Jefferson Airplane - Polo Field, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 9-30-1989

Jefferson Airplane is reknowned for the great music they did in the 1960s and early 1970s. But the band also got back with all the key members for a reunion album and tour in 1989. That's pretty much been forgotten because the album (cleverly titled "Jefferson Airplane") was pretty bad. But the same couldn't be said of the tour, since they mostly played their older classics. It turns out there's a recording of the very last concert the band ever played together. Unfortunately, it was merely a good audience bootleg. But I did a lot of work on it. Now, it sounds close to soundboard-level quality, in my opinion.

The key five members of Jefferson Airplane were Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Jack Casady, and Jorma Kaukonen. After the band broke up around 1972, they continued to play in various combinations. Slick, Kantner, and sometimes Balin played in Jefferson Starship, then later just Starship, for most of the 1970s and 80s. Meanwhile, Casady and Kaukonen spent most of their time at Hot Tuna. But there were exceptions. For instance, in 1986, Kantner, Balin, and Casady joined forces as the KBC Band and put out an album with that same name.

By the mid-1980s, Slick was the only original Jefferson Airplane member in Starship. That band had big commercial success, with the song "We Built This City" reaching Number One on the U.S. singles chart in 1986, and then "Nothing's Going to Stop Us Now" also reaching Number One in 1987. But the songs were critically panned, with "We Built This City" in particular sometimes appearing on worst songs of all time lists. Slick decided she wanted out, and left Starship in 1988. (It continued with other band members, led by lead vocalist Mickey Thomas.) 

Slick actually decided to leave the music business altogether. She later stated, "All rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire." But before quitting, she agreed to one last album and tour with the original Jefferson Airplane. This concert pretty much was the end of her music career. She only made occasional brief appearances in concerts after this. For instance, she sang with a revived Jefferson Starship (now led by Kantner) for a few songs for a 1995 concert, and then again for a 2001 concert. But that was about it. So kudos to her for sticking to her principles.

Interestingly, this concert completely skipped all the Starship hits, and only played one Jefferson Starship hit, "Miracles." All the other songs were from the 1960s or early 1970s or the band's 1989 reunion album.

This final concert came about due to a benefit project led by Paul Kantner. The idea was to have a free concert at Golden Gate Park. But everyone who attended was supposed to bring a can of food to give to the San Francisco Food Bank. About 60,000 people attended, and donated about 45,000 pounds of food.

Here's what a newspaper review said about the concert at the time: "Jefferson Airplane rocked the Polo Field, their sound ringing through the massive infield, bouncing off eucalyptus and cypress trees and echoing deep into the woods. The crowd was a jumble of aging hippies and second-generation tie-dye teenagers, smiling cops and mellow Hells Angels, babies, dogs and old-fashioned Park winos." I believe the only opening act was Hot Tuna. But I don't have that recording. 

Here's an interesting article about the concert from a local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, at the time. The quote above comes from it:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/When-Jefferson-Airplane-s-1980s-reunion-14447131.php

To improve the sound quality, I edited every single song. I ran the songs through the MVSEP program once to get rid of crowd noise during the songs (but keeping the cheering at the ends). I then ran all the songs through that program again to boost the lead vocals relative to the instrumental portions. Then I ran the songs a third time to reduce the reverb. The original version sounded decent, but I think this sounds a lot better.

This album is two hours and 18 minutes long. 

01 talk by Bill Graham (Jefferson Airplane)
02 She Has Funny Cars (Jefferson Airplane)
03 Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane)
04 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
05 Plastic Fantastic Lover (Jefferson Airplane)
06 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
07 Won't You Try - Saturday Afternoon (Jefferson Airplane)
08 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
09 Today (Jefferson Airplane)
10 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
11 Good Shepherd (Jefferson Airplane)
12 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
13 Lather (Jefferson Airplane)
14 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
15 Solidarity (Jefferson Airplane)
16 Wooden Ships (Jefferson Airplane)
17 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
18 America (Jefferson Airplane)
19 Freedom (Jefferson Airplane)
20 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
21 Third Week in the Chelsea (Jefferson Airplane)
22 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
23 Panda Song (Jefferson Airplane)
24 Miracles (Jefferson Airplane)
25 The Wheel (Jefferson Airplane)
26 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
27 Ice Age (Jefferson Airplane)
28 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
29 Summer of Love (Jefferson Airplane)
30 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
31 True Love (Jefferson Airplane)
32 Planes (Jefferson Airplane)
33 White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)
34 Volunteers (Jefferson Airplane)
35 talk (Jefferson Airplane)
36 It's No Secret (Jefferson Airplane)
37 Rock Me Baby (Jefferson Airplane)
38 Crown of Creation (Jefferson Airplane)
39 3-5ths of a Mile in Ten Seconds (Jefferson Airplane)
40 talk by Bill Graham (Jefferson Airplane)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/2Ha2HRXP

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/itRGAaWf9h50w0F/file

The cover image is from this exact concert. From left to right: Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, and Grace Slick. I couldn't find a good photo showing all five band members, since they were scattered around the stage.

