The Wild Honey Orchestra - Tribute to the Nuggets Album, Alex Theatre, Glendale, CA, 5-19-2023

I'm particularly happy to be posting this album. Most every year, a big, loose collection of professional musicians in the Los Angeles area come together to put on a benefit concert that celebrates a favorite musical act or album. In 2023, this group, the Wild Honey Orchestra, did it again. This time, they targeted the 1972 album "Nuggets." 

"Nuggets" was a collection of garage rock from the mid-1960s. It was a hugely influential collection, especially since it helped inspire the punk rock movement a few years later. It also led to an entire cottage industry of similar releases, often with similar names like "Pebbles," mining obscure garage rock gems from that era.

The last Wild Honey Orchestra concert I could find with worthy sound quality was the one from 2019, celebrating the music of the band Lovin' Spoonful. Then a year was skipped due to the Covid pandemic. The 2022 concert celebrated the band Big Star. Then came this one in 2023. Then 2024 was skipped for some reason. Most recently (as I write this in January 2026), there was a 2025 concert celebrating singer-songwriter Warren Zevon.

The only place I've found any of these concert with worthy sound quality was from the Wild Honey Orchestra's YouTube page. But it seemed they stopped posting their concerts after 2020, so I had resigned myself to not finding any more. But I took another look at that page a few days ago, after not going there for a year or two, and I found a video of most of this Nuggets concert, with excellent sound quality. All the songs were there, but lots of the banter between songs was missing. So I converted it to audio format and chopped it into mp3s.

That was good, but I wanted to do something about the missing banter. The emcee for the concert was Lenny Kaye. He was the person who compiled the album back in 1972, and wrote the liner notes. He later played lead guitar for Patti Smith in the 1970s, and then again from the mid-1990s until the current day. For this concert, he gave brief spoken introductions to each of the songs. But about half of them were missing from the video I found. I wanted to do something about that. 

Luckily, I discovered an audience bootleg of the same concert. The sound quality was far worse, but at least it was complete, which meant it had all the missing intros. If I had wanted to take some music from this boot, that would have been a problem. But sound quality didn't matter so much just for talking between songs. Even there, there were sound issues. So I ran all the banter I took from this boot through the Adobe voice enhancer program. That made a drastic difference. Now, I think in most cases, one can't tell which talking tracks were from the original video and which were from the audience boot. Oh, and I also boosted the lead vocals relative to the instruments on the songs that needed that, which was most of them. 

The Wild Honey Orchestra was the backing band for the entire concert, with members coming and going from the stage depending on the musical instruments needed for each song. Furthermore, each song typically had a different lead vocalist, though some sang two or three songs. 

The vocalists generally fell into two categories. The first was musicians who actually played on the original recordings over 50 years ago, or were otherwise from that era. That's pretty remarkable, considering how many years had passed. The others were somewhat younger musicians who just really liked this kind of music. Overall, there weren't that many "big names." Probably the most famous musician was Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles, who sang two songs. For one of them, she was joined by musical comedian Weird Al Yankovic, but he only played accordion and didn't sing. All in all though, it was a pretty old crowd on stage, and I'll bet in the audience as well.

I still can't find worthy audio from the Big Star and Warren Zevon tribute concerts. Let's hope those emerge someday. But in the meantime, at least there's this.  

If you like listening to garage rock, you really should listen to this. True, most of the performers were in their sixties and seventies, but I swear you can't tell by listening. These "old geezers" still knew how to rock! 

This album is two hours and 26 minutes long. 

Before I post the set list, I made this list of the original musical acts for each song, as well as the years the songs were released. Some track numbers are skipped, due to those being talk tracks. The vast majority of the songs on the 1972 "Nuggets" album were performed, but not all of them. Plus, some songs not on that album (but similar in spirit) were played. For instance, "96 Tears," "7 and 7 Is," and "Crazy like a Fox."

