George Benson, Chet Atkins & Earl Klugh - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 12-18-1978

Here is a very unusual episode of the "PBS Soundstage" TV show. Back in the 1970s especially, the show had some jazz-themed episodes. I don't plan on posting most of those, because I'm not much of a jazz fan (and most of them seem lost anyway). However, I'm making an exception for this one, because I am a fan of guitar playing, and this features three guitar masters who almost never performed together. In fact, for all I know, this might be the only time the did. I'm speaking of Chet Atkins, George Benson, and Earl Klugh.

Of the three, George Benson might be the most famous. Although a talented jazz guitarist, he is a talented singer and songwriter. He had a bunch of pop hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His 1976 album "Breezin'" sold over three million copies. However, for this concert, he focused almost entirely on his jazz guitar playing. He only sang one song, one of his biggest hits, "The Greatest Love of All." (Whitney Houston later had an even bigger hit with it.) In fact, that's the only song in this concert with lead vocals. 

Here's his Wikipedia page:

George Benson - Wikipedia

Chet Atkins is probably the second most famous of the three. He was significantly older than the other two, being born in 1920, making him about 58 years old at the time of this concert. Known as "Mr. Guitar," his fingerpicking style was formative in the development of country music. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him number 21 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Here's his Wikipedia page:

Chet Atkins - Wikipedia 

Earl Klugh is probably the least well known, because he didn't cross over from jazz to pop like Benson did. But he's still sold millions of albums. He's also the connection that made this trio work, since he had links to both Benson and Atkins. At first glance, Atkins was country and had little to do with jazz musicians Benson and Klugh. But Klugh got interested in playing guitar as a child after watching Atkins perform on TV. He ended up guesting on some of Atkins' albums, and Atkins guested on one of his. Later on, he also played on on of Benson's albums and was a member of his touring band for about a year. In 1987, they would release an album together, called "Collaboration."

Here's his Wikipedia page:

Earl Klugh - Wikipedia 

Basically, this concert alternated between Benson, Atkins, and Klugh performing together, and playing off each other, and short solo sets. All in all, Benson played three songs solo, Atkins played four songs solo, Klugh played three songs solo, and the three of them played four songs together. Unfortunately, the last song they played together, "Bluesette," fades out after less than two minutes because that's when the hour-long time slot for the show ended. I couldn't find any way to fill in the rest of the song since the three of these guys playing together was so unique. I just kept in as much as I could.

The video of this concert is available on YouTube, and I imagine it's been there for a long time. But this is probably the first time it has been converted to an audio bootleg. The conversion process was relatively easy for me, but I had to do some sleuthing to figure out the names of all of the songs. There's one song Benson did that I just call "Instrumental." I found lots of comments on YouTube asking about this song, and nobody knew the name. It could be an original that he never put on album. If anyone knows the name of it, please let me know.

This unreleased album is 59 minutes long.

01 Cherokee [Instrumental] [Edit] (George Benson, Chet Atkins & Earl Klugh)
02 Weekend in L.A. [Instrumental] (George Benson)
03 The Greatest Love of All (George Benson)
04 Instrumental (George Benson)
05 talk (George Benson)
06 Oh Lonesome Me [Instrumental] (George Benson, Chet Atkins & Earl Klugh)
07 Cascade [Instrumental] (Chet Atkins)
08 talk (Chet Atkins)
09 Don't Think Twice, It's Alright [Instrumental Version] (Chet Atkins)
10 Kentucky [Instrumental] (Chet Atkins)
11 talk (Chet Atkins)
12 The Stars and Stripes Forever [Instrumental] (Chet Atkins)
13 Manha de Carnaval [A Day in the Life of a Fool] [Instrumental] (George Benson, Chet Atkins & Earl Klugh)
14 Jolanta [Instrumental] (Earl Klugh)
15 Dr. Makumba [Instrumental] (Earl Klugh)
16 Cry a Little While [Instrumental] (Earl Klugh)
17 Bluesette [Instrumental] [Edit] (George Benson, Chet Atkins & Earl Klugh)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Puu3KYoR

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/0hxXdy6JHydUfOo/file

I had a very difficult time making the cover image. It is a photo from this exact concert. I felt I had no choice since I couldn't find any other instances of these three people together. But the YouTube video I used as a source was very low-res. So I had to put it together in pieces. I took one screenshot of all three of them. Then I took screenshots to focus on their faces, to get more accuracy there. I used Photoshop to resize some pieces and put them all together. I also used Krea AI multiple times, adding detail to different parts too. 

By the way, from left to right, that's Chet Atkins, George Benson, and Earl Klugh.

The Greg Kihn Band - PBS Soundstage, Park West, Chicago, IL, 5-31-1983

The flood of "PBS Soundstage" episodes continues. This one features the Greg Kihn Band in 1983.

Unfortunately, I've only posted one other album by this band so far, and it's also from 1983, so the set lists are somewhat similar. I guess that isn't totally surprising, since 1983 was the peak of his popularity. He had two big hits in his career, "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" in 1981, and "Jeopardy" in 1983. "Jeopardy" was the bigger one, reaching Number Two in the U.S. singles chart. He only had one Top Forty hit after that, "Lucky" in 1985. So it makes sense 1983 was the year he was invited to perform on national programs like this one.

Happily, while the set lists of the two concerts are similar, they're not the same. He even did a cover version only in this concert, "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher."

This album is 57 minutes long.

01 Tear This City Down (Greg Kihn Band)
02 Happy Man (Greg Kihn Band)
03 Every Love Song (Greg Kihn Band)
04 talk (Greg Kihn Band)
05 Talkin' to Myself (Greg Kihn Band)
06 [Your Love Keeps Lifting Me] Higher and Higher (Greg Kihn Band)
07 Jeopardy (Greg Kihn Band)
08 talk (Greg Kihn Band)
09 I Fall to Pieces (Greg Kihn Band)
10 Can't Stop Hurtin' Myself (Greg Kihn Band)
11 Testify (Greg Kihn Band)
12 The Breakup Song [They Don't Write 'Em] (Greg Kihn Band)
13 Train Kept A-Rollin' - Keep On Walking - Just My Imagination (Greg Kihn Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/L3gH6vhM

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/SpMNWt2KFic4cAp/edit 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos or video from this concert. Instead, I used a photograph taken from a promotional video he made in 1983.

Paul Weller - BBC Sessions, Volume 19: In Concert, BBC Radio Theatre, London, Britain, 11-1-2018

I'm getting close! Just one more album after this, and I'll be caught up to present day with Paul Weller BBC albums. This is a BBC concert from 2018.

This concert is very similar to an official live album, "Other Aspects: Live at the Royal Festival Hall." Both were recorded in London in late 2018 with a band and a full orchestra. But this is an entirely different concert that took place about half a month after that concert. Naturally, their set lists are pretty similar. In all honesty, you might just want that official live album, since it's a full concert too and has more songs on it. But this is an unreleased BBC concert with excellent sound quality, so I'm posting it anyway.