Paul McCartney - Solo Ballads (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here we are, with the last album in guest poster Mike Solof's eight album series of the best rockers and ballads from the solo careers of the four ex-Beatles. As I mentioned in the write up to the last album in this series, for Paul McCartney's solo rockers, McCartney has had a long and prolific career, so there's just more of his songs. That led to a solo rocker album just for him, and now this solo ballad album just for him.

As usual with this series, the songs generally come from the well-known studio albums. That's the case here. However, there's a surprise in that one song, "Best Love," is a Paul lead vocal on a song that appeared on an album by comedian Steve Martin (who also happens to be a surprisingly good banjo player, so it's a serious song). 

Also, four of the songs are special edits made by Mike, the ones with "[Mike's Mix 2026]" in their names. That's because some of these songs were a little rocking to truly qualify as ballads. So Mike edited them to make them sound more gentle and mellow. 

Although this series is over, Mike wanted to carry on making rocker and ballad best ofs for other musical acts. Hopefully you will see one result from that posted here soon. 

This album is 51 minutes long. 

01 I'm Carrying (Paul McCartney)
02 Once upon a Long Ago [Mike's Mix 2026] (Paul McCartney)
03 Waterfalls (Paul McCartney)
04 With a Little Luck [Mike's Mix 2026] (Paul McCartney)
05 Here Today (Paul McCartney)
06 Best Love (Steve Martin & Paul McCartney)
07 This One [Mike's Mix 2026] (Paul McCartney)
08 Maybe I'm Amazed [Mike's Mix 2026] (Paul McCartney)
09 My Love (Paul McCartney)
10 My Valentine (Paul McCartney)
11 Distractions (Paul McCartney)
12 This Never Happened Before (Paul McCartney)
13 Wanderlust (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZeydfoYV

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/bVl1btduqniMOik/file

The cover image of Paul and Linda McCartney is from around 1970. 

Gregson & Collister - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1985-1989

I feel a little silly, because I just posted the first Gregson and Collister BBC album a couple of weeks ago (as I write this in mid-September 2026), and already I have to rename that one from "Volume 1" to "Volume 2." That's because this is a collection of different BBC sessions, and after I posted that album, a commenter pointed out a 1985 session I'd previously missed. So that made this one start at an earlier year than the 1987 concert I've posted. Thus, the second BBC album I'm posting from them is "Volume 1."

Here's a link to that other volume, so you hopefully don't get even more confused by having two BBC albums by this duo called "Volume 1." 

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2026/09/gregson-collister-bbc-sessions-volume-1.html

Anyway, that 1985 session mentioned above opens this album with two songs, and it's a very interesting one. I'm pretty sure it was recorded (for the BBC TV show "Old Grey Whistle Test") before Gregson and Collister officially became a duo with that song. Instead, they were members of Richard Thompson's backup band, and those two songs were performed by that band, including some nice lead guitar interplay between Gregson and Thompson.

Tracks 3 through 8 comes from a 1988 BBC "In Concert" radio broadcast. I put it here instead of making a separate volume for it because it's only 20 minutes long. It happens to contain "Home Is Where the Heart Is," which also was played in the 1985 session discussed in the previous paragraph. I changed the song order some so those two versions wouldn't be so close to each other.

Tracks 9 through 11 are from a 1989 BBC studio session. I don't know anything about it except it's supposed to be dated March 3, 1989. If anyone knows more, please let me know.

The remaining tracks, 12 through 18, are from another 1989 BBC studio session. More details can be seen in the mp3 tags.

I believe everything here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and two minutes long. 

01 Home Is Where the Heart Is (Gregson & Collister with Richard Thompson)
02 Open Fire (Gregson & Collister with Richard Thompson)
03 This Tender Trap (Gregson & Collister)
04 You Rascal You (Gregson & Collister)
05 I Specialise (Gregson & Collister)
06 talk (Gregson & Collister)
07 How Weak I Am (Gregson & Collister)
08 Home Is Where the Heart Is (Gregson & Collister)
09 Blues on the Run (Gregson & Collister)
10 Everybody Cheats on You (Gregson & Collister)
11 This Is the Deal (Gregson & Collister)
12 Blessing in Disguise (Gregson & Collister)
13 Trying to Get You (Gregson & Collister)
14 The Minute You're Gone (Gregson & Collister)
15 talk (Gregson & Collister)
16 Here I Go Again (Gregson & Collister)
17 talk (Gregson & Collister)
18 I Shake (Gregson & Collister)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Gmv44CNm 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/bQvbfyWKBsT6lfb/file

The cover photo comes from a concert at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in January 1989.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Rockers, Volume 1 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

In the 1970s, the Beatles remained extremely popular but there was no new Beatles music to sell, so the record companies repackaged their music in different ways. For instance, in 1976, an album called "Rock n' Roll Music" was released, containing all rocking Beatles songs. And in 1977, another one came out called "Love Songs." A similar one came out in most countries but the U.S. in 1980 called "The Beatles Ballads." Guest poster Mike Solof was inspired by these albums to create similar albums, but for the Beatles' solo careers. He's taken roughly equal numbers of songs by the four ex-Beatles and mixed them together. This was enough for three albums of rockers and another three albums of ballads. 

But wait, there's more! Paul McCartney has been prolific, and stubbornly refuses to die. (Ha ha) As a result, Mike also made an extra album each just for more rockers and ballads from him. So here's the first of eight albums. We'll start with some rockers.

Note there's nothing really new here. These are just already released songs, but hopefully repackaged in an interesting way. Just like those 1970s repackaged Beatles albums. By the way, interesting fact: "Rock n' Roll Music" went all the way to Number Two on the U.S. album chart in 1976, and was only kept out of the top spot by the Paul McCartney and Wings album "Wings at the Speed of Sound." 

As usual with Mike's posts, please check out the PDF file he's included with the download zip. 

This album is 54 minutes long. 

01 Save Us (Paul McCartney)
02 Rock and Roll People (John Lennon)
03 Horse to the Water (George Harrison)
04 You're Sixteen [You're Beautiful and You're Mine] (Ringo Starr)
05 The Mess [Reworked] (Paul McCartney)
06 Cleanup Time (John Lennon and Yoko Ono)
07 Cockamamie Business (George Harrison)
08 Lonely Road (Paul McCartney)
09 Snookeroo (Ringo Starr)
10 Cold Turkey (John Lennon)
11 Helen Wheels (Paul McCartney)
12 All Those Years Ago [Paul on Vocals, Ringo on Drums] (George Harrison)
13 After All These Years (Ringo Starr)
14 Big Barn Bed (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/tuCsvKEk

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/plP5cXglEj9HZci/file

Mike is more of a fan of making new AI pictures than I am. In 1969, the Beatles played a short concert on top of Abbey Road studios in London. For this one, he asked an AI program to make an image of an imaginary Beatles reunion on that rooftop many decades later. Mike was particularly pleased at how the AI creatively added two big beer bottles at their feet. 

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA, 12-6-1989 - The Grateful Dead

Here, finally, is the last of the 20 albums I'm posting from the Earthquake Relief Benefits. Up until now, all the albums I posted were of concerts that took place at three different San Francisco Bay Area venues on November 26, 1989. However, the Grateful Dead wanted to be a part of this benefit project, but they were already booked to perform elsewhere on that date. So they had this concert about two weeks later instead.

I double checked, and there were no opening acts. The Dead did a typical full concert for them, with an intermission.

I've been mentioned in my write-ups how many of the musical acts in these benefit concerts had peaks of popularity in the late 1960s and/or early 1970s, then broke up or went through hard times for much of the 1980s, only to have a revival at the end of the 80s. The Dead fit that mold as well. They never stopped touring or stopped being popular, due to all that touring. However, they went a long time in the 1980s without recording a studio album, from 1980 to 1987. Then, when they did release an album in 1987, "In the Dark," it turned out to be an unexpected hit for them. It reached the Top Ten in the U.S. album chart, the only album of theirs that ever did that. And one song, "Touch of Grey," also made the Top Ten in the singles chart, also the only time they ever did that. Then, in late 1989, they released another album, "Built to Last," which also did fairly well.

However, the Dead beat to their own drum, and didn't do typical album promotion. Only three of the songs they performed here were from their recently released album ("Just a Little Light," "Victim or the Crime," and "Standing on the Moon"). 

One nice thing about this concert is that saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who usually played for Bruce Springsteen, joined the band for six songs towards the end of the second set. 

This album is two hours and 28 minutes long.

01 talk (Grateful Dead)
02 Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead)
03 Walking Blues (Grateful Dead)
04 Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead)
05 Queen Jane Approximately (Grateful Dead)
06 Jack-A-Roe (Grateful Dead)
07 Just a Little Light (Grateful Dead)
08 Victim or the Crime (Grateful Dead)
09 Don't Ease Me In (Grateful Dead)
10 Scarlet Begonias (Grateful Dead)
11 Sugar Magnolia (Grateful Dead)
12 Ship of Fools (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons)
13 Terrapin Station (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons)
14 Drums [Instrumental] (Grateful Dead)
15 Space [Instrumental] (Grateful Dead)
16 The Wheel (Grateful Dead)
17 All Along the Watchtower (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons)
18 Standing on the Moon (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons)
19 Sunshine Daydream (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons)
20 talk (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons)
21 Black Muddy River (Grateful Dead with Clarence Clemons) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/a4R2vRoc

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/8yjb0FspNjhOuxN/file

The cover image is from this exact concert, but with caveats. It's actually two separate images, one of Bob Weir and the other of Jerry Garcia. By putting them together in Photoshop like I did, I hope it looks like they're looking at each other. Also, the originals of both were in black and white, but I colorized them.

