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.

Various Artists - Let's Go Crazy: A Grammy Salute to Prince, Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1-28-2020

A couple of days ago, I posted a Grammy tribute to Paul Simon in 2022. That's not the only such Grammy tribute, although they haven't always happened yearly. Here's one from 2020, paying tribute to Prince, who died in 2016.

In the Paul Simon tribute, there was a lot of talking between songs. But in this one, this is almost no banter whatsoever. It's possible some of that was cut out of the version I found, since even the applause at the ends of songs was usually brutally cut short after just a second or two. To make this a better flowing listen, I usually patched in more applause between songs, to give more breathing room before the next song began. 

There are lots of interesting versions of Prince's most famous songs here, often done by big name stars. Since most of Prince's songs are upbeat and funky, and there's no banter between songs, this plays like a party album.

Everything here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and seven minutes long.

01 Let's Go Crazy (H.E.R. & Gary Clark Jr.)
02 I Would Die 4 U (Miguel)
03 Nothing Compares 2 U (John Legend)
04 Controversy (St. Vincent)
05 1999 (Juanes)
06 The Beautiful Ones (H.E.R.)
07 Little Red Corvette - When Doves Cry - Kiss (Usher)
08 Manic Monday (Chris Martin & Susanna Hoffs)
09 Jungle Love - Cool - The Bird (Morris Day & the Time)
10 Darling Nikki (Foo Fighters)
11 Adore (Earth, Wind & Fire)
12 Sign O' the Times (Common & Sheila E.)
13 Raspberry Beret (Beck)
14 The Cross (Gary Clark Jr.)
15 America - Free - The Glamorous Life (Sheila E.)
16 Delirious (Maya Rudolph, Gretchen Lieberum & the Revolution)
17 Purple Rain (Mavis Staples & the Revolution)
18 Baby I'm a Star (Sheila E. & All-Stars)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/sDXfRJEg

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/gbGt1ut1LUSTASX/file 

The cover photo shows Chris Martin and Susanna Hoffs singing "Manic Monday" under a giant picture of Prince.

Various Artists - Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon, Hollywood Pantages Theater, Los Angeles, CA, 4-6-2022

I've recently discovered a bunch of tribute concerts. I find these really interesting, but they seem to often slip through the cracks in terms of being shared bootlegs. So I'm going to try to make posting these a higher priority. Here's a Grammy-related tribute to Paul Simon from 2022. It took place just three days after the annual Grammy Awards ceremony that year, and in the same city, so many of the stars who attended that could attend this one as well.

It goes without saying that Simon is one of the greatest songwriters of all time, so he deserves a tribute like this. In fact, I've found a MusiCares tribute concert from 2001 and a Gershwin Prize tribute concert from 2007 both celebrating his songs that I plan on posting too. Like those, this one features many big stars playing his most beloved songs.

It also features Simon performing a couple of songs of his own at the end of the concert. This is especially significant because he was 80 years old at the time of this concert, and his voice was noticeably weakening with age. He announced a farewell tour in 2018, so this seemed like one of his last public performances. Since then, though, he decided to have one more tour in 2025, with about 20 concerts. Be that as it may, one can hear the change in his voice in this performance. Thankfully, he realized his limitations and had another singer tackle the vocally challenging song "American Tune" while he just played guitar on it.

The music here remains officially unreleased. However, it was broadcast on television, so there are video files of it. I took a high quality version, converted it to audio format, and broke it into mp3s. The sound quality is excellent. I kept most everything, except I cut out some talk from the unnamed female emcee every time there was a commercial break, which happened every few songs. Hopefully this now sounds seamless, without any hints of those commercial breaks.

Some of the banter between songs were little speeches by famous non-musicians, such as Woody Harrelson, Dustin Hoffman, and Oprah Winfrey. Famous rock star Elton John also only talked. In his case, his talk was a video broadcast, so he probably didn't sing as well because he wasn't there in person.

This album is an hour and 24 minutes long.

01 talk (emcee)
02 Kodachrome (Brad Paisley)
03 talk (Woody Harrelson)
04 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Jonas Brothers)
05 talk (Garth Brooks)
06 The Boxer (Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood)
07 talk (Elton John)
08 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
09 A Hazy Shade of Winter (Susanna Hoffs)
10 talk (Herbie Hancock)
11 talk (Sting)
12 America (Sting)
13 talk (Billy Porter)
14 Loves Me like a Rock (Billy Porter)
15 talk (Dustin Hoffman)
16 talk (Stevie Wonder)
17 Mrs. Robinson (Stevie Wonder with Sheila E. & the Jonas Brothers)
18 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
19 Something So Right (Bonnie Raitt & Brad Paisley)
20 talk (Stevie Wonder)
21 Bridge Over Troubled Water (Stevie Wonder & Ledisi)
22 talk (Sofia Carson)
23 Mother and Child Reunion (Jimmy Cliff & Shaggy)
24 Take Me to the Mardi Gras (Trombone Shorty & Irma Thomas)
25 talk (Eric Church)
26 Homeward Bound (Eric Church)
27 Slip Slidin' Away (Little Big Town)
28 talk (Folake Olowofoyeku)
29 Homeless (Take 6)
30 Under African Skies (Angelique Kidjo with Dave Matthews)
31 You Can Call Me Al (Dave Matthews with Angelique Kidjo)
32 talk (Oprah Winfrey)
33 Graceland (Paul Simon)
34 talk (Paul Simon)
35 American Tune (Rhiannon Giddens with Paul Simon)
36 The Sound of Silence (Paul Simon)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/5j4GUcC1

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Vz5ALstXCYeahHB/file 

The cover shows Paul Simon about to receive a hug from Oprah Winfrey. It's from this exact concert.

The Bangles - Ritz Theater, New York City, 9-28-1984

I posted an unreleased Bangles concert from 1986 just a couple of days ago. Yet here I am, posting another one, this time from 1984. The reason is that, when it comes to the Bangles, I like their earliest stuff the best. My favorite music of theirs of all is their 1982 E.P. and other songs released before their first album in 1984. The reason is because they were more raw and rocking early on, and gradually got slicker until they broke up in 1989, and I generally don't like slick.

So, after posting the 1986 concert, I got to thinking about listening to another concert by them from an earlier year. The problem was, I'd investigated that previously and decided that the sound quality for all known concert in 1985 or before were a little bit lacking. But then it occurred to me that with the advances in audio editing technology in recent years, maybe something could be done about that.