Weller released the studio album "True Meanings" not long prior to this concert, in September 2018. So naturally there are a bunch of songs here from that. But he also goes back as far as his days with the Jam and the Style Council, selecting songs that work well with orchestral backing.

This album is an hour and 11 minutes long.

01 talk by Jo Whiley (Paul Weller)
02 One Bright Star (Paul Weller)
03 talk (Paul Weller)
04 The Soul Searchers (Paul Weller)
05 talk (Paul Weller)
06 Boy about Town (Paul Weller)
07 talk (Paul Weller)
08 Have You Ever Had It Blue (Paul Weller)
09 Wild Wood (Paul Weller)
10 talk (Paul Weller)
11 Aspects (Paul Weller)
12 talk (Paul Weller)
13 Amongst Butterflies (Paul Weller)
14 talk (Paul Weller)
15 A Man of Great Promise (Paul Weller)
16 talk (Paul Weller)
17 Gravity (Paul Weller)
18 talk (Paul Weller)
19 Private Hell (Paul Weller)
20 talk (Paul Weller)
21 Movin On (Paul Weller)
22 talk (Paul Weller)
23 Long Long Road (Paul Weller)
24 Mayfly (Paul Weller)
25 Tales from the Riverbank (Paul Weller)
26 You Do Something to Me (Paul Weller)
27 talk (Paul Weller)
28 White Horses (Paul Weller with Erland Cooper)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZwAhxyaM

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/ibVx0A71Vj79uPx/file

The cover photo is taken from the Royal Festival Hall concert in October 2018 that was turned into the live album I mentioned above. I couldn't find any photos from this exact one.

Van Morrison - BBC Sessions, Volume 9: Live and Exclusive, Forum Theatre, Malvern, Britain, 11-25-2003

Finally, here's the last BBC album from Van Morrison. It's a BBC concert from 2003.

As I mentioned in previous write-ups, I think Morrison was great in the 1960s and 70s especially, and he even had a musical renaissance in the 1990s in my opinion, but he slowly turned into a reactionary asshole who also was just musically repeating himself, to the point that some of his more recent albums (like "Latest Record Project, Volume 1" in 2021) have to be some of the most critically panned albums by any famous artist, period. So at some point I had to step away from his music, and that point is right around the time of his concert. Mind you, this concert is fine by itself. But I don't have enough interest to post even more BBC material that's out there in the years after this, sorry.

Anyway, in October 2003, Morrison released the studio album "What's Wrong with This Picture?" Many of the songs here are from that. Plus there are some classics from earlier in his career. 

This unreleased album is 57 minutes long.

01 talk (Van Morrison)
02 Whining Boy Moan (Van Morrison)
03 Once in a Blue Moon (Van Morrison)
04 What's Wrong with This Picture (Van Morrison)
05 Little Village (Van Morrison)
06 Have I Told You Lately (Van Morrison)
07 Listen to the Lion (Van Morrison)
08 Goldfish Bowl (Van Morrison)
09 Stop Drinking (Van Morrison)
10 It's All in the Game (Van Morrison)
11 Gloria (Van Morrison)
12 talk (Van Morrison)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1sr7qVKR

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/WitRZpkXz5zsOK5/file

The cover photo is from Bridgewater Hall, in Manchester, Britain, in April 18, 2003.

Kenny Loggins & Friends - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 2-2-2017

Here's an extra big "PBS Soundstage" episodes, by Kenny Loggins, from 2017. The vast majority of the show episodes are a little less than an hour long. But this one is over two hours long!

This concert is sort of the ultimate Kenny Loggins concert encapsulating his entire career, because he brought in many key guests. The most important guest was Jim Messina, his partner in the successful Loggins and Messina duo in the 1970s. They performed eight Loggins and Messina songs in the middle of the concert, resulting in sort of a mini-concert inside the bigger concert that lasted almost 40 minutes. Another key guest is Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers. Loggins and McDonald wrote some big hits together, including the Number One "What a Fool Believes."

But there are many more guests. For instance, David Foster, a producer who also has been a very successful songwriter. Another is Thundercat, a bassist who plays all sorts of music from funk to jazz, but has a soft spot for "yacht rock," and wrote a song with Loggins and McDonald. In 2013 and 2015, Loggins released albums by a new country band he was a part of, called the Blue Sky Riders. He played two songs here with them. And one member of that band, Georgia Middleman, also sang a duet with him, "Whenever I Call You 'Friend.'" Finally, Loggins sang another song with his daughter, Hana Aluna Loggins. He also was backed by the vocal group Six Appeal on another song. So the concert is chock-a-block with guests, yet it's so long that he did a bunch of songs without guests as well.

The reason this is so long is that a version of it was released on both CD and DVD, so that wasn't limited by the one-hour-long limit of the TV show. But it turns out there were a lot of differences between the CD and DVD. There were some song differences, different song order, and sometime banter included between songs and sometimes not. So I went through both versions, included everything, and put the songs in the correct order. In my opinion, this is the "ultimate" version, better than either the CD or DVD versions.

This album is two hours and 14 minutes long.

01 talk (Kenny Loggins)
02 Forever (Kenny Loggins with David Foster)
03 talk (Kenny Loggins with David Foster)
04 The Real Thing (Kenny Loggins with David Foster)
05 talk (Kenny Loggins with David Foster)
06 Heart to Heart (Kenny Loggins with David Foster & Michael McDonald)
07 talk (Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald)
08 This Is It (Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald)
09 talk (Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald)
10 What a Fool Believes (Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald)
11 talk (Kenny Loggins & Michael McDonald)
12 Show You the Way (Kenny Loggins with Thundercat & Michael McDonald)
13 talk (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
14 House at Pooh Corner (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
15 talk (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
16 Watching the River Run (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
17 talk (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
18 Long Tail Cat (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
19 talk (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
20 Danny's Song (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
21 Angry Eyes (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
22 Vahevala (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
23 Thinking of You (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
24 Your Mama Don't Dance (Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina)
25 talk (Kenny Loggins)
26 Sweet Reunion (Kenny Loggins with Six Appeal)
27 talk (Kenny Loggins)
28 Why Not (Kenny Loggins with Blue Sky Riders)
29 talk (Kenny Loggins with Blue Sky Riders)
30 Feeling Brave (Kenny Loggins with Blue Sky Riders)
31 Whenever I Call You 'Friend' (Kenny Loggins with Georgia Middleman)
32 talk (Kenny Loggins)
33 Conviction of the Heart (Kenny Loggins with Hana Aluna Loggins)
34 Celebrate Me Home (Kenny Loggins)
35 That's When I Find You (Kenny Loggins)
36 If You Believe (Kenny Loggins)
37 talk (Kenny Loggins)
38 I'm Alright (Kenny Loggins)
39 Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins)
40 Footloose (Kenny Loggins)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ukorrdF2

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/DVNH4hnJ4R3nhlr/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

The Roches - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 5-25-1983

Still another episode of "PBS Soundstage." This time, it's the Roches, a vocal trio consisting of three sisters (Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche).