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 10 - John Fogerty

Here's Part 10 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by John Fogerty. This is the final album from this concert. But there's one more album I plan on posting relating to these concerts.

It's starting to get uncanny, because here we have another case of a career revival of a musical act popular in the late 1960s and/or early 1970s. I wonder if promoter Bill Graham planned the musical acts for this Oakland concert deliberately. In any case, John Fogerty was the singer-songwriter behind Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). But that band broke up in 1972, and he didn't release any solo albums between 1975 and 1985. But he came back strong with "Centerfield" in 1985 and "Eye of the Zombie" in 1986. "Centerfield" in particular was a critical and commercial smash, reaching Number One in the U.S. album chart.

Fogerty's set mostly consisted of classic CCR hits. But he included two hits from "Centerfield," "Rock and Roll Girls" and "Centerfield."

By the way, note that I have no proof of the order of acts at this Oakland concert. I just used logic to make educated guesses. For instance, I think it's pretty obvious that Bonnie Raitt and John Fogerty would have been the two biggest acts, so they would have gone last. I don't know which one of those would have closed the show. Raitt's latest album was the bigger hit at the time. However, Fogerty had all those timeless CCR hits, so I would have put him on last if I was the one planning the concert.

This album is 35 minutes long. 

01 talk (John Fogerty)
02 Born on the Bayou (John Fogerty)
03 talk (John Fogerty)
04 Green River (John Fogerty)
05 talk (John Fogerty)
06 Down on the Corner (John Fogerty)
07 talk (John Fogerty)
08 Lookin' Out My Back Door (John Fogerty)
09 Rock and Roll Girls (John Fogerty)
10 Centerfield (John Fogerty)
11 Midnight Special (John Fogerty)
12 Fortunate Son (John Fogerty)
13 Bad Moon Rising (John Fogerty)
14 talk (John Fogerty)
15 Proud Mary (John Fogerty)
16 talk (John Fogerty)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/EEQwgyA7

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/bia4PsNa6LNkBRS/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 8 - Etta James

Here's Part 8 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by Etta James.

Writing these write-ups, it's uncanny how many of the musical acts in this concert had early success in the 1960s and/or 1970s and then went through hard times in the 1980s. That was definitely the case for Etta James. Most of the 1980s was a lost decade for her musically, largely due to drug addiction and alcoholism problems. But she managed a comeback in 1988 with her album "Seven Year Itch." The title refers to the fact that she didn't even have a record contract for seven years. But the album was a critical success, and got a Grammy nomination.

Two of the songs here are from the "Seven Year Itch" album: "Breaking Up Somebody's Home" and "Come to Mama." The rest are older classics.

This album is 36 minutes long.

01 Love and Happiness (Etta James)
02 Breaking Up Somebody's Home (Etta James)
03 talk (Etta James)
04 I'd Rather Go Blind (Etta James)
05 Come to Mama (Etta James)
06 talk (Etta James)
07 At Last - Trust in Me (Etta James)
08 Sunday Kind of Love (Etta James)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GDXzUdaL

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/09INBwivqSSBZUG/file

For the vast majority of musical acts in this concert, I was able to find video footage so I could take screenshots for the cover art. But that wasn't the case for Etta James. So for this cover, I used a screenshot I took of a concert she did for the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1989.

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 7 - Tower of Power

Here's Part 7 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by Tower of Power.

Tower of Power had a series of hits in the 1970s. But, like a lot of other musical acts in this concert, they had some hard times in the 1980s. They only put out two albums, one in 1981 and the other in 1987, and neither one made the U.S. album charts. I believe at this time their lead singer was Tom Bowes, who had just joined the band earlier that year.

Their set concentrated on the 1970s hits, with no songs from their 1987 album. 

This album is 28 minutes long. 

01 talk (Tower of Power)
02 Believe It (Tower of Power)
03 A Little Knowledge [Is a Dangerous Thing] (Tower of Power)
04 talk (Tower of Power)
05 You're Still a Young Man (Tower of Power)
06 You Got to Funkifize (Tower of Power)
07 Down to the Nightclub [Bump City] (Tower of Power)
08 What Is Hip (Tower of Power)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yofGw9vh

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/37BA88UyrJNQFJ3/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 6 - Taj Mahal with Bobby McFerrin

Here's Part 6 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by Taj Mahal. He was joined by Bobby McFerrin on vocals for the last three songs.

