Joan Osborne - Sendesaal Radio, Bremen, Germany, 11-9-2002

I'm a big fan of Joan Osborne. I have many stray tracks of hers to post. However, I've put those on the back burner because she's sang all over the place and I sometimes stumble across songs I want to add in. I don't want to do what I did with the likes of Sheryl Crow and Norah Jones, where I've had to keep updating and expanding the albums I've posted as I find more stuff.

Anyway, here's something that falls out of the range of those stray tracks albums. There are two outstanding features of his concert. For one, the sound quality is outstanding. It was recorded for a German radio station, so it sounds as good as an official live album. The second thing is that it's mostly acoustic. In fact, there were only two people on stage: Joan Osborne just doing lead vocals, and her long time guitarist Andrew Carillo on guitar. But it's a bit more complicated than that, because she played pre-recorded backing tapes for some of the more lively songs. That said, even when the backing tapes are used, the sound is still minimalistic. I like that, because it helps one focus on the quality of her singing.

This concert took place shortly after the release of her 2002 album "How Sweet It Is," which consisted entirely of covers of famous soul songs. As a result, all but three songs here are covers.

The concert is rather short. The bootleg I originally got this from added two songs to the end, which actually date from 2000 instead of 2002 like the rest. But I've chosen to keep them because they fit the minimalist sound so well. Plus, they have stunning sound quality, and they also fit with the general theme of doing soulful covers. The only snag is that "The Tears of a Clown" gets cut off before the end. These come from the eTown broadcast, and I've noticed those often end with a song getting cut off because they'll play music until the last second of the show. So I'm guessing that's what happened here, and this is no known recording of the rest. 

The concert is an hour and 14 minutes long if you include the two extra songs at the end, and an hour and eight minutes if you don't.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Why Can't We Live Together - Timmy Thomas
03 I'll Be Around - Spinners
05 Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix
06 How Sweet It Is [To Be Loved by You] - Marvin Gaye
08 Smiling Faces Sometimes - Undisputed Truth
09 One of Us - Joan Osborne
11 Love's in Need of Love Today - Stevie Wonder
12 War - Edwin Starr
14 St. Teresa - Joan Osborne
16 Everybody Is a Star - Sly & the Family Stone
18 Make You Feel My Love - Bob Dylan
19 Righteous Love - Joan Osborne
20 Man in the Long Black Coat - Bob Dylan
21 The Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
22 Brick House - Commodores

 Here's the usual song list:

01 Why Can't We Live Together (Joan Osborne)
02 talk (Joan Osborne)
03 I'll Be Around (Joan Osborne)
04 talk (Joan Osborne)
05 Bold as Love (Joan Osborne)
06 How Sweet It Is [To Be Loved by You] (Joan Osborne)
07 talk (Joan Osborne)
08 Smiling Faces Sometimes (Joan Osborne)
09 One of Us (Joan Osborne)
10 talk (Joan Osborne)
11 Love's in Need of Love Today (Joan Osborne)
12 War (Joan Osborne)
13 talk (Joan Osborne)
14 St. Teresa (Joan Osborne)
15 talk (Joan Osborne)
16 Everybody Is a Star (Joan Osborne)
17 talk (Joan Osborne)
18 Make You Feel My Love (Joan Osborne)
19 Righteous Love (Joan Osborne)
20 Man in the Long Black Coat (Joan Osborne)
21 The Tears of a Clown (Joan Osborne)
22 Brick House (Joan Osborne)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15602891/JoanO_2002_SndesaalRadioBremnGermany__11-9-2002_atse.zip.html

The cover photo comes from a 2002 appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."