I picked the best sounding of the early concerts, which is this one. It's the best because it was professionally recorded and broadcast live on the radio. However, there still were issues. The biggest one was that there was a lot of crowd noise, even during the songs. But that's something that can be fixed these days. So I used the audio editing program MVSEP and removed the cheering and hollering during the songs, while keeping it between the songs. But I also lowered in some during the banter, because it was quite high there too. Next, I boosted the volume of the vocals relative to the instruments using the UVR5 audio editing program. So all the songs got adjusted twice.

The end result makes this sound significantly better than ever before, on part with the two 1986 Bangles concerts I've posted. The songs are dominated by songs from the band's 1984 album "All Over the Place," which is my favorite from them (although their 1986 album "Different Light" is a close second). But there are a few cover versions added that didn't make any of their albums at the time: "Where Were You When I Needed You," "I'm Not Talkin'," "Going Home," and "7 and 7 Is." Those especially show how rocking the band could get.

This album is 56 minutes long.

01 talk (Bangles)
02 Silent Treatment (Bangles)
03 The Real World (Bangles)
04 talk (Bangles)
05 Restless (Bangles)
06 Mary Street (Bangles)
07 talk (Bangles)
08 Live (Bangles)
09 talk (Bangles)
10 All about You (Bangles)
11 James (Bangles)
12 talk (Bangles)
13 Where Were You When I Needed You (Bangles)
14 talk (Bangles)
15 I'm in Line (Bangles)
16 He's Got a Secret (Bangles)
17 talk (Bangles)
18 Going Down to Liverpool (Bangles)
19 talk (Bangles)
20 Tell Me (Bangles)
21 talk (Bangles)
22 I Want You (Bangles)
23 Hero Takes the Fall (Bangles)
24 I'm Not Talkin' (Bangles)
25 talk (Bangles)
26 Going Home (Bangles)
27 7 and 7 Is (Bangles)
28 Dover Beach (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16509110/TBANGLS1984RtzThtrNwYrkCty__9-28-1984_atse.zip.html

 The cover photo is from a Bangles concert at Les Bains Douches, in Paris, France, on February 19, 1985.

The Bangles - Catch a Rising Star, New York City, 10-22-1986

I really like the Bangles. I still think it's strange that they never released an official live album. I tried to fill that gap by posting a 1986 concert bootleg, which you can find here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-bangles-loft-berlin-germany-2-10.html

I thought that was the best live recording of the band from their 1980s heyday, but now I think this one is. This bootleg had a big flaw in that the vocals were low in the mix. But nowadays, we have the technology to fix that, and I did. I used the UVR5 audio editing program on all the songs.

Both shows are very good, and if you're a fan, you'll want both. There are some song selection differences. For instance, that one includes the cover "I'm Not Talking" and the great early track "I Want You," while this one includes the cover "Pushin' Too Hard" and the non-album track "I Got Nothing." That one had some holes I had to fill in with bits from another 1986 concert, whereas this one is complete. This one is also somewhat longer.

The reason this one sounds so good is because it was broadcast live on the radio. In the banter between songs, they kept referring to the concert as a "soundcheck." I'm guessing what they mean is it was a relatively short concert for the radio, and they played a longer concert later in the evening in the same city. Also, one nice thing about it is they played at a small club (with the unusual name "Catch a Rising Star"), despite the fact that they already had two huge hits earlier in the year with "Manic Monday" and "Walk like an Egyptian." I'm guessing that was done specially to help with the sound quality for the radio broadcast.

Note that there are conflicting dates about when this concert took place, with May and August being cited. But I looked into it and I'm convinced this is the correct date.

This album is an hour and eight minutes long.

01 talk (Bangles)
02 Intro (Bangles)
03 Let It Go (Bangles)
04 talk (Bangles)
05 Restless (Bangles)
06 talk (Bangles)
07 Live (Bangles)
08 Walking Down Your Street (Bangles)
09 James (Bangles)
10 I Got Nothing (Bangles)
11 talk (Bangles)
12 He's Got the Secret (Bangles)
13 talk (Bangles)
14 September Gurls (Bangles)
15 If She Knew What She Wants (Bangles)
16 talk (Bangles)
17 Return Post (Bangles)
18 In a Different Light (Bangles)
19 Going Down to Liverpool (Bangles)
20 Angel Don't Fall in Love (Bangles)
21 Hero Takes a Fall (Bangles)
22 talk (Bangles)
23 Manic Monday (Bangles)
24 talk (Bangles)
25 Walk like an Egyptian (Bangles)
26 talk (Bangles)
27 Dover Beach (Bangles)
28 Pushin' Too Hard (Bangles)
29 talk (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16505975/TBANGLS1986cCtchaRsingStrNwYrkC__10-22-1986_atse.zip.html

I had a surprisingly difficult time finding a good color photo of the band in concert in 1986. I do like this one and it is in color, but I'm not sure when or where it's from exactly. But I'd guess that it's from 1986 or thereabouts.
 

Susanna Hoffs - Riverbend, Cincinnati, OH, 7-23-1991

Susanna Hoffs, some time member of the Bangles, put out a new studio album last week (as I write this in early June 2023), called "The Deep End." Like her last album, it consists entirely of covers. But unlike her previous covers, about half of the songs are relatively new, from the likes of Ed Sheeran and Billie Eilish. I give the album a thumbs up. It's neat how she makes the new songs fit in with the older ones.

To celebrate her album, I decided to post another album from her. This concert dates back to the start of her solo career, just a couple of years after the Bangles broke up for the first time. She had just released her first solo album, "When You're a Boy," and was on her first concert tour as a solo artist. I'm not a fan of that album. Clearly, the record company tried to push her into a slick, "adult contemporary" mode, similar to what happened to Belinda Carslile of the Go-Go's with her solo album. But the main problem was production, and the songs fare much better here. It helps that they're mixed with Bangles hits.

It also helps that this concert sounds great. I've posted two Hoffs solo concerts, but those are both audience bootlegs. Unusually good sounding ones, but audience boots nonetheless. However, this is a soundboard. I'm pretty sure it's the only soundboard of a Hoffs solo concert that's publicly available at this point. I didn't have to make any adjustments at all. The only downside is that it's a rather short concert, since she was the opening act for Don Henley on this tour.