Up until now, most of the musical acts in the Oakland benefit concert hadn't been popular since the late 1960s and/or early 1970s, and some of them had only recently reunited. But now we start to get into some more popular acts. 

However, Taj Mahal also had some "wilderness years." He didn't release any new music from 1977 to 1987. He kept a low profile while living in Hawaii. However, he released a well-received comeback album in 1987, "Taj," and has steadily released new albums ever since then.

Bobby McFerrin probably was more famous at this time. That was largely due to his song "Don't Worry, Be Happy," which was a Number One hit in the U.S. in 1988. However, he avoided singing that song here and just assisted Taj Mahal in singing some blues classics. 

This album is 34 minutes long.

01 talk by Bill Graham (Taj Mahal)
02 Big Legged Mamas Are Back in Style Again (Taj Mahal)
03 Easy Rider (Taj Mahal)
04 Fishing Blues (Taj Mahal)
05 Light Rain (Taj Mahal & Bobby McFerrin)
06 Sweet Home Chicago (Taj Mahal & Bobby McFerrin)
07 talk (Taj Mahal & Bobby McFerrin)
08 Blue Light Boogie (Taj Mahal & Bobby McFerrin)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yqmJpLFi

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/QwAS2LsOZWQ2O3D/file

The cover image shows Taj Mahal (wearing a white hat) and Bobby McFerrin. It's a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. 

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 5 - Big Brother & the Holding Company

Here's Part 5 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by Big Brother and the Holding Company.

As I mentioned in an earlier write-up, many of the musical acts in these benefit concerts had their most popular years in the late 1960s and/or early 1970s, but broke up or went into commercial decline after that. This is another case. Big Brother and the Holding Company came to fame in the 1960s primarily due to their lead singer Janis Joplin. But she broke up with them in 1969, and then died in 1971. The band stayed together for a little while without Joplin, releasing albums in 1970 and 1971. But they broke up in 1972.

And that's how things stayed until 1987. A reunited band contained most of the original members, including Sam Andrew, Peter Albin, Dave Getz, and James Gurley. But obviously there was no Joplin anymore. Instead, Michel Bastian was chosen to replace her lead vocals. 

For this concert, they chose to play some of the songs most closely associated with Joplin, including the band's biggest hit, "Piece of My Heart." Whether you consider this band should have kept going without Joplin is up to you.

This album is 25 minutes long.

01 talk (Big Brother & the Holding Company)
02 Combination of the Two (Big Brother & the Holding Company)
03 Summertime (Big Brother & the Holding Company)
04 Ball and Chain (Big Brother & the Holding Company)
05 Piece of My Heart (Big Brother & the Holding Company)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/QMUdkuu4

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/w01CgS237PPhA01/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 4 - Cold Blood

Here's Part 4 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by Cold Blood.

Cold Blood was another band at this concert that was most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In this case, they released albums between 1969 and 1976, and then broke up. The main star of the band was lead singer Lydia Pense. She suspended her music career for most of the 1980s. However, she revived the band in 1988, which was fortunate timing for appearing at this concert.

This album is 22 minutes long. 

01 talk by emcee (Cold Blood)
02 You Got Me Hummin' (Cold Blood)
03 I Just Want to Make Love to You (Cold Blood)
04 Baby I Love You (Cold Blood)
05 Down to the Bone (Cold Blood)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/FTveeJfd

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/7SMyRs4d0h8YXFS/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 3 - Quicksilver Messenger Service

Here's Part 3 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by the band Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Technically speaking, this band was billed as the "New Quicksilver Messenger Service." Unfortunately, that's because there wasn't much left from the original band in the late 1960s and early 1970s. According to Wikipedia, the only original member still in the band at this time was Gary Duncan, on lead guitar and vocals. The other members were Michael Lewis on keyboards, John Bird on guitar and vocals, Bobby Vega on bass, and Greg Errico on drums. But at least Duncan was one of the band's leaders back in their heyday. Another key leader, John Cipollina, had been estranged from the band since 1975. He also died earlier in 1989.

I don't know where most of these songs aren't well known songs from when the band was most popular. This version of the band released an album in 1986, but none of these songs are from that album either. Instead, most of them would be released on the albums "Shape Shifter Vols. 1 and 2," which wouldn't be released until 1996.

This album is 23 minutes long.

01 talk (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
02 Bubba Jeans (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
03 Holiday (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
04 What Did You Do to Yo Do (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
05 Time to Shine (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
06 Gangster Purple (Quicksilver Messenger Service)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/kMwRaX9c

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/neFTDUqqUv5Ru7v/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 2 - Dan Hicks

Here's Part 2 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Oakland, California. This is a set by Dan Hicks.

