(Scott) This one is a REAL grab bag, and an excellent one, too......lot of good variety here, I am looking forward to hearing the Led Zeppelin cover project in particular.....I'm working on a post of classic King Crimson albums, hopefully for tomorrow, and since I will be seeing Sleater Kinney Saturday (YES!) I'd like to get some of their stuff up this week as well (old timers may remember my 7 part Sleater Kinney post from a few years back, to this day one of my most popular).......anyway, tear into THIS stuff for tonight, literally something for just about everyone in THIS one, thanks, Brian!________________________________________________________________________________________
It's heartening to see the Jennifer Warnes stuff get some downloads... though part 2 has gotten more downloads than part 1. Guys, I feel like apologizing for how long that last post about her was. I was telling Scott: I felt like I'd gotten over being possessed after I wrote that! And it's also heartening to see fellow old pop lovers. (C'mon, doesn't everyone have a copy of ABBA Gold?). Anyway, I've found one goody since: a Jennifer Warnes bootleg! Like, the only Jennifer Warnes bootleg....This was recorded at The Bottom Line, NYC, on April 8th, 1977. It was just as "Right Time Of the Night" was on the charts, and a month before she appeared on SNL. She was an opening act for Dave Edmunds... Anyway, this is a great recording. A few mic sputters at the start, but the rest of it is fine. Much of the material is from her '76/'77 Jennifer Warnes album. She is in great voice (of course), and very engaging and giggly with the audience. Its a small room apparently, and there's some good audience banter. It's very sweet. After singing "Right Time...", she says "I got a hit"! After her wrenching "Love Hurts", she's met with shouts of "Bravo"! I hadn't really heard her speaking voice before. Though she was from California, she must've spent some time living in Canada in the 70's. I can hear it. I also like the track list... I just wish "Round and Round" were here. As it is, I like it very much... And since there are no other boots of her around, this is one to grab! Runtime is 50 mins. This was originally one long file, but thanks to Jonder it is now broken up into tracks. He took the care to convert a problematic track to mono, and include the stereo as a bonus track. Thanks, Jonder! And enjoy...this is a good gig.
I've been a Henry Rollins fan for a long time, both music and especially his spoken word stuff. He hasn't released any new spoken word CDs in the last few years - even though he tours constantly. I've included one of the only bootlegs of his I have, a recording from Alexandria, VA in 2011. It's a great show, and I think it's tighter and funnier than the corresponding "Spoken Word Guy" CDs that came from the same time period. Check 'em out, and if any fans have other spoken word boots of his - besides earlier stuff like Hoboken '87 or London '93 - let me know!
This one I pulled together on a whim: it's an all-covers version of Led Zeppelin 1! It was my first Zepalbum, and is a blues/rock necessity. The mighty thrash band Nuclear Assault lead off with "Good Times, Bad Times". This was on their album Survive I think.... Then Great White cover "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You". This is the original MTV Unplugged performance, and it was the one that led them to release several all-cover albums later. I know they're hacks now, but this was actually a revelation to see and hear back in the day. I cheated a little with "You Shook Me" - it's the Black Crowes and Jimmy Page - but it's a great cut.
DJ Spooky is a very heady turtablist and producer. His version of "Dazed and Confused" gets pretty far out, but still remains faithful to the original. Sandie Shaw was a big UK girl singer in the 60's, and I really like her version of "Your Time Is Gonna Come". Even though Jimmy and J.P.J. wrote it, was this maybe released first? Vanilla Fudge - Zep contemporaries - do a lovely version of "Black Mountain Side". Jeff Healey deliveries a great, rocking live cut of "Communication Breakdown", where all the vocal lines are replaced by guitar or harmonica. And then the mighty Dread Zeppelin rock their "reggae by way of Elvis" take of "I Can't Quit You Baby". What, you're not down with Tortelvis? Pat Travers - a great blues guitarist - faithfully rips through "How Many More Times" to close things out.
The Comedy Bonus this time is Gilda - Live In New York. It's a mixture of characters from SNL as well as songs she sings. "Let's Talk Dirty To the Animals" is a personal favorite. The Patti Smith parody "If You Look Close" is dead on! The album closes with the deceptively heartbreaking "Honey". I've missed Gilda for a long time.