Bootleg Friday: Sly & The Family Stone, 1970

I hesitate to put these Sly & The Family Stone tracks up - I'm almost sick of Sly's greatest hits. But they sound so good and are played so well that I want to share them with you all.

The show is from Piknik Kasteel Groeveneld Baarn in the Netherlands on October 9, 1970. Sly & The Family Stone were still on top of the world when they recorded these tracks, but the optimism of this music was about to descend into the murk of the classic There's A Riot Goin' On, his last unquestionably great moment on record. (I know that there are some people who love Fresh, but I'm not one of them.)

When I listen to these tracks, I hear Sly's vast influence - on late 60's & early 70's Motown (the Jackson 5 were a reaction to Sly), Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince and even James Brown. I also hear his desire not just to ignore barriers of music and race, but to tear them up. That influence and sense of possibility still reverberates, and it's the reason that over 35 years after the fact, there are a lot of people who are still waiting for Sly Stone to really make a comeback.

*I recommend downloading all the songs and then listening to them seamlessly. Especially for the "Dance To The Music" medley.*

Download: "Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "M'Lady" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Sing A Simple Song" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Stand!" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Dance To The Music" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "Music Lover" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands
Download: "I Want To Take You Higher" 10/9/70, Baarn, Netherlands

Buy Sly & The Family Stone at Amazon

Bootleg Friday: Elvis Costello, 1978

For today's installment of Bootleg Friday, you're getting Elvis Costello at one of his peaks, performing at the legendary Winterland in San Francisco, CA on June 7, 1978. The show was broadcast live on KSAN radio, and featrues Costello and the Attractions motoring through songs from his first two albums, My Aim Is True and This Year's Model, both of which are my favorite Costello albums. (I know there are a lot of fans of Imperial Bedroom, but despite many listens, it's never hooked me.)

Highlights include "Mystery Dance," "Less Than Zero," and titanic versions of "Blame It On Cain" and "Party Girl." I hear a lot of soul influence in both the playing and singing - the sound like a bunch English guys trying to be Booker T. and the MG's with a bad attitude, even though at the time, they probably wouldn't have admitted it. From the Rolling Stone interview in 1982:

"When I went to live in Liverpool I discovered everyone was into acid rock - and I used to hide my Otis Redding records when friends came around. I didn't want to be out of step. I tried to find somebody of that sort that I could like and his group would be it: someone weird like Captain Beefheart. It's no different now - people trying to outdo each other in extremes. I "saw the light" when I was already playing, coming back to London, seeing the pub-rock groups. I discovered that all the music that I liked secretly, that I'd been hiding from my friends - that was what was great fun in a bar: Lee Dorsey songs!

Costello's relationship with soul would take an incredibly complicated turn on the Armed Forces tour in 1979, when drunk in a bar after a show in Columbus, Ohio, arguing viciously with Bonnie Bramlett and members of the Stephen Stills Band and looking for the most outrageous possible thing he could say to offend his antagonists, Costello called Ray Charles a "blind, ignorant nigger," said something similar about James Brown and attacked the stupidity of America in general. This from a man who had produced the first album by the Specials, a pioneering interracial U.K. band, who had taken on the racist National Front in England with "Night Rally" and had appeared at Rock Against Racism concerts. At the time, he became far better known for that statement than he ever did for his music, and it effectively ended any possibility of Costello becoming a mainstream artist - it would take years for the incident to be complete.

Download: "Mystery Dance" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "Lip Service" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "Less Than Zero" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "Blame It On Cain" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "This Year's Girl" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "I Don't Want To Go Down To Chelsea" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "Watching The Detectives" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "Party Girl" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA
Download: "I'm Not Angry" 6/7/78, San Francisco, CA