I want to make a general point that many of the musical acts in the Earthquake Benefit Concerts were popular in the late 1960s and/or early 1970s, and went in commercial decline after that. But these concerts gave them at least one more last hurrah on a big stage. I'm sure this had a lot to do with the fact that the promoter of these benefit concerts, Bill Graham, was most active as a promoter in the San Francisco Bay Area in that same earlier time period.

Dan Hicks is a good example of this. He was the leader of the band Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks from 1967 to 1973. After that, he kept a low musical profile until he had a minor comeback in the late 1980s.

Here's his Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Hicks_(singer) 

This is a pretty short set, but it appears to be the entire thing. 

This album is 18 minutes long. The music is unreleased, like all the other music from these benefit concerts.

01 talk by emcee (Dan Hicks)
02 Up, Up, Up (Dan Hicks)
03 The Buzzard Was Their Friend (Dan Hicks)
04 talk (Dan Hicks)
05 I Scare Myself (Dan Hicks)
06 talk (Dan Hicks)
07 Long Come a Viper (Dan Hicks)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/iQXyR5Sq

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/ONvCumaav2qTa4t/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 1 - Caribbean Allstars, Pete Escovedo, and Dinosaurs

On November 26, 1989, there were three Earthquake Relief Benefit concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recently, I posted albums from the concerts in Daly City (near San Francisco) and Watsonville (close to Santa Cruz). Now, I'm starting to post albums from the third concert, in Oakland. I've found more music from this concert than the other two, enough for ten albums. 

I don't know the correct chronological order of the performers, so I made up my own order. For this first one, I gathered together three short performances. For all the other albums, I have one musical act per album.

The three acts here are the Caribbean Allstars, Pete Escovedo, and Dinosaurs. I had never heard of any of them before, to be honest.  

I know next to nothing about the Caribbean Allstars. They apparently don't have a Wikipedia entry. Pete Escovedo is a percussionist. He was a member of Santana, led the Latin big band Azteca, and has released many solo albums. He also is the father of the famous drummer and singer Sheila E.

Here's his Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Escovedo

Dinosaurs was a band that consisted of musicians from various 1960s and 1970s Bay Area bands. They only released one album, in 1988, cleverly called "Dinosaurs." The band existed from 1982 into the 1990s. The membership of this band changed over the years. At the time of this concert, it consisted of Barry 'The Fish' Melton on guitar and vocals (from Country Joe and the Fish), Peter Albin on bass and vocals (from Big Brother and the Holding Company), Merle Saunders on keyboards and vocals, Papa John Creach on violin (from Hot Tuna), and Spencer Dryden on drums (from Jefferson Airplane).

Here's the band's Wikipedia entry: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaurs_(band) 

This album is 48 minutes long.

01 talk by emcee (Caribbean Allstars)
02 Paths to Greatness (Caribbean Allstars)
03 Oh What a Situation (Caribbean Allstars)
04 talk by emcee (Pete Escovedo)
05 Charango Sunrise [Instrumental] (Pete Escovedo)
06 Modern Dance [Instrumental] (Pete Escovedo)
07 talk (Dinosaurs)
08 Dance (Dinosaurs)
09 talk (Dinosaurs)
10 Built for Comfort (Dinosaurs)
11 talk (Dinosaurs)
12 John's Other (Dinosaurs)
13 talk (Dinosaurs)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zoMZCJVS 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/rrnI7S2KOQTTw8Y/file

The cover image is of one of the Caribbean Allstars singers. This is taken from a video of this exact concert.  

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Watsonville High School Football Field, Watsonville, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 3 - Santana

Here is the third and final album from the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Watsonville, California. This is a Santana set. 

As I mentioned in a previous write-up, the Watsonville population is about 80 percent ethnically Hispanic. So it made sense to have acts like Los Lobos and Santana, who were popular with the Hispanic community. As a nice bonus, Cesar Rosas and David Hildago, the two main singer-songwriters in Los Lobos, played with Santana on a couple of songs near the end of this concert. They can't be heard singing very much, but they traded lead guitar solos with Carlos Santana. Jorge Santana, brother of Carlos, joined in on a couple of other songs as well.

Note that music from a third concert in Oakland that was also part of this benefit effort will be coming soon. 

This album is an hour and 58 minutes long.

