Freddie King - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, Late 1974

Here's another episode of the "Ultrasonic" radio show. This one features a concert by blues legend Freddie King.

This is the first album I've posted featuring just Freddie King, so I'll say a little bit about him. His Wikipedia entry says he "was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the 'Three Kings of the Blues Guitar' (along with Albert King and B. B. King, none of whom were related). Known for his soulful and powerful voice and distinctive guitar playing, King had a major influence on electric blues music and on many later blues guitarists." 

Born in Texas in 1934, he first rose to fame in the blues world in the early 1960s with the instrumental "Hide Away" and the song "Have You Ever Loved a Woman." (Derek and the Dominos did a great version of that second one.) In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he crossed over into popularity with rock audiences. He still just played the blues, but he frequently performed at rock festivals and on TV and radio shows like this one. Fun fact: he got namechecked in "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. ("Up all night with Freddie King. I got to tell you, poker's his thing.")

Unfortunately, he worked hard (performing over 300 concerts a year) and partied hard. This led to an early death, in 1976, at the age of 42. It was due to complications from stomach ulcers.  Here's his Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more: 

Freddie King - Wikipedia 

At first, I had a popular bootleg version of this performance. It has some issues, like wobbling of levels during the first song. But luckily, I found a better version. I found out it was included on a rather obscure box set called "Texas Flyer." The bootleg just says it's from some point in 1973. The box set version says "late 1974." I'm going with that, though it's frustrating that even that is vague. 

This album is 51 minutes long. 

01 Big Legged Woman (Freddie King)
02 Woman Across the River (Freddie King)
03 Look Over Yonders Wall (Freddie King)
04 Band Intros - Ain't No Sunshine (Freddie King)
05 Sweet Home Chicago (Freddie King)
06 Boogie Funk [Instrumental] (Freddie King)
07 Little Bluebird (Freddie King)
08 Come On [Let the Good Times Roll] (Freddie King)
09 Going Down (Freddie King)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/F4rw1BEF

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/Coyy94FuXnKDeZu/file

The cover image is from the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switerland, in June 1973. 

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 3-19-1974

I've got to admit, I haven't been familiar with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils at all. But I'm trying to find and post all the Ultrasonic radio concerts I can find, and I found this one. So here we go.

Actually, it's not entirely true that I don't know the music from this band. They had one huge hit that I know: "Jackie Blue." It made it all the way to Number One in a couple of U.S. singles charts in 1975 (though only Number Three in the Billboard one). Unfortunately, this concert is from a year prior to that, so that song isn't here.

However, on the plus side, the band was probably at their creative peak around 1974. If you look at their page of crowd-sourced ratings at the rateyourmusic.com website, their first two albums, from 1973 and 1974, get the highest ratings. After that, it was a long slow slide down. And that pretty much matches their commercial fortunes as well. Actually, at the time of this concert, the band's second album hadn't been released yet. So the focus here is mostly on the songs from their self-titled debut album. Here's what Wikipedia says of that album: "The album introduced the band's unique mixture of rock, country, bluegrass and pop to the world and is still the favorite of many of the group's fans."

Here's the Wikipedia entry about the band:

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Wikipedia 

The music here is unreleased. There was some hiss, but mostly on the talking parts. After I split those bits into separate tracks, I ran a little noise reduction on them. (My rule is to only use noise reduction on talking, not music.) 

This album is one hour long.

01 talk by emcee (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
02 Roll Away the Stone (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
03 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
04 Chicken Train Stomp (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
05 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
06 Love Makes the Lover (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
07 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
08 Country Girl (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
09 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
10 Commercial Success (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
11 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
12 If You Wanna Get to Heaven (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
13 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
14 You Made It Right (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
15 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
16 Homemade Wine (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
17 Mountain Range (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
18 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
19 The Same Old Feeling (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
20 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
21 Look Away (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
22 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
23 River to the Sun (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
24 talk (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)
25 The Roadmaster (Ozark Mountain Daredevils)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FUNHc41C

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/srHD4689bNIlaNH/file

I don't know anything about the cover photo except that it's supposed to be from around 1975.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 11-5-1974

Here's a performance by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on the "Ultrasonic" radio show in 1974.

To be honest, I don't know much about this band, nor have I listened to much of their music, but I'm posting this because I'm trying to post all the Ultrasonic concerts I can find. I mostly know them for the fact that they had the hit with the song "Mr. Bojangles." But while that was their biggest pop hit, they've gone through many styles in a very long music career. For instance, they went through a soft rock phase around the end of the 1970s. Then, for most of the 1980s, they had many country hits.

At the time of this concert, they were definitely in country music mode. The had a big success with their 1972 album "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," which featured many famous country guest stars and helped make country music accessible for the "hippie crowd." Their next album was released in 1974, "Stars & Stripes Forever," and contained a minor hit, "The Battle of New Orleans."

As was typical for the radio show, there was a short interview in the middle of the concert. I've moved it to the end, as a bonus track, since it interrupts the flow of the concert (in my opinion). 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is very good, but not excellent. 

This album is an hour and one minute long, not including the bonus track.

01 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
02 The Moon Just Turned Blue (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
03 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
04 Cosmic Cowboy (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
05 Sally Goodin' - The Battle of New Orleans (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
06 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
07 Jambalaya [On the Bayou] (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
08 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
09 Resign Yourself to Me (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
10 Way Downtown (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
11 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
12 Gentle on My Mind (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
13 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
14 Steamboat Whistle Blues (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
15 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
16 My Walking Shoes (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
17 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
18 Rocky Top (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
19 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
20 Old Joe Clark (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
21 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
22 Fish Song (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
23 Lost Highway (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
24 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
25 Dark as a Dungeon (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
26 Promised Land (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
27 Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
28 talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)

talk (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) 

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

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/yeZQ7B7MSzfzW2I/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on the ABC TV show "In Concert" in August 1973. 

Taj Mahal - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 10-15-1974

Here's an album from blues musician Taj Mahal, from 1974. It's part of my focus on posting albums from "Ultrasonic" radio show concerts.

I'm a fan of Taj Mahal's music. I've posted a couple of sets from him that were part of rock festivals, as well a concert from when he was with the band the Rising Sons in the 1960s, but this is the first time I've posted an entire concert just starring him. I had been meaning to do that for a long time, so I'm glad the Ultrasonic series gave me a good reason.

One thing I like about his music is that while he is mainly known as a blues musician, he hasn't been afraid to play songs from other genres sometimes.  His Wikipedia entry puts it well: "Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific." 

For instance, in this concert he played a couple of reggae songs, including "Johnny Too Bad," which was included on the classic "The Harder They Come" movie soundtrack in 1972. At the time of this concert, he was promoting his 1974 studio album "Mo Roots," which had a strong reggae influence on it.

Here's his Wikipedia entry: 

Taj Mahal (musician) - Wikipedia 

Note that it was usual in this radio series to have an interview in the middle of the concert. I'm less interested in that, so I moved the interview to the end as a mere bonus track. However, I did keep a bit of that section in the concert itself, where he mentioned the names of his backing band. That's why there are two talking tracks in row in the song list, because they're from either end of the interview track.

If anyone know the name of the instrumental that makes up track 15 here, please let me know so I can give it a proper title. 

The music here is unreleased (although I noticed a "grey market" bootleg that looks like a legit release), and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 59 minutes long, not including the interview bonus track. 

01 talk (Taj Mahal)
02 Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue (Taj Mahal)
03 talk (Taj Mahal)
04 Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl (Taj Mahal)
05 talk (Taj Mahal)
06 Black Jack Davey (Taj Mahal)
07 talk (Taj Mahal)
08 Why Did You Have to Desert Me (Taj Mahal)
09 talk (Taj Mahal)
10 talk (Taj Mahal)
11 Further On Down the Road (Taj Mahal)
12 talk (Taj Mahal)
13 Stealin' (Taj Mahal)
14 talk (Taj Mahal)
15 Instrumental (Taj Mahal)
16 talk (Taj Mahal)
17 Johnny Too Bad (Taj Mahal)
18 talk (Taj Mahal)
19 Take a Giant Step (Taj Mahal)

Interview (Taj Mahal) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/CFf3jVPK

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/jTA3YhLH6MHzqrE/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on an ABC TV show in 1973. 

Jackson Browne - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 10-9-1973

Here's Jackson Browne performing for the "Ultrasonic" radio concert series. This from 1973, which is quite early in his long music career.

This concert took place in October 1973, which was the same month as the release of his second album, "For Everyman." So naturally it mostly consists of songs from his first two albums. But it also consists of a song from his next album, "Walking Slow" from "Late for the Sky," plus a cover of the Chuck Berry classic "Sweet Little Sixteen." He performed this with his band, including David Lindley on guitar. He switched between playing guitar and piano.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. I did do some cleaning up, especially boosting the lead vocals on most of the songs, relative to the instruments. And I got rid of some hiss during the talking tracks.

This album is an hour and 19 minutes long.

01 talk (Jackson Browne)
02 Take It Easy (Jackson Browne)
03 talk (Jackson Browne)
04 Don't Lead Me On (Jackson Browne)
05 talk (Jackson Browne)
06 For Everyman (Jackson Browne)
07 talk (Jackson Browne)
08 Song for Adam (Jackson Browne)
09 talk (Jackson Browne)
10 Ready or Not (Jackson Browne)
11 talk (Jackson Browne)
12 Jamaica Say You Will (Jackson Browne)
13 talk (Jackson Browne)
14 Rock Me on the Water (Jackson Browne)
15 Doctor My Eyes (Jackson Browne)
16 These Days (Jackson Browne)
17 talk (Jackson Browne)
18 Redneck Friend (Jackson Browne)
19 Sweet Little Sixteen (Jackson Browne)
20 talk (Jackson Browne)
21 Looking into You (Jackson Browne)
22 talk (Jackson Browne)
23 Walking Slow [Instrumental] (Jackson Browne)
24 talk (Jackson Browne)
25 Under the Falling Sky (Jackson Browne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gbyEH1QD

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/K6TVvQMUmV5k608/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on ABC TV in March 1974. 

Lindisfarne - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 11-28-1972

Here's an appearance by the British folk rock band Lindisfarne on the WLIR Ultrasonic radio show in 1972.

While I've been big fans of similar bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle for ages, for some reason I never got around to listening to Lindisfarne until getting this album ready to post. I've only known a couple of their big hits ("Meet Me on the Corner" and "Lady Eleanor") which are very good songs. I liked what I heard, so hopefully I'll post more of their stuff in the future.

Lindisfarne peaked early. Formed in 1968, they released the albums "Nicely Out of Tune" (1970), "Fog on the Tyne" (1971), and "Dingly Dell" (1972), which all made the Top Ten in the British album charts. "Fog on the Tyne" in particular was the best selling album in Britain that year. However, artistic differences were growing with the album "Dingly Dell," and it didn't result in any big hits. In early 1973, the band split up, with the main songwriter, Alan Hull, staying, but three of the other four members leaving to form the band Jack the Lad. Even Hull put most of his musical energies into a solo career. The band's next album, "Roll on Ruby" in 1973, didn't even make the British album charts, which was a drastic decline in commercial success. (An Alan Hull solo album also released that year did much better.) The band then broke up after one more album. The original band members did get back together in the late 1970s, and had some success, including a hit single. Many more reunions and break-ups followed, with most of the original members gradually falling away.

Given all that, the timing of this radio show is fortuitous. The band had released the third of their successful and acclaimed albums a few months earlier, but were still some months away from breaking up. Five of the songs here are from that third album, "Dingly Dell," while the rest generally come from the first two albums. However, one of the band's best known songs from this ear, "Fog on the Tyne," wasn't performed.

Here's their Wikipedia entry:

Lindisfarne (band) - Wikipedia 

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is very good. 

This album is 58 minutes long. 

01 Meet Me on the Corner (Lindisfarne)
02 talk (Lindisfarne)
03 All Fall Down (Lindisfarne)
04 Plankton's Lament (Lindisfarne)
05 Bring Down the Government (Lindisfarne)
06 talk (Lindisfarne)
07 Turn a Deaf Ear (Lindisfarne)
08 talk (Lindisfarne)
09 Lady Eleanor (Lindisfarne)
10 talk (Lindisfarne)
11 Go Back (Lindisfarne)
12 talk (Lindisfarne)
13 Newcastle Brown Ale (Lindisfarne)
14 talk (Lindisfarne)
15 Alright on the Night (Lindisfarne)
16 talk (Lindisfarne)
17 Scotch Mist [Instrumental] (Lindisfarne)
18 talk (Lindisfarne)
19 Clear White Light (Lindisfarne)
20 talk (Lindisfarne)
21 Together Forever (Lindisfarne)
22 talk (Lindisfarne)
23 No Time to Lose (Lindisfarne)
24 talk (Lindisfarne)
25 Oh No, Not Again (Lindisfarne)
26 talk (Lindisfarne)
27 We Can Swing Together (Lindisfarne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/pHD66Eez

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/jya1ObsdtkNM0V8/file

The cover photo is from an appearance on an unknown British TV show in 1972.

Bonnie Raitt & John Hammond Jr. with Lowell George - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 10-17-1972

Here's a very good acoustic concert split between sets performed by Bonnie Raitt and John Hammond Jr., in 1972. But also, Lowell George, the lead guitarist for Little Feat, played on most of Raitt's songs and a couple of those by Hammond Jr., and even sang one song of his own.

This concert was part of a series of concerts hosted by the radio station WLIR on Long Island, in New York. From 1971 to 1975, they usually broadcast a live show from their Ultrasonic Recording Studios every Tuesday night. They had a really great selection of musical acts. And while these concerts took place in front of a studio audience, it was very small. I came across an article saying that no more than 60 people could fit in the small venue. So these concerts stand out because while there was an audience, the fact that it was a small one, and it was being professionally recorded by a radio station meant the sound quality was excellent.

I already have way too many albums I want to post at this blog. That said, I've decided to make a more concerted effort to post more of these WLIR Ultrasonic concerts. It turns out I've already posted five of them, concerts by: Fleetwood Mac, Lou Reed, Jonathan Edwards, the Doobie Brothers, and Dr. John. If you want to find them, I've made a new label called "WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series," so look for that at the side bar on any webpage at my blog. I just redid the album covers of all five of those albums I've posted already, so they all can share the same font type and color. In case you're curious, I've found 30 more concerts recorded for that radio show, and there's probably still more out there.

Anyway, getting back to this specific concert, Raitt's long music career had just begun at the time. It took place a month after she released her second studio album, "Give It Up." John Hammond Jr. is the son of John Hammond, a legendary record producer, who helped start the music careers of Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and many, many more. John Hammond Jr. has spent most of his music career playing the blues, especially by singing and playing the harmonica and slide guitar. At the time of this concert, he was already a music veteran having released about a dozen albums since 1963.

Fun fact about Hammond Jr.: in 1966, Jimi Hendrix was the lead guitarist in his band, for about a week, just before Hendrix left to try to make it big in England. Then, in 1967, after making it big there, Hendrix was back in the U.S. where he was still relatively unknown, and had some time off. So he sat in with Hammond Jr.'s band again for another week, and at the same time, Eric Clapton sat in with the band as well! Too bad nobody made any recordings of that. Here's the source of that story:

Tangled up in blues | AudioFile | Colorado Springs Independent 

For this concert, Raitt performed in acoustic mode for the first half. She was backed just by Freebo, a bassist, on all her songs. Plus, for all but two of her songs, she was also backed by Lowell George on lead guitar. Then George sang one of the songs he wrote for his band Little Feat, "Apolitical Blues." Hammond Jr. also played on two of Raitt's songs. At that point, Hammond Jr. took over for the second half of the concert. He played five songs by himself. Then, for the last two songs, he was joined by Raitt and George. The changing musicians are a bit confusing, so look to the names mentioned in the song list.

The music here remains unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and 19 minutes long. 

01 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
02 Love Me like a Man (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
03 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
04 Under the Falling Sky (Bonnie Raitt)
05 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
06 Love Has No Pride (Bonnie Raitt)
07 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
08 Going Down to Louisiana - Rollin' and Tumblin' (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
09 talk (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
10 Can't Find My Way Home (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
11 tuning (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
12 Big Road (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George & John Hammond Jr.)
13 You Got to Know How (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
14 talk (Bonnie Raitt with Lowell George)
15 Apolitical Blues (Lowell George with Bonnie Raitt & John Hammond Jr.)
16 talk (John Hammond Jr. & Bonnie Raitt)
17 Riding in the Moonlight (John Hammond Jr.)
18 talk (John Hammond Jr.)
19 As the Years Go Passing By (John Hammond Jr.)
20 All Night Long (John Hammond Jr.)
21 talk (John Hammond Jr.)
22 I Can't Be Satisfied (John Hammond Jr.)
23 The Sky Is Crying (John Hammond Jr.)
24 talk (John Hammond Jr.)
25 Honest I Do (John Hammond Jr. with Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George)
26 talk (John Hammond Jr. with Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George)
27 It's Too Late (John Hammond Jr. with Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/RVd7h517

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/sq7mBENPRmetmhj/file

I found a photo of everyone involved here taken backstage at this exact concert. However, I decided not to use it for the album cover, for a couple of reasons. One is that the picture is in black and white, and is low-res. It would be hard to make it look good, and to colorize it. But the other problem is there are a bunch of people in the photo who I'd rather not be there. Still, it's an interesting photo, especially in showing Bonnie Raitt sitting in the lap of John Hammond Jr. Here it is, if you're curious.

As for the actual cover photo used, I wanted to find a photo of Raitt and Hammond together, but I couldn't find a good one. So I went with a photo of just Raitt in concert, in 1971. It was black and white, so I colorized it using the Kolorize program. (It's way easier to colorize a photo with just one person in it.)  

The Doobie Brothers - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, West Hempstead, NY, 5-31-1973

The Doobie Brothers have gone through some significant musical shifts during their long musical career. Most of their success came in the 1970s, when they were popular for most of the decade. But in the early 1970s they were more of a rocking band, with Tom Johnston their main singer and songwriter. But he had health issues as the decade went on, and was increasingly sidelined, to the point that he quit the band in 1977. He was gradually replaced by Michael McDonald, who led the band in more of a soft rock and soul direction.

Personally, I'm not a fan of McDonald's music. When I think of him, I think cheesy "yacht rock." I much prefer the band's sound before he took the band over. Therefore, when it comes to looking for a concert bootleg of the band from the 1970s, I'd want something from, oh, about 1973 to 1975, after the band had some hits but before Johnston was sidelined by McDonald. But for whatever reason, there's slim pickings when it comes to bootlegs from that time period. It turns out there's really just one recording that fits the bill with excellent sound quality, and that's this one.

This show sounds pretty good because it was broadcast live on the radio at the time. I've posted a few other shows from this same "Ultrasonic" series. That said, I could tell there were some problems, especially with the bass sounding way too loud. So I sent the recording to musical associate MZ. He told me that the recording "was missing frequencies 15000-17000 Hz, and boosting volume on these frequencies made the sound clearly and not so bass-heavy." He also added some more stereo image. I think it sounds significantly better now.

There still is one other problem. The tape ran out while recording the song "Without You." Whoever bootlegged it adjusted it so it fades out instead of coming to a sudden halt. Luckily, the song had been going seven minutes at that point, so I think nearly all of it was recorded. It's possible there were more songs after that, but maybe not because one would think they would want to end on a high note, and they played all their hits by that point in the show.

At this point, the Doobie Brothers were more rocking than they would be later. You might be surprised.

This album is 50 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On September 12, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I changed the title and the cover art to be consistent with other albums from this same Ultrasonic radio show.

01 talk (Doobie Brothers)
02 South City Midnight Lady (Doobie Brothers)
03 talk (Doobie Brothers)
04 Clear as the Driven Snow (Doobie Brothers)
05 talk (Doobie Brothers)
06 Long Train Running (Doobie Brothers)
07 talk (Doobie Brothers)
08 Listen to the Music (Doobie Brothers)
09 talk (Doobie Brothers)
10 China Grove (Doobie Brothers)
11 Rockin' Down the Highway (Doobie Brothers)
12 talk (Doobie Brothers)
13 Disciple (Doobie Brothers)
14 Jesus Is Just Alright - Disciple (Doobie Brothers)
15 Without You (Doobie Brothers)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nPYePnF9

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/sp0W2TocXQrfDCB/file

The cover is a promo photo taken in New York City in April 1973. The lettering of the band name at the top comes from one of their albums.

Lou Reed - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 12-26-1972

A weird thing just happened to me. I've never ever had a dream involving this blog in any way, but I had one last night. I don't remember much about it, but I know it involved me posting a Lou Reed concert from 1972. Actually, that was pretty much it. It was a very boring dream! But hey, I figure if my dream was telling me that, I'd better follow though. As it so happens, I know of only one Reed bootleg concert from 1972 that has excellent sound quality, so my dream must have been referring to that one. ;) Here it is.

After Reed left the Velvet Underground in mid-1970, he didn't do any recording or touring for over a year. In fact, for a time there, he worked as a typist in his father's accounting firm! But he put out an album in early 1972, simply called "Lou Reed," and another one in late 1972, "Transformer," and resumed touring around the middle of the year. All the other bootlegs of him from 1972 that I've heard sound fairly poor to awful. (If you know of any really good ones, please let me know.) But this one stands out because it was recorded for the radio. I've posted concerts by Dr. John, Jonathan Edwards, and Fleetwood Mac as part of this same radio show.

The good news is the sound quality is fantastic, due to it being professionally recorded for the radio. The bad news is the show is on the short side, probably due to that radio station giving Reed a limited amount of time. This is just shy of one hour long. Reed seems to have opted for playing his best known songs at that point in his career, so it's almost like a greatest hits. His "Transformer" album had been released the month before, and "Walk on the Wild Side" became an unlikely hit. He played four songs from that album, two songs from his first solo album, and five songs from his Velvet Underground days.

The only thing I did with this recording was break his talking between songs onto their own tracks. This was a bit tough because he usually started talking while the applause from the previous song was going full blast. I suppose he did that also due to him feeling rushed because of the time limitation for the radio show.

If you're a fan of the Velvet Underground, you should love this. The band was tight and rocking. Most of the songs are from his Velvet Underground days, since many of the songs on Reed's first two solo albums actually were written back then. Plus, the sound quality is far superior to virtually all known Velvet Underground live recordings. 

This album is 57 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On September 12, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I changed the title and the cover art to be consistent with other albums from this same Ultrasonic radio show.

01 talk (Lou Reed)
02 White Light-White Heat (Lou Reed)
03 talk (Lou Reed)
04 Vicious (Lou Reed)
05 I'm Waiting for the Man (Lou Reed)
06 talk (Lou Reed)
07 Walk and Talk It (Lou Reed)
08 talk (Lou Reed)
09 Sweet Jane (Lou Reed)
10 Heroin (Lou Reed)
11 talk (Lou Reed)
12 Satellite of Love (Lou Reed)
13 Walk on the Wild Side (Lou Reed)
14 I'm So Free (Lou Reed)
15 talk (Lou Reed)
16 Berlin (Lou Reed)
17 talk (Lou Reed)
18 Rock and Roll (Lou Reed)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UmvqqAku

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/gai6eCgArltqUnr/file 

In September 2025, I replaced the cover photo, as I didn't think the previous one looked very good. It was black and white, and then I tinted it. Instead, I found a different black and white photo of him, taken some time in 1972, and colorized it using the Kolorize program.

Jonathan Edwards - WLIR Tuesday Night Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 12-12-1972

If you've been following this blog for a while, I hope you've gotten a sense of the type of music I post and you know I'm not going to post something unless I think it's good. I further hope you'll trust me enough to try out some artists you're not too familiar with. If you like early 1970s acoustic-based singer-songwriters like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, and so on, I strongly urge you to give this a try.

Jonathan Edwards had a brief moment in the spotlight with the song "Sunshine." It was a number four hit in the US in 1971 and did about as well in Canada, though it seems to have been ignored in Britain. The album it came from, simply called "Jonathan Edwards," is kind of a sleeper classic, and I also strongly recommend you should get that one if you don't have it already.

Since then, Edwards has kept his music career going all the way until today, but at a much lower profile. He never had another song or album reach the top 100 in the charts, but he's kept plugging away anyway. When I went looking for a photo of him from the early 1970s to use for the album cover, I was shocked at how there were virtually no photos of him from that time, so I fear his music has largely been forgotten. And that's a shame, because he's a lot better than just one hit song or even one well regarded album.

This is an entire concert from him, slightly over one hour long. It's a bootleg recording, yes, but it sounds fantastic, better than a lot of official live albums from the time. It was recorded in a radio station record studio in front of a very small audience and played live on that radio station. So this is no ordinary concert recording. It's just Jonathan Edwards and his acoustic guitar and harmonica, plus one other musician who changes instruments from song to song, usually playing either bass or violin.

Basically, this is like having Edwards sitting on your porch playing his best songs and telling stories. I wish he would have released an album just like this back in the day; maybe he would have had more success. After his hit, he had trouble capturing how good his music was on his albums. (It hasn't helped that he changed record companies fairly often, so there never has been any best of compilation, or any other sort of archival releases.)

Here's an interesting little fact: most of the songs from this concert were written by Edwards, but about three or four were written by Joe Dolce, who would later have a huge number one hit, all over the world in 1980,"Shaddap Your Face." Dolce had a long career as a songwriter and poet before his novelty hit, and he and Edwards were in a band together in the late 1960s. A story Edwards tells during the concert about an unnamed band member who took acid in the countryside and got shocked by an electric fence is actually a reference to Dolce.

There was only one problem with this concert, and that's that it didn't have Edward's hit song "Sunshine" on it. The bootleg recording wasn't complete, because right as it gets cut off, one can hear Edwards counting in to starting another song. I'm sure he wanted to end the show with his hit. Luckily, I was able to find a live acoustic performance of him doing that song for a TV show, so I added that in at the end. It didn't have any crowd applause when the song finished, which sounded weird since all the other songs do. So I copied some applause from another song earlier in the concert to make that last song fit in with the others.

By the way, I cut out some of the dead air between songs, such as when the guitar is getting tuned. Also, one tradition in the WLIR Ultrasonic concert series was that halfway through the concert there would be an intermission in which the musician would be interviewed by the emcee / host. I cut that out, since it doesn't bear repeated listening. But you can hear the emcee talking between songs some, especially near the end when he has a request for the song "Athens County." He was miked up, so he sounds as loud and clear as Edwards whenever he speaks.

This album is an hour and two minutes long. 

UPDATE: On September 12, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I changed the title and the cover art to be consistent with other albums from this same Ultrasonic radio show.

01 Travelin' Man (Jonathan Edwards)
02 King of Hearts (Jonathan Edwards)
03 Someone Better Listen (Jonathan Edwards)
04 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
05 The Ballad of Upsy Daisy (Jonathan Edwards)
06 My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame (Jonathan Edwards)
07 Sometimes (Jonathan Edwards)
08 Morning Train (Jonathan Edwards)
09 Stop and Start It All Again (Jonathan Edwards)
10 Rolling Along (Jonathan Edwards)
11 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
12 Angelina (Jonathan Edwards)
13 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
14 Jump's Breakdown (Jonathan Edwards)
15 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
16 Jesse (Jonathan Edwards)
17 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
18 Shanty (Jonathan Edwards)
19 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
20 Train of Glory (Jonathan Edwards)
21 Everybody Knows Her (Jonathan Edwards)
22 talk (Jonathan Edwards)
23 Athens County (Jonathan Edwards)
24 You Are My Sunshine - Sunshine [Go Away Today] (Jonathan Edwards)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FTcr6MQC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/hCBhnq5z8CPsIg2/file

As I mentioned above, I was amazed at how few good photos there are of Edwards from the 1970s. Luckily, I found one, from a concert in 1973. In February 2025, I improved it with the help of the Krea AI program.

Dr. John - WLIR Tuesday Night Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 11-6-1973

Dr. John passed away earlier this month at 77 years old (as I write this in June 2019). To mark the occasion, and celebrate his considerable musical legacy, I'm posting this album. I think if you want just one Dr. John live album, it should be this one.

Dr. John's was first put on the musical map in 1968 with the release of his first solo album, after having a minor role for many years prior to that. But he didn't really hit it big until 1973, when he had his two and only hit singles, "Right Place, Wrong Time" and "Such a Night." Unfortunately, he got addicted to heroin and went into a musical decline for much of the rest of the 1970s. He eventually kicked his addiction and became a long-standing New Orleans musical institution.

Luckily, this album captures him at his peak, near the end of the year he had his most commercial success. Furthermore, it's an excellent sounding recording. The New York radio station WLIR had weekly live concerts in the early 1970s, and this is a part of that. It was recorded in a studio, but it's in front of a small audience. So as far as ideal recording circumstances for a live album, it doesn't get much better than that.

This has never been released, and in fact there isn't any live recordings I know of from Dr. John's peak years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (There is a album from 1975, not much later, but he already was a mess by then, and it shows.) This performance has been available as a grey market release for a long time. But for some reason that version doesn't include the last two songs, and has other issues, such as getting some of the song titles wrong.

The song list is very good as well, with Dr. John doing a mix of the songs he's known best for as well as some choice rarities, such as the sappy Jackie DeShannon hit "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" done New Orleans style. All in all, it's nearly an hour and a half of music.

UPDATE: On September 12, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is exactly the same. But I changed the title and the cover art to be consistent with other albums from this same Ultrasonic radio show.

01 Loop Garoo (Dr. John)
02 Walk On Gilded Splinters (Dr. John)
03 Danse Kalinda da Boom (Dr. John)
04 Stag-O-Lee (Dr. John)
05 Travelin' Mood (Dr. John)
06 Junco Partner (Dr. John)
07 Life (Dr. John)
08 Put a Little Love in Your Heart (Dr. John)
09 Tipitina (Dr. John)
10 Mess Around (Dr. John)
11 I've Been Hoodooed (Dr. John)
12 Such a Night (Dr. John)
13 Right Place, Wrong Time (Dr. John)
14 Let the Good Times Roll (Dr. John)
15 Wang Dang Doodle (Dr. John)
16 Mama Roux (Dr. John)
17 Qualified (Dr. John)
18 Little Liza Jane (Dr. John)
19 Mama Don't Allow No Dr John in Here (Dr. John)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hnxNpTua 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/VhhPX6LJK3MSSyE/file

For the cover, I found a photo of Dr. John performing in Montreux, Switzerland, in July 1973, a few months before this concert. I think Elton John would be envious of his outfit! ;)

Fleetwood Mac - WLIR Ultrasonic Concert Series, Ultrasonic Recording Studios, Hempstead, NY, 10-8-1974

I've wanted to post something from the 1972 to 1974 Bob Welch-led era of Fleetwood Mac, that mostly forgotten time between the end of the Peter Green-led blues years and the start of the Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham dominated pop rock years.

Unfortunately, there just isn't much to post. For instance, I can't do a stray tracks album since pretty much zero stray tracks have been made public. In fact, because Fleetwood Mac went way down in popularity at this time, even the number of good bootlegs is very small.

Luckily, there is this one concert as an exception. It comes right at the end of that era (a month or two before Welsh left and Nicks and Buckingham joined), and it's a really nice concert. Because it was recorded in a recording studio (though with an audience) it has excellent sound quality. I think it shows this version of the band is very underrated.

By the way, keep in mind that Christine McVie is in the band through this whole time period. She already was doing the pop rock thing that would explode in popularity in 1975 and after. I think some of her songs here would be huge hits if they would have been included on the "Rumours" album a few years later instead.

UPDATE: On September 12, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. I removed two extra songs at the end, because they're from a different concert and I now have posted that concert in full. I also made changes to the cover art and title to match other albums from the same radio show.

01 The Green Manalishi [With the Two Prong Crown] (Fleetwood Mac)
02 Spare Me a Little of Your Love (Fleetwood Mac)
03 Sentimental Lady (Fleetwood Mac)
04 Future Games (Fleetwood Mac)
05 Bermuda Triangle (Fleetwood Mac)
06 Why (Fleetwood Mac)
07 Angel (Fleetwood Mac)
08 Homeward Bound (Fleetwood Mac)
09 Rattlesnake Shake (Fleetwood Mac)
10 Hypnotized (Fleetwood Mac)
11 Black Magic Woman (Fleetwood Mac)
12 Mystery to Me (Fleetwood Mac)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/qwR4XCbR 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/e6qPr2VGybHaGRb/file

For the album cover, I found some cover art from a popular bootleg of the show, using actual photos from the show. The front cover of this bootleg just had a photo of one of the band members (Bob Welch), so I used the back cover instead, and added the text from the front to the middle of it.