by Vinyl301 -

Bob Dylan: Re-Transmissions

re

Storming Music 2005.  SMC2642

Not listed on Discogs

I’ve had a manic few days, so no time for vinyl rips, or even to upload anything, so here’s a quick post of something I put on a bootleg forum a while back.

This seems to be a bit of a grey release.  It was available in record shops in the UK briefly, and isn’t hard to track down on line.  I’ve heard it said that UK copyright on TV broadcasts doesn’t last long, meaning that they can be released unofficially, but legally.  I have no idea whether that’s true, but this CD seems only to have been available here.

What it is is a selection of Dylan TV broadcasts, sound only.  Live, Dylan can be a bit hit and miss, but he’s always reworking old material, so it’s worth keeping an eye on live stuff, and here, being TV, he seems to be on his best behaviour, so there are some worthwhile performances of familiar tunes.  There’s an emphasis on his gospel period – panned at the time, but now pretty well thought of.  I like it.

If you’re not into Dylan already, this really isn’t the place to start – I’d go for his three classic 60s albums, Bringing It All Back Home, Blonde On Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited (the mono versions of all these albums are superior).  Add Blood On The Tracks and Time Out Of Mind if you want more.

It’s not obvious from this blog, but I’m a huge Dylan fan.  I’ve listened to him more than any other artist, and even now I play his stuff all the time.  I don’t post much here because of course almost all of his output is available.  There are a few oddments though which I’ll post at some point.

Since it’s not on Discogs, here’s a tracklisting:

1. Gotta Serve Somebody (Saturday Night Live 1979)
2. I Believe In You (Saturday Night Live 1979)
3. When You Gonna Wake Up (Saturday Night Live 1979)
4. I’ll Remember You (Farm Aid 1985)
5. Maggie’s Farm (Farm Aid 1985)
6. Mr Tambourine Man (L.A 1990 With the Byrds)
7. Masters Of War (Grammy Awards 1991)
8. It’s Alright, Ma (I¹m Only Bleeding) (30th Anniversary 1992)
9. My Back Pages (30th Anniversary 1992)
10. All Along The Watchtower (RnR Hall Of Fame 1995)
11. Seeing The Real You At Last (RnR Hall Of Fame 1995)
12. Highway 61 Revisited (RnR Hall Of Fame 1995)

by Vinyl301 -

Primal Scream: Live on “That Music Show”

Scream

Broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK, 2nd August 2013

This is one of a very occasional series of bootlegs.  I don’t watch much TV, but I noticed Primal Scream were playing on a new music quiz tonight, so I thought I’d rip it (just the music, not the quiz, and just the audio, not the visuals).  The quiz was unbearable, but Primal Scream were really on form.  Just two tracks, Rocks: an old one from Give Out But Don’t Give Up and a new one, Invisible City.

They have a new album out.  I’ve heard a few tracks from it and they’re excellent.  Get it direct from the band here. 

 

by Vinyl301 -

Kid Chaos: 20 Greatest Hits EP

frontsheet

Fierce Recordings 1988.  No catalogue number.

Discogs

This continues the Fierce theme and is something of an oddball record.  It claims to be by the KLF, and was sent to the music papers in 1988 for review.  However the KLF themselves denied all knowledge of it while heartily approving of the idea of musicians pretending to be other musicians.  It should have been obvious to anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the KLF that this was a fake because it lacked any of the features which made the KLF worth paying attention to.  There’s no humour, no statement, no Scottish ranting, no flair and no tunes, but the British music press fell for it and reviewed it as a KLF release.  To their credit it got the bad reviews it deserved.

What this actually is, is a Fierce scam, a real one this time, not a pretend one.  It was made by Kid Chaos – which does give a KLF connection because he played bass with Zodiac Windwarp, aka Mark Manning who co-wrote various books with Bill Drummond, most notably Bad Wisdom.

The A side, probably called Borderline is Jon Bonham’s drum break from When The Levee Breaks looped with some random records playing in the background.  To call it sampling would imply some sort of competence.  So it’s garbage, but still an enjoyable listen because the looped drum break is fabulous.  It would have been better without Kid Chaos’s inept turntablism in the background though.  The first of the B sides, All U Need Is Love actually has some merit.  Like Borderline it has looped drums, although I don’t know where they’re lifted from, which create a powerful sense of tension.  In the background is a Morcambe and Wise skit, but without the laughter track.  For some reason it works really well – maybe I’m just a sucker for anything different sounding.  The final track, BFB is a rip-off of the Public Enemy track She Watch Channel Zero – it samples the same Slayer riff and dumps more random bits of music on top.  It is utter garbage and doesn’t even have the appeal of the first track…

The “info” sheet it came with is above, and I’ve pasted a couple more letters from Fierce below.  It’s an interesting historical curio and worth hearing if you’re interested in Fierce or the KLF.

Update: I’ve just played this to a friend and he described it as fascinating, so maybe I’ve been a little harsh. It’s certainly true that it doesn’t sound like anything else.

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by Vinyl301 -

R.E.M.: Begin The Begin

begin

On Stage 1993 (Bootleg).  CD12033

Discogs

I uploaded this as a favour for someone, so thought I might as well put it in my blog too. It’s a bootleg of a 1989 gig in Florida which I bought years ago in the supermarket at the end of my road. An odd place to find a bootleg I thought.

To be brutally frank, I’ve never liked it much. The performance isn’t the best and neither is the sound quality. I think the studio albums are much better, and if you want a bootleg, there are better ones than this. However if you’re a fan it’s good to have.

Better stuff tomorrow I promise. Or maybe the day after – I’ll be at a film festival all day tomorrow.

by Vinyl301 -

Sonic Youth: 4 Tunna Brix

front

Goofin’ Records 1990.  GOO 01

Discogs

As promised, some more weird Fall covers, this time from Sonic Youth.  This was a Peel session from 1989, and, as I recall at the time, The Fall’s Mark E Smith was so upset by it that he refused to sanction the release.  It was immediately bootlegged, and this was the best sounding of them.

Mark E Smith’s reaction was an odd one, because Sonic Youth are huge Fall fans, and these are very respectful cover versions.  Even Victoria, originally a Kinks track, is played as the Fall rather than The Kinks did, although it does sound a bit like a drunken singalong.

Despite all of this it has Sonic Youth’s signature guitar sound – their guitars were heavily modified and with weird tunings, although not being a guitarist, I wouldn’t know about such things.

Rumour has it that Sonic Youth themselves bootlegged this, presumably irritated by Mark E Smith’s reaction to it, which would explain the excellent sound quality.  They would of course have had access to the master tapes.

by Vinyl301 -

Bill Withers: Live At The BBC 1973

images

This blog isn’t really about bootlegs, but I grabbed this from a BBC TV broadcast (sound only) a while ago and it’s so great I thought I’d post it. Bill Withers was a big name in soul in the 70s with a string of great albums and singles. There was something about soul in the 70s which really works for me in a way that current stuff rarely does. There was a blandness which infected soul in the 80s and there hasn’t been much to float my boat since then. Withers wasn’t much into fame and disappeared many years ago, although there has been a flurry of interest in him recently – hence this broadcast.

If you like this, any of his classic 70s albums are worth a punt. I like Menagerie.

Set List:

1 Ain’t No Sunshine
2 Lonely Town, Lonely Street
3 Grandma’s Hands
4 Use Me
5 Let Me In Your Life
6 Lean On Me
7 Harlem