

If you're a Beck fan, you could look at this, and the "IRM" album, almost like a lost Beck album. But also, it hopefully can be a gateway for people to discover Charlotte Gainsbourg's talent. Although virtually all the songs were written by Beck, her own songs are usually on the same high level.

This album is 30 minutes long.

01 Songs that We Sing (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
02 Time of the Assassins (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
03 Dandelion (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
04 Heaven Can Wait (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
05 In the End (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
06 Masters Hands (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
07 Me and Jane Doe (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
08 The Collector (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
09 Trick Pony (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)
10 Vanities (Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15514874/CharltteGnBeck_2010_MornngBcomsEclcticSntaMoncaCA__1-27-2010_atse.zip.html

The cover comes from a video of this exact radio show. However, Gainsbourg and Beck were sitting in different parts of the room. So I took screenshots of each of them and placed them side by side.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW Studios, Santa Monica, CA, 10-31-2006

First off, my apologies, because I've just changed a Beck album I posted only a week ago. I posted his "Morning Becomes Eclectic" KCRW radio show performance in 2005, and added three songs from his 2008 performance on that show. At that time, I didn't realize he did a 2006 performance too, but I did and I'm posting it here. So it makes better sense to move those three 2008 songs here, since 2006 is closer to 2008 than 2005 is.

Beck returned in 2006 because he was promoting his new studio album at the time, "The Information." Naturally, he mainly played song from that album. He was accompanied by a band.

I like these KCRW shows because there are surprisingly few Beck concert recordings with soundboard quality. Although these shows are usually short, half an hour or less, the sound quality can't be beat.

The last three songs come from another KCRW performance on November 18, 2008. I've stuck those at the end as quasi bonus tracks because Beck only played three songs (with a small trio) when he visited the "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show in 2008, so that wasn't nearly enough for its own album.

This album is 41 minutes long. The 2006 show is only 30 minutes long, but there are those three songs from 2008 added at the end.

01 Motorcade (Beck)
02 Cellphone's Dead (Beck)
03 No Complaints (Beck)
04 Movie Theme (Beck)
05 We Dance Alone (Beck)
06 Nausea (Beck)
07 Dark Star (Beck)
08 Strange Apparition (Beck)
09 I Think I'm in Love (Beck)
10 Gamma Ray (Beck)
11 Modern Guilt (Beck)
12 Orphans (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15490032/BeckH_2005_MornngBecomesEclecticSantaMonicaCA__10-31-2006_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from a concert at the Bonnaroo Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, in June 2006.

Beck - Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW Studios, Santa Monica, CA, 3-31-2005

Beck likes to perform for the KCRW radio station every couple of years, and I've been occasionally posting his more significant performances there. So here's another one.

This album actually has three sources, all of them unreleased. The first seven songs come from the KCRW show in 2005 mentioned in the title, played with a band. Tracks 8 and 9 come from a band performance on a German TV show sometime in 2005. I included that mainly because Beck somehow failed to play the song "Clap Hands" in the KCRW performance, and that's my favorite song he did in 2005. (He apparently didn't like it that much, since it only came out as a bonus track.) 

This album is 33 minutes long.

01 E-Pro (Beck)
02 Black Tambourine (Beck)
03 Broken Drum (Beck)
04 Hell Yes (Beck)
05 Girl (Beck)
06 Guero (Beck)
07 Scarecrow (Beck)
08 Tropicalia (Beck)
09 Clap Hands (Beck)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15492107/BeckH_2005_MornngBecomesEclecticSantaMonicaCA__3-31-2005_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from the YouTube video of the German TV show ("Sarah Kuttner - Die Show") performance of "Clap Hands" included here. I strongly recommend you watch the YouTube video, because it's lots of fun. In it, Beck sings and plays the song on guitar while his backing band sitting at a table and gets served a meal by a waiter. But as they're doing that, they're beating out complicated rhythms on the table using their silverware and glasses and other implements! It's really cool and sounds great.

Apparently, when Beck went on tour in 2005, they did this table thing at every concert. Beck would do an acoustic set in the middle of the show. His backing band would actually sit at the table behind him on stage and eat a meal while Beck sang his songs. Then when he got to this song at the end of the acoustic set, it would quickly become clear the band members had stopped eating and were playing rhythm with everything in reach at the table. People say it was the highlight of the shows.

Graham Nash - Live Acoustic, 2010-2016

Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash and (sometimes) Young (CSNY) released a new solo album, "Now," in May 2023. It was such a low-key release that I didn't notice until now, two months later. To celebrate that, here's an album from him.

Nash tends to get knocked as the most lightweight and poppy of the four singer-songwriters in CSNY. And while that is probably true, he is still very worthy as a solo artist. I've fallen in that trap by posting solo albums by Crosby, Stills, and Young but not Nash, but I'll try to rectify that with this post and others.

Nash's last solo album came out in 2016 and was called "This Path Tonight." I think it's a particularly strong album, so you might want to check it out if you've missed it. This album largely focuses on that. The first five songs are from 2010 to 2015, and are generally acoustic versions of CSNY classics, with the exception of a cover of the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue." There's also an interesting version of the Neil Young song "Ohio," except sung by Nash. But the other nine songs were done in support of his "This Path Tonight" album, and mostly consist of songs from that album, though there are versions of "Bus Stop," which Nash did with the Hollies, and "Just a Song Before I Go" and "Military Madness" from the 1970s.

The vast majority of the songs here were performed by Nash for in-person radio station appearances. ("Peggy Sue" was done for a small audience at a museum, and "Mississippi Burning" is a "This Path Tonight" bonus track, and the only song officially released here.) As a result, the sound quality is excellent, usually on par with studio recordings. There's a little bit of clapping at the end of a few songs, but not much. I deliberately avoided any actual concert recordings to keep the focus on acoustic versions and to keep the sound quality high.

Nash wrote all the songs for his 2016 album with lead guitarist Shayne Fontayne. On the vast majority of the songs here, it's just Nash and Fontayne on guitars, with Fontayne sometimes singing backing vocals. Note that although "Mississippi Burning" is a bonus track, it sounds like it was recorded live as an acoustic duo in front of a small audience, so it fits in with the others.

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 Peggy Sue (Graham Nash)
02 Chicago (Graham Nash)
03 Ohio [Nash Vocals Version] (Graham Nash)
04 Our House [Guitar Version] (Graham Nash)
05 Teach Your Children (Graham Nash)
06 Mississippi Burning (Graham Nash)
07 Golden Days (Graham Nash)
08 Bus Stop (Graham Nash)
09 Myself at Last (Graham Nash)
10 This Path Tonight (Graham Nash)
11 Just a Song Before I Go (Graham Nash)
12 Encore (Graham Nash)
13 Another Broken Heart (Graham Nash)
14 Military Madness (Graham Nash)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15429728/GrahmN_2010-2016_LveAcoustc_atse.zip.html

The cover photo was taken at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on November 16, 2016.