02 Oh Yeah - Shadows of Knight (1966)
05 Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl - Barbarians (1965)
07 A Little Bit of Soul - Music Explosion (1967) 
09 Don't Look Back - Remains (1966)
12 96 Tears - Question Mark & the Mysterians (1966)
14 Liar, Liar - Castaways (1965) 
16 [Just Like] Romeo and Juliet - Reflections (1964) 
18 Sugar and Spice - Cryan' Shames (1966)
20 Lies - Knickerbockers (1965)
22 Dirty Water - Standells (1966)
24 Little Girl - Syndicate of Sound (1966)
26 Talk, Talk - Music Machine (1966)
28 Crazy like a Fox - Link Cromwell (1966)
30 Pushin' Too Hard - (Seeds 1966)
32 It's-a-Happening - Magic Mushrooms (1966)
35 You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
37 Baby Please Don't Go - Amboy Dukes (1968)
39 Sit Down, I Think I Love You - Mojo Men (1967)
41 Run, Run, Run - Third Rail (1967)
43 My World Fell Down - Sagittarius (1967)
45 An Invitation to Cry - Magicians (1965) 
47 I Want Candy - Strangeloves (1965)
49 I Had Too Much to Dream [Last Night] - Electric Prunes (1966)
51 No Time like the Right Time - Blues Project (1967) 
53 Hey Joe - Leaves (1966) 
55 Let's Talk about Girls - Chocolate Watchband (1967) 
57 Psychotic Reaction - Count Five (1966) 
59 Open My Eyes - Nazz (1968) 
61 7 and 7 Is - Love (1966)
63 Tobacco Road - Blues Magoos (1966)
65 Farmer John - Premiers (1964)
67 Gloria - Them (1965) 

Here's the usual song list: 

01 talk (Lenny Kaye)
02 Oh Yeah (Mike Stax)
03 talk (Lenny Kaye)
04 talk (Cindy Lee Barryhill)
05 Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl (Cindy Lee Barryhill)
06 talk (Lenny Kaye)
07 A Little Bit of Soul (Paley Brothers)
08 talk (Billy Vera)
09 Don't Look Back (Billy Vera)
10 talk (Lenny Kaye)
11 talk (All Day Sucker)
12 96 Tears (All Day Sucker)
13 talk (Lenny Kaye)
14 Liar, Liar (Nick Guzman)
15 talk (Lenny Kaye)
16 [Just Like] Romeo and Juliet (Ron Dante)
17 talk (Lenny Kaye)
18 Sugar and Spice (Andrew Sandoval & Chris Price)
19 talk (Lenny Kaye)
20 Lies (Peter Case)
21 talk (Lenny Kaye)
22 Dirty Water (Peter Zaremba)
23 talk (Peter Zaremba)
24 Little Girl (Peter Zaremba)
25 talk (Peter Zaremba)
26 Talk, Talk (Peter Zaremba)
27 talk (Lenny Kaye)
28 Crazy like a Fox (Lenny Kaye)
29 talk (Lenny Kaye)
30 Pushin' Too Hard (Lenny Kaye & Paul Kopf with Daryl Hooper)
31 talk (Lenny Kaye)
32 It's-a-Happening (Paul Kopt)
33 talk (Lenny Kaye)
34 talk (Carla Olson, Kathy Valentine & Pearl Bentley)
35 You're Gonna Miss Me (Carla Olson, Kathy Valentine & Pearl Bentley)
36 talk (Lenny Kaye)
37 Baby Please Don't Go (Mike Peters with Wayne Kramer)
38 talk (Lenny Kaye)
39 Sit Down, I Think I Love You (Susanna Hoffs & Owen Elliot with Weird Al Yankovic)
40 talk (Lenny Kaye)
41 Run, Run, Run (Tom Kenny)
42 talk (Lenny Kaye)
43 My World Fell Down (Evie Sands)
44 talk (Evie Sands)
45 An Invitation to Cry (Evie Sands)
46 talk (Lenny Kaye)
47 I Want Candy (Susanna Hoffs)
48 talk (Lenny Kaye)
49 I Had Too Much to Dream [Last Night] (James Lowe)
50 talk (Lenny Kaye)
51 No Time like the Right Time (Cameron Dye)
52 talk (Lenny Kaye)
53 Hey Joe (Jim Pons & John Beck)
54 talk (Lenny Kaye)
55 Let's Talk about Girls (David Aguilar)
56 talk (Lenny Kaye)
57 Psychotic Reaction (Kenn Eliner)
58 talk (Lenny Kaye)
59 Open My Eyes (Three O'Clock)
60 talk (Lenny Kaye)
61 7 and 7 Is (Johnny Echols with John Easdale)
62 talk (Lenny Kaye)
63 Tobacco Road (Tara Austin & Rob Laufer with Kathy Valentine)
64 talk (Lenny Kaye)
65 Farmer John (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey & Lenny Kaye)
66 talk (Lenny Kaye)
67 Gloria (Lenny Kaye & Everyone)
68 talk (Lenny Kaye)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZjhTUbAN

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/7LzIelePtiW6Dx7/file

The cover image is taken from a promotional poster for this exact concert. However, I had to make a lot of changes to get all the key parts of that rectangular poster into a square shape. The art in the middle section is the original "Nuggets" cover (which was also the main part of the poster). The list of musical acts at the bottom is not completely acccurate, since there were some no-shows (like Van Dyke Parks) and some surprise guests (like Susanna Hoffs). But I figured it was close enough to get the gist.

Peter Case - Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA, 11-11-1992

Here's something that's really obscure, but really good. I downloaded this ten years ago or more. I'm very glad that I did, because I Googled this the other day, and I couldn't find a single mention on the Internet of this concert even existing. I hope I can bring it back from the dead.

A couple of days ago, I posted an album by the Plimsouls. Peter Case was their lead singer and main songwriter. But while the Pimsouls were a rocking "power pop" or "new wave" band, it turns out that Case had a strong folkie streak inside him. In fact, he spent a good part of the 1970s as a wandering busker, playing mostly blues and traditional songs on the streets. When the Plimsouls broke up in 1984, he reverted into more of a singer songwriter mode.

This concert from 1992 finds him going even further, stripping down to just solo acoustic mode. It happened a few months before his 1993 album "Peter Case Sings Like Hell," which is sol acoustic performances of traditional folk and blues songs. It's my favorite solo album of his. You should definitely check it out. Although this is very much in the same vein, most of the songs are different. This generally looks back on his previous albums, and even includes a version of his Plimsouls hit "A Million Miles Away," but they sound transformed by the solo acoustic format.

As far as sound quality goes, this can't get any better. At one point in his between song banter, he mentioned that the concert was being recorded for a live album that probably would never come out. He was right about that, because no such album came out! But that indicates the recording was done by Case himself or his record company, and somehow slipped out as a bootleg.

I didn't have to make many sonic tweaks, but I did put his many comments between songs on separate tracks. Oh yeah, I also cut out some guitar tuning between songs. I also fixed the song titles for many of the songs from the original bootleg I got this from. Even the location needed fixing (It's "Solana Beach," not "Solano Beach.")

Unfortunately, I don't expect a lot of people will download this, because Case's solo career has been pretty low profile. So I'm going to use a Yandex link for the mp3 download, since those never expire. But if you do give this a listen, it shows you have very good taste in music. ;)

The concert is just short of an hour and a half long. About twenty minutes of that is the talking between songs.

01 talk (Peter Case)
02 Blind Luck (Peter Case)
03 talk (Peter Case)
04 The Lakes of Ponchatrain (Peter Case)
05 talk (Peter Case)
06 Walk in the Woods (Peter Case)
07 talk (Peter Case)
08 Never Comin' Home (Peter Case)
09 Walkin' Bum (Peter Case)
10 talk (Peter Case)
11 Space Monkey (Peter Case)
12 talk (Peter Case)
13 Power, Lust and Money (Peter Case)
14 talk (Peter Case)
15 Why (Peter Case)
16 talk (Peter Case)
17 A Little Wind [Could Blow Me Away] (Peter Case)
18 Vanishing Act (Peter Case)
19 talk (Peter Case)
20 I Dream about You (Peter Case)
21 talk (Peter Case)
22 A Million Miles Away (Peter Case)
23 Echo Wars (Peter Case)
24 talk (Peter Case)
25 Travelin' Light (Peter Case)
26 talk (Peter Case)
27 Rovin' Gambler (Peter Case)
28 talk (Peter Case)
29 Beyond the Blues (Peter Case)
30 Dreams We Hide (Peter Case)
31 talk (Peter Case)
32 Christmas Rag (Peter Case)
33 talk (Peter Case)
34 I Shook His Hand (Peter Case)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15285010/PeterCas_1992_BllyUpTavernSolnaBeachCA__11-11-1992_atse.zip.html

Sadly, Case's solo career has been so unappreciated that I couldn't find any good photo of him from 1992 or even near 1992. I had to use a photo from 1987 for the cover art. If you know of a good photo from around 1992, please let me know and I'll update the cover.