The Roches were critically acclaimed, especially their debut album in 1979 (simply called "The Roches"), but their unusual vocal style never resulted in any hits or widespread popularity. Still, they were popular enough to appear on "Saturday Night Live" in 1979 and "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in 1985. They stayed together until 1997, with one last reunion album in 2007.

Here's their Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

The Roches - Wikipedia 

I had to do some more editing than usual for this album, as can be seen with the four songs with "[Edit]" in their titles. This was one of those episodes where the editors decided to have voiceovers on top of instrumental sections of songs. I did my usual thing of using the UVR5 program to erase the voiceovers while keeping the music, but there was some damage to the music in a few places. 

The album is 53 minutes long.

01 Mr. Sellack (Roches)
02 It's Bad for Me [Edit] (Roches)
03 The Train (Roches)
04 talk (Roches)
05 The Largest Elizabeth in the World (Roches)
06 talk (Roches)
07 One Season [Edit] (Roches)
08 talk (Roches)
09 Want Not Want Not (Roches)
10 The Married Men [Edit] (Roches)
11 Nurds (Roches)
12 talk (Roches)
13 The Troubles (Roches)
14 talk (Roches)
15 Hallelujah [Excerpt from Messiah Part II] (Roches)
16 Hammond Song (Roches)
17 talk (Roches)
18 Keep On Doing What You Do - Jerks on the Loose [Edit] (Roches)
19 We (Roches)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/v2w1coP3

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/wdsLQFeJONeASmk/file

The cover image is from this exact concert. It's based on a screenshot I took from a YouTube video of this concert. The video quality was poor, so I used a combination of Photoshop and Krea AI to make it look better.

Various Artists - PBS Soundstage, The Rocky Mountain Way, Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, Greenwood Village, CO, 8-13-2017

Here's a rather strange episode of PBS Soundstage." Occasionally, that TV show would just broadcast highlights of concerts that were happening anyway. For instance, in 2003, one episode of the show consisted of highlights from that year's Farm Aid benefit concert, and in 2016 they broadcast highlights of a tribute concert for George Harrison, called GeorgeFest. 

This another case like that. Weirdly, the concert was for the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. That year, they were inducting Joe Walsh's early 1970s band, Barnstorm, and Dan Fogelberg, and a couple of others. But really, it was basically a tribute to Fogelberg, who died in 2007. Walsh did play a few songs with Barnstorm for the first time in ages, but even that was kind of a Fogelberg tribute, since he was friends with Fogelberg and produced one of his albums. 

What we have here consists only of the highlights that made it on the Soundstage TV show. Other songs were played, including by some other musical acts, but I couldn't find them. On this recording, Joe Walsh started out playing three of his songs from his early 1970s Barnstorm era. Then the rest of the concert consisted of different musical acts performing Fogelberg songs. Fool's Gold is the name of Fogelberg's long-time backing back. Johnnyswim is a rather obscure married vocal duo. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Richie Furay (formerly of Buffalo Springfield and Poco) apparently played one or more of their own songs earlier in the concert. But all we have is them performing together on a Fogelberg song. Then country star Vince Gill and Christian pop star Amy Grant sang a Fogelberg song together. They're connected due to being married since 2000. 

The biggest name of the evening was saved for last: Garth Brooks. Whether one likes it or not, he's one of the best selling musical acts of all time. It turns out he's also a huge fan of Dan Fogelberg's music. He was introduced by Fogelberg's widow and then sang one Fogelberg song, "Phoenix." The concert ended with one last Fogelberg song, in which all their earlier performers joined Brooks on stage for the song.

I read an article discussing some controversy about this concert, because some unscrupulous local promoter billed the concert soley as a Garth Brooks one, driving up ticket prices. Some fans were very disappointed when it turned out he only had a small role to play, despite there being other big names too, like Joe Walsh. But apparently that promoter had nothing to do with the people who actually arranged and put on the concert. 

I had a pretty difficult time editing this one. This was one of those occasional episodes where some editor thought it was a smart idea to have voiceovers over parts of the songs, especially over instrumental solos. I was able to cut out a bunch of stuff that wasn't from the actual concert between songs, like interview segments. As for the voiceovers during songs, luckily they kept enough of the music that I was able to erase the voices and keep the underlying music, using the UVR5 program. However, there was some damage to the music in those songs, the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles. 

Also, this is yet another episode of this show where the best sounding recording turned out to be a video file. So I converted that to audio and broke it into mp3s. (And by the way, this episode isn't listed in the Wikipedia page's list of all the Soundstage episodes, but I know it was such an episode because I watched the video of it, complete with Soundstage graphics. The episode title, "The Rocky Mountain Way," is the name Soundstage gave the concert, not the actual concert name used at the time.)

This unreleased album is 56 minutes long.

01 talk (Joe Walsh)
02 Here We Go (Joe Walsh)
03 Turn to Stone (Joe Walsh)
04 talk (Joe Walsh)
05 Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)
06 Part of the Plan [Edit] (Fool's Gold)
07 Nether Lands [Edit] (Johnnyswim)
08 Run for the Roses [Edit] (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Richie Furay)
09 talk (Vince Gill & Amy Grant)
10 Longer (Vince Gill & Amy Grant)
11 talk (Jean Fogelberg)
12 Phoenix (Garth Brooks)
13 talk (Chuck Morris)
14 There's a Place in the World for a Gambler (Garth Brooks & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gqqHFvZQ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/WizLWpcA2Bkjqv7/file

 The cover image is a screenshot I took of a video of this concert, showing Joe Walsh performing a guitar solo.

Leo Sayer - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 10-24-1978

Another "PBS Soundstage" episode. This time, it's a Leo Sayer concert from 1978. I can't say I'm much of a Sayer fan, but he has enough quality music for me to post this. Besides, there are virtually no live recordings of him from his prime, so it's good to get this out there.

Sayer was a pretty big star in the late 1970s. He wrote most of his own songs, and even co-wrote most of the songs on the first solo album by the Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey in 1973, including the hit "Giving It All Away." His biggest success was in 1977, when he had two huge Number One hits, "You Make Me Feel like Dancing" and "When I Need You." However, his success declined a lot in the mid-1980s, when he suffered a bunch of personal problems and legal and financial problems related to bad management and record company woes. You can read his Wikipedia entry here:

Leo Sayer - Wikipedia 

I found an audio bootleg of this concert, but it had lots of issues. The person who recorded it off the T.V. at the time apparently missed the start of a couple of songs due to turning the recording off for commercial breaks. Those two songs were "In My Life" and "The Show Must Go On," which is why they have "[Edit]" in their titles. I found other versions from that era to fill in the missing sections. For "In My Life," the version I found, from a 1976 concert, had a drastically different pitch, so I hope the result here is decent. That song also seemingly broke into a different bluesy instrumental song in the middle in a way that I'm not sure was actually what happened on stage. But I'm not sure, so I kept that.