Of particular note is her cover of the Bad Company classic "Feel like Makin' Love." You definitely need to watch the YouTube video of this if you haven't already, which comes from this exact concert. (I believe I've mentioned it in a previous blog post.) Not only is she sexy as hell in the video, I think she would have had a hit if this version had been released as a single. Apparently, some of her songs and some of Henley's songs from this concert were shown on TV.

01 A Hazy Shade of Winter (Susanna Hoffs)
02 This Time (Susanna Hoffs)
03 Wishing on Telstar (Susanna Hoffs)
04 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
05 Manic Monday (Susanna Hoffs)
06 Unconditional Love (Susanna Hoffs)
07 Only Love (Susanna Hoffs)
08 My Side of the Bed (Susanna Hoffs)
09 Eternal Flame (Susanna Hoffs)
10 Feel like Makin' Love (Susanna Hoffs)
11 It's Lonely Out Here (Susanna Hoffs)
12 Walk like an Egyptian (Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15309531/SusannaH_1991_RiverbndCncinntiOH__7-23-1991_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from this 1991 tour. It might even be from this exact concert, since she was wearing a white shirt here and in the "Feel like Makin' Love" video from this night.

Susanna Hoffs - McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA, 4-28-2012

I've already posted a Susanna Hoffs live concert that took place at McCabe's Guitar Shop near Los Angeles. But that one took place in 1994, and this is from 2012, eighteen years later.

Hoffs has generally prioritized her music career with the Bangles over her own solo career. However, one important exception is her 2012 solo album "Someday." It's an excellent album, easily her best solo album in my opinion, so if you like her music with the Bangles you should check it out. This concert took place shortly before that album was released, but still contains a bunch of songs from it. Matthew Sweet, who collaborated with Hoffs on three "Under the Covers" albums, also plays and sings on a few songs near the end.

Note that this bootleg recording is not a soundboard, which is my usual standard. But it's an excellent sounding audience recording. McCabe's is a very small club to begin with, so the sound is pretty good from that fact alone. I'm guessing there were less than 100 people there. There are no soundboards of her concerts from around this era, and this is the best sounding one that I've found.

Generally speaking, Hoffs played songs from her solo career plus Bangles hits. But she also threw in a few covers, such as "Teacher, Teacher" by Rockpile, and "All I've Got to Do" by the Beatles, and "Different Drum" by the Stone Poneys with Linda Ronstadt. There are more covers near the end with Sweet that appeared on their "Under the Covers" album.

By the way, she played two concerts this evening. This is the late show. Both shows were bootlegged, and the set lists were almost exactly the same. However, she and Sweet played "Rain" by the Beatles as one of the encores for the early show. So I added that in as the last song. They made a couple of big flubs where they hesitated before going into the next verses. So I edited those mistakes out, which is why "[Edit]" is included in the song title.

01 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
02 Raining (Susanna Hoffs)
03 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
04 November Sun (Susanna Hoffs)
05 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
06 Always Enough (Susanna Hoffs)
07 Different Drum (Susanna Hoffs)
08 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
09 Picture Me (Susanna Hoffs)
10 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
11 All I've Got to Do (Susanna Hoffs)
12 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
13 One Day (Susanna Hoffs)
14 Eternal Flame (Susanna Hoffs)
15 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
16 All I Want (Susanna Hoffs)
17 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
18 Manic Monday - 1999 - Sunday Morning - Femme Fatale (Susanna Hoffs)
19 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
20 In Your Room (Susanna Hoffs)
21 Hero Takes a Fall (Susanna Hoffs)
22 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
23 Holding My Breath (Susanna Hoffs)
24 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
25 Teacher, Teacher (Susanna Hoffs)
26 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
27 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Susanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet)
28 talk (Susanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet)
29 To Sir with Love (Susanna Hoffs)
30 talk (Susanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet)
31 King Midas in Reverse (Susanna Hoffs with John Wicks)
32 Cinnamon Girl (Susanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet)
33 Rain [Edit] (Susanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15292656/SusannaH_2012_McCabeGuitrShopSntaMonicaCA__4-28-2012_atse.zip.html

Despite the smallness of the venue, posters were made and sold for this exact show. So for the album cover, I just used one of the posters. I had to crop the rectangular shape to a square one, but all of Hoffs was just barely able to fit. Also, only the word "Susanna" was in big letters in the middle, so I added "Hoffs" in the same font. There was more info at the bottom of the poster, but I only included a portion of that that mentioned the location and the date.

Susanna Hoffs - McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA, 7-15-1994

Here's a nice Susanna Hoffs acoustic concert. Hoffs hasn't had nearly the success with her solo career as she's had being a member of the Bangles. I also don't think she's put that much work into it, judging by the limited number of solo albums and concerts. Furthermore, she often was dragged down by bad production. But this concert gets past any production problems due to its simple acoustic nature, with just Hoffs and a second guitarist. It revealed she had lots of very good songs in the early 1990s, as well as excellent taste in covers.

I suspect this is an audience recording, not a soundboard. But the fact that I'm not sure shows it doesn't matter much. This is very listenable. Sometimes, her comments between songs were too quiet, but I've boosted the volume on those.

In the early 1990s, Hoffs' record company wanted to push her as a pop star based on her beautiful looks and wasn't that interested in her musical talent. She mostly went their way with her 1991 album "When I Was a Boy," so it wasn't that good. She tried to go in a different direction with a 1994 album, but her record company rejected it and dropped her from the label. Ironically, this concert seems to be promoting that album that didn't actually exist. 

She wouldn't release another album until 1996, the simply titled "Susanna Hoffs." It would use a few of the songs here, like "Enormous Wings," "Happy Place," and "Darling One." But others - "Go," "Ghost of His Smile," "Right by You," and "You Lost My Mind" - fell by the wayside and remain officially unreleased by her to this day. ("You Lost My Mind" was written by Sam Phillips.) The rest of the songs are Bangles hits or covers of famous songs.

The last song, "Manic Monday," was almost certainly performed in this concert because it was her closing song for all her concerts that year. But it wasn't included in the bootleg recording. I've found a version from a different concert as a substitute. The sound quality isn't as good, but it gets the job done for just one song.

This album is an hour and nine minutes long.

