Various Artists - Elvis: The Tribute, Pyramid Arena, Memphis, TN, 10-8-1994

Here's another interesting tribute concert, with loads of big stars. All of the songs performed were made famous by Elvis Presley. 

This concert seems to have mostly disappeared down the memory hole. An album of highlights from the concert was released, called "It's Now Or Never: The Tribute To Elvis." However, it's only 45 minutes long, containing just 15 songs. But the full two plus hour long concert was broadcast on TV at the time, so excellent sounding video footage of it exists.

This concert took place in 1994 despite the lack of any big anniversary or other important timely reason for it. Instead, the Elvis Presley estate decided that Presley's music was being forgotten by younger generations, so the concert was meant to help bring his music back into the spotlight.

As you can see from the album cover or the song list, a great many music stars performed in this concert. A few more - Jon Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, and Cher, at least - backed out at the last minute. I found that mentioned in a newspaper article, though it didn't give a reason why. 

I used two versions of the video files of this concert, converted them to audio format, and broke them into mp3s. During that process, I cut out some material. There were several sections of a few minutes each that consisted of short films highlight different aspects of Presley's life. I removed all of those, plus their intros, since they were meant mainly to be seen, not heard. I also edited out some more talk by the announcers. However, I kept all the intros relevant to the songs. Plus, of course, I kept all the music.

The concert was mostly hosted by Karen Duffy, an MTV DJ, and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. But actor John Stamos introduced a few acts, and TV host Phil Donohue introduced one, and sometimes one act introduced the next one.

Occasionally, I had a little trouble with the edits at the starts and ends of songs. For instance, there were quick cuts to or away from TV commercials, as well as the short films I mentioned above. I tried my best to smooth things out, but occasionally the transitions between tracks is abrupt.

Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, James Burton, and the Jordanaires didn't have any performances on their own. However, all of them were key backing musicians or singers for Presley. From time to time, they backed up some of the other music acts. 

All of the performances were live from the concert, with two exceptions. I think "Too Much" by NRBQ actually took place before the TV broadcast began. But I slotted it into a logical spot in the concert. And U2 didn't show up for the concert, but sent video footage of their performance to be broadcast instead.

By the way, if you want to know more about the concert, I found a New York Times article of it from the time. Here's the link (I think you have to click on Option 2 to see it):

RemovePaywall | Free online paywall remover 

This album is two hours and three minutes long.

01 talk (Karen Duffy)
02 Good Rockin' Tonight (Sammy Hagar)
03 Too Much (NRBQ)
04 Baby, Let's Play House (Michael Hutchence & NRBQ)
05 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
06 talk (Chet Atkins)
07 How's the World Treating You (Chet Atkins)
08 talk (Karen Duffy)
09 Mystery Train (Dwight Yoakam)
10 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
11 Don't Be Cruel (Marty Stuart with the Jordanaires)
12 talk (Marty Stuart)
13 All Shook Up (Cheap Trick)
14 talk (John Stamos)
15 That's Alright Mama (Kris Kristofferson)
16 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
17 One Night (Billy Ray Cyrus with the Jordanaires)
18 talk (Karen Duffy)
19 Lawdy Miss Claudy (Travis Tritt)
20 talk (Karen Duffy)
21 Blue Moon [Edit] (Chris Isaak with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
22 Love Me (Mavericks)
23 talk (John Stamos)
24 talk (Carl Perkins)
25 Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
26 talk (Carl Perkins)
27 Rip It Up (Iggy Pop)
28 Memories (Mac Davis)
29 talk (Mac Davis)
30 talk (Bryan Adams)
31 Hound Dog (Bryan Adams with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
32 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
33 Always on My Mind (Sam Moore)
34 talk (Karen Duffy)
35 Heartbreak Hotel (John Cale)
36 talk (Karen Duffy)
37 I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (Ann Wilson)
38 talk (Karen Duffy)
39 Teddy Bear (Tanya Tucker)
40 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
41 Trouble (Paul Rodgers)
42 talk (Phil Donahue)
43 [Marie's the Name] His Latest Flame (Scorpions)
44 Can't Help Falling in Love (U2)
45 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
46 It's Now or Never (Wet Wet Wet)
47 talk (Mac Davis)
48 Love Me Tender (Tony Bennett)
49 talk (Mac Davis)
50 Young and Beautiful (Aaron Neville)
51 talk (Mac Davis)
52 Jailhouse Rock (Michael Bolton with Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana & Carl Perkins)
53 talk (Karen Duffy)
54 Tryin' to Get to You (Faith Hill)
55 talk (John Stamos)
56 See See Rider (Jerry Lee Lewis with James Burton & NRBQ)
57 Kentucky Rain - Suspicious Minds (Eddie Rabbitt & Mavis Staples)
58 talk (Karen Duffy)
59 Burning Love (Melissa Etheridge)
60 talk (John Stamos)
61 Amazing Grace (Billy Ray Cyrus & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GWnJSkKo