01 Angels All Around Us (Santana)
02 Spirits Dancing in the Flesh (Santana)
03 For Those Who Chant [Instrumental] (Santana)
04 It's a Jungle Out There (Santana)
05 Soweto [Africa Libre] [Instrumental] (Santana)
06 Full Moon [Instrumental] (Santana)
07 Black Magic Woman - Gypsy Queen (Santana with Jorge Santana & Carlos Hernandez)
08 Oye Como Va (Santana with Jorge Santana & Carlos Hernandez)
09 She's Not There (Santana)
10 Jingo (Santana)
11 Goodness and Mercy [Instrumental] (Santana)
12 Choose (Santana)
13 Toussaint L'Overture (Santana)
14 talk (Santana)
15 Mandela [Instrumental] (Santana)
16 Europa [Earth's Cry, Heaven's Smile] [Instrumental] (Santana)
17 talk (Santana)
18 The Healer [Instrumental] (Santana with Los Lobos)
19 We Don't Have to Wait [Instrumental] (Santana with Los Lobos)
20 Soul Sacrifice - Aranjuez [Instrumental] (Santana with Los Lobos)
21 Blues Jam [Instrumental] (Santana with Los Lobos)
22 Cloud Nine [Instrumental] (Santana)
23 talk by emcee (Santana)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/QMeE1Ke6

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/HwNDgtavbjNAdMi/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Watsonville High School Football Field, Watsonville, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 2 - Los Lobos

Here's Part 2 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert in Watsonville, California. This is a Los Lobos set.

Los Lobos had a Number One hit in the U.S. in 1986 with their cover of "La Bamba." So they were near the peak of their popularity around this time.

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 talk (Los Lobos)
02 Anselma (Los Lobos)
03 I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday (Los Lobos)
04 Georgia Slop (Los Lobos)
05 Will the Wolf Survive (Los Lobos)
06 Evangeline (Los Lobos)
07 My Baby's Gone (Los Lobos)
08 Someday (Los Lobos)
09 Let's Say Goodnight (Los Lobos)
10 Ay te Dejo en San Antonio (Los Lobos)
11 Volver, Volver (Los Lobos)
12 I Got Loaded (Los Lobos)
13 Don't Worry Baby (Los Lobos)
14 talk (Los Lobos)
15 La Bamba (Los Lobos)
16 Shakin' Shakin' Shakes (Los Lobos)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GpZQ8BJA

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/F9DC1rCrInmiKba/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Watsonville High School Football Field, Watsonville, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 1 - Square Roots

I finished posting a bunch of albums from an Earthquake Relief Benefit concert at the Cow Palace venue near San Francisco in 1989. But that actually was just one of three concerts for the benefit that took place on the same day. Now, I'm starting to post the concert that took place at Watsonville, about an hour and a half south of San Francisco. I've found enough for three albums. This first one features the band Square Roots.

As I mentioned in a previous write-up, these benefit concerts were in response to an earthquake that took place in Loma Prieta, California, near Santa Cruz, about 40 days prior to these concerts. Watsonville is about an hour south of Loma Prieta. I suppose it was decided to hold a concert for a different crowd of people, who would have found it difficult to go all the way to the other concerts in San Francisco or Oakland, which were about two hours away. 

About 80 percent of the population of Watsonville is Hispanic. As you'll see, the musical acts chosen were meant to appeal to the Hispanic community. This concert begins with a short talk by Bill Graham, the famous Bay Area music promoter who led the organization of these benefit concerts. Then there was a speech by comedian Jose Simon. I cut the vast majority of it, because it was in Spanish and I don't speak that language. I just kept enough for the introduction to the first musical act. (That's why that track has "[Edit]" in its title.)

That act was Square Roots. This is probably one of the most obscure music acts I've posted at this blog. They don't seem to have either a Wikipedia page or a rateyourmusic.com page. I was able to find out from the discogs.com website that they were an "American ska band from Santa Cruz, USA, active between 1983 and 1995." I also found out that they only released on album, which was self-titled, and was released in 1991. That means that, at the time of this concert, they hadn't even released an album yet. They probably were chosen because they were popular with the locals. 

But for an obscure band, they sounded very professional and good, in my opinion. For instance, they had a horn section, which is not something a lot of bands can afford to have. Just listening to this, I would have figured they were much more popular than they apparently ever were. So please don't pass this by just because you haven't heard of them before.

Generally speaking, the sound quality of this bootleg is excellent. However, the vocals were low in the mix. I fixed that with the help of the UVR5 audio editing program. I put in some extra work on the song "Every Little Step" because it has male and female vocals, and the female vocals were loud but the male vocals were extra quiet. It sounds a lot better now, though still not ideal.  

This album is 33 minutes long.

01 talk by Bill Graham (Square Roots)
02 talk by Jose Simon [Edit] (Square Roots)
03 Program Zero (Square Roots)
04 Steady Action (Square Roots)
05 Rude Boys (Square Roots)
06 Try (Square Roots)
07 Every Little Step (Square Roots)
08 talk (Square Roots)
09 Pleasure Point Posse (Square Roots) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zkLPrAnz

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/JP7jVOopLejfwwb/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Cow Palace, Daly City, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 6 - All-Star Jam with Steve Miller

NOTE: Before I say anything about this album, I found a short set of the Dynatones at this concert, and I added it to Part 1. Thanks to the anonymous e-mailer who told me that could be found on YouTube, just buried really deep.

Here's the link, if you want to download that one again:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2026/08/earthquake-relief-benefit-cow-palace.html

Here is the sixth and last part of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert at the Cow Palace, in Daly City. But note the Cow Palace show was just one of three held in the area on that same night, so there's a lot more of this concert to come. This album is a jam session featuring a mix of performers from earlier sets that evening. I called it "All-Star Jam with Steve Miller" because Miller definitely dominates, singing most of the songs. It's practically like a second Miller set, with some guest stars helping him out, but with him doing almost all blues and soul cover versions.

I have to admit that I don't know for sure who took part in this jam session. One can clearly see Miller, Neil Young, and Norton Buffalo on the cover image I chose, and one can hear them as well. I also can easily make out the sound of the vocals of Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt, especially on "Wang Dang Doodle." Both of them performed at a different concert that was part of this benefit in Oakland. So they must have rushed across the San Francisco Bay to make it here in time. Miller introduced the Chambers Brothers right before "In the Midnight Hour," asking them to help sing it, so clearly they were on this as well.

Additionally, according to setlist.fm, Carlos Santana, Maria Muldaur, John Kahn, and the Dynatones were said to take part too, as well as others. Carlos Santana would have been a challenge, since Santana played a big concert as part of this benefit at some point on this same day in Watsonville, California. That's an hour and a half away, without traffic. Perhaps that Watsonville concert ended earlier and he hightailed it to this concert, I don't know. If you can hear his distinctive lead guitar work, please let me know. 

Video footage on YouTube exists of nearly all of this concert. Watching that could confirm who took part in this section of the show. However, I couldn't find any video from this portion.

This album is 50 minutes long. 

01 Wang Dang Doodle (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
02 I Wanna Be Loved [But by Only You] (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
03 Lucille (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
04 Baby What You Want Me to Do (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
05 Underneath the Silvery Moon (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
06 Space Cowboy (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
07 talk (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
08 In the Midnight Hour (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
09 Boogie Chillen (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
10 It Takes Good Lovin' (Steve Miller & the All-Star Jam)
11 talk (Steve Miller)
12 talk (Bill Graham)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/9cCGPUuv

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/1kf3t2mHe7ljVgM/file

The cover image is from this exact concert. From right to left: Steve Miller, Neil Young, and Norton Buffalo. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it. I found another photo from this portion of the concert. I chose not to use it, but it showed Miller and Young in color. So I made sure the colors used in the colorization matched with that other photo.  

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Cow Palace, Daly City, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 5 - Neil Young

Here's Part 4 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert at the Cow Palace, in Daly City. This is a Neil Young solo acoustic set.

As I mentioned in the Crosby, Stills and Nash set earlier in this series, I find it rather strange Young didn't play with CSN at all, since they performed in the same venue on the same night. Furthermore, they did an entire show together at the Bridge Benefit concert a month earlier. 

Perhaps Young was focused on promoting his new album at the time, "Freedom." It came out in October 1989, and was a big commercial and critical success. Only two songs here are from that album though, "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero, Part 1)."

This album is 26 minutes long. 

01 My My, Hey Hey [Out of the Blue] (Neil Young)
02 Rockin' in the Free World [Edit] (Neil Young)
03 Comes a Time (Neil Young)
04 Homegrown (Neil Young)
05 Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
06 talk (Neil Young)
07 Crime in the City [Sixty to Zero, Part 1] (Neil Young)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/DNmod53X 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/ObwHKSHiPXheIym/file

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

Earthquake Relief Benefit, Cow Palace, Daly City, CA, 11-26-1989, Part 4 - The Steve Miller Band

Here's Part 4 of the 1989 Earthquake Relief Benefit concert at the Cow Palace, in Daly City. This set features the Steve Miller Band.

This set is a mix of some of his 1970s hits, plus a couple of blues covers ("Mercury Blues" and "Who Do You Love").

Miller would later lead an all-star jam at the end of the concert. There enough material from that for me to post a separate album. So look for that one as well. 

This album is 34 minutes long.

01 talk (Steve Miller Band)
02 The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
03 Mercury Blues (Steve Miller Band)
04 Swingtown (Steve Miller Band)
05 talk (Steve Miller Band)
06 Jungle Love (Steve Miller Band)
07 Rock'n Me (Steve Miller Band)
08 talk (Steve Miller Band)
09 Jet Airliner (Steve Miller Band with Eddie Money)
10 talk (Steve Miller Band)
11 Take the Money and Run (Steve Miller Band)
12 Who Do You Love (Steve Miller Band)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/K2r4exmN

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/xD5JkiByXdfoC3q/file

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