I had to make some other minor changes here and there. The sound quality is good, but not great, probably due to it being taped off the T.V. in the 1970s.

Also note that I added a bonus track at the end. I was very surprised that maybe his biggest hit of all, "When I Need You," wasn't included, despite it being released a year before this concert. So I added that at the end, using a version performed on "The Midnight Special" TV show in 1980.

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 One Man Band (Leo Sayer)
02 How Much Love (Leo Sayer)
03 In My Life [Edit] (Leo Sayer)
04 Train (Leo Sayer)
05 You Make Me Feel like Dancing (Leo Sayer)
06 Dancing the Night Away (Leo Sayer)
07 Raining in My Heart (Leo Sayer)
08 Thunder in My Heart (Leo Sayer)
09 Long Tall Glasses [I Can Dance] (Leo Sayer)
10 The Show Must Go On [Edit] (Leo Sayer)
11 When I Need You (Leo Sayer)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/jsRH96r2

alternate: 

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

The cover image is from a different 1978 concert. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any video or photos from this exact concert.

The Spinners - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 11-7-1976

Would you believe it? Another "PBS Soundstage" episode. This one stars the Spinners, from 1976.

The Spinners were one of the biggest soul groups of the 1970s. But they actually were formed back in 1954. They were signed to the legendary Motown record label from 1963 to 1972, but they were given a low priority and didn't have much success, other than the hit "It's a Shame" in 1970, which was co-written for them by Stevie Wonder. Things turned around in 1972, when they signed to Atlantic Records and began working closely with producer Thom Bell, who co-wrote most of their hit songs.

The band arguably reached their peak right when this concert took place. The band had multiple lead singers. However, their best known singer was Philippe Wynne. For instance, that's his voice on the hit "The Rubberband Man," which is my favorite song of theirs. By 1976, Wynne got so well known that he wanted the band to change their name to "Philippe Wynne and the Spinners." When the other band members refused, he left for a solo career (which wasn't that successful). He left in January 1977, so this was one of the last concerts with him in the group. The band did have success without him for a few more years, but I think it's nice to have him singing just like he did on many of their hits.

The band played most of their biggest hits up to that point in their career. However, one of their biggest, "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" from 1972, wasn't included for some reason.

This unreleased album is 53 minutes long.

01 It's a Shame (Spinners)
02 I've Got to Make It on My Own (Spinners)
03 The Rubberband Man (Spinners)
04 talk (Spinners)
05 Wake Up Susan (Spinners)
06 talk (Spinners)
07 Then Came You (Spinners)
08 Ghetto Child (Spinners)
09 I Don't Want to Lose You (Spinners)
10 One of a Kind [Love Affair] (Spinners)
11 Love or Leave (Spinners)
12 How Could I Let You Get Away (Spinners)
13 talk (Spinners)
14 Tenderly (Spinners)
15 talk (Spinners)
16 Games People Play [They Just Can't Stop It] (Spinners)
17 talk (Spinners)
18 Sadie (Spinners)
19 Mighty Love (Spinners)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/8vu3sRkJ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/OvyEP2FsHrG91f7/edit

The cover image is from this exact concert. I took a screenshot from a YouTube video. If you saw just how low-res the video was, I think you'd be amazed at the final result. I had to do a lot of clean up work in Photoshop. Then I ran the result through the Krea AI program multiple times. Philippe Wynne is the one with the glasses and the beard.

Fountains of Wayne - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 11-10-2005

The flood of "PBS Soundstage" episodes continues with one from Fountains of Wayne.

This band existed from 1995 to 2013. They're best known for their 2003 hit "Stacy's Mom." However, they have lots of other good songs besides that one.

At the time of this concert, the band's last studio album was "Welcome Interstate Managers" in 2003. In 2005, they released "Out-of-State Plates," a collection of B-sides. It did have two new songs on it though. One of them, "Maureen," was performed at this concert. The band only did a limited tour in 2005.

If you want to know more about the band, here's their Wikipedia page:

Fountains of Wayne - Wikipedia 

Sadly, the band's main songwriter, Adam Schlesinger, died of Covid-related health problems in 2020.

This unreleased album is 56 minutes long.

01 Flair (Fountains of Wayne)
02 Mexican Wine (Fountains of Wayne)
03 talk (Fountains of Wayne)
04 Janice's Party (Fountains of Wayne)
05 talk (Fountains of Wayne)
06 No Better Place (Fountains of Wayne)
07 Denise (Fountains of Wayne)
08 Hackensack (Fountains of Wayne)
09 talk (Fountains of Wayne)
10 Hey Julie (Fountains of Wayne)
11 talk (Fountains of Wayne)
12 Valley Winter Song (Fountains of Wayne)
13 Sick Day (Fountains of Wayne)
14 talk (Fountains of Wayne)
15 Red Dragon Tattoo (Fountains of Wayne)
16 Stacy's Mom (Fountains of Wayne)
17 Bright Future in Sales (Fountains of Wayne)
18 Maureen (Fountains of Wayne)
19 Radiation Vibe (Fountains of Wayne)
20 Survival Car (Fountains of Wayne)
21 talk (Fountains of Wayne)
22 Sink to the Bottom (Fountains of Wayne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Vt2n9WEw

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/uMF7kAvLrQn24Wj/file

The cover image of the band's lead singer Chris Collingwood is from this exact concert.

Michael McDonald with Ashford & Simpson & the Doobie Brothers - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 7-1-2003

Here's a PBS Soundstage concert starring Michael McDonald from 2003. 

But it has some significant guest stars too. First off, the soul duo Ashford and Simpson take the lead on two classic songs they wrote for the Motown record label back in the 1960s, and then return to sing backing vocals on a couple more songs later in the show. 

But more significantly, McDonald was joined on stage for the entire second half of the concert by Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers. Simmons and Johnston were the main creative forces in the Doobie Brothers before McDonald joined the band in 1975 and basically became the main guy in the late 1970s. Johnston only overlapped with McDonald for one album in 1976 before leaving in 1977, but Patrick Simmons never left the band. The two of them were billed at the show as "the Doobie Brothers." Even though the two of them arguably don't make up the Doobie Brothers by themselves, I'm using that in the song titles and album title because when I tried using "Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston" instead, some of the song titles got too long, causing some problems (like not being able to put them in zip files).

Generally, the songs here focus more on hits with the Doobie Brothers than McDonald's solo material. However, there's also a Motown focus, with two more Motown covers as the last two songs. That makes sense because in June 2003, right before this concert took place, McDonald released a solo album titled "Motown," consisting entirely of covers of famous Motown songs. In 2005, he did another Soundstage episode entirely consisting of Motown covers, with more guest stars. I plan on posting that one as well.

This album is an hour and 22 minutes long.

01 It Keeps You Runnin' (Michael McDonald)
02 Sweet Freedom (Michael McDonald)
03 I Keep Forgettin' (Michael McDonald)
04 Find It in Your Heart (Michael McDonald)
05 If You Wanted to Hurt Me (Michael McDonald)
06 talk (Michael McDonald & Ashford & Simpson)
07 Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Michael McDonald & Ashford & Simpson)
08 Ain't Nothing like the Real Thing (Michael McDonald & Ashford & Simpson)
09 talk (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
10 Black Water (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
11 talk (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
12 Take Me in Your Arms [Rock Me a Little While] (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
13 Minute by Minute (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
14 I Can't Let Go (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
15 What a Fool Believes (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
16 Beautiful Child (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
17 Takin' It to the Streets (Michael McDonald, the Doobie Brothers & Ashford & Simpson)
18 You Belong to Me (Michael McDonald, the Doobie Brothers & Ashford & Simpson)
19 What's Going On (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)
20 I Heard It through the Grapevine (Michael McDonald & the Doobie Brothers)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/mcF5NvT3

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/wi6zWL1GKeTgagN/file

The cover image is from this exact concert.

Lindsey Buckingham - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 12-18-1992

Here's yet another episode of "PBS Soundstage." I have so many of these to post. This one features Lindsey Buckingham, one of the main singer-songwriters in Fleetwood Mac. He's actually done two episodes of this show. This one is from 1992, and I'll later post one from 2003.

In 1987, Buckingham left Fleetwood Mac after he'd helped them sell tens of millions of albums since the mid-1970s. It sounds like drugs and rock and roll excess were getting out of hand in that band, and he had to leave the band for his own preservation. He would eventually rejoin Fleetwood Mac in 1997, but at the time of this concert that probably seemed far from a certain thing. He'd already released solo albums in 1981 and 1984 while still a member of Fleetwood Mac. But his 1992 album "Out of the Cradle" was the first one when his solo career was his main focus. 

If you listen to the banter between songs, at one point he said this was his very first full solo concert. I looked it up, and that's not exactly true. He actually did four club shows just prior to this one. But it's true in a larger sense, because those were warm-ups for this one, which was his first solo concert of importance, since it was broadcast nationwide.

Overall, this bootleg recording sounds excellent. But I had a lot of editing trouble with it, which is why a bunch of songs have "[Edit]" in their titles. Technically, this is from the one year the program was called "Center Stage" instead of "Soundstage," though I'm calling it "Soundstage" for consistency's sake. Unfortunately for me, this was one of those shows where whoever edited it decided to spice things up by occasionally including interview segments. But while the show generally did that between songs, or while the concert kept playing in the background, in some cases here, sometimes songs were completely cut partially through. So in those cases I had to find other performances of the same song from the same tour and patch them in. For some songs, like "Go Insane," "Big Love," and "Street of Dreams," that meant adding in a couple of minutes for each song. For others, the editing was relatively minor. For instance, "The Chain" only had some interview talk over the cheering at the end of the song.

But the bottom line is all those interview parts are gone, and this should just be pure concert. Hopefully it will sound seamless to you. If you want those other bits, I recommend you watch the video of this on YouTube. 

And speaking of video, I couldn't find any good audio bootlegs of this, but I did find a high quality video. So I converted that to audio and broke it into mp3s. 

This album is an hour long.

01 talk (Lindsey Buckingham)
02 Don't Look Down (Lindsey Buckingham)
03 You Do or You Don't (Lindsey Buckingham)
04 The Chain [Edit] (Lindsey Buckingham)
05 Big Love [Edit] (Lindsey Buckingham)
06 talk (Lindsey Buckingham)
07 Go Insane [Edit] (Lindsey Buckingham)
08 Trouble (Lindsey Buckingham)
09 Tusk (Lindsey Buckingham)
10 I'm So Afraid (Lindsey Buckingham)
11 Street of Dreams [Edit] (Lindsey Buckingham)
12 talk (Lindsey Buckingham)
13 Never Going Back Again (Lindsey Buckingham)
14 All My Sorrows [All My Trials] [Edit] (Lindsey Buckingham)
15 This Is the Time (Lindsey Buckingham)
16 Go Your Own Way [Edit] (Lindsey Buckingham)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ihE4wmLg

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/MPXhMwG8ClPHB9S/file

The cover is from this exact concert.

Joss Stone with Mavis Staples - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 8-24-2005

Here's another episode of "PBS Soundstage," from 2005. It mainly stars Joss Stone, but there is a section in the middle featuring Mavis Staples. Then Stone and Staples sing the final song together. 

Stone is a talented British singer with a soulful voice. She had her most success with her first two albums. "The Soul Sessions," an all-covers album released in 2003, sold several million copies worldwide. "Mind Body & Soul," released in late 2004, mostly consisted of songs she co-wrote with others, and also sold several million copies worldwide. Since then, her sales have gone down a lot, but at the time of this concert she was a very big star. Overall, she's sold about 15 million albums worldwide.

Here's her Wikipedia entry, if you want to know more:

Joss Stone - Wikipedia 

Mavis Staples has had a very different career path. She was born back in 1939, and is 85 years old as I write this in April 2025, yet she continues to record and tour. She became a member of a family band, the Staple Singers, back in 1950, when she was only 11 years old. She was the main lead singer for the Staple Singers, though not the only one, and sang lead on major hits like "Respect Yourself," "I'll Take You There," and "Let's Do It Again." The Staple Singers broke up in 2000 when band leader (and her father) Pop Staples died. But Mavis Staples has kept very busy with her musical career since then. She's released about two dozen solo albums, if one includes both studio and live ones.

Here's her Wikipedia entry:

Mavis Staples - Wikipedia 

Stone and Staples make a good pairing, despite a big age difference, since they both sing soul music. Most of the songs here are covers, including a version of "Under Pressure," originally by David Bowie and Queen, which Stone only released on a various artists tribute album to Queen. (Mavis Staples didn't have a role in writing the Staples Singers hit she sang here, "The Weight," "Respect Yourself," and "I'll Take You There," so I consider those covers too.)

This unreleased album is 55 minutes long.

01 Super Duper Love [Are You Diggin' on Me] (Joss Stone)
02 talk (Joss Stone)
03 Fell in Love with a Boy (Joss Stone)
04 Under Pressure (Joss Stone)
05 talk (Mavis Staples)
06 Have a Little Faith (Mavis Staples)
07 talk (Mavis Staples)
08 The Weight (Mavis Staples)
09 talk (Mavis Staples)
10 Respect Yourself (Mavis Staples)
11 The Chokin' Kind (Joss Stone)
12 talk (Joss Stone)
13 Right to Be Wrong (Joss Stone)
14 talk (Joss Stone)
15 You Had Me (Joss Stone)
16 talk (Joss Stone)
17 Spoiled (Joss Stone)
18 I'll Take You There (Joss Stone & Mavis Staples)
19 talk (Joss Stone & Mavis Staples)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/SD52Un8e

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/mDWzzVn2tS0C0Xi/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

Peter Gabriel - Rock Werchter Festival, Werchter, Belgium, 7-3-1983

I'm posting this album due to a screw-up. When I downloaded this bootleg, I thought it was going to be the next album in my series of Peter Gabriel BBC albums. But then I took a listen to it and heard a DJ at various points talking in a foreign language. I then did a little more research and decided this wasn't a BBC concert after all. And while it is an FM radio broadcast, the sound quality isn't great. However, I noticed that Gabriel's vocals were quite low in the mix, and that's something I could easily fix. So I decided to go through with the fixing and post this, even though it's not the best concert bootleg from his 1983 tour.

I'm not going to say a lot because I'm not that keen on this concert, due to the sound quality being only good instead of great. Perhaps at some later point I'll post a better sounding one from this tour (and one that includes "Games without Frontiers," one of my favorite songs from him). Three of the songs here have "[Edit]" in them because they had a DJ talking over part of the track. As I usually, do I used the UVR5 program to get rid of the talking. And, as mentioned above, I also used UVR5 to boost the lead vocals relative to everything else.

Note that Gabriel also released a live album from the same tour, called "Plays Live." Although I'd also note that it was criticized for its sound quality, and it's taken from multiple concerts.

01 Across the River [Edit] (Peter Gabriel)
02 Intruder (Peter Gabriel)
03 talk (Peter Gabriel)
04 Not One of Us (Peter Gabriel)
05 talk (Peter Gabriel)
06 The Family and the Fishing Net (Peter Gabriel)
07 Humdrum (Peter Gabriel)
08 talk (Peter Gabriel)
09 Shock the Monkey [Edit] (Peter Gabriel)
10 talk (Peter Gabriel)
11 We Do What We're Told [Milgram's 37] (Peter Gabriel)
12 talk (Peter Gabriel)
13 Family Snapshot (Peter Gabriel)
14 talk (Peter Gabriel)
15 Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel)
16 San Jacinto (Peter Gabriel)
17 On the Air (Peter Gabriel)
18 Biko [Edit] (Peter Gabriel) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1GrvbUv5

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/UN354tZAT6BIipC/file

The cover photo is from a concert at the Palais des Sports, in Paris, France, on July 1st, 1983. He wore the same facial make-up for the whole tour, so he almost certainly looked just like this at this concert just a couple of days later.

Neil Diamond with Lulu & Amy McDonald - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: Electric Proms, The Roundhouse, London, Britain, 10-30-2010

Before I dive all the way in with posting the winners of my recent BBC poll, I still have a few BBC albums I want to post of other artists. Here's one I'm finishing up. This is the third and probable last BBC concert by Neil Diamond, unless there are others I don't know about. It's a full concert and has two guest stars: Lulu and Amy McDonald.

Diamond's career peaked in the 1960s and 70s both creatively and commercially. But he had a late critical revival starting with his 2005 album "12 Songs," which was produced by Rick Rubin. This concert took place just a few days before Diamond released the album "Dreams." It consisted entirely of cover versions of famous songs, with the exception of "I'm a Believer," which was a massive hit for the Monkees back in 1967 but was actually written by Diamond. That's why he played covers like "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Ain't No Sunshine," as well as a slowed down version of "I'm a Believer."

The concert is also unusual for the guest stars. Lulu had a big hit in 1967 with "The Boat that I Row," a song written by Diamond. She sang that here with Diamond, as well as "Oh Me, Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)" another 1960s hit for her that Diamond wasn't involved with. Singer-songwriter Amy McDonald was a guest singer for two songs as well. She sang "Shilo," a song written by Diamond. Then she sang a song she wrote, "This Is the Life." It was a Number One hit in many countries in Europe in 2008, but only a minor hit in Britain and not a hit at all in the U.S. Here's her Wikipedia entry if you want to know more about her:

Amy Macdonald - Wikipedia

Otherwise, the concert was filled with the classic hits you'd expect from Diamond. Lulu returned near the end of the concert to help sing "Sweet Caroline."

This unreleased album is an hour and 37 minutes long.

01 talk (Neil Diamond)
02 Beautiful Noise (Neil Diamond)
03 Forever in Blue Jeans (Neil Diamond)
04 talk (Neil Diamond)
05 Hello Again (Neil Diamond)
06 talk (Neil Diamond)
07 Play Me (Neil Diamond)
08 talk (Neil Diamond)
09 Solitary Man (Neil Diamond)
10 Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon (Neil Diamond)
11 Cherry, Cherry (Neil Diamond)
12 talk (Neil Diamond)
13 Love Song [Edit] (Neil Diamond)
14 talk (Neil Diamond)
15 Midnight Train to Georgia (Neil Diamond)
16 talk (Neil Diamond)
17 Ain't No Sunshine (Neil Diamond)
18 I'm a Believer (Neil Diamond)
19 talk (Neil Diamond)
20 The Boat that I Row (Neil Diamond & Lulu)
21 talk (Neil Diamond & Lulu)
22 Oh Me, Oh My [I'm a Fool for You Baby] (Lulu with Neil Diamond)
23 talk (Neil Diamond)
24 Pretty Amazing Grace (Neil Diamond)
25 talk (Neil Diamond)
26 Shilo (Amy McDonald with Neil Diamond)
27 talk (Amy McDonald with Neil Diamond)
28 This Is the Life (Amy McDonald with Neil Diamond)
29 talk (Neil Diamond)
30 Holly Holy (Neil Diamond)
31 Cracklin' Rose (Neil Diamond)
32 I Am... I Said (Neil Diamond)
33 Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond)
34 Sweet Caroline [Reprise] (Neil Diamond & Lulu)
35 Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (Neil Diamond)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/AKaJ7kKF

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/jpW8oj6TgADorgx/file

The cover is from this exact concert. It shows Diamond with Lulu.

Trisha Yearwood - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 9-22-2005

Just a couple of days ago, I mentioned that I had no plans to post the "PBS Soundstage" episode for Trisha Yearwood and some other country stars. But the person who has been sending me some very rare BBC material (including some of the Joan Armatrading stuff I posted yesterday) saw that and asked if I could post the Yearwood one. He's been so helpful that it was the least I could do. So here it is.

Yearwood had eleven albums that at least achieved Gold status (meaning sales of half a million in the U.S.) between 1991 and 2005. This is a well timed concert, because it took place after the release of her most recent Gold album, "Jasper County," meaning she could choose from most of her best known songs. 2005 also was the year she married country mega-star Garth Brooks. Since then, she's slowed her music career to focus on other interests, like writing best-selling cooking books and having a cooking themed TV show. She's sold over 15 millions albums worldwide.

 

Here's her Wikipedia page if you want to know more:

 

Trisha Yearwood - Wikipedia

Note that the date I've given for this is the broadcast date. I prefer giving the date of the actual concert, but in this case I don't know when that was.

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 She's in Love with the Boy (Trisha Yearwood)
02 XXX & OOO's [An American Girl] (Trisha Yearwood)
03 talk (Trisha Yearwood)
04 Georgia Rain (Trisha Yearwood)
05 talk (Trisha Yearwood)
06 Who Invented the Wheel (Trisha Yearwood)
07 talk (Trisha Yearwood)
08 Perfect Love (Trisha Yearwood)
09 The Song Remembers When (Trisha Yearwood)
10 talk (Trisha Yearwood)
11 Pistol (Trisha Yearwood)
12 Walkaway Joe (Trisha Yearwood)
13 Wrong Side of Memphis (Trisha Yearwood)
14 talk (Trisha Yearwood)
15 How Can I Live (Trisha Yearwood)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/uVgAxhdL

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/L6xGIQB3lKVOI6r/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. The version I found was rather small, so I enlarged it and then used the Krea AI program to add detail.

Joan Armatrading - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1973-1977

If you think I've posted a "BBC Sessions, Volume 1" by Joan Armatrading, you're right. I first gave that name to a 1981 BBC concert she did. Then I found a 1977 BBC concert by her, and renamed the ones that came after that. Now, I've discovered a bunch of BBC studio sessions she did earlier in her career, so all the BBC albums by her after this got renumbered again. Sigh! Sorry. I wish I got all this right on the first go round.

In this case though, I had good reason for not posting the material in this album earlier, because most of it simply was beyond my reach. 

I've known for some time that Armatrading performed no less than eight studio sessions for BBC DJ John Peel from 1972 to 1976, playing three to four songs each. You can see the details here:

Joan Armatrading | John Peel Wiki | Fandom

That should have been enough material for one BBC studio sessions album, maybe two. Unfortunately though, the vast majority of those performances either weren't saved and have been lost, or they only exist in some private vault. The only session I could find was the last one, from 1976. I also found a couple of performances she did in the 1970s for the BBC TV show "The Old Grey Whistle Test," but I decided that wasn't enough to make an album.

But in recent weeks I've been in touch with a musical associate who has been sending me lots of great material for the BBC radio show "Top of the Pops." It turns out that some of the otherwise lost performances she did for John Peel's show were rebroadcast on Top of the Pops. Those have been saved in pristine condition. I think this is a great find because it includes two songs she wrote, "Some Kind of Love Song" and "Freedom," which as far as I can tell not only are still officially unreleased and unbootlegged, but there's virtually no mention of their existence on the Internet (other than the fact that they'd been performed on Peel's show). 

Please don't forget to redownload all the Armatrading BBC volumes after this one, since they are newly renumbered, with resulting changes to the cover art and mp3 tags. 

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Child Star (Joan Armatrading)
02 talk (Joan Armatrading)
03 Gave It a Try (Joan Armatrading)
04 Lonely Lady [Edit] (Joan Armatrading)
05 Alice (Joan Armatrading)
06 Freedom (Joan Armatrading)
07 Some Kind of Love Song (Joan Armatrading)
08 No Love for Free (Joan Armatrading)
09 Down to Zero (Joan Armatrading)
10 Help Yourself (Joan Armatrading)
11 Kissin' and a Huggin' (Joan Armatrading)
12 People (Joan Armatrading)
13 Love and Affection (Joan Armatrading)
14 Steppin' Out (Joan Armatrading)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/TDVGP6aX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/5rERMrdit7mPEkY/file 

The cover image is a photo taken during her "Old Grey Whistle Test" TV appearance in 1973, which make up the first three tracks here. I used the Krea AI program to improve the detail. 

Looking for More Soundstage Episodes

I just counted, and I believe I've posted 36 "PBS Soundstage" episodes so far. I have many more to go. I think I'll post more than 112 in total by the time I'm done, knock on wood. That said, there are even more that I'd like to post, but I can't find them. Perhaps you can help? I'm especially interested in the ones from the 1970s, since they have a lot of historical value. Here's a list of the ones I can't find yet that I would most like to get:

Randy Newman - 11-5-1974
"Paradise Club of '58" with Jackie Wilson, Della Reese, George Kirby, and Red Saunders Orchestra - 1974
Pointer Sisters - 12-1974
Tom Rush & Tom T. Hall - 12-23-1974
Don McLean & Persuasions - 1-13-1975
Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - 1-20-1975
Anne Murray & Dobie Gray - 1975
"Woody Guthrie's America" with Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins & Fred Hellerman - 1976
"Sing Me a Jazz Song" with Jon Hendricks, Annie Ross, Leon Thomas & Eddie Jefferson - 1976
Kenny Loggins, Jesse Winchester & Michael Murphey - Red Rocks, 1977
Melissa Manchester & Al Jarreau - 1977
Loudon Wainwright III - 2-2-1977
Little River Band - Park West, 6-20-1980
"Just Folk" with Odetta, Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson & Josh White Jr. - 1981
Roger Miller - 1982
Dar Williams, Robinella, & the CCString Band - 9-2003
Rickie Lee Jones - 2-2007
Bad Company - 1-2017 

Furthermore, I've only found some of the songs from the Dan Fogelberg episode in 2003.

Wikipedia has a complete list of all the episodes, if you're curious:

Soundstage (TV series) - Wikipedia

Note that I've found a company that sells the videos of some of these, especially the ones from 1976 and 1977, for some reason:

Search Results - Archival Television Audio 

I don't plan on buying those, but if anyone else does and wants to share, please let me know. Some of the episodes for sale there aren't on my wanted list because I've already found them but haven't gotten around to posting them yet.

Also, this strange website seems to have all the old episodes: 

https://historicfilms.com/

But it seems it's very tough to actually get anything from them. I think they charge $100 for only an hour of music. And it's tricky to search for the episodes as well. But at least that shows that someone has them all archived. And that site has been useful for me in learning the song titles in some episodes.

On top of all that, you may recall how I posted dozens of episodes of the VH-1 Storytellers show a few months ago. I found most of the episodes I wanted to post, but not all. I recently discovered that all (or nearly all) of the episodes are currently available to watch on the Paramount Plus streaming service. If anyone has that, and has a way to record music from it, please let me know. The episodes starring Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin, and Grace Potter are just a few of the ones I'd still like to find from that one. There are maybe less than ten episodes I'd still like to find that seem to be totally unavailable on the Internet.

Covered: Neil Sedaka & Howard Greenfield, Volume 2: 1970-2011

Just yesterday, I posted "Volume 1" of the songwriter series for Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Here's "Volume 2" already.

Sedaka and Greenfield wrote a steady stream of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, both for Sedaka's very successful music career and for other musical acts. Sometimes they wrote together, and sometimes they wrote with others. But in the late 1960s, the hits were few and far between. Musical styles had changed, but their songwriting style didn't follow those changes. Sedaka later referred to this time as his "hungry years," though he did have some success in Australia.

As I mentioned in my write-up for Volume 1, by 1970, it seemed the hits for Sedaka and Greenfield were behind them. A couple of times in the early 1980s, Sedaka couldn't even find a record company willing to sign him. But he began slowly working his way back to fame. In 1972 and 1973, he recorded two studio albums that were produced and largely performed by the four people who made up the band 10cc, right before they got famous with that band. Those didn't have any hits for Sedaka. But one song, "Solitaire," was a big hit for Andy Williams. And another, "Love Will Keep Us Together," would be a Number One hit for Captain and Tennille a couple of years later, in 1975.

Sedaka's big break came in 1973, when he happened to run into Elton John at a party. John had always been a big Sedaka fan, and when he found out Sedaka didn't currently have a record contract, he signed him up to his own label. The next album, "Sedaka's Back," took the best songs from the three albums Sedaka had released in the early 1970s, included the two produced by the members of 10cc. It took a while, since Sedaka's name was perceived as very uncool at the time, but eventually one song from that album, "Laughter in the Rain," went all the way to Number One in the U.S.! Then, in 1975, the song "Bad Blood" also went to Number One in the U.S. It had uncredited backing vocals by Elton John. A totally revamped version of his earlier hit "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" hit the Top Ten as well. Sedaka had a few more hits through 1980.

Unfortunately, Greenfield missed most of Sedaka's comeback. Greenfield did co-write some songs presented here, like "Puppet Man," "Love Will Keep Us Together," "You Never Done It like That," "The Hungry Years," and "Solitaire." They had another huge hit with "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo." In 1971, Tony Christie had a big hit with it in some countries (mostly in mainland Europe, but only a minor hit with it in other countries. Sedaka himself had a hit with it in 1977. But in 2005, the Christie version was rereleased with a funny video of comedian Peter Kay miming the words. This time, it not only reached Number One in Britain, but it was the best selling song of the year there.

But Greenfield and Sedaka increasingly argued with each other. They agreed to end their songwriting partnership in 1973, after writing one last song, fittingly titled "Our Last Song Together." However, they did reunite to write a few more songs in the late 1970s, and wrote one more hit together, "Should've Never Let You Go," which reached the Top Twenty for Sedaka in the U.S. in 1980. Instead, Sedaka co-wrote most of his 1970s comeback hits with another professional songwriter, Phil Cody.

One oddity you may notice here is an ABBA song, "Ring Ring." ABBA is known for writing all their own songs. They did write that one, but with the lyrics in Swedish. This was in 1973, near the start of their career, when apparently their English was a bit rough. So they contacted Sedaka and his songwriter partner at the time, Phil Cody, and had them come up with English lyrics. 

Another song worth mentioning is "Crying in the Rain." This was actually cowritten by Greenfield and Carole King back in 1961. At the time, both King and Greenfield were doing their writing in the famous Brill Building in New York City, with many other professional songwriters. For a lark, they agreed to work with different songwriters for a single day, and that was the song they came up with. It was a big hit for the Everly Brothers at the time. But I put that on my Covered series for King and her usual songwriting partner Gerry Goffin. So for this album I chose a 1981 country hit version by Tammy Wynette.

Greenfield was openly gay (unusually for the time), and had the same domestic partner from the mid-1960s until his death. Both he and his partner died of complications from AIDS in 1986, shortly before Greenfield's 50th birthday. Sedaka has had better luck with his health and is still alive at the age of 86 as I write this in April 2025. 

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Puppet Man (5th Dimension)
02 [Is This the Way To] Amarillo (Tony Christie)
03 Ring Ring (ABBA)
04 Laughter in the Rain (Lea Roberts)
05 Bad Blood (Neil Sedaka)
06 Love Will Keep Us Together (Captain & Tennille)
07 Solitaire (Carpenters)
08 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do [1975 Version] (Neil Sedaka)
09 Lonely Night [Angel Face] (Captain & Tennille)
10 The Hungry Years (Rita Coolidge)
11 You Never Done It like That (Captain & Tennille)
12 Crying in the Rain (Tammy Wynette)
13 The Immigrant (Jim Van Slyke)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ve9kWZbX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Pjs4B7554RjPEpA/file

As with "Volume 1," the cover photo consists of two photos that I put together. I don't know the years the photos were taken, but they look older than they do in the Volume 1 photos. Both of the originals were in color this time. I used the Krea AI program to improve the detail. Greenfield is the one with the moustache.

Seal - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 2-2009

Next, it's Seal's turn for a "PBS Soundstage" episode. This is from 2009. It's an unusual concert for him since it's nearly all cover versions.

In November 2008, Seal released a studio album called "Soul." It was his first covers album, consisting entirely of covers of soul classics. It did pretty well, selling about half a million copies in the U.S. and another half a million in Britain. Apparently, this was his first concert in which he performed songs from that album. He went all in, playing only songs from that album until the last two.

I couldn't find the audio or video of this at YouTube or any of the usual places one finds bootlegs. However, I tracked down a streaming service that has it. I recorded that to my computer and then converted it to audio and broke it into mp3s. The last two songs, the only two originals, are presented as bonus tracks, and are separated from the rest of the concert. But I think it's likely they actually were played in that order. One can tell because he announced that the horn section was leaving, and the two "bonus tracks" were then done without the horn section. I edited things a bit so those two fit into the show without any obvious gaps.

Seal's "Soul" album was criticized for sounding too slick and overproduced. I suspect the songs sound better done live here.

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 A Change Is Gonna Come (Seal)
02 talk (Seal)
03 I Can't Stand the Rain (Seal)
04 talk (Seal)
05 It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World (Seal)
06 Knock On Wood (Seal)
07 talk (Seal)
08 If You Don't Know Me by Now (Seal)
09 talk (Seal)
10 I've Been Loving You Too Long (Seal)
11 talk (Seal)
12 Here I Am [Come and Take Me] (Seal)
13 talk (Seal)
14 People Get Ready (Seal)
15 Stand by Me (Seal)
16 talk (Seal)
17 Kiss from a Rose (Seal)
18 Crazy (Seal)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/73SWxVCv

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/To2JaFvMz4rsTXq/file