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/cqa2ziePj3VTmo8/file 

The cover image is a pretty weird one for this concert, but bear with me for the explanation. It depicts Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (the daughter of Elvis Presley). They had recently gotten married at the time of this concert. (Their marriage only lasted from 1994 to 1996). The weird thing is that neither of them performed at this concert. However, they did attend it. At one point near the end, you can hear the announcer mention their names, along with those of Janet Jackson (Michael Jackson's sister) and Priscilla Presley (Lisa Marie Presley's mother). All four of them briefly stood up and waved to the crowd. 

The main reason I chose them for the cover is because this was the only decent photo from the concert that I could find. The mere fact they were at the concert made news, especially due to the fact that they had just been recently married. I think the image shows the two of them backstage before or after the concert. Even this picture was rather low-res and rough, but I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality. 

Susan Maughan - BBC Sessions (1964-1971)

I have to admit that, until I put this album together, I'd never even heard of British singer Susan Maughan. I can't say I'm a big fan of her music either. However, I have access to some really rare and unreleased recordings from the BBC radio show "Top of the Pops," and I'm trying to post albums by just about any reasonably good music acts who had an album's worth of such recordings, and Maughan qualifies. So here we are with her BBC album. 

All but three of the songs here are officially unreleased. Those three, tracks 10 through 12, come from a rare various artists compilation called "British Beat Girls Live on Air: 1965-1970." I believe everything else has been unbootlegged until now.

There were many British female singers on the pop charts in Britain in the early and mid-1960s, virtually all of them singing cover songs only. Most had one or two hits, if that, and then quickly faded away. The music blog https://albumsiwishexisted2.blogspot.com/ has put together compilations for many of them who weren't famous enough to have official greatest hits albums. Maughan never got to be an especially big star. She had one big hit in Britain, a cover of "Bobby's Girl," which went all the way to Number Three in the British charts in 1962. She had two smaller hits in 1963. That made up most of her chart success, although she continued to release singles and albums into the 1970s. However, unlike many other singers with a similar amount of success, she had enough BBC sessions survive to make an album. 

"Survive" is a key word in that previous sentence. The vast majority of "Top of the Pops" recordings that survive date from the middle of 1964 and after, because that's when the BBC started sending albums of the show to affiliate stations outside of Britain, and most of those survived in excellent condition. Maughan's commercial peak was from 1962 to 1963, so I'll bet more BBC sessions from those years took place but didn't survive. For instance, I couldn't find a worthy sounding version of her big hit "Bobby's Girl," although one or two rough TV broadcasts of it survive on YouTube.

That said, what is included here is interesting if you into 1960s pop music, like I am. All the Top of the Pops recordings date from 1964 and 1965, with one exception, which I will explain shortly. Those make up everything but the final two tracks. Since she didn't have many hits of her own, she sometimes did hits by others, such as "I'm into Something Good," "Downtown," "Yeh Yeh," "It's Not Unusual," and even "Blowin' in the Wind." As far as I can tell, she never released any versions of those songs I just mentioned on record, though I could have missed some things.

The last two songs come from much later, 1971. After putting all her Top of the Pops sessions together, I checked to see if I could find any other BBC performances. I only found one, "You've Made Me So Very Happy," from a BBC TV show in 1971. The final track, "I Saw a Rainbow," is from a Top of the Pops session in 1971 as well. Maybe her career had a minor revival that year.

This album suffers somewhat from the usual problem of Top of the Pops recordings from the era: annoying BBC DJ Brian Matthew talking over the beginnings and ends of songs. Luckily for Maughan, only five of her songs here had that problem, which is a lower percentage than usual. Those are the ones with "[Edit]" in their names. I did my usual thing of using the UVR5 program to remove the DJ talking while keeping the music. 

