Bootleg Friday: Nirvana, 1987-1994

Some weeks I labor to figure out what to post for Bootleg Friday. This week, it was an easy call. Today's Bootleg Friday is a selection of live Nirvana tracks from various locations from 1987 to their last performance in Rome in February of 2004. Of note are the rather ramshackle covers of the Who's "Baba O'Riley," and the Cars's "My Best Friends Girl," which the band can't seem to decide whether to take seriously or not, and waver in and out of committing to the song. It's pretty hilarious.



Download: "About A Girl" 8/30/92, Reading Festival
Download: "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam" 2/7/92, Sydney, Australia
Download: "Baba O' Riley"
Download: "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" 2/7/92, Sydney Australia
Download: "Sliver" 8/30/92, Reading Festival
Download: "Downer" KOAS Radio, 1987
Download: "Here She Comes Now"
Download: "My Best Friend's Girl"
Download: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" 8/30/92, Reading Festival
Download: "All Apologies" 2/22/94, Rome, Italy

Bootleg Friday: Madeleine Peyroux, 2004

The first time I saw Madeleine Peyroux was at Fez, in New York in 1996, when she released her debut album on Atlantic, Dreamland. I didn’t get it. Or maybe I did, but what's probably so is that I simply had no ability to listen to a jazz vocalist back then.

But Madeleine Peyroux, with her wonderful albums, Careless Love, Half The Perfect World and this year’s Bare Bones, has become one of my favorite singers of this decade, a vocalist of skill, depth and passion – a blend of the passions of blues and jazz with the complexities and ambivalence of modernity. Peyroux has that rare talent to be able to a have a song hold contradictory moods and feelings simultaneously. And the irony with which she imbues her songs is not the flip and glib style of irony which deadens art. Rather, it articulates a hard earned knowledge of the ways of the world, and it feels close to something like wisdom.

Today’s Bootleg Friday is a Madeleine Peyroux show from Berlin, Germany in December 2004, while supporting her second album, the wonderful Careless Love, one of the finest jazz vocal albums of the decade. You can hear the echoes (and songs) of her influences – Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and more. But it adds up to something that is uniquely her own.

Download: “Dance To The End Of Love” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Download: “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Download: “Between The Bars” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Download: “Lonesome Road” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Download: “Walking After Midnight” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Download: “(Getting Some) Fun Out Of Life” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Download: “La Vie En Rose” 12/9/04 Berlin, Germany

Bootleg Friday: Simon & Garfunkel, 1969

I was listening to the iPod (on shuffle) last night on the way home, and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” came on. I was about to hit the forward button; after all, do I really need to hear “Bridge” again? But I let it play, and once more, I was taken in by the overwhelming beauty of the song, arrangement and vