Albums That Should Exist: Maria McKee - Karen, Goteborg, Sweden, 11-6-1993

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Maria McKee - Karen, Goteborg, Sweden, 11-6-1993

I keep intending to post more music by Maria McKee, and then I keep forgetting to do it. I guess it's easy to overlook her because her music career has been nearly inactive for a bunch of years now. But here's something, at least. I have a lot more I plan on posting eventually.

This is a excellent sounding bootleg of a full-band concert to support my favorite album by her, 1993's "You Gotta Sin to Get Saved." Apparently, this concert was played on Swedish radio. But this is a pre-FM version that sounds even better and includes a bunch of songs that were cut from the radio broadcast. This is peak Maria McKee, in my book.

Despite the sound quality, the recording did have one big flaw: the lead vocals were rather low. (As I process live albums from my music collection to post here, I'm surprised at just how many have that problem.) But that was easily fixed, as usual, using the UVR5 audio editing program. So this version sounds better than the others out there.

Naturally, McKee mostly played songs from her "You Gotta Sin to Get Saved" album, plus her previous solo album (just called "Maria McKee") and her time in the band Lone Justice. But she also played some very interesting covers that she never put on album, such as "Free Money" by Patti Smith, "When You Were Mine" by Prince, "Pills" by the New York Dolls, and "Sister Anne" by the MC5.

One weird aspect about this concert is that she had almost no banter between songs whatsoever. She said the word "Hello" before the first song, and that was about it. I thought about it, and then came up with the theory that perhaps the concert was in Sweden she could have guessed that much of the audience wouldn't have been able to understand her English comments.

This album is an hour and 23 minutes long.

01 talk (Maria McKee)
02 East of Eden (Maria McKee)
03 I Can't Make It Alone (Maria McKee)
04 My Lonely Sad Eyes (Maria McKee)
05 I'm Gonna Soothe You (Maria McKee)
06 Am I the Only One [Who's Ever Felt This Way] (Maria McKee)
07 Shelter (Maria McKee)
08 Panic Beach (Maria McKee)
09 My Girlhood Among the Outlaws (Maria McKee)
10 This Property Is Condemned (Maria McKee)
11 Free Money (Maria McKee)
12 When You Were Mine (Maria McKee)
13 Pills (Maria McKee)
14 Why Wasn't I More Grateful [When Life Was Sweet] (Maria McKee)
15 Sister Anne (Maria McKee)
16 Ways to Be Wicked (Maria McKee)
17 Soap, Soup and Salvation (Maria McKee)
18 You Gotta Sin to Get Saved (Maria McKee)
19 Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye (Maria McKee)
20 Nobody's Child (Maria McKee)
21 Has He Got a Friend for Me (Maria McKee)