The Plimsouls - Zero Hour - Expanded Version (1980)

In my last post, I expanded an EP by R.E.M. into a full album. I'm doing it again here, but this time with the 1980 EP "Zero Hour" by the Plimsouls.

Are you familiar with the Plimsouls? They're best known for their 1983 hit "A Million Miles Away." But they're much more than a one-hit wonder. Even though they only put out two full albums before breaking up in 1984, they're one of my favorite 1980s bands.What really makes them stand out is the songwriting and singing of Peter Case, who went on to have a long career as a singer-songwriter.

The Plimsouls' first release was the "Zero Hour" EP in 1980, followed by full albums in 1981 and 1983. Their 1981 album, cleverly called "The Plimsouls," has been available for many years under the title "The Plimsouls... Plus," with this EP plus some other songs added to it. But there's enough material to expand the EP to a full album, adding a bunch of songs to it that all predate their 1981 album.

To start with, I go way back, all the way to 1976, when Case was part of a band called the Nerves. They weren't around long, and only put out one EP. They're best known for the song "Hanging on the Telephone," which became a hit when Blondie covered it. But the Nerves were a band with three songwriters, and "Hanging on the Telephone" was written or sung by Case, so I'm not including it here. Instead, I've included "When You Find Out," the only song on that Nerves EP written and sung by Case. If you look further down the song list, you'll notice the Plimsouls did a version of this, but only as an instrumental. They're different enough versions for me to include both.

The next two songs are by the Breakaways. The Breakaways only existed for a short time. They were co-lead by Case and Paul Collins, the guy in the Nerves who wrote "Hanging on the Telephone." I've only included two songs written and sung by Case. They broke up before they could officially release any music, but some of their stuff eventually came out decades later.

The rest of the album contains just the Plimsouls. The fourth song is an original that was recorded live in 1979. The next five songs are from the "Zero Hour" EP. That's followed by seven more songs, mostly from 1980. I believe "Memory" and "One Way Ticket" are originals.

The Plimsouls weren't really a "new wave" band like so many others in the early 1980s, though they were lumped in with that movement. As you can see from their choice of covers here, they proudly based their music on the rock and soul of the 1950s and 1960s, but then added their own creativity to make it something different. They do covers by James Brown ("Night Train"), Otis Redding ("I Can't Turn You Loose"), Elvis Presley ("Kid Creole"), and a Larry Williams song that was also done by the Beatles ("Dizzy Miss Lizzy").

Three of these extra songs are officially unreleased. But they all come from excellent bootlegs, probably soundboards, so I don't think you'll notice any difference in sound quality.

Altogether, the songs on this album add up to 43 minutes. That's an ideal album length, in my opinion. But what really makes this a worthy album are the originals songs. Even with this, the band's first music, I think the originals go toe-to-toe with the famous covers they did. The whole thing simply rocks.

01 When You Find Out (Nerves)
02 Radio Station (Breakaways)
03 House on the Hill (Breakaways)
04 Thing of the Past (Plimsouls)
05 Great Big World (Plimsouls)
06 Zero Hour [Original Version] (Plimsouls)
07 Hypnotized (Plimsouls)
08 How Long Will It Take (Plimsouls)
09 I Can't Turn You Loose (Plimsouls)
10 Memory (Plimsouls)
11 Night Train (Plimsouls)
12 One Way Ticket (Plimsouls)
13 Kid Creole (Plimsouls)
14 Dizzy Miss Lizzie (Plimsouls)
15 Hush, Hush (Plimsouls)
16 When You Find Out [Instrumental Version] (Plimsouls)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16700850/TPLIMSULS1980_ZroHurExpndd_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I've used the cover to the "Zero Hour" EP. Except that cover looked exceedingly boring, because they entire thing was in shades of grey. I've spiced it up by tinting the whole thing blue, and then colorizing some of the text red.