01 Walking on a Wire (Susanna Hoffs)
02 Enormous Wings (Susanna Hoffs)
03 Go (Susanna Hoffs)
04 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
05 A Hazy Shade of Winter (Susanna Hoffs)
06 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
07 Happy Place (Susanna Hoffs)
08 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
09 Ghost of His Smile (Susanna Hoffs)
10 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
11 Catch the Wind (Susanna Hoffs)
12 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
13 Right by You (Susanna Hoffs)
14 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
15 If She Knew Want She Wants (Susanna Hoffs)
16 Darling One (Susanna Hoffs)
17 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
18 Turning Over (Susanna Hoffs)
19 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
20 Walk like an Egyptian (Susanna Hoffs)
21 Hero Takes a Fall (Susanna Hoffs)
22 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
23 To Sir with Love (Susanna Hoffs)
24 Eternal Flame (Susanna Hoffs)
25 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
26 You Lost My Mind (Susanna Hoffs)
27 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
28 Stop (Susanna Hoffs)
29 talk (Susanna Hoffs)
30 Manic Monday (Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15292652/SusannaH_1994_McCabeGuitarShpSantaMonicaCA__7-15-1994_atse.zip.html

I couldn't find any photos of Hoffs in concert in 1994 or around that time. So I used a photo of her at a movie premiere in January 1994.

The Bangles - Kaaboo Festival, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA, 9-15-2019

There seems to be some kind of curse when it comes to live recordings from the Bangles. The band has never released an official live album, and when it comes to bootlegs, nearly all of them sound middling to bad. But the Bangles are known for their harmony vocals, and you need excellent sound to be able to fully appreciate that. 

Happily, I've finally found a Bangles bootleg with truly excellent sound. I've taken it from a high-quality video file (not YouTube), so I don't think it's ever circulated as audio files before.

When it comes to music by the Bangles, I like their earliest stuff the best. My favorite album from them is their first one (1984's "All Over the Place") and I like their EP from 1982 even better. This concert is from MUCH later, 2019. But in terms of the music, it's almost like it's from the early 1980s instead. For most of the 2010s, the Bangles were just a three-piece band. But in 2018, their original bassist, Annetta Zalinskas, who quit the band after that first EP, rejoined the band. Maybe because of that, their set list leaned heavily on their early stuff, with them playing four out of the five songs from that EP, and more from that first album. The latest song they played was "Eternal Flame" from 1989, which they probably felt obliged to play since it was a number one hit.

When it comes to sound quality, as I said above, this is truly excellent. That's because it was professionally recorded for a live Internet broadcast. There were no problems whatsoever. The audience is relatively low in the mix, but that enables one to hear the band that much more clearly.

The only downside is I wish the concert was longer. This is only 51 minutes long. But they were part of a big music festival with dozens of acts, so they had to cut their usual set short. Still, when considering sound quality, performance, and song selection, if I had to pick just one live recording of that band to play to someone, I would pick this one.

01 talk (Bangles)
02 A Hazy Shade of Winter (Bangles)
03 I Want You (Bangles)
04 talk (Bangles)
05 Manic Monday (Bangles)
06 talk (Bangles)
07 Mary Street (Bangles)
08 I'm in Line (Bangles)
09 The Real World (Bangles)
10 talk (Bangles)
11 Going Down to Liverpool (Bangles)
12 talk (Bangles)
13 September Gurls (Bangles)
14 He's Got a Secret (Bangles)
15 talk (Bangles)
16 If She Knew What She Wants (Bangles)
17 Dover Beach (Bangles)
18 In Your Room (Bangles)
19 Hero Takes a Fall (Bangles)
20 talk (Bangles)
21 Walk like an Egyptian (Bangles)
22 talk (Bangles)
23 Eternal Flame (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15277984/TBangls_2019_KaabooFestvalDelMarFairgrounds__9-15-2019_atse.zip.html

The cover art is was made by PJ of his "Albums I Wish Existed" blog. For the band name, he used the exact lettering from the band's 1982 EP, which I find very fitting, since many of the songs come from that. The picture is a screenshot taken from the exact concert in question. It may not be the best photo, but I asked if he could use one of all four band members, and that was a tough ask, since they were standing far apart from each other.

Various Artists - Tom Petty's 70th Birthday Bash, 10-23-2020

Here's something that I think is great if you're a fan of Tom Petty's music at all. And who isn't a fan of Tom Petty's music? Petty died in 2017. Had he lived, he would have turned 70 on October 20, 2020. There has been a yearly tribute concert in his hometown of Gainsville, Florida, on his birthday each year since his death. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a normal concert wasn't possible, so a virtual home concert was held instead, with different artists sending in their cover versions of Petty songs from their homes. The entire concert was well over five hours long. I've cut that down to three hours to make a really strong concert.

Somewhat strangely, this concert was broken into three different parts. The first two parts were only played on SiriusXM satellite radio. The first part consisted mostly of performances by Gainsville musicians. Most of those musicians are obscure, with no officially recorded music whatsoever. In cutting this concert from five hours down to three, I mostly cut from the first part. There are a lot of generic and unremarkable covers of Petty songs by bands you've never heard of, such as the Arts in Medicine Hospital Band and Jeff Slate's Weekend Wilburys. But there were some excellent performances by some unknowns, so I've included those. There are were a few songs by more famous artists sprinkled in early, such as one of my favorites, Larkin Poe, doing a song with Steve Ferrone of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on drums. Another Heartbreaker, guitarist Mike Campbell, also helped with a song by Starcrawler.

For the second part of the concert, a different SiriusXM DJ took over. The focus on Gainsville musicians ended. Instead, more famous musicians from all over were featured, starting with Eddie Vedder, lead vocalist of Pearl Jam. This section continued through the performance by the Raconteurs.

The final and longest section tended to feature the most famous names, though a few lesser knowns are scattered in as well. This last second was made available on video at Tom Petty's official website and other places. You can find all of it on YouTube if you want to watch and not just listen. Since this section is much more widely available, most press accounts mistakenly asserted that was the entire concert. But in fact it was only about half.

Now, let me explain some more about what I chose not to include. There were five songs performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers scattered through the concert. Judging by appearances, they're from different years of Petty's long careers. I didn't include any of those because I felt they didn't fit the rest of the concert. They were typical versions of his famous songs, like "Refugee" and "I Need to Know." Most of the songs were done by other musicians in the concert, so including them would have increased the repetition of songs a lot.