Here's a Wikipedia link, if you want to know more about her:

Susan Maughan - Wikipedia 

This album is 43 minutes long. 

01 Little Things Mean a Lot (Susan Maughan)
02 I'm into Something Good (Susan Maughan)
03 That Other Place (Susan Maughan)
04 Make Him Mine (Susan Maughan)
05 Downtown [Edit] (Susan Maughan)
06 Yeh Yeh (Susan Maughan)
07 Don't Be Afraid [Edit] (Susan Maughan)
08 You Can Never Get Away from Me (Susan Maughan)
09 It's Not Unusual (Susan Maughan)
10 When She Walks Away (Susan Maughan)
11 Blowin' in the Wind [Edit] (Susan Maughan)
12 That Other Place (Susan Maughan)
13 Poor Boy (Susan Maughan)
14 Here It Comes Again (Susan Maughan)
15 Your Girl [Edit] (Susan Maughan)
16 You've Made Me So Very Happy (Susan Maughan)
17 I Saw a Rainbow [Edit] (Susan Maughan)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/aWdPSgGE 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/lHLnk7g4oicgWcx/file

The cover photo was taken backstage at Earl's Court, in London, in January 1964.

Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman (of the Guess Who) - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 1977

If you're a fan of the Canadian band the Guess Who, this is a particularly interesting episode of the "PBS Soundstage" TV show. It's a reunion of the two biggest names from the Guess Who, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman.

Burton Cummings was the lead singer and a key songwriter for the Guess Who, from 1965 to 1975, when he broke up the band for the first time. (There would be later reunions.) But Randy Bachman was also a key member, being the lead guitarist and also another important songwriter. However, he left the band in 1970, right at the height of their success.

At the time of this concert, both Cummings and Bachman had a lot of success with their post-Guess Who careers. Cummings had just started his solo career, with one solo album in 1976. But that contained the single "Stand Tall," which was a very big hit, selling over a million copies in the U.S. alone. It would be the biggest hit of his solo career by far. However, Bachman was even more successful. From 1973 to 1977, he led the band Bachman-Turner Overdrive. They arguably were even more successful than the Guess Who. They had six hits in the U.S., including the big hits "Takin' Care of Business" and "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." However, in March 1977, he quit Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and they didn't have much success without him.

Unfortunately, I don't know when in 1977 this concert took place. If anyone knows, please tell me so I can update the album title and such. But I'm guessing it took place after March 1977, when Bachman didn't really have a band to perform with anymore, at least for a little while. It seems Cummings and Bachman performed some concerts together in 1977, although they didn't release any music. In addition to this concert, they also did an hour-long TV special for Canadian TV (the CBC), which was broadcast in October 1977. 

After 1977, both Cummings and Bachman had less success with their solo careers. That led to the first big official Guess Who reunion in 1983. More reunions occasionally followed, and sometimes Cummings and Bachman recorded or toured together without the Guess Who name.

This concert has a little bit of everything. There are Guess Who songs (sung by Cummings), Bachman-Turner Overdrive songs (sung by Bachman), and solo songs. There's some acoustic music, and some with a full band. There are solo highlights for Cummings, and solo highlights for Bachman.

Unfortunately, a few of the songs got a little clipped at their starts or ends, due to quick cuts to commercials and that sort of thing. I tried to fix those a bit, which is why four songs have "[Edit]" in their titles. Also note that some of these songs are short versions because they were parts of medleys. For instance, "Laughing" is only about a minute long.

This album is 52 minutes long.

01 Your Backyard (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
02 Never Had a Lady Before (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
03 Laughing [Edit] (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
04 These Eyes [Edit] (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
05 Undun (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
06 American Woman (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
07 No Time (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
08 Let It Ride - Lookin' Out for Number One - Hey You (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
09 You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
10 My Own Way to Rock (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
11 Framed [Edit] (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
12 Stand Tall (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
13 Charlemagne (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)
14 Takin' Care of Business [Edit] (Burton Cummings & Randy Bachman)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/3ah2VV71

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/rafE5Cu48hgeeGa/file

A video of the full Soundstage show can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately, the image quality is poor. So, for the album cover here, I took a screenshot from their other 1977 special together, the CBC one I mentioned above. That's Bachman with his back turned and Cummings on keyboards. 

Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, 4-6-2000

For a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the TNT TV network hosted a few annual "all-star tributes" to some music legends. I've already posted albums of such tribute shows to Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, and Paul Simon. Here's another one, celebrating the music of Joni Mitchell.

This concert actually featured Joni Mitchell herself, but she had a relatively minor role. At the very end, she performed one song and gave a short speech. Instead, the bulk of the concert consisted of famous musical acts performing her songs. Just look at the cover or at the song list to see the names. There also were some famous non-musicians who talked a little bit between songs, such as actors Susan Sarandon and Laurence Fishburne, and the main host, Ashley Judd. Plus, I never thought my music blog would have a track by Hillary Clinton, but here we are.

If I recall correctly, there was some more stuff to this concert that I edited out, such as testimonials about Mitchell's life and career, narrated by the likes of Goldie Hawn and Rosie O'Donnell. I kept the focus on the songs, and introductions to the songs.

The Stone Temple Pilots were also due to perform at this concert. However, the band's lead singer, Scott Weiland, blew his voice out by performing three full concerts the day before. They were due to perform the song "Woodstock." At the last minute, Richard Thompson stepped up to perform that song instead. That's why he's the only performer here to do two songs, because he also had been scheduled to perform the song "Black Crow." 

Note that the final song, "The Circle Game," faded out before it ended. Probably that's when the TV broadcast came to an end. I extended it a bit by repeating a chorus from earlier in the song and then fading it out. That's why that song has "[Edit]" in its title.

There's an amazing official Joni Mitchell website, www.jonimitchell.com. It has a webpage just on this concert, with lots of pictures and dozens of newspaper articles about it. Here's a link:

Joni Mitchell - 2000.04.06 | An All-Star Tribute To Joni Mitchell Hammerstein Ballroom | New York 

This album remains officially unreleased as an audio album. However, a DVD of it has been released. But this is about ten minutes longer. The sound quality is excellent. 

This concert is an hour and 18 minutes long. 

01 Raised on Robbery (Wynonna Judd & Bryan Adams)
02 talk (Ashley Judd)
03 Carey (Cyndi Lauper)
04 talk (Ashley Judd)
05 Woodstock (Richard Thompson)
06 talk (Hillary Clinton)
07 Chelsea Morning (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
08 Big Yellow Taxi (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter with James Taylor)
09 talk (James Taylor)
10 River (James Taylor)
11 talk (Ashley Judd)
12 You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio (Wynonna Judd)
13 talk (Susan Sarandon)
14 Help Me (k.d. Lang)
15 talk (Laurence Fishburne)
16 The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines (Cassandra Wilson)
17 talk (Ashley Judd)
18 The Circle Game (Sweet Honey in the Rock)
19 talk (Ashley Judd)
20 talk (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
21 Amelia (Shawn Colvin & Mary Chapin Carpenter)
22 talk (Ashley Judd)
23 Black Crow (Richard Thompson)
24 talk (Richard Thompson)
25 talk (Ashley Judd)
26 Free Man in Paris (Elton John)
27 talk (Elton John)
28 A Case of You (Diana Krall)
29 talk (Ashley Judd)
30 talk (Tony Bennett)
31 Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
32 talk (Joni Mitchell)
33 The Circle Game [Reprise] [Edit] (Joni Mitchell & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/acNAjTY6

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/GVHWLt1ZTKXHMpu/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. From left to right, that's Joni Mitchell, James Taylor (in back), Cassandra Wilson, Shawn Colvin, and Elton John.

America with Christopher Cross - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 3-24-2005

Here's another episode of the great TV series "PBS Soundstage." This one features the band America.

Note that there's a guest star on this, like there are on many episodes of this show. This time, it's Christopher Cross. However, his role is relatively minor compared to other guest appearances on the show. He didn't sing any songs on his own. Instead, he helped sing two big America hits, "Lonely People" and "A Horse with No Name."

When the band was formed in 1970, it consisted of three singer-songwriters: Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek. But Peek left in 1977 never to return, concentrating on a career with Christian music instead. So by the time of this concert, the band was a duo of Beckley and Bunnell. By 2005, their hits were long behind them and they'd turned into a well-honed oldies act. They would have a comeback with a well-received new album in 2007, but that hadn't happened at the time of this concert.

So one gets all the expected hits from the band's heyday in the 1970s and 80s. Although this show is unreleased as an audio album, it has been released on DVD, which is why this episode is longer than the show's usual one hour time. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and 16 minutes long. 

01 Riverside (America)
02 Ventura Highway (America)
03 You Can Do Magic (America)
04 talk (America)
05 Don't Cross the River (America)
06 Daisy Jane (America)
07 talk (America)
08 The Last Unicorn (America)
09 I Need You (America)
10 Head and Heart (America)
11 Till the Sun Comes Up Again (America)
12 Tin Man (America)
13 talk (America)
14 Muskrat Love (America)
15 talk (America)
16 The Border (America)
17 talk (America)
18 Woman Tonight (America)
19 Only in Your Heart (America)
20 talk (America)
21 California Dreamin' (America)
22 talk (America)
23 Lonely People (America with Christopher Cross)
24 Sandman (America)
25 Sister Golden Hair (America)
26 All My Life (America)
27 A Horse with No Name (America with Christopher Cross) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2xwcW7Gx

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/EeqBz8ePGjYm0CA/file 

The cover image is from this exact concert. 

Dr. Hook - Old Grey Whistle Test, BBC Television Theatre, Shepherd's Bush, London, Britain, 11-25-1975

I was all set to post a "PBS Soundstage" episode starring the American band Dr. Hook. But then I noticed I have a BBC concert by that band that I meant to post months ago, but forgot about. So I'm posting that here first. The Soundstage episode will be posted soon as well.

 First off, note that this band was called "Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show" from its start in the late 1960s until 1975. But by the time this concert took place, they had shortened their name to just "Dr. Hook," so that's the name I'm using here.

Dr. Hook had a lot of success, mostly in the 1970s. Between 1972 and 1982, they had nine Top Forty songs in the U.S. But they don't seem to be that well remembered today. Perhaps that's because they covered a lot of musical ground, from jokey songs (mostly written by Shel Silverstein) to weepy ballads. Or perhaps it's because they were known for a wild and amusing stage show, which is hard to capture for posterity unless you were actually there to remember it. But in any case, they were an interesting band that always knew how to capture people's attention.

At the time of this concert, the band was best known for three songs: "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone,'" "Silvia's Mother," and "Only Sixteen." All three were Top Ten hits in the U.S. But strangely, neither of the first two were included here. In banter between songs, they hinted that the BBC didn't like "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" because it mentioned a specific product, which was against BBC policy at the time. (In 1970, the Kinks even had to rerecord "Lola" just to change the words "Coca Cola" to "cherry Cola" so it could get played by the BBC.) But the failure to include "Silvia's Mother" is even stranger, since it was their one and only British hit at the time, and a big one too, reaching Number Two in Britain in 1972.

Normally, the BBC TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test had several different musical acts perform on each episode. But sometimes they had one episode featuring just one act, and this was one such case. This remains officially unreleased.

Note that Dr. Hook did another BBC concert in 1980. I've found most of the songs for it on YouTube, but without any of the banter between songs, and very little applause. Also, I don't know the song order. So I'm not willing to post that one just yet. I hope a better version will emerge. (If you have one, please share!) If and when I do post that, this one will get renamed to "BBC Sessions, Volume 1." 

This album is 39 minutes long. 

01 talk (Dr. Hook)
02 The Millionaire (Dr. Hook)
03 talk (Dr. Hook)
04 The Yodel Song (Dr. Hook)
05 talk (Dr. Hook)
06 Get My Rocks Off (Dr. Hook)
07 talk (Dr. Hook)
08 Only Sixteen (Dr. Hook)
09 talk (Dr. Hook)
10 Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms (Dr. Hook)
11 talk (Dr. Hook)
12 Everybody's Making It Big but Me (Dr. Hook)
13 Carry Me, Carrie (Dr. Hook)
14 Happy Trails (Dr. Hook)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/eH97jR4b 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/mhbzRLq9KHuGi8a/file

The cover photo is a screenshot from this exact concert. I used Krea AI to improve the picture quality. 

The Incredible String Band - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: 1970-1971

I'm still not into the Incredible String Band, but here's another BBC album from them, due to their high results in the BBC poll I did a while back. This is a third volume of BBC studio sessions.

There's an official album of BBC performances by this band, but it skips a lot of music. This album is a case in point. The first four songs are from that album, "Across the Airwaves," but everything else remains unreleased. Also, those first four songs are from two different BBC sessions in 1970, while tracks 5 to 8 are from one 1971 BBC session, and tracks 9 until the end are from another 1971 BBC session. 

In the time period here, the band was still a foursome, with Mike Heron, Robin Williamson, Licorice McKechnie, and Rose Simpson. But that would change around the end of 1971. During this time, the band released no less than four studio albums: "I Looked Up" and "U" in 1970, and "Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending" and "Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air" in 1971. 

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 Everything's Fine Right Now (Incredible String Band)
02 Raga Puti (Incredible String Band)
03 Ring Dance (Incredible String Band)
04 Long, Long Road (Incredible String Band)
05 You Get Brighter (Incredible String Band)
06 Jigs [The Bird that Lives on Rain - Yellow Flames of Whin - Jenny in the Mosshouse - Drunk] (Incredible String Band)
07 How We Danced the Lord of Weir (Incredible String Band)
08 The Actor (Incredible String Band)
09 The Circle Is Unbroken (Incredible String Band)
10 Sailor and the Dancer (Incredible String Band)
11 Tree (Incredible String Band)
12 Living in the Shadows (Incredible String Band) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/xeM2CQYY 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/uwp1nSK4SfcXQKg/file 

The cover photo shows the band's two main singer-songwriters, from around this time: Robin Williamson with blonde hair and a beard and Mike Heron with dark brown hair. I believe I took this as a screenshot from a documentary about the band. 

Elkie Brooks - BBC Sessions, Volume 4- In Concert, NEC Arena, Birmingham, Britain, 8-9-1987

Here's the fourth and final BBC album I have for British singer Elkie Brooks. 

Brooks' singing career began back in the early 1960s, but she didn't start having hit songs (in Britain only) until 1977. Once she started though, she had a bunch of them with six Top Twenty hits between 1977 and 1987, and a bunch of lesser hits. Her last hit was "We've Got Tonite" in 1987 (which is performed here). So this concert came at an ideal time to wrap up the end of the hit-making phase of her music career.

All of her big hits were performed here. Plus, she did some nice lesser known covers, like "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Goin' Back," and "Maybe I'm Amazed." She didn't release her first official live album until ten years later, and then two more in the years after that. I prefer this one. 

This is unreleased, and I believe hadn't been widely bootlegged. But it was replayed by the BBC in 2025, so I was able to get an excellent sounding version.

This album is an hour and 20 minutes long. 

01 Fool [If You Think It's Over] (Elkie Brooks)
02 Goin' Back (Elkie Brooks)
03 Nights in White Satin (Elkie Brooks)
04 Hiding Inside Yourself (Elkie Brooks)
05 Only Women Bleed (Elkie Brooks)
06 Pearl's a Singer (Elkie Brooks)
07 What's a Matter Baby [Is It Hurting You] (Elkie Brooks)
08 Ain't Misbehavin' (Elkie Brooks)
09 No Secrets (Elkie Brooks)
10 If You Leave Me Now (Elkie Brooks)
11 Hold the Dream (Elkie Brooks)
12 Lilac Wine (Elkie Brooks)
13 All or Nothing (Elkie Brooks)
14 Don't Cry Out Loud (Elkie Brooks)
15 Gasoline Alley (Elkie Brooks)
16 No More the Fool (Elkie Brooks)
17 We've Got Tonite (Elkie Brooks)
18 Maybe I'm Amazed (Elkie Brooks) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/djNpMwWa

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/umcaxfa4G827Lr1/file 

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. 

Don McLean - BBC Sessions, Volume 5: Don McLean and Friends, Pebble Mill Studios, Birmingham, Britain, 12-26-1978

Here's another BBC album by singer-songwriter Don McLean. This one is the music from a 1978 TV special called "Don McLean and Friends." The friends are Elkie Brooks and the vocal harmony band the Jordanaires.

When I started looking for McLean's BBC material some weeks back, I was surprised how much came up. I'm particularly surprised the BBC gave him this special in 1978. Although he put out an album that year that reached the Top Twenty in Britain ("Chain Lightning"), he didn't have any hit singles that year, or any other year since 1973. He would have a big comeback in 1980 with his cover of "Crying," which would hit Number One in Britain, but of course that wasn't known yet in 1978. Anyway, kudos to the BBC for giving him this special. 

