Moving on to this album, there is a nice but little known official album called "What Do Pretty Girls Do" that compiles MacColl's BBC appearances from 1989 to 1995. All of the songs on that were done in an acoustic format, so I find those versions a nice contrast to the fully produced album versions. But it turns out MacColl did some other acoustic versions for radio appearances in the 1990s. They all remain unreleased since they weren't done for the BBC. This collects them. Many of the songs here are also on "What Do Pretty Girls Do" in similar acoustic versions, but there are a good number of songs that are unique here.
The songs here are compiled from six radio shows. with five of those in the US. There were a few cases where the same songs were played on more than one of these shows, although not that many. In cases where there were two or more versions of one song, I only included one version.
I'm especially delighted to include the last two songs, "Nao Esperando" and "England 2 Colombia 0." These are from her 2000 album "Tropical Brainstorm," which is my favorite album of hers. That album is heavily influenced by music from Latin America, especially Brazil. As such, one would think the songs wouldn't work in a solo acoustic format. But that's how she plays those two songs, and they work well, with the help of a bit more instrumentation, though no drums.
The song "Miss Otis Regrets" has "[Edit]" in the same because I edited it. This version was almost acoustic, but had some drumming on it. I used the X-Minus audio editing program to remove the drums.
This album is 49 minutes long.
01 Can't Stop Killing You (Kirsty MacColl)
02 Bad (Kirsty MacColl)
03 Children of the Revolution (Kirsty MacColl)
04 My Affair (Kirsty MacColl)
05 Last Day of Summer (Kirsty MacColl)
06 There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis (Kirsty MacColl)
07 Don't Come the Cowboy with Me, Sonny Jim (Kirsty MacColl)
08 Fifteen Minutes (Kirsty MacColl)
09 Still Life (Kirsty MacColl)
10 Miss Otis Regrets [Edit] (Kirsty MacColl)
11 Free World (Kirsty MacColl)
12 Caroline (Kirsty MacColl)
13 They Don't Know (Kirsty MacColl)
14 Roll Um Easy (Kirsty MacColl)
15 Nao Esperando (Kirsty MacColl)
16 England 2 Colombia 0 (Kirsty MacColl)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15260706/KirstyMacC_1993-2000_AcoustcRadioShws_atse.zip.html
Since this is an acoustic album, I wanted a cover photo showing MacColl playing an acoustic guitar. I found a good one, which I used here. But it so happens it's from the Fleadh concert in London in 1995. I've posted that concert in full. If you compare the cover photo of that one to this one, you'll see she's wearing the same outfit.
Hi Paul - When using x-minus.pro to remove DJ voiceovers which stems, Ai model and aggressiveness values do you use?
ReplyDeleteIt depends. If the recording is pretty good, I use the MDX model. One can't adjust the aggressiveness level for that. But if the sound isn't as good, I use the UVR model with high aggressiveness. What do you use?
DeleteI tried the vbr setting which removed the DJ and erased all the vocals too.I'll try your method. Do you use MDX with or without (b.v)?
DeleteAlso, what does the "clean the music" setting do?
DeleteClean the music - heck if I know. If you figure it out, please tell me. As for (B.V.), that stands for backing vocals. That depends if you want to separate them out or not. Usually, I don't mess with that.
DeleteHi Paul - I used the UVR model with high aggressiveness. Then I used the MDX model on the same song with the same result. No DJ and no vocals on the song. What am I doing wrong?
DeleteWhatever you do, you should get TWO output files, not one. One has instruments and the other the vocals. You then recombine them in a program like Audacity. I drag and drop them in. That way, they line up on their own.
DeleteBeyond that, you just have to tinker around. Between the different options, you should be able to get a song with just the backing vocals, or with just the lead vocals, or both, or none, etc...
Thank you. I'll try tinkering.
DeleteThank you, Paul. Have DLed a few things lately...everything has been superb.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. Looking forward to giving it a listen today.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I have recently downloaded a LOT of
ReplyDeletematerial from here, including the whole "and on
guitar" series to date. I also very much appreciate
the Kirsty MacColl albums that you've constructed.
I was fortunate to see Kirsty in the US during her
1995 tour -- which, as you know, is when "Roll Um Easy"
was on her setlist.
Glad you like. Although I'd point out the "And on guitar" series is at the Albums I Wish Existed blog.
DeleteNow you're talking my language! Thanks!
ReplyDeletePaul, you've done a great job compiling these Kirsty comps. I've been looking for the Picking Up The Pieces instrumental for ages, thank you. Just an idea for the future if it interests you - i've compiled a playlist of Kirsty's backing vocal contributions, it's up to 81 tracks so far, makes a great listen. Thank you - Nick
ReplyDeleteAlso a couple of other tracks you should hear:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM7tAElQzFY
An electric version of As Long As You Hold Me with, I believe, Richard Thompson providing the guitar solo. (There's an instrumental intro running nearly 5 minutes that seems surplus) and...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQoEX2B_nAY&t=2028s
A long tape done by Kirsty and sent to fan Tony (whose YouTube channel this is) The Real tracks that surfaced came from this tape and another. However, there is also a cover of The Doors' Shaman's Blues and a solo demo of Please Help Me I'm Falling to get your teeth into ;-)