There also were a lot of spoken word sections. I removed nearly all of those. They're nice to hear once or twice, but they don't have much replay value after that, in my opinion. I've only included the between song banter by Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench, the lead guitarist and pianist, respectively, of Tom Petty's band the Heartbreakers. They did a mini-set of three songs, and the banter between the songs was an important part of that, in my opinion. Nearly all the talking was in the last section of the concert. If you watch that on YouTube, you'll hear nice spoken tributes to Petty by his wife Dana, his daughter Adria, Stevie Nicks, a poem by George Harrison's wife Olivia, and more.

Most of the songs sound great. But a few were recorded from homes with poor recording equipment. I rejected a few songs due to sound quality issues. I didn't include a version of "Yer So Bad" by Adam Sandler mostly because it was so poorly recorded. The songs by Beck and Susanna Hoffs also were not recorded well, but I included them because they just barely sounded good enough for my ears, and I particularly like those two artists.

Another problem was that there didn't seem much effort to prevent multiple versions of the same songs. For instance, there were no less than four versions of the song "Wildflowers!" I removed two of them, by the bands Grouplove and the Arts in Medicine Hospital Band, while keeping the versions by Eddie Vedder and Brandi Carlile. The song "Honey Bee" was another problem. There were three versions that I decided to keep, by Larkin Poe, Grace Potter with Reysonator, and the Foo Fighters. There were all good, and all different from each other. I removed some other songs that were done more than once. There are a few other songs with two versions: "American Girl," "Room at the Top," "Runnin' Down a Dream," and "Walls (Circus)." Since the concert is so long at three hours, I figure a few of those are okay.

Almost all musicians played just one song. There are a couple of exceptions though. As mentioned above, Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench did three songs together to end the concert. Norah Jones played two songs. And Margo Price and Lukas Nelson each did one song, but then also did a duet together.

As I mentioned above, this a great concert. All sorts of my favorite musicians were included, and they did excellent versions. Honestly, I could hardly have picked a better line-up myself. If you like Tom Petty at all, please give this a listen!

Another point I want to mention is that the vast majority of the performances were done on or just before the broadcast date, from the musician's homes, but there are a few exceptions. The Gary Clark, Jr. and Jason Isbell performances comes from concerts in 2017. The Killers did their song "American Girl" in concert. I don't know the date or location, but they played that song a bunch of times in concert from 2017 to 2019. Eddie Vedder's version of "Wildflowers" is a solo acoustic version done without an audience, so it sounds much like the others. But it actually was done in 2017 at some point after Petty's death and not made public until this concert.

Oh, and one last thing: as Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench repeatedly said at the very end of the concert, if you're a US citizen, please VOTE in the election on November 3rd!

01 Saving Grace (Andrew Leahey & the Homestead)
02 Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll (Hannah Harber)
03 Ways to Be Wicked (Sunkat)
04 Yer So Bad (Tristen)
05 Kings Highway (Michigan Rattlers)
06 Honey Bee (Larkin Poe with Steve Ferrone & Tyler Bryant)
07 Joe (Hannah Wicklund & the Stepping Stones)
08 The Apartment Song (Miss Tess)
09 Sweet William (Edan Archer)
10 There Goes Angela [Dream Away] (Emma Swift)
11 I Need to Know (Starcrawler with Mike Campbell)
12 Wildflowers (Eddie Vedder)
13 Walls [Circus] (Dawes with Mike Viola)
14 Room at the Top (Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit)
15 Square One (Caamp)
16 Honey Bee (Grace Potter with Resynator)
17 Learning to Fly (Kurt Vile)
18 American Girl (Killers)
19 Runnin' Down a Dream (Raconteurs)
20 Listen to Her Heart (Flaming Lips)
21 Don't Come Around Here No More (Beck)
22 The Waiting (Jackson Browne)
23 Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (Lukas Nelson & Margo Price)
24 Southern Accents (Lukas Nelson)
25 Free Fallin' (Susanna Hoffs)
26 Walls [Circus] (Wesley Schultz of the Lumineers)
27 Breakdown (Spoon)
28 Angel Dream No. 2 (Lady Blackbird)
29 Crawling Back to You (Margo Price)
30 Honey Bee (Foo Fighters)
31 Runnin' Down a Dream (Lucinda Williams)
32 Rockin' Around [With You] (Sabina Sciubba)
33 Good Enough (Gary Clark, Jr.)
34 Love Is a Long Road (Dhani Harrison & Graham Coxon)
35 Room at the Top (Amos Lee)
36 Climb That Hill (Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers)
37 Cabin Down Below (Alison Mosshart)
38 Wildflowers (Brandi Carlile)
39 Don't Fade on Me (Chris Stapleton)
40 Time to Move On (Norah Jones)
41 Only a Broken Heart (Norah Jones)
42 King of the Hill (Roger McGuinn)
43 I Won't Back Down (Stephen Stills with Christopher Stills)
44 It's Good to Be King (Dave Stewart)
45 Alright for Now (Emily King)
46 talk (Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench)
47 American Girl (Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench)
48 Something Good Coming (Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench)
49 talk (Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench)
50 We Want Boogie 'bout Midnight (Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench)
51 talk (Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yj163rsU

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/niPJPGTDgY0Se4Y/file

alternate:

https://www.imagenetz.de/cpuNJ

The cover art is the official artwork for the convert. I didn't have to make any changes at all.

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Volume 3.5 (2013)

Note that this isn't exactly an entirely new album. Back in 2018, I posted a "1.5" album to complement "Under the Covers, Volume 1" by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, and a "2.5" album to complement their "Under the Covers, Volume 2." But although they released a "Volume 3" in 2013, I've have more trouble making a "3.5."

The problem was that Sweet and Hoffs obviously are big fans of 1960s and 1970s music, but much less so for 1980s music. Their "Volume 3" was all 1980s music, and while that album was fine, they didn't have that many extra 1980s covers, either as a duo or done solo. However, I realized I'd missed three bonus tracks to the "Volume 3." I also discovered a 2017 version of a 1980s Prince song done by Hoffs. Plus, two more songs actually squeak into the 1980s, being released in the year 1980: "Teacher, Teacher" and "The Tide Is High."

Still, that wasn't enough material for all 1980s covers material. In order to make up for that, I've moved a bunch of songs from my previous 2.5 album here with originals that date from the late 1970s. Specifically, I moved everything from 1977 or after to here. 1977 was a pivotal year, with punk and new wave becoming new musical trends, while disco became super dominant that year as well.

I bunched the late 1970s at the start, before the 1980s ones. However, I end this album with "Marquee Moon," a late 1970s song, since it's a ten-minute long guitar workout, and that seems like a fitting closing song to me.

01 Dreaming (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
02 I Wanna Be Sedated (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
03 You Say You Don't Love Me (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
04 American Girl (Matthew Sweet)
05 Magnet and Steel (Matthew Sweet with Lindsey Buckingham)
06 Train in Vain [Stand by Me] (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
07 The Tide Is High (Matthew Sweet)
08 Teacher, Teacher (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
09 I Would Die 4 U (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
10 You're My Favorite Waste of Time (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
11 Take Me with U (Susanna Hoffs)
12 Marquee Moon (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15263815/MattSwtSusH_2013_UndrCovrsVolme3.5_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo was taken backstage at a concert at the Roxy in Los Angeles in 2007. There were two photos, and one was good except Hoffs looked dead serious. In the other one, she was smiling. So I used Photoshop to add her smile to the other photo.

The Bangles - The Loft, Berlin, Germany, 2-10-1986

The Bangles have never released an official live album. I find this surprising, because the band has been very good live, and a live recording allows one to hear them without the sometimes overly slick production of the studio versions.

When it comes to 1980s Bangles, I prefer their earliest stuff the most, because they were more raw and rocking then. They got very slick and overproduced by the time they broke up in 1988. Unfortunately, the sound quality on live recordings is pretty rough for their first years, until 1986. 1986 was when they hit ir really big with "Manic Monday" and "Walk like an Egyptian," so several of their concerts were recorded for live broadcast by radio stations.

I've listened to parts of those, and the other alleged best recordings from 1986, and I came to the conclusion that the sound quality for a show at The Loft in Berlin, Germany sounds the best. In my opinion, it's about as good as what you'd expect for an official 1980s live album. That's why I'm posting it here.

There's one other 1986 concert that also sounds very good, in my opinion - the Syria Mosque Ballroom Arena (Pittsburgh, PA, 10-29-1986). The Loft recording missed the opening song, plus part of the start of the next song. So I've used the Syria Mosque recording to fill in the missing song, as well as patching in the first half of a minute of the second song. Furthermore, some really great songs were played there that weren't played in Berlin, especially "I Want You" (which would have been a number one hit in my ideal alternate universe) and "Walk like an Egyptian." So I've added three songs to the end. That makes the album an hour and three minutes long.

In terms of fixes, there were a few occasions where there was a burst of unwanted feedback during a song. I mostly managed to patch those up, using bits from the Syria Mosque concert. But if there are any I missed, let me know and I'll fix those too.

01 In a Different Light (Bangles)
02 talk (Bangles)
03 Live (Bangles)
04 Restless (Bangles)
05 talk (Bangles)
06 Walking Down Your Street (Bangles)
07 James (Bangles)
08 Manic Monday (Bangles)
09 talk (Bangles)
10 I'm in Line (Bangles)
11 He's Got a Secret (Bangles)
12 talk (Bangles)
13 If She Knew What She Wants (Bangles)
14 Return Post (Bangles)
15 Let It Go (Bangles)
16 Going Down to Liverpool (Bangles)
17 talk (Bangles)
18 Angels Don't Fall in Love (Bangles)
19 I'm Not Talking (Bangles)
20 Hero Takes a Fall (Bangles)
21 Dover Beach (Bangles)
22 talk (Bangles)
23 September Gurls (Bangles)
24 I Want You (Bangles)
25 Walk like an Egyptian (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15535013/TBangls_1986_TheLoftBerlinGrmany__2-10-1986_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a New Year's Eve concert at the end of 1986.

The Bangles - Light My Way - Non-Album Tracks (1999-2018)

The Bangles essentially have had two careers. The first was their popular heyday, from when they started up in 1981 until when they broke up in 1988. They reformed in 1999 and have been together ever since, but at a less active level. They've only put out two new studio albums since reforming, and clearly the members have other priorities in their lives than being in the Bangles. However, they still have put out consistently excellent work in this second phase.

This album covers nearly all the stray tracks I could find from that second phase. I say "nearly" because I found so many acoustic versions of songs in 2002 and 2003 that I've got an album of that stuff that I'll post later. This is everything else.

Three more songs here are nice covers of Beatles songs ("Good Day Sunshine," "Yes It Is," and "Because.") The remainder consist of three more covers - "Pushin' Too Hard," "Go Where You Wanna Go," and "We Belong" - and four originals.

The last three songs are from 2018. They are from a various artists compilation of bands from the 1980s "Paisley Underground" doing covers of other bands from that same movement. I'm very psyched to see them do a cover of "Jet Fighter" by the Three O'Clock, since that long has been a favorite of mine, a song that should have been a hit in a better world.

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 Get the Girl (Bangles)
02 Across the Universe (Bangles with George Martin)
03 Blackbird (Bangles with George Martin)
04 In My Life (Bangles with George Martin)
05 Pushin' Too Hard (Bangles)
06 Happily Ever Laughter (Bangles)
07 Run Away with Me (Bangles)
08 My Town (Bangles)
09 Good Day Sunshine (Bangles with Matthew Sweet)
10 Light My Way (Bangles)
11 Go Where You Wanna Go (Bangles)
12 We Belong (Bangles)
13 Yes It Is (Bangles)
14 Because (Bangles)
15 Talking in My Sleep (Bangles)
16 Jet Fighter (Bangles)
17 That's What You Always Say (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16700529/TBANGLS1999-2018_LghtMyWay_atse.zip.html

I made the album cover but I don't know where the photo comes from exactly. But it's probably from after 2009, when the band became a three piece.

The Bangles - What I Meant to Say - Non-Album Tracks (1984-1989)

I've posted an album that covers the Bangles' stray tracks from 1981 to 1983. This one carries on to 1989, the year the Bangles broke up (only to reunite about ten years later).

This album is a grab bag of all sorts of things. It includes hit songs ("A Hazy Shade of Winter") as well as unreleased live tracks, B-sides, demos, soundtrack songs, and so on. Note that the first five songs plus "I'm Not Talking," "A Hazy Shade of Winter," and "Creeque Alley" are covers. "Happy Man Today" is a band original, but apparently was only ever played in concert.

There are two songs by "Rainy Day," which was a "supergroup" of sorts of members from various Paisley Underground bands coming together for a one-off album of covers of beloved 1960s songs. Bangle Susanna Hoffs sings lead on just two of the songs on that album, so those are the two I've included here.

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 7 and 7 Is (Bangles)
02 Where Were You When I Needed You (Bangles)
03 I'll Keep It with Mine (Susanna Hoffs & Rainy Day)
04 I'll Be Your Mirror (Susanna Hoffs & Rainy Day)
05 Going Home (Bangles)
06 I Got Nothing (Bangles)
07 Walk like an Egyptian [Acapella Mix] (Bangles)
08 I'm Not Talking (Bangles)
09 Happy Man Today (Bangles)
10 A Hazy Shade of Winter (Bangles)
11 Waiting for You [Demo] (Bangles)
12 Everything I Wanted (Bangles)
13 What I Meant to Say (Bangles)
14 Eternal Flame [Demo] (Bangles)
15 Creeque Alley (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15127565/TBangls_1984-1989_WhtIMeanttoSay_atse.zip.html

I made the cover art based on a publicity photo from 1987.

The Bangles - I Want You - Non-Album Tracks (1981-1983)

I've posted some stuff from Susanna Hoffs here, and I plan on posting more. But I've got some from the band she belonged to, the Bangles.

I'm a bit reluctant to post this particular album, because it has a lot of overlap with the official album "Ladies and Gentlemen... The Bangles," which is a 2014 compilation of material from before the band's first album in 1984. But I think there's enough difference here to justify posting it. Plus, it's the first of several stray tracks compilations from them, and it makes a lot of sense to have all of those posted here.

The core of this album is the A- and B-sides of the Bangles' first single in 1981, and their four song EP in 1982. I got turned on to those songs since the 1980s, and I like it better than most of the rest of their music. They were more rocking, and almost punky (somewhat like early music by the Go-Go's). The album is filled out with some demos, live songs, and a couple of other stray tracks, all in the same vein.

It makes for a short album, but in this case, I say less is more. I've added a couple of live songs not on the official "Ladies and Gentlemen" album. But I also left a few off, either because they're demos that are nearly identical to other versions or they're just not very good (such as a thirty second promo that isn't really a song). I've also left off one song because it's from 1984, and this covers only until 1983, so that one will be on the next Bangles album I post here.

If you haven't heard the early Bangles, you really should give 'em a listen. You might be surprised, because this is quite different from "Eternal Flame." I named this "I Want You" after one of the songs on the EP, because it's one of my favorite hidden gems by any band. In a better world, that song would have been a big hit.

By the way, the last two songs are the live ones. They come from an audience tape that's below my usual standards. But it's the only recording of them doing these songs. One of them ("Renaissance Man")  apparently is an original, and the other one ("Find It") might as well be, because it's a cover of a song from the obscure "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" soundtrack. If the sound isn't good enough for you, just remove those two and you'll still have much of the Bangles' best music here. 

The bonus track, "Brian's Coat," appears to be an original, but has really rough sound quality.

This album is 34 minutes long, not including the bonus track.

01 Getting Out of Hand (Bangles)
02 Call on Me (Bangles)
03 Outside Chance [Demo] (Bangles)
04 Steppin' Out [Demo] (Bangles)
05 Bitchen Summer - Speedway (Bangles)
06 The Real World (Bangles)
07 I'm in Line (Bangles)
08 I Want You (Bangles)
09 Mary Street (Bangles)
10 How Is the Air Up There (Bangles)
11 The Rock and Roll Alternative Program Theme Song (Bangles)
12 I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better (Three O'Clock & the Bangles)
13 Renaissance Man (Bangles)
14 Find It (Bangles)

Brian's Coat (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16700528/TBANGLS1981-1983_IWantYu_atse.zip.html

The cover art is the exact art of the 1982 Bangles EP.

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Volume 2.5 (2009)

A few days ago, I posted my companion album to "Under the Covers, Volume 1," by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. I called it "Under the Covers, Volume 1.5," because it covered the same 1960s material. Here's the exact same thing, except this is "Under the Covers, Volume 2.5," covering 1970s material.

For "Volume 1," Sweet and Hoffs officially released three bonus tracks. For "Volume 2," they released an entire bonus disc that contains ten songs. So my work is done already, right? Not exactly, because there are plenty of other occasions when Sweet and/or Hoffs recorded 1970s songs. That's especially true for Sweet.

Most of the songs on this album are from the 2000s, but two of the Sweet songs are from the 1990s. Plus, for one Hoffs song, I had to reach all the way back to 1991 and her cover of "Feel like Makin' Love." This cover deserves special mention. For one thing, her version is great musically. But I highly, highly recommend you watch the YouTube video, because it's a real hoot. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol4MaEPayv0

As a male, I must say, this is one of the sexiest and most arousing music videos I've ever seen! Hoffs gets so into grooving to the song that I think she would make most professional pole dancers envious of her moves!

A couple other songs deserve special mention. I found a live version of Sweet and Hoffs doing "In the Long Run" together, which seems to be the only time they did this song. Note that this isn't the Eagles song "The Long Run," but instead is a song from the soundtrack to the 1970 cult classic movie "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls."

One song here, the "I've Seen All Good People - Your Move" medley, is merely a bonus track. That's because it also appears on "Volume 2." But this version is worthy of inclusion at least as a bonus track because it's done in a very different style, with just Sweet and Hoffs on acoustic guitars. (Plus, it's really just the "Your Move" part of the medley, while the official version has the full medley.) Additionally, the recording of this version (done for rollingstone.com) was poorly miked, with Sweet's vocals much, much louder than Hoff's. So, using a music editor, I carefully lowered all of Sweet's vocals so they wouldn't stand out. I think it worked. You can find the unedited version at YouTube if you're curious to see the difference.

When I first posted this in 2018, I decided there wasn't enough material to make a "3.5" album to complement the "Under the Covers, Volume 3" album that consists of 1980s covers. There just weren't enough extra 1980s songs, so I put everything here. But I decided that if I move all the songs from 1977 and after to the 3.5 album, that would split the material nicely. 

Thus, all the originals here date from 1970 to 1976. I found a couple more that fit, "Let Me Be the One" and "Do Ya." That means there's more Sweet-led songs than Hoffs-led ones, but so be it. There are a couple of Hoffs songs I could have included that fit the format, but I'm saving those for some solo albums I plan on posting later.

01 [What's So Funny 'Bout] Peace, Love & Understanding (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
02 You Can Close Your Eyes (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
03 Melissa (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
04 A Song for You (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
05 Killer Queen (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
06 Baby Blue (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
07 Livin' Thing (Matthew Sweet)
08 Let Me Be the One (Matthew Sweet)
09 In the Long Run (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
10 The Ballad of El Goodo (Matthew Sweet)
11 Every Night (Matthew Sweet)
12 Feel like Making Love (Susanna Hoffs)
13 It Don't Matter to Me (Matthew Sweet)
14 Do Ya (Matthew Sweet)

I've Seen All Good People - Your Move [Acoustic Version] (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15263891/MattSwtSusH_2009_UndrCovrsVolme2.5_atse.zip.html

I made the cover using a photo of Sweet and Hoffs, but I don't know what year it's from. I copied and pasted the text from one of the official albums to keep that distinctive font, then I changed the numbering.

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Volume 1.5 (2006)

A few days ago, someone asked me if I was familiar with the three "Under the Covers"albums by Hoffs and Matthew Sweet. This is my way of replying yes, yes, I am. :) Those three albums contain nothing but cover versions of classic songs, done by decade. "Under the Covers, Volume 1" came out in 2006 and focused on songs from the 1960s. There were only three official bonus tracks to that. But I've used those plus other 1960s covers to make a companion album. I figured the only logical title I could give it was "Volume 1.5."

Three of the songs here are also on "Volume 1." That's because these are very different acoustic versions, done live in the studio for radio shows. All the other songs are different, and come from a variety of sources. Most of them are from 2006, but I went back to 2002 and 2004 grab two songs and forward to 2009 and 2011 to grab two others. I figure that for this type of album the year the song was recorded isn't as important as the performance and sound quality, as well as it being a 1960s cover. There were just two cases where I included a song that didn't have both Sweet and Hoffs on it ("Big Sky" and "Good Night.")

I've also included "Cinnamon Girl" as a bonus track. The reason it's only a bonus track is because that song is on "Volume 1" and this version isn't very different. (It was done live in a studio.) However, it's in excellent sound quality, so I'm throwing it on in case anyone wants it. 

UPDATE: On October 23, 2022, I updated the mp3 download file. I added one song I'd previously overlooked, "I Can See for Miles."

01 Here Comes the Sun (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
02 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
03 I See the Rain (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
04 Different Drum (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
05 To Sir with Love (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
06 Rain (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
07 I Can See for Miles (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
08 The Village Green Preservation Society (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
09 Sorry (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
10 On the Way Home (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
11 Big Sky (Matthew Sweet)
12 Got to Get You into My Life (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
13 I'll Keep It with Mine (Susanna Hoffs with Petra Haden)
14 Good Night (Matthew Sweet)

Cinnamon Girl (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15263892/MattSwtSusH_2006_UndrCovrsVolme1.5_atse.zip.html

I made the cover using a photo of Sweet and Hoffs, but I don't know what year it's from. I copied and pasted the text from one of the official albums to keep that distinctive font, then I changed the numbering. 

Susanna Hoffs - Summer Daze - Non-Album Tracks (2012-2016)

I'm a big fan of the Bangles as well as Susanna Hoffs' solo career. I'll be posting a bunch of both eventually. Here's a start.

In 2012, Hoffs put out her solo album "Someday." It's a really excellent album. If you haven't heard it yet, please go do so. I'd say it's better than anything the Bangles did since their early years, but in a more mellow and acoustic vein. Anyway, in 2012, she also put out not one but two EPs, both of them with songs on them not found elsewhere. My guess is Hoffs recorded more songs that she wanted to put on her album (since she kept it to an all-killer no-filler 31 minutes in length), and rather than keeping her outtakes locked up in a vault, she released them through the EPs.

Those EP songs got me started on making an album of stray tracks to compliment "Someday." One song on one of the EPs was essentially an acoustic version of one of the album tracks ("One Day (Ragtag Version)"), and I found three more acoustic versions of the album tracks from a live radio appearance. I found three more songs done live in 2012 that weren't on the album.

That alone would have been enough for a 33-minute long album, longer than "Someday" itself. But since 2012, Hoffs has been surprisingly quiet, aside from doing some touring with the Bangles. Here it is 2018 and she hasn't put out another album, either by herself or with the Bangles. In fact, I've found almost no new music from her at all. However, I have found three songs she did from 2015 and 2016, so I've added them at the end.

I've organized this album so the first half is mostly acoustic versions of songs from her "Someday" album or other new acoustic-styled songs, while the second half is mostly cover versions.

01 Picture Me [Acoustic Version] (Susanna Hoffs)
02 Raining [Acoustic Version] (Susanna Hoffs)
03 Always Enough [Acoustic Version] (Susanna Hoffs)
04 Petite Chanson (Susanna Hoffs)
05 Summer Daze (Susanna Hoffs)
06 One Day [Ragtag Version] (Susanna Hoffs)
07 Sally Go 'Round the Roses (Susanna Hoffs)
08 All I've Got to Do (Susanna Hoffs)
09 This Will Be Our Year (Susanna Hoffs)
10 When You Walk in the Room [Acoustic] (Susanna Hoffs)
11 Never My Love (Susanna Hoffs)
12 September Gurls (Susanna Hoffs)
13 I'm Ready to Move On - Wild Heart Reprise (Susanna Hoffs & the Bleachers)
14 Take Me with U (Susanna Hoffs with Petra Haden)
15 I'll Keep It with Mine (Susanna Hoffs with Petra Haden)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15121862/SusannaH_2012_SummrDaze_atse.zip.html

By the way, I still haven't been able to get a new laptop so I can easily work on making album covers some more. However, I saw a photo of Hoffs from 2012 that looks so good I just had to make an album cover anyway. She truly is an ageless beauty, as well as a great singer. Keep in mind that she already was in her 50s when this photo was taken.