McLean had two guests. Elkie Brooks became a big star in 1977, and was arguably more commercially successful than McLean at the time of this special. She sang two of her recent hits, "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "Lilac Wine." The Jordanaires were a vocal quartet formed in 1948. They put out a lot of their own music, especially gospel albums. However, they were better known for being backup singers, especially for Elvis Presley. They backed him extensively in recordings, concerts, and films from the 1950s to the 1970s. So it's fitting that they sang a medley of Presley classics here, as well as backing McLean on some of his songs.

One slightly frustrating thing about this concert is that while McLean is best known for his classic hit "American Pie," it seems he'd grown tired of it by the time of this concert. He only performed a short version of it, which lasts less than three minutes, instead of the well-known seven minute version.

This album was very hard for me to find. I don't think it has existed as an audio bootleg. I found a YouTube video of it, and concerted that to audio format, then broke it into mp3s. The sound quality is very good. 

This album is 51 minutes long.

01 American Pie [Short Version] (Don McLean)
02 And I Love You So (Don McLean)
03 talk (Don McLean)
04 Lotta Lovin' (Don McLean)
05 talk (Don McLean)
06 Blue Suede Shoes - All Shook Up - Loving You - Don't Be Cruel - Hound Dog (Jordanaires)
07 talk (Don McLean)
08 Genesis (Don McLean)
09 Crying (Don McLean)
10 Don't Cry Out Loud (Elkie Brooks)
11 Lilac Wine (Elkie Brooks)
12 talk (Don McLean)
13 Words and Music (Don McLean)
14 Chain Lightning (Don McLean)
15 It's Just the Sun (Don McLean)
16 Vincent (Don McLean)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/uBpiHs7d

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/XYY0Z9lM8WSNAHj/file

The cover image is a screenshot taken from this exact concert. 

I'm Back, plus Glastonbury 2025 Poll

I'm finally back from my two and a half week long vacation to French Polynesia. I had a great time! Thanks for your patience. I plan on posting some more soon, once I recover a bit. I also will try to respond to the comments I'd missed.

While I was gone, the 2025 version of the annual Glastonbury Festival happened in Britain. This is the first festival to take place while I'm closely paying attention. (Sadly, there won't be another one next year, as the festival skips a year every now and then.) Most of the sets from the three day festival were made available in full by the BBC (although sadly I can't find any recording from the acoustic stage, which included sets by Ani DiFranco, Nick Lowe, and Roy Harper). Since I just got back home, I haven't listened to any of the music yet, but I can see which sets are available for download. There's about 90 acts, which is far too much for me to post here, unless I were to stop posting everything else for quite a while. But I figure I can post the most popular sets. So here's a list of everything I found. Let me know which ones you'd like me to post (and please only select a handful). I'll do all the ones that get a reasonable number of votes.

The 1975
AJ Tracey
Alanis Morissette
Amyl & the Sniffers
Anohni & the Johnsons
Badbadnotgood
Beth Gibbons
Biffy Clyro
Black Country New Road
Black Uhuru
Blossoms
Brandi Carlile
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Busta Rhymes
CMAT
Caribou
Celeste
Charli XCX
Cymande
Denzel Curry
DJO
En Vogue
English Teacher
Ezra Collective
FCUKERS
Fat Dog
Father John Misty
Faye Webster
Floating Points
Four Tet
Franz Ferdinand
Future Islands
Glass Beams
Gracie Abrams
Greentea Peng
Inhaler
JADE
Jalen Ngonda
Japanese Breakfast
John Fogerty
Joy Crookes
Katy J. Pearson
Lewis Capaldi
Libertines
Lola Young
Lorde
Loyle Carner
Lucy Dacus
Maccabees
Maribou State
Myles Smith
Neil Young
Nile Rodgers & Chic
Noah Kahan
Nova Twins
Olivia Rodrigo
Osees
Overmono
Pa Salieu
Parcels
Pink Panteress
Prodigy
Pulp
Raye
Rod Stewart
Royel Otis
Scissor Sisters
Script
Self Esteem
Shamboozey
Shed Seven
Skepta
Sprints
St. Vincent
Supergrass
Tom Odell
Tunstile
Weezer
Wet Leg
Wolf Alice
Wunderhorse

I have to admit I haven't kept up that much with currently popular music, so I don't recognize many of these names. But hopefully there are some that will get a good number of votes and prove to be worthy, in addition to some of the older and better known names.