Friday, January 24, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 comments:

  1. here's a screenshot from his appearance on letterman https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jltLomuNmao/hqdefault.jpg

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    1. Thanks for finding that. But don't you think it's rather blurry?

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  2. Many thanks for The Plimsouls and Peter Case. He is one of America's lost treasures.

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  3. Thanks so much. Peter Case is a tremendous talent that is very underappreciated.

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    1. You're welcome. I'm pleasantly surprised to see some people interested in this one, and the Plimsouls one.

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  4. A couple of screen grabs from his 'Dream About You' video from 1992: https://www95.zippyshare.com/v/hzTt5DmS/file.html https://www95.zippyshare.com/v/pRNx7fme/file.html

    Still a little blurry, though.

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    1. Thanks! Unfortunately, they are kind of blurry, and also in black and white. I really prefer color photos. Are there any from that source in color?

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  5. Thanks for posting this; I have the opportunity to see him live and wanted to give this a listen. Could you confrim the links? the current link is for a Neil Finn show. Thanks!

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