Brandi Carlile - Cover Songs, Volume 3: 2011-2013

Here's Volume 3 out of my six albums series of Brandi Carlile doing cover songs. I haven't gotten much feedback on the first two albums yet, but I hope you're enjoying them. As I said previously, she's got a fantastic voice, and a great taste in covers.

The songs on this album are more varied than on the previous one. That one was pretty much all classics. This one has some more unusual choices. But they're all good songs as well as good performances, or I wouldn't have included them.

In terms of sound quality, only three of the songs have been officially released. But I've tried hard to maintain high standards for this whole series, although that meant cutting some songs. That's the case here also.  I used the MVSEP audio editing program to remove most of the crowd noise on the songs that had crowd noise.

This album is 50 minutes long.

These are the artists that did the original and/or most famous versions:

01 Me and Bobby McGee - Kris Kristofferson - Janis Joplin
02 He Stopped Loving Her Today - George Jones
03 O Holy Night - Adolphe Adam
04 The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
05 I've Got to Use My Imagination - Gladys Knight & the Pips
06 The Neverending Story - Limahl
07 Simple Man - Graham Nash
08 Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
09 Murder in the City - Avett Brothers
10 Keep on the Sunny Side - Carter Family
11 I Can't Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt
12 Work Song - Hozier
13 Bring It On Home to Me - Sam Cooke

Here's the usual song list:

01 Me and Bobby McGee (Brandi Carlile)
02 He Stopped Loving Her Today (Brandi Carlile)
03 O Holy Night (Brandi Carlile)
04 The Chain (Brandi Carlile)
05 I've Got to Use My Imagination (Brandi Carlile with Stephen Stills & John Mayer)
06 The Neverending Story (Shooter Jennings & Brandi Carlile)
07 Simple Man (Brandi Carlile)
08 Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Brandi Carlile)
09 Murder in the City (Brandi Carlile)
10 Keep on the Sunny Side (Brandi Carlile with the Avett Brothers)
11 I Can't Make You Love Me (Brandi Carlile)
12 Work Song (Brandi Carlile)
13 Bring It On Home to Me (Brandi Carlile & Anderson East)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/YUDHdEDP

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/SFobweDMHFWTG17/file

The cover art photo comes from an appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show in 2013.

The Eagles - Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA, 6-8-1994

Sometimes when I'm putting these albums together, things work out so nicely that it's almost uncanny. This is one of those times. :) I just posted a bootleg of the Eagles performing a full concert for MTV Unplugged in 1994. After doing two shows for MTV, the Eagles went on a lengthy tour. When I was getting ready to post that concert yesterday, I wondered if they'd played some songs on that tour that they didn't play for MTV Unplugged. I'd expected maybe a couple, because the Unplugged show was two hours long and included lots of big hits. To my surprise, I found a concert from two months later in 1994 that had almost another hour and a half of different songs!

So I've made this album. It contains absolutely zero songs in the MTV Unplugged concert I just posted, making it the ideal complimentary album to that one. And while the song quality for the Unplugged show is fantastic, this is nearly as good. It too comes from a soundboard, with the audience noise fairly low compared to the music from the band.

The Eagles are one of the most successful musical acts of all time, and Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Joe Walsh had lots of solo success on top of that. The Unplugged show was dominated by Eagles hits and only had a smattering of their solo hits. This recording, by contrast, has a much higher percentage of solo material, including some all-time classics, like "The Boys of Summer," "Life's Been Good," and "Rocky Mountain Way." Including the quasi-bonus tracks (which I will explain below), only five of the songs here were originally done by the Eagles, while 12 were not. In a way, I think this is the more interesting concert in that it allows you to hear Eagles versions of solo songs.

As for those three quasi-bonus tracks, after all the hits the Eagles played at the MTV Unplugged concert, and then at this concert, there are still more big hits that they didn't include! Three of them - "Walk Away," "Sunset Grill," and "The Long Run" - were done for a concert 10 years later that was released on video. So I've included them. You might or might not want to keep them, depending on what you think of adding in performances from a full decade later.

Note though that even with those three songs included, there are still more big hits not included, such as "Witchy Woman," "Turn to Stone," "All Night Long," "A Life of Illusion," "The End of the Innocence," "The Last Worthless Evening," "The Heat Is On," and more.

01 Victim of Love (Eagles)
02 talk (Eagles)
03 New Kid in Town (Eagles)
04 talk (Eagles)
05 Ordinary Average Guy (Eagles)
06 talk (Eagles)
07 Lyin' Eyes (Eagles)
08 talk (Eagles)
09 You Belong to the City (Eagles)
10 The Boys of Summer (Eagles)
11 Funk No. 49 (Eagles)
12 Dirty Laundry (Eagles)
13 Smuggler's Blues (Eagles)
14 Life's Been Good (Eagles)
15 All She Wants to Do Is Dance (Eagles)
16 Amazing Grace [Instrumental] (Eagles)
17 Rocky Mountain Way (Eagles)
18 Already Gone (Eagles)
19 Walk Away (Eagles)
20 Sunset Grill (Eagles)
21 The Long Run (Eagles)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/EhX66BUv

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/7QAZzlJF2xd4N7X/file

For the album cover, I used another photo of the band at their MTV Unplugged concert. I suspect it's from the concert video of that. I found surprisingly few good photos from their 1994 tour, other than that. In February 2025, I upgraded the image slightly with the help of the Krea AI program.

The Eagles - MTV Unplugged, Warner Brothers Studios, Burbank, CA, 4-25-1994

Here's a remarkable bootleg recording. I never knew it existed until I luckily stumbled upon it yesterday. I've immediately fixed it up so I can share it. In short, in 1994, the Eagles got back together after 14 years and recorded a concert for MTV Unplugged. They later released it as the album "Hell Freezes Over" with four additional studio tracks. It went on to sell millions and millions of copies. This is not that. But the very next night they did a second MTV Unplugged show, and this is that. This is actually better than the "Hell Freezes Over" in several ways I will explain. If you're an Eagles fan, you definitely will want to hear this.

First off, I have to point out the incredible sound quality. Even though it's a bootleg, the sound is so good that sometimes you can hear the squeaking of fingers sliding on the guitar strings. Clearly, this was professionally recorded as part of a plan to make the "Hell Freezes Over" album, but the other night was chosen instead.

What's even better though is that this is a full concert, lasting three minutes shy of two hours, whereas "Hell Freezes Over" only includes about 60 minutes of live music. There are 22 songs here, compared to 11 live songs on that album. As mentioned above, that album had the four studio tracks as well. This concert has those same four new songs ("Get Over It," "Love Will Keep Us Alive," "The Girl from Yesterday," and "Learn to Be Still"), but in live versions. Even the live tracks on "Hell Freezes Over" apparently had a lot of tweaking and overdubbing done to them. There's none of that here. Nor is any necessary. The performance is pretty much flawless. (But the band is known for being perfectionist, so I suppose the tinkering isn't that surprising.)

Ironically, given what I just said about tinkering, I did some editing myself - but not of the music. One thing I did was cut out a lot of dead air between songs. Because this was being recorded to potentially be shown on TV, the band wanted to get everything just right, so there were longer delays than usual between songs. There also were false starts to two of the songs. I got rid of those as well. Additionally, I separated all the talking between songs onto their own tracks and usually upped the volume on those some.

In my opinion, if you want just one live Eagles recording, this is the one to get. It was recorded right at the tail end of their main hit making era, with the five most important band members (from the "Long Run" era) still in the band and relatively young and vital. And it's not just a carbon copy of their studio recordings. The first portion of it is in acoustic format, mostly. They go back to rocking with electric instruments for the second half, but even that is different due to the inclusion of a full orchestra.

01 Peaceful Easy Feeling (Eagles)
02 talk (Eagles)
03 Best of My Love (Eagles)
04 talk (Eagles)
05 Tequila Sunrise (Eagles)
06 Help Me through the Night (Eagles)
07 talk (Eagles)
08 The Heart of the Matter (Eagles)
09 talk (Eagles)
10 Love Will Keep Us Alive (Eagles)
11 talk (Eagles)
12 Learn to Be Still (Eagles)
13 talk (Eagles)
14 Hotel California (Eagles)
15 Wasted Time (Eagles)
16 Lover's Moon (Eagles)
17 talk (Eagles)
18 Pretty Maids All in a Row (Eagles)
19 I Can't Tell You Why (Eagles)
20 talk (Eagles)
21 The Girl from Yesterday (Eagles)
22 talk (Eagles)
23 New York Minute (Eagles)
24 talk (Eagles)
25 The Last Resort (Eagles)
26 talk (Eagles)
27 Take It Easy (Eagles)
28 One of These Nights (Eagles)
29 In the City (Eagles)
30 Heartache Tonight (Eagles)
31 talk (Eagles)
32 Life in the Fast Lane (Eagles)
33 talk (Eagles)
34 Get Over It (Eagles)
35 talk (Eagles)
36 Desperado (Eagles)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/W5n6zW8d

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/l5rYCU1yuC0IF3k/file

The cover art photo comes from the two nights the band played their MTV Unplugged concerts. Chances are it's from the first night, and is a screenshot from the video of that show. In February 2025, I improved the image slightly with the help of the Krea AI program.

Manfred Mann - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: 1966-1969

Here's my other album of Manfred Mann's 1960s performances at the BBC. This one starts in mid-1966, when the band's lead singer Paul Jones was replaced by Mike d'Abo. It ends when the band broke up in early 1969. (The band would morph into Manfred Mann Chapter III with significantly different personnel, and then later into Manfred Mann's Earth Band after still more changes.)

I did this in the exact same way I did the first album that deals with the band's 1964 to 1966 BBC performances. Using material from the "Radio Days" official albums, I only used one version of each song. Then I also eliminated any songs that the band never did on record. As I explained in my previous post about the band, I'll be using those recordings elsewhere. So that mostly just leaves the band playing versions of their best known songs.

Also like the previous BBC album by this band, I systematically removed any instance when the BBC DJs talked over the music. Using the sound editing software X-Minus, I was able to wipe the talking completely while keeping the underlying music. Some people commented that they're fond of those DJs. If you like their talking, you still have the option of listening to them on the official "Radio Days" album. This provides an option for those who just want to hear the music. The ones I did change have "[Edit]" in the title.

Personally, I think Manfred Mann came into their own in their second phase, when Mike d'Abo was the lead singer. About half the songs here were hits, and many of the songs were written by band members. So if you like 1960s music but you've never paid much attention to the band, this is a good place to start.

This album is 46 minutes long.

01 Just like a Woman (Manfred Mann)
02 Mohair Sam (Manfred Mann)
03 Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James (Manfred Mann)
04 Morning after the Party [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
05 Ha Ha Said the Clown (Manfred Mann)
06 Sweet Pea (Manfred Mann)
07 So Long Dad (Manfred Mann)
08 Hoochie Coochie Man [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
09 The Mighty Quinn [Quinn the Eskimo] (Manfred Mann)
10 Cubist Town [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
11 Sleepy Hollow [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
12 My Name Is Jack (Manfred Mann)
13 The Vicar's Daughter [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
14 Each and Every Day [Day Time, Night Time] [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
15 Fox on the Run (Manfred Mann)
16 Ragamuffin Man (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15157771/ManfredM_1966-1969_BBSessionsVolume2_atse.zip.html

The publicity photo I used for the cover art dates to 1967.

Brandi Carlile - Cover Songs, Volume 2: 2011-2013

Yesterday, I posted Volume 1 in my series of albums of Brandi Carlile performing cover songs. Today is Volume 2, and I hope to post each succeeding album on following days. There are six in all.

As I explained in my previous post about her, up until very recently, I had no opinion about Carlile. She's been successful both in terms of sales and criticism with her original material. But this is all covers, so that's a moot point. What matters here is her choice in songs, and how well she performs them. I think she has great taste, choosing great songs in a variety of genres.  Unlike the last album in this series, which had a few obscure songs, every song here is an undeniable classic. And her voice is top notch, one of the best of her generation. So what's not to like? If you've never heard her before, please give this a listen.

When it comes to sound quality, 11 out of 15 of the songs here are officially unreleased. But, as I said in my notes for the last album in this series, I've maintained a high standard over which songs to include. These all sound good.  I used the MVSEP audio editing program to remove most of the crowd noise on the songs that had crowd noise.

This album is 52 minutes long.

Here are the original artists for each song:

01 Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley
02 Crazy - Patsy Cline / Willie Nelson
03 Nothing Compares 2 U - Prince / Sinead O'Connor
04 It's Over - Roy Orbison
05 Down on the Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival
06 Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
07 Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
08 Oh, Darling - Beatles
09 Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash
10 Wild Horses - Rolling Stones
11 In Spite of Ourselves - John Prine
12 Helplessly Hoping - Crosby, Stills & Nash
13 Making Believe - Kitty Wells
14 Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver
15 '39 - Queen

Here's the song list:

01 Can't Help Falling in Love (Brandi Carlile)
02 Crazy (Brandi Carlile)
03 Nothing Compares 2 U (Brandi Carlile)
04 It's Over (Brandi Carlile)
05 Down on the Corner (Brandi Carlile & the Lumineers)
06 Landslide (Brandi Carlile)
07 Folsom Prison Blues (Brandi Carlile)
08 Oh, Darling (Brandi Carlile & Ingrid Michaelson)
09 Sunday Morning Coming Down (Brandi Carlile)
10 Wild Horses (Brandi Carlile with Mike McCready)
11 In Spite of Ourselves (Brandi Carlile & Eric Earley)
12 Helplessly Hoping (Brandi Carlile)
13 Making Believe (Willie Nelson & Brandi Carlile)
14 Take Me Home, Country Roads (Brandi Carlile & Emmylou Harris)
15 '39 (Brandi Carlile)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UPHpVmBV

alternate:

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

The cover art photo comes from a Johnny Cash tribute concert in 2012. "Folsom Prison Blues" here comes from that.

The Clash - Jaap Edenhal, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5-10-1981

The Clash could be great playing live at times. But they've only released two live albums: "From Here to Eternity" and "Live at Shea Stadium." I find both of them strangely disappointing. The first one samples live performances from when they started out in clubs until when they ended in stadiums, and I don't think it holds together. For the latter one, I don't think they were at their best when they were playing a greatest hits type set list in front of 50,000 people.

I've searched for better live recordings, but it's been tough. One reason I post a lot of live solo acoustic material at this blog is that bootlegs of music in that format usually sound pretty good. It's hard to mess up a recording when all you have is a voice and a guitar. But when you have a full band, a recording can sound murky and bad if it isn't mixed right. That's the case for the vast majority of Clash bootlegs, from what I've heard. Luckily, there are a few exceptions. This is one of the very best.

This is a complete 57-minute long show from after the band's "Sandanista!" album. Only six of the songs come from that album though. There are songs from all parts of their career up until that point. In my opinion, the band plays with a lot of energy and often sounds even better than they did on record.

01 London Calling (Clash)
02 The Leader (Clash)
03 Somebody Got Murdered (Clash)
04 talk (Clash)
05 White Man in Hammersmith Palais (Clash)
06 talk (Clash)
07 The Guns of Brixton (Clash)
08 Lightning Strikes [Not Once but Twice] (Clash)
09 Ivan Meets G. I. Joe (Clash)
10 This Is Radio Clash (Clash)
11 Charlie Don't Surf (Clash)
12 The Magnificent Seven (Clash)
13 talk (Clash)
14 Bankrobber (Clash)
15 Train in Vain [Stand by Me] (Clash)
16 talk (Clash)
17 Career Opportunities (Clash)
18 Clampdown (Clash)
19 One More Time (Clash)
20 I Fought the Law (Clash)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15288235/TClas_1981a_JaapEdnhalAmsterdmNetherlnds__5-10-1981_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I wanted to use a photo of the band in concert in 1981. I was surprised that I couldn't find any good ones. But I did find some from 1980, so I used that instead. I don't know where this photo is from other than the year.

Manfred Mann - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1964-1966

If you follow this blog, you've probably noticed that I've been putting a particular emphasis on posting BBC performances from the 1960s and 70s. Not only are they usually great in terms of sound quality and often have unique songs not done anywhere else, but I find satisfaction in editing the songs to remove the annoying BBC DJs talking over the music. It's a particular joy for me to wipe all traces of DJ Brian Matthew, who sounds like the epitome of a smarmy, insincere promo guy.

So as I work my way through the big musicians from that era, Manfred Mann came to my attention. It turns out two official double albums of their BBC performances were released in 2019, one called "Radio Days, Part 1," and the other "Radio Days, Part 2." I got them and gave them a good listen. I must say I was impressed. Manfred Mann sold a lot of records back in the 1960s, but they don't have a very good critical reputation. They're seen much like the Hollies - a poppy singles band, except without Graham Nash and with fewer hits.

Listening to Manfred Mann's BBC recordings made me reassess them. I now think they're much better than they're given credit for. It turns out they actually were really talented jazz musicians who saw the huge success of rock music in the early 1960s and gave that a try. As a result, they were way more talented than other groups they're lumped in with, such as the Herman's Hermits. They had two excellent lead vocalists, and many of their songs, including some of their hits, were written by them.  They had a habit of sneaking in jazzy instrumentals to their repertoire as much as they thought they could for a pop band, and there are a few of those here.

So I've decided to do a total overhaul of their 1960s output, much as I did with the Zombies, in hopes of turning more people onto them. It turns out they did a lot of songs for the BBC that they never recorded anywhere else. So I'm not including any of those here. Instead, those will be added to the various studio recording compilations I've made. I also haven't included any of the occasional times when they played the same song twice for the BBC.

What that leaves is essentially a greatest hits of their 1960s material, since they tended to play their most popular songs for the BBC. Just as the official BBC albums have done, I've split their 1960s work into two parts. This album deals with the years when Paul Jones was the band's lead singer. He was replaced in mid-1966 by Mike d'Abo. That era will be the subject of my second and final BBC album from them.

You can see from the song titles which songs I had to edit to get rid of the BBC DJs talking (usually Brian Matthew), because I've included "[Edit]." In all the cases I think, the talking was over the start of the song. Using the sound editing software X-Minus, I was able to wipe the talking completely while keeping the underlying music.

I found a list of all the times Manfred Mann played at the BBC, and it included the names of most of the songs they played. Sadly, I'd estimate only about half of their performances with good recordings. Many unique songs they played are probably lost forever. (It doesn't help that there are virtually no live bootlegs of the band from the 1960s.)

I would guess that "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is the band's best known song, at least from the 1960s. (The band morphed into Manfred Mann's Earth Band in the 1970s and had a massive hit with "Blinded by the Light.") By chance, none of the band's BBC performances of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" survived. But I was able to find a version performed live for a TV show that sounds nearly as good. I did the same for "5 4 3 2 1," another big hit that also otherwise wouldn't have been included here. So, with those two songs included, this does include all the big hits from their Paul Jones era.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Groovin' [We're Gonna Groove] (Manfred Mann)
02 Watermelon Man (Manfred Mann)
03 Do Wah Diddy Diddy (Manfred Mann)
04 Sha La La [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
05 Come Tomorrow (Manfred Mann)
06 Look Away (Manfred Mann)
07 L. S. D. [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
08 Oh No, Not My Baby (Manfred Mann)
09 The Abominable Snowmann [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
10 The One in the Middle (Manfred Mann)
11 When Will I Be Loved [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
12 What Am I to Do [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
13 I Put a Spell on You [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
14 If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Manfred Mann)
15 Watch Your Step (Manfred Mann)
16 There's No Living without Your Loving (Manfred Mann)
17 Spirit Feel [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
18 Tired of Trying, Bored with Lying, Scared of Dying (Manfred Mann)
19 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (Manfred Mann)
20 Still I'm Sad [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
21 Pretty Flamingo (Manfred Mann)
22 Machines [Edit] (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16695555/MANFRDMNN1964-1966_BBSssonsVlum1_atse.zip.html

I'm not sure where the cover art comes from exactly. It looks like they're in a recording studio. But I do know it's from 1965.

Melissa Etheridge - From My Home to Yours - Home Concert, Los Angeles, CA, 4-29-2020

I think Melissa Etheridge has to be the hardest working musician during the coronavirus lockdown. She's been performing a home concert of about half an hour to an hour in length every single day since the lockdown began! As I write this, she's done over 50 concerts, and shows no sign of stopping.

I already posted one of her home concerts, a special one that consisted entirely of Bruce Springsteen covers. This is another special one from her. On April 29, 2020, in addition to her usual afternoon home concert, she did a second home concert that evening for a different social media platform, which she called "From My Home to Yours." That show focused on her best known hits. So this is ideal for people, like me, who don't own most of her albums but still enjoy her greatest hits.

Since all of these songs are performed by Etheridge alone, this is much like a solo acoustic version of her greatest hits album. Except it's not entirely that way, due to her mastery of the looping technique. As she did for a couple of the songs for her Bruce Springsteen show, she added drums and occasionally some other instruments to a "looped" backing track that she created all by herself on the spot. In the few cases she did this, I edited out the minute or two it took for her to build up the loop, because I don't think those parts stand up well to repeated listening. But still, kudos to her for being able to flesh some songs out all on her own so quickly.

Also note that for a couple of the looped songs, she plays an electric guitar instead of an acoustic, and adds her own licks and even entire solos. She also plays piano instead of guitar on a couple of songs. I knew she has a great voice, but I didn't realize she's so talented on so many instruments (especially if you include the drumming she did for the looping).

I believe all the songs are written or co-written by Etheridge, except for "Weakness in Me" by Joan Armatrading. Etheridge tends to talk a lot between songs. I kept nearly all of it, except for bits I thought wouldn't stand up to repeated listening, such as when she was plugging her next home concerts.

By the way, I've been keeping track of her daily home concerts. In the future, I plan on posting some highlights from that, such as when she does more special covers shows.

01 I Want to Come Over (Melissa Etheridge)
02 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
03 You Can Sleep While I Drive (Melissa Etheridge)
04 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
05 If I Wanted To (Melissa Etheridge)
06 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
07 Don't You Need (Melissa Etheridge)
08 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
09 Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Etheridge)
10 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
11 Weakness in Me (Melissa Etheridge)
12 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
13 Meet Me in the Dark (Melissa Etheridge)
14 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
15 Chrome Plated Heart (Melissa Etheridge)
16 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
17 I'm the Only One (Melissa Etheridge)
18 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
19 Come to My Window (Melissa Etheridge)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/tGmd2iWu

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/lMWUGyTk3kArcLI/file

The cover art is a screenshot taken from the concert in question. I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality.

Brandi Carlile - Cover Songs, Volume 1: 2005-2010

I have to admit that I don't pay enough attention to artists who came onto the scene in the last decade or two. (If you know of some really great ones, please point them out to me.) A case in point is Brandi Carlile. I was only vaguely aware of her music career, but I hadn't really heard her. Then, a few weeks ago, I was watching Stephen Colbert's late night show and she did a version of John Prine's "Hello in There" in tribute to his recent passing. I was very impressed with her voice and started looking for more of her material. The more I found, the more impressed I was.

In terms of her original material, she is a talented songwriter, but I find her songs a mixed bag. As is so often the case with "modern" recordings, I have issues with the production in particular. But her fantastic voice just can't be denied. So what I've done is collected her cover versions (with a big assist from Lil Panda, who helped me out again).  A majority of these come from concert recordings, which tend to solve the "MOR" (Middle of the Road) production issues I otherwise have.

Happily, Carlile has very good, wide ranging taste in music. She excels in country, folk, rock, and pop. And it seems she's willing to play any song she feels inspired by, sacred cows be damned. As an example, she's even sung "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen a bunch of times! (Though, unfortunately, I couldn't find a good enough version to include in this series. If anyone can find one, please let me know.) So, if you're like me and not that familiar with her music, I highly recommend you give this a try anyway. She really does have a great physical gift with her voice and she knows how to use it.

I've found so many excellent cover versions she did that I've made six albums out of them. This is the first one, and the others will be posted here soon. Each one is roughly 50 minutes long. It's a mix of acoustic and full band performances.

In terms of sound quality, I've been fairly strict. (Actually, Lil Panda was my filter - any song got nixed if he said the sound wasn't up to snuff.) For this album, a vast majority of the songs are officially released. But the five unreleased ones sound nearly as good. I used the MVSEP audio editing program to remove most of the crowd noise on the songs that had crowd noise.

This album is 50 minutes long.

Here's a list of who did the original versions. As you can see, she usually sticks to the classics.

01 Sixty Years On - Elton John
02 Pirate on the Run - Pat Monahan
03 Creep - Radiohead
04 All I Have to Do Is Dream - Everly Brothers
05 The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan
06 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Bob Dylan
07 Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
08 Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival
09 My Repair - Jason Scavone
10 You Belong to Me - Patti Page / Jo Stafford
11 Let It Be - Beatles
12 Heaven - Bryan Adams
13 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain - Roy Acuff / Willie Nelson
14 Forever Young - Alphaville
15 A Place Called Home - Kim Richey

Here's the song list:

01 Sixty Years On (Brandi Carlile)
02 Pirate on the Run (Pat Monahan ‎& Brandi Carlile)
03 Creep (Brandi Carlile)
04 All I Have to Do Is Dream (Brandi Carlile & Ben Taylor)
05 The Times They Are A-Changin' (Brandi Carlile)
06 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Indigo Girls & Brandi Carlile)
07 Love Me Tender (Chris Isaak & Brandi Carlile)
08 Fortunate Son (Brandi Carlile)
09 My Repair (Jason Scavone & Brandi Carlile)
10 You Belong to Me (Brandi Carlile with Gregory Alan Isakov)
11 Let It Be (Brandi Carlile)
12 Heaven (Brandi Carlile)
13 Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Brandi Carlile)
14 Forever Young (Brandi Carlile)
15 A Place Called Home (Brandi Carlile & Tiffany Carlile)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/CMLcqquq

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/ZsTqNaKRPlvPT20/file

The cover art photo comes from a 2007 concert.

Crosby, Stills and Nash - Solo Demos, Volume 2: 1969

A few weeks ago, I posted an album that collected all the solo demos by Crosby, Stills and/or Nash in 1968, so long as I didn't use them somewhere else. This is a continuation of that series. This time, it deals with 1969. I have one more album coming, for 1970 and 1971.

As you can see from the song list, these are the demo versions of some of the biggest songs by CSN. They're a mix of songs from their first and second albums, plus a few others. Note that I included a version of "Marrakesh Express" on the "Sol Demos, Volume 1" album. But that version just had Graham Nash on it, and this version was a bit later and featured David Crosby as well. It's a similar situation with "Guinnevere." He made two demos, one in 1968 and one in 1969. So I've included the latter version here.

All but one song ("Black Queen") has been officially released, so the sound quality is great. The album is a bit on the short side at 39 minutes.

01 Teach Your Children (Graham Nash)
02 So Begins the Task (Stephen Stills)
03 Almost Cut My Hair (David Crosby)
04 Pre-Road Downs (Graham Nash)
05 Black Queen (Stephen Stills)
06 Guinnevere [Alternate Demo] (David Crosby)
07 Marrakesh Express (Crosby & Nash)
08 Triad (David Crosby)
09 Our House (Graham Nash)
10 The Lee Shore (Stephen Stills)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16383337/CROSBSTLLSNSH1969SloDmosVlum2_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a series of publicity photos relating to the 1969 "Crosby, Stills and Nash" album. I made some adjustments in Photoshop to add some background above their heads, since it cut off right at the very tops of their heads.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 4, Los Angeles, CA, 4-8-2020 to 4-10-2020

Here's the fourth album in my series of Neil Finn's home concerts. He's been on hiatus from doing his daily concerts for the last week or so, which gives me a chance to catch up a bit. (I hope he hasn't stopped his home concerts for good!)

I think this is one of the strongest albums in the series. It has a great selection of songs, both in terms of originals and covers. The YouTube video of his cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" has gone viral to a certain degree. And he does some of the best and biggest Crowded House hits, such as "Fall at Your Feet" and "Something So Strong."

It also is unusual in that most of the songs have lovely vocal harmonies added to them. This is comprised of three home concerts in roughly equal measure. For the first one, Neil Finn went back over the recording before publicly releasing it and added harmonies to his own vocals. So those songs are sung by Neil Finn and Neil Finn. ;) The second concert is just him by himself. But for the third concert, his son Elroy joined in nicely on backing vocals.

Here are the original artists for each of the cover songs:

In My Room - Beach Boys
Coming into Los Angeles - Arlo Guthrie
Heroes - David Bowie
You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away - Beatles
Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly
I'll Follow the Sun - Beatles

I edited "Not Fade Away" because Finn started the song in one key, sang a little bit, decided it was too high for his voice, and switched keys without stopping the song. So I edited out the beginning bit in the different key. I also edited out his comment "That's better" shortly after changing keys.

01 In My Room (Neil Finn)
02 Anyone Can Tell (Neil Finn)
03 Fall at Your Feet (Neil Finn)
04 Love Is All that Remains (Neil Finn)
05 Something So Strong (Neil Finn)
06 Fingers of Love (Neil Finn)
07 Coming into Los Angeles (Neil Finn)
08 Heroes (Neil Finn)
09 You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (Neil Finn)
10 Not Fade Away [Edit] (Neil Finn)
11 Private Universe (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
12 Silent House (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
13 Love This Life (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
14 Independence Day (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)
15 I'll Follow the Sun (Neil Finn with Elroy Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363160/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts04LsAnglesCA__4-8-2020_to_4-10-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yn2ybiYq

The cover art is a screenshot from one of his recent home concerts, though I'm not sure which one.

Joe Jackson - Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO, 5-6-1979

I like most of Joe Jackson's music, and his latest album, 2019's "Fool," is excellent. That said, my favorite era of his music is 1979, with his "Look Sharp!" and "I'm the Man" albums. Jackson has released some live material here and there, but generally from 1980 onwards. (There are five songs from 1979 on his "At the BBC" collection.) So since there's no official 1979 live album, this is my attempt to create something that could stand in for that.

Luckily, it turns out that a handful of Jackson's 1979 were professionally recorded and played on radio stations at the time. So I listened to the best bootlegs of the "Look Sharp!" tour from the middle of 1979, most of which come from those radio shows, and I found the one I thought was the best, especially in terms of sound quality. That was a show at the Rainbow Music Hall in Denver, Colorado, in May 1979. It clearly is a soundboard, so much so that there isn't much audience noise at the ends of songs. I didn't attempt to boost the volume of the cheering. But I did break the talking between songs into their own tracks, and I often raised the volume of those comments.

The Denver show is 56 minutes long. That was fairly long for his concerts in that year, which all seem to have been an hour long or less. However, this album isn't just the Denver show. I've added six songs to the beginning of the album from other concerts around the same time that didn't get played at the Denver show. That makes it n hour and 18 minutes long.

Thanks to these added songs, every single song from the "Look Sharp!" album is included, as well as five songs from the "I'm the Man" album, which had yet to be released at the time. There also are four cover songs: "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" by Ben Bernie and His Orchestra, "Pressure Drop" by Toots and the Maytals, "Come On" by Chuck Berry, and "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino. I've included versions of all four of those on the "The Harder They Come" stray tracks album, but those are different versions.

01 [Do The] Instant Mash (Joe Jackson)
02 Friday (Joe Jackson)
03 talk (Joe Jackson)
04 Fools in Love (Joe Jackson)
05 talk (Joe Jackson)
06 Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries (Joe Jackson)
07 talk (Joe Jackson)
08 Pressure Drop (Joe Jackson)
09 talk (Joe Jackson)
10 Geraldine and John (Joe Jackson)
11 One More Time (Joe Jackson)
12 Pretty Girls (Joe Jackson)
13 talk (Joe Jackson)
14 Look Sharp (Joe Jackson)
15 talk (Joe Jackson)
16 Sunday Papers (Joe Jackson)
17 Baby Stick Around (Joe Jackson)
18 talk (Joe Jackson)
19 Is She Really Going Out with Him (Joe Jackson)
20 talk (Joe Jackson)
21 It's Different for Girls (Joe Jackson)
22 Kinda Kute (Joe Jackson)
23 talk (Joe Jackson)
24 Happy Loving Couples (Joe Jackson)
25 I'm the Man (Joe Jackson)
26 Throw It Away (Joe Jackson)
27 talk (Joe Jackson)
28 Got the Time (Joe Jackson)
29 talk (Joe Jackson)
30 Come On (Joe Jackson)
31 Ain't That a Shame (Joe Jackson)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16693438/JOJCKSN1979b_RinbwMsicHallDenvrCO__5-6-1979_atse.zip.html

For the album cover, I could have chosen an ordinary photo of Joe Jackson from 1979. But I found one of him wearing novelty oversized sunglasses, and I thought it would be more interesting to use that one.

Shawn Colvin - Home Concerts 1, Austin, TX, 4-11-2020

Here's someone else to add to those doing nice home concerts. As I keep saying, if you know of others I've missed that you think are worthy, please let me know. It's hard to find all these, since they're happening on different social media platforms.

I'm not a huge Shawn Colvin fan like I am for, say, Rosanne Cash, but I like her well enough. This concert actually serves as good introduction for her, if you aren't that familiar with her stuff. She plays her one big hit - "Sunny Came Home" - as well as some of her other best originals. She also does a few covers, namely: "Summer's End" by John Prine, in honor of his recent passing, "For the Roses," by Joni Mitchell, and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" by the Talking Heads. The whole concert is 45 minutes long.

I'm optimistically calling this "Home Concerts 1" with the assumption that there will be a "2" and others to follow. Actually, I'm most of the way to a "2" already, because she's been posting individual songs every now and then since the coronavirus lockdown began. So I plan on posting those once I have enough for an album.

Note that Colvin has a reputation for being very talkative during her concerts. That was somewhat true in this case, though she seems to have edited herself for a more streamlined show. I've included her between song banter and raised the volume on it to make it easier to hear. But I think I might have edited a few parts down to make the whole thing more listenable. (I forget since I did that a week or two ago.)

01 talk (Shawn Colvin)
02 Even Here We Are (Shawn Colvin)
03 talk (Shawn Colvin)
04 Trouble (Shawn Colvin)
05 talk (Shawn Colvin)
06 Summer's End (Shawn Colvin)
07 talk (Shawn Colvin)
08 For the Roses (Shawn Colvin)
09 talk (Shawn Colvin)
10 Steady On (Shawn Colvin)
11 talk (Shawn Colvin)
12 That Don't Worry Me Now (Shawn Colvin)
13 talk (Shawn Colvin)
14 I Don't Know Why (Shawn Colvin)
15 talk (Shawn Colvin)
16 Sunny Came Home (Shawn Colvin)
17 talk (Shawn Colvin)
18 This Must Be the Place [Naive Melody] (Shawn Colvin)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2jAXPcuM

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/4G7KN0Kp3riupgH/file

For the album cover, I used a screenshot from the YouTube video of this very concert.

Norah Jones - Home Concerts 3, New York City, 4-29-2020 (Willie Nelson Tribute)

As the coronavirus lockdown goes on, Norah Jones has really been killing it. She keeps putting on interesting mini-home concerts once or twice a week. Just yesterday, she did an extra special concert that was her most interesting one yet, in my opinion. On the date of country legend Willie Nelson's 87th birthday, she did a special Willie-Nelson-themed show. All the songs were written by Nelson, with the exception of one song, "Remember Me," which is a song Nelson covered on one of his albums.

This is a fairly short show at 27 minutes. I could have waited until she did another mini-concert and then bundled this one with that one. But I think it's good to present this on its own due to its consistent Willie Nelson theme. The vast majority of the songs are songs Jones hasn't officially released. (I do have her doing "Crazy" and "Funny How Time Slips Away" on earlier stray tracks albums I've put together, with the latter being a duet version with Nelson.)

The sound quality here is just fine. One exception is that she tends to talk very quietly between songs. But I was able to easily fix that by raising the volume on all those talking bits.

Finally, viva Willie Nelson, who as I write this in 2020, is still going strong musically at 87 years old!

01 Funny How Time Slips Away (Norah Jones)
02 talk (Norah Jones)
03 I Gotta Get Drunk (Norah Jones)
04 talk (Norah Jones)
05 Permanently Lonely (Norah Jones)
06 talk (Norah Jones)
07 Remember Me (Norah Jones)
08 talk (Norah Jones)
09 Crazy (Norah Jones)
10 talk (Norah Jones)
11 Night Life (Norah Jones)
12 talk (Norah Jones)
13 Hands on the Wheel (Norah Jones)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15603563/NorahJ_2020_HomeCncerts3__4-29-2020_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I could have gone with a screenshot of Jones playing these songs. But she doesn't really look any different than she did for the covers in the last two home concert albums of hers I've put together. So instead, I thought it was fitting to use a photo of Jones and Nelson together. The photo is from a concert appearance they did together in 2003.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 3, Los Angeles, CA, 4-5-2020 to 4-7-2020

Neil Finn of Crowded House (and lately, Fleetwood Mac) has been so prolific with his home concerts in recent weeks that I'm going to need to post more from him just to keep up. So here's the third album compiling his daily home concerts.

But before I go any further, I need to address the elephant in Neil Finn's room. Are you familiar with the New Zealand TV sitcom "Flight of the Conchords?" It's very funny; I highly recommend it. Anyway, the musical duo starring in that show have a bumbling, meek manager named Murray, played by Rhys Darby. I swear, Neil Finn sounds EXACTLY like Murray! I'm only including Finn's songs and not his talking between songs, so you probably can't tell, but trust me on this. I even lived in New Zealand for a year, so I know it's not just the general Kiwi accent. Anyway, I just had to get that off my chest. Every time I listen to his home concerts and hear him talking, I have to laugh because I think it's Murray talking.

As far as this album goes, it's more of the same good stuff. Here are the cover versions he does:

Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
There Is a Light that Never Goes Out - Smiths
Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Carole King / Shirelles
Throw Your Arms Around Me - Hunters and Collectors
Changes - David Bowie

That's not including songs from Finn's earlier bands, such as "Four Seasons in One Day," a Crowded House hit.

01 As Sure as I Am (Neil Finn)
02 Time Immemorial (Neil Finn)
03 Golden Child (Neil Finn with Sharon Finn)
04 Sweet Baby James (Neil Finn)
05 Four Seasons in One Day (Neil Finn)
06 Spirit of the Stairs (Neil Finn)
07 There Is a Light that Never Goes Out (Neil Finn with Johnny Marr)
08 Whispers and Moans (Neil Finn)
09 Love Is Emotional (Neil Finn)
10 Homeward Bound (Neil Finn)
11 Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Neil Finn)
12 Throw Your Arms Around Me (Neil Finn)
13 Won’t Give In (Neil Finn)
14 Log Cabin Fever (Neil Finn)
15 Changes (Neil Finn)
16 She Goes On (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363157/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts03LsAnglesCA__4-5-2020_to_4-7-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/txAqT8pn

For the album cover art, I decided it would be nice to have a close-up photo of Finn's head. I couldn't find any really good recent ones, so this one is from about five years ago. But he looks pretty much exactly the same now, except for whiter hair.

Etta James - Montreux Jazz Festival, Casino de Montreux, Montreux, Switerland, 7-9-1977

In recent days I've been posting mostly acoustic music, generally from 2020 home concerts. I thought it's time for something a little more lively. Also, it seems I never get to post enough soul music. So here's a bootleg of a great Etta James concert from 1977.

I'm a big Etta James fan. She had a long career that started in the 1950s and ended with her death in 2012. But, in my opinion, her music was most vital in the 1960s and 1970s. She also was an impressive live performer. However, there's very little recorded live music from her 60s and 70s heyday. There's a wonderful live album from 1963 called "Rocks the House." If you don't have it and you like her music, you should get it. But that's it in terms of official releases, even including archival releases. When it comes to bootlegs as well, there's next to no live recordings from that era.

Luckily, there's one notable exception. Starting in 1975, she began playing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. She didn't do it every year, but when she did, her set usually got professionally recorded and played on the local radio. This concert dates to 1977, mostly. The last song, a cover of "Take It to the Limit" by the Eagles, is from the 1978 festival, and is the only song from that show that I could find. If the website setlist.fm is correct, this is her entire 1977 performance. Her 1978 appearance largely had the same setlist, with "Take It to the Limit" as an exception, so we're lucky that one song has somehow made it to bootleg when the rest of the concert hasn't.

The sound quality on all of this is fantastic, as good as you'd expect from an official live album. For the original version of this concert that I posted, there were issues with the applause at the end of the songs, plus a lack of banter between songs. But I have since updated it with a better source that fixed those things. So, no worries. ;)

I'm going to end my comments here with a plea for help. As good as this 1977 concert is, I'm even more interested in having and sharing her 1975 appearance at Montreux. I've been able to find five songs from it. A video of four of the songs is on YouTube. But, in fact, she played 11 songs that year, a much longer set than her 1977 one. The entire 1975 concert was released in 2015 on an album simply called "1975," as you can see here:

https://www.discogs.com/Etta-James-Etta-James-1975-Recorded-Live-At-Montreux-Jazz-Festival/release/7805148

But only a 1,000 copies of that were sold, and it quickly went out of print. I can't find it or buy it anywhere. I think that should be made more widely available. So if anyone has it and is willing to share it, please let me know. 

This 1977 concert is 57 minutes long, including the one song from 1978. I suspect the 1975 Montreux show is the one and only excellent concert recording of a full concert (meaning well over an hour) that we're ever likely to be able to hear. It also would be great to have because the 1975 and 1977 set lists are very different, with only two songs played at both shows.

Note that if you're a Randy Newman fan, it's a special treat that she does two Randy Newman songs here, "You Can Leave Your Hat On" and "Sail Away." She knocks them out of the park.

UPDATE: On October 29, 2020, I was contacted by Dave Lowrey. He says he actually played bass during this concert! He shared a slightly better version of the concert. Most of it was exactly the same, including the same sound quality. But it had one song that had been missed, "I'd Rather Go Blind." It also had all the banter between songs, and the proper audience reactions after each song. That added 12 minutes to the length of the album. Furthermore, I was able to fix the location of one of the songs. ("Tell Mama" started the concert instead of ended it.) So thank you very much, Mr. Lowrey!

01 Tell Mama (Etta James)
02 talk (Etta James)
03 I'd Rather Go Blind (Etta James)
04 Groove Me (Etta James)
05 talk (Etta James)
06 At Last - Trust in Me (Etta James)
07 A Sunday Kind of Love (Etta James)
08 talk (Etta James)
09 You Can Leave Your Hat On (Etta James)
10 talk (Etta James)
11 Sail Away (Etta James)
12 Rock Me Baby (Etta James)
13 talk (Etta James)
14 Take It to the Limit (Etta James)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15260283/EttaJms_1977_MontreuxJzzFestival__7-9-1977_atse.zip.html

The photo comes from the actual concert in question, I'm happy to say.

Melissa Etheridge - Bruce Springsteen Tribute - Home Concert, Los Angeles, CA, 4-24-2020

You know who has been remarkably musically prolific during the coronavirus lockdown? Neil Finn on Crowded House. He's been putting on a mini-concert at home nearly every single day (and I've started posting albums compiled from those). But you know who has been even MORE prolific than him? Melissa Etheridge. She started a day or two earlier, and has been putting on a mini-concert every single day without fail. It really is remarkable. I wish more musicians would follow the leads of Finn and Etheridge and go wild recording and posting whatever they want.

As it so happens, I'm not that big of a Melissa Etheridge fan. I like some of her stuff, but I'm about at the "greatest hits" level. She's had a lot of very good hits, but her albums aren't consistent enough for my tastes. That said, she has an undeniably impressive voice. So when she covers classic songs, she really shines. I'm not going to post all or most of her many 2020 home concerts. That would be way too much. But I will post what I consider are some of the highlights.

One entire home concert has been a highlight, the one she did on April 24, 2020. While most of the rest of her home concerts have focused on her own songs, this one was devoted entirely to Bruce Springsteen songs. It turns out she's a huge Springsteen fan, and his music was a big influence on her career. So this is a recording that both Melissa Etheridge and Bruce Springsteen fans should enjoy.

For her home concerts, Etheridge has spent a large portion of them just talking, sometimes sharing long stories. This concert is no exception. She met Springsteen a bunch of time, and has sung duets with him on stage, so she has some interesting and relevant stories to tell. That said, sometimes she's gone off on less interesting tangents. So I've edited her comments to keep their length down to more reasonable levels. But even after my edits, sometimes she talks for two or three minutes between songs. If that's too long for you, you can just delete those tracks and reduce a 53-minute-long concert into a 37-minute-long one.

For the most part, these songs are just Etheridge on acoustic guitar or piano. But it turns out she can play many instruments and has a skill at looping. That means recording a sample of some music, such as a short snippet of a drum beat, and then repeating (or looping) it to provide the backing track for a song. For a couple of songs here, especially "She's the One" and "Born to Run," she does all the looping herself, live, adding multiple instruments. Building up the tracks is an impressive thing to watch on video, but I don't think it stands up to repeated listenings. So I edited out the couple of minutes it took for her to build up the instrumentation for each of those songs. If you're interested, watch the video of her doing it on YouTube.

Also note that one of the songs here, "Thunder Road," is kind of a ringer in that it's not from this concert at all. She played it a couple of weeks earlier during one of her other home concerts. It's a piano performance, and she did it on a day just for piano-based songs. Since that is a Springsteen song, I took that version, as well as her story that preceded it, and added it in to the concert. I put both of those just before her final comments, to make it seem as if they were part of the same show.

01 Darkness on the Edge of Town (Melissa Etheridge)
02 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
03 The River (Melissa Etheridge)
04 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
05 Pink Cadillac (Melissa Etheridge)
06 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
07 She's the One (Melissa Etheridge)
08 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
09 I'm on Fire Intro (Melissa Etheridge)
10 I'm on Fire (Melissa Etheridge)
11 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
12 Born to Run (Melissa Etheridge)
13 talk (Melissa Etheridge)
14 Thunder Road (Melissa Etheridge)
15 talk (Melissa Etheridge)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/x93ffSpk

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/ABChmA9hQktFvsi/file

The cover art needs a special explanation. I could have simply used a screenshot from her YouTube video of this concert. But at one point she told a story about a duet she sang in concert in 1995 with Springsteen. To illustrate the story, she held up a photo of her and him singing together at the concert. So I took a screenshot of that photo. It's true the photo is rather low-res, but it's a good photo of the two of them that I couldn't find anywhere else on the Internet, and I thought it made for a fitting cover.

I'm writing this paragraph much later, in January 2025. All hail our new AI overlords! I kid, but I just fixed the cover pic using the Krea AI program. I had to run it through the program a few times, but somehow it turned the very blurry and blobby original into something resembling an actual photograph.

Robyn Htichcock - Tin Angel, Philadephia, PA, 3-26-1995, Late Show

I just posted Robyn Hitchcock's early show at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia, on March 26, 1995. This is the late show from the same night. Like the early show, this has never been made public anywhere before now. See my write-up from the early show for more details. But note that this is a fantastic sounding soundboard recording, as good as you could hope for.

One of my musical friends, Lil Panda, was involved in the recording of this. He told me that he only attended the early show. But the kind person running the soundboard let him keep his recording device plugged in for the late show, allowing him to pick it up later. That worked out as planned, except the tape ran out before the show ended. So, while the early show recording is 59 minutes long, this one is only 33 minutes long.

The last song, "Filthy Bird," got cut off halfway through. So I used the recording of that song from the "Storefront Hitchcock" live album, matched the pitch and tempo, and then patched in the last minute or so from that, so it sounds complete.

Although this is a relatively short recording, it's still worth listening to because of the varied set lists, as well as all the entertaining banter between songs. Only two songs, "Egyptian Cream" and "I Something You," were played in both the early and late shows.

01 Radio Storm [Driving Aloud] (Robyn Hitchcock)
02 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
03 Madonna of the Wasps (Robyn Hitchcock)
04 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
05 Chinese Water Python [Instrumental] (Robyn Hitchcock)
06 Glass Hotel (Robyn Hitchcock)
07 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
08 Statue with a Walkman (Robyn Hitchcock)
09 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
10 Egyptian Cream (Robyn Hitchcock)
11 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
12 I Something You (Robyn Hitchcock)
13 Filthy Bird [Edit] (Robyn Hitchcock)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15429715/RobynH_1995_TinAnglPhiladphiaPA__3-26-1995__LateShw_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from an early 1996 concert. Although I didn't find any specific text to prove it, I believe it's from the same concert as the photo I used for the early show. He appears to be wearing the same clothes, and even the grainy nature of the photo is the same.

Robyn Htichcock - Tin Angel, Philadephia, PA, 3-26-1995, Early Show

I am very delighted to present this Robyn Hitchcock solo acoustic concert, because it's a pristine soundboard that I know for a fact has never been available anywhere before. 

I know that because I was involved with two other musical friends (Lil Panda and Daniel) to convert it from an old cassette to digital. Lil Panda had a hand in recording it all those years ago, but didn't have a means to concert it until a few days ago. So if you're a Hitchcock fan, you definitely should listen to this.

I've already posted the two Hitchcock shows from the night before, March 25, 1995, at the same venue. They're soundboard bootlegs too, thanks to the same taper. See the links here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/04/robyn-hitchcock-tin-angel-philadelphia.html

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/04/robyn-hitchcock-tin-angel-philadelphia_5.html

I'm posting the early and late shows from March 26, 1995 as well, with this one being the early show. Admittedly, the shows are somewhat similar. But luckily, Hitchcock plays different set lists each time. Plus, he has lots of entertaining banter between songs, and I understand he never repeats the same story twice.

What's especially remarkable is this early show contains an unreleased song, apparently called "I Stayed Too Long," though that's just a guess, that has never appeared anywhere else. There's a vast Hitchcock Internet database called The Asking Tree that has tracked the majority of his concert set lists through 2006, yet there's no evidence of this song ever being played at any other time. And it's not one of his many spontaneous improv songs; it appears to be a fully formed song.

As mentioned above, the sound on this is great, since the taper was allowed to plug in directly to the soundboard. But there was one problem: a quiet but steady hum. It sounds a bit like one holding a keyboard key down for the entire recording. I discovered that during the songs it's quiet enough to be completely drowned out by the music. But it was still noticeable during the talking between songs. So, for the talking tracks only, I used some noise reduction to greatly reduce the hum. Hopefully, you won't even notice it. Normally, I'm loathe to ever use noise reduction, but I think it's okay in this case since I never used it on any of the actual music.

Another problem was that the talking parts were considerably quieter than the songs. So I moved those to their own tracks and then boosted their volume. I consider that problem fixed now.

This early show is 59 minutes long. It starts without any sort of introduction or audience reaction, so it's possible there's more at the start that didn't get recorded. But if so, I think it's very little, considering that the early show from the night before was also 59 minutes long.

01 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
02 Queen of Eyes (Robyn Hitchcock)
03 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
04 52 Stations (Robyn Hitchcock)
05 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
06 I'm Only You (Robyn Hitchcock)
07 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
08 De Chirico Street (Robyn Hitchcock)
09 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
10 Egyptian Cream (Robyn Hitchcock)
11 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
12 Chinese Bones (Robyn Hitchcock)
13 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
14 Queen Elvis (Robyn Hitchcock)
15 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
16 I Something You (Robyn Hitchcock)
17 One Long Pair of Eyes (Robyn Hitchcock)
18 I Stayed Too Long (Robyn Hitchcock)
19 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
20 The Yip Song (Robyn Hitchcock)
21 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
22 Never Stop Bleeding (Robyn Hitchcock)
23 Arms of Love (Robyn Hitchcock)
24 Only the Stones Remain (Robyn Hitchcock)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15272095/RobynH_1995_Tin_AngelPhiladephiaPA__3-26-1995__Early_Show_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo is from a concert in early 1996.

Norah Jones - Home Concerts 2, New York City, 4-11-2020 to 4-23-2020

Today seems to be the day for home concerts - this is the third one I've posted in one day! This is also the second one I've posted from Norah Jones. Note that when I posted her first one a couple of weeks ago, I didn't think to call that "Home Concerts 1." But posting the second one reminded me to go back and change the title, the artwork, and the mp3 tags. So you might want to re-download that, if you're a stickler for that sort of thing.

This second album is very much like her first one. She plays some songs on guitar, and some on piano. Most of her songs are originals from her albums, but she sometimes throws in unexpected choices, usually cover versions. This one starts with a John Prine song ("That’s the Way that the World Goes Round"), to mark his recent death from the coronavirus. She also does covers by Tom Waits ("Far From Home," which is on one of her albums), Hank Williams ("I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"), and Tom Petty ("Angel Dream"). She doesn't talk much between songs, so whenever talking she does has been included.

For the first album, she played four songs on their own days, plus two "mini-concerts" of four songs each. I compiled them all together to make it sound like one performance. This time, there are no single songs. Instead, she did three mini-concerts, playing four songs each time. I'm guessing that's the format she'll keep using moving forward. The three mini-concerts together make for a 47-minute-long album.

The sound quality is excellent. The only caveat is that sometimes her voice is a bit quieter when she plays the piano, probably because her face is further from the microphone.

01 That’s the Way that the World Goes Round (Norah Jones)
02 talk (Norah Jones)
03 Waiting (Norah Jones)
04 Travelin' On (Norah Jones)
05 talk (Norah Jones)
06 Painter Song (Norah Jones)
07 talk (Norah Jones)
08 Long Way Home (Norah Jones)
09 talk (Norah Jones)
10 How I Weep (Norah Jones)
11 talk (Norah Jones)
12 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Norah Jones)
13 The Long Day Is Over (Norah Jones)
14 Wake Me Up (Norah Jones)
15 talk (Norah Jones)
16 Angel Dream (Norah Jones)
17 talk (Norah Jones)
18 It Was You (Norah Jones)
19 talk (Norah Jones)
20 Sunrise (Norah Jones)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15603561/NorahJ_2020_HomeCncerts2__4-11-2020_to_4-23-2020_atse.zip.html

The cover art is a screenshot from one of her mini-concert YouTube videos. If it doesn't look very different from the cover for the first album in this series, that's because she sits at the same spot in the same room each time. Her piano is just out of view.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 2, Los Angeles, CA, 3-29-2020 to 4-4-2020

Here's another collection of Neil Finn home concerts. This is one of my favorites. I think it's an especially interesting one because a majority of the songs he plays are cover versions.

These are the cover versions he does this time:

Quicksand - David Bowie
After the Gold Rush - Neil Young
Love Song - Lesley Duncan / Elton John
Across the Universe - Beatles
Soul Love - David Bowie
Ashes to Ashes - David Bowie
Here Comes the Sun - Beatles

Note that he did no less than three David Bowie covers! So far, he's done a lot of nice Bowie covers, including one of "Heroes" that has been getting some traction on YouTube, with half a million views so far. I'll include that in a later album in this series. The version of "Ashes to Ashes" here is especially interesting, because it's not usually done in a solo acoustic format.

By the way, sometimes he's messed up playing these songs, since he's usually winging it. For instance, he messed up badly on Quicksand and stopped in the middle of the song. But I managed to edit out his main flub, so the pause is gone. But he also hits a few wrong chords here and there, or forgets a few words, or the like. I don't mind though, and you shouldn't either, because he's taking a lot of risks, and the result is a bunch of new music nearly every single day. As I mentioned in my last blog post on him, if he really messes up badly, he stops playing the song altogether and then almost always gives it another go on the next day, in which he gets it right. I'm not including the flubbed versions.

This concert is 49 minutes long. 

 01 She Will Have Her Way (Neil Finn)
02 Quicksand (Neil Finn)
03 After the Gold Rush (Neil Finn)
04 Love Song (Neil Finn)
05 Across the Universe (Neil Finn)
06 Message to My Girl (Neil Finn)
07 The Climber (Neil Finn)
08 Soul Love (Neil Finn)
09 Into the Sunset (Neil Finn)
10 Elephants (Neil Finn)
11 Last to Know (Neil Finn)
12 Ashes to Ashes (Neil Finn)
13 Here Comes the Sun (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363159/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts02LsAnglesCA__3-29-2020_to_4-4-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/X4rBHbCy

The cover art is a screenshot taken from one of the few YouTube videos he's made from his home concerts series. This one comes from his "Heroes" video.

Mary Chapin Carpenter - Home Concerts 1, Afton, VA, 3-18-2020 to 4-22-2020

Here's a home concert from Mary Chapin Carpenter. Actually, it's not a concert per se. But starting in March 2020, she began posting a new song performed in the kitchen of her house every few days. I've gathered them up and I'm presenting them as if they were one continuous concert. This album is an hour long. 

Carpenter is very talkative in the videos she's been posting lately. In fact, there's often two or three minutes of talking before each song starts. I made the editorial decision to cut most of that out, because I don't think it stands up to repeated listening. One problem is that she repeats herself a lot. For instance, each video usually begins by welcoming back the listener to what she calls the "songs from home" series. Then she almost always describes the current whereabouts of her dog and cat. (Her dog often is with her in the video while her cat is usually taking a nap.) She also usually makes some encouraging comments about the virus, advising people to wash their hands and "stay mighty" and so forth. She frequently comments on the feedback she's received on her past videos and well as requests for new songs.

A lot of that would be interesting to hear once, but not multiple times. So, generally speaking, I've cut it all out except when she directly comments about the song she's about to play. That usually reduces her talking from two to three minutes before each song to an average of about half a minute. If you want to hear the full versions, just check out her videos on YouTube.

One tricky aspect of posting these home concerts is figuring out where they're being recorded. I did some Googling and found out that Carpenter's house is in Afton, Virginia, so I assume that's where this has taken place.

01 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
02 Edinburgh (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
03 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
04 Soul Companion (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
05 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
06 The Hard Way (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
07 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
08 This Is Love (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
09 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
10 Jubilee (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
11 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
12 The Blue Distance (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
13 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
14 Don't Need Much to Be Happy (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
15 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
16 Halley Came to Jackson (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
17 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
18 Far from Me (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
19 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
20 Chasing What's Already Gone (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
21 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
22 The Things that We Are Made Of (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
23 talk (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
24 I Am a Town (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/6gG4ocK7

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/tGsY5OsXMm90tUJ/file

The cover art photo is a screenshot taken from one of her videos. She looks like that in pretty much all of them, standing at the same spot in her kitchen and wearing a cap.

In February 2025, I upgraded the cover image with the use of the Krea AI program.

Neil Finn - Home Concerts 1, Los Angeles, CA, 3-18-2020 to 3-26-2020

Boy, has Neil Finn gone all in with the coronavirus home concert trend! If you don't know who he is already, Finn has been the main singer and songwriter for Split Enz and Crowded House, and has done a lot as a solo artist as well. Recently (as I write this in late 2020), he's joined Fleetwood Mac. Some artists have played a few songs or done a home concert or two since the worldwide virus lockdown began. But not Finn. Starting on March 18, 2020, he's played a home concert nearly every single day! As I write this, he's done 35 home concerts since then, with no sign of stopping or slowing down. So this is the first of many home concert albums I'll be posting from him, because it's very good stuff.

I should mention that I haven't really been that big of a Split Enz or Crowded House fan. I like a lot of their songs, but I'd put them in more of a "greatest hits" category. One big issue I had was with the production. It's not bad on any given song, but they tend to all sound too similar to each other. But I have to say that since I've been listening to Finn's home concerts, I've reassessed his career. Maybe it's just that he's been playing his songs in solo acoustic format for the home concerts. I love that format, and it removes the production issues I had. But hearing him this way made me realize what a very talented singer and songwriter he is. I hope you'll check this out even if you're like me and not a really big fan to begin with.

Since the virus outbreak began, Finn has been holed up in Los Angeles with his family. And I mention the family part because his sons Liam and Elroy are professional musicians and sometimes join in his home concerts. His wife Sharon occasionally joins in on background vocals as well, and she's definitely a capable singer. Most days, Finn has done the home concerts in solo acoustic format, with the occasional guest appearance by one of his sons or his wife. Some days, he and his sons make up a rock trio. I haven't included any of those recordings, because the full band sound (with a full drum kit) is very different from the acoustic recordings. If you want to hear those too, I recommend you check out his webpage of recordings:

https://www.neilfinn.com/fangradio

Since he's begun, on a typical day, Finn records shows that are roughly an hour long. But a good chunk of that - maybe half - is him talking between songs. It's often interesting, but I haven't included any of the talking because I don't think it stands up to repeat listening. If you want to hear all that, check out the link above. He also often acts kind of like a DJ, ending the show with a selection of his favorite recordings by others. I haven't included any of that either.

Also, if he plays the same song twice on different days, I'm only including one version. He does that every now and then, especially for his best known songs like "Don't Dream It's Over" or "Something So Strong." Furthermore, given that he's recording so much music every day, a good portion of it is off the cuff. He tries out a song, and sometimes it works, but other times it falls flat. Occasionally, he might even give up on a song before it ends. In cases where I judge the song didn't work well, I'm not including it. Happily though, whenever he flubs a song, he usually comes back to it on a later date and gets it right.

If one boils his daily broadcasts down to just the unique, quality solo acoustic performances, one gets maybe 15 to 20 minutes of music per day, though that can vary a lot. So rather than post a bunch of mini-concerts, I'm packaging the daily concerts together until I have enough for an album that's between 45 minutes and an hour in length. This is the first one, but I already have five more ready to go, and he keeps coming out with more nearly every single damn day! What he's doing really is remarkable. I haven't heard of any other musicians being nearly this prolific with their home concerts. (If you know of someone, please let me know.)

Getting to the music. he typically performs a mix of his older Split Enz and Crowded House songs, his later solo career songs, and some cover versions. This particular album has fewer covers than usual. He does "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, "Moon River" by Henry Mancini, and "Julia" by the Beatles.

The sound quality of his home recordings is generally excellent. However, there is a partial exception with this album. Since it includes his first 2020 home concerts, I think he was still working out the kinks in terms of how to best record the music. For some of the songs, he went way into the red on the loudest sections, resulting in a very bad sound for those parts. Luckily, most of the songs here weren't afflicted with this problem at all. For most of them that were, he happened to play them again later, so I've included those versions on future albums in this series instead.

The only ones that really got hit with this problem were "Distant Sun" and "When You Come." So I've included those two as bonus tracks only. Given how he occasionally plays his most famous songs more than once, I'm hopeful he'll do those again, especially "Distant Sun," which is one of his best known songs. If he does, I'll remove these bonus tracks.

In conclusion, if you're already a fan of Finn's music, you should really enjoy this. But if you only know and like the big Split Enz and Crowded House hits, I still recommend you check this out. Hopefully, like me, you'll be seriously impressed with his talent.

01 Don't Dream It's Over (Neil Finn)
02 Better Be Home Soon (Neil Finn)
03 Rest of the Day Off (Neil Finn)
04 Catch the Wind (Neil Finn)
05 Moon River (Neil Finn)
06 Not the Girl You Think You Are (Neil Finn)
07 Missing Person (Neil Finn)
08 I Can’t Give You Anything but Love (Neil Finn)
09 Love This Life (Neil Finn)
10 Lost Island (Neil Finn)
11 Julia (Neil Finn)
12 Catherine Wheels (Neil Finn)
13 Either Side of the World [Edit] (Neil Finn)
14 Dizzy Heights (Neil Finn)
15 Try Whistling This (Neil Finn)
16 Italian Plastic (Neil Finn)
17 Anytime (Neil Finn)

Distant Sun (Neil Finn)
When You Come (Neil Finn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17363162/NEILFNN2020HmeConcrts01LsAnglesCA__3-18-2020_to_3-26-2020_atse.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/dxqJDuzb

The cover art photo seems to be Finn's favorite photo for his home concerts. He has it at the top of his webpage (which I linked to above), and on his Facebook account, and so forth. I don't know when or where it was taken, but I figure it makes sense to use it to start this series. The only problem I had was that it was black and white, and I generally dislike those. So I colorized it.

New Categories

I don't know if you use the labels on the sidebar that allow you to find all the albums by specific artists, year, music type, etc... But if you do, I added two new categories today.

One is "cover versions only." It seems posting albums entirely consisting of covers has become a specialty for this blog, for instance the two albums of covers by Texas that I posted a day or two ago. So I've tagged all the dozens of existing covers albums, allowing you to search for just those.

The second new category is "home concert 2020." That's for all the recent home concerts that have been taking place in response to people staying at home due to the coronavirus. So far there are only three of those, but I plan on posting more soon.

Second Anniversary

Today, April 21, 2020, is the two year anniversary of this blog. I've enjoyed doing this, and I plan to keep doing it for a long time to come. (Somehow, I totally missed the first anniversary.)

If you've been using this blog, I'd like some feedback from you. I've got three questions for you:

1. What do you think of the blog in general?

2. What music posted here specifically have you enjoyed the most?

3. What specific artists and/or types of music would you like to see more of?

Thanks in advance for the feedback. The more comments I get, the more enthusiastic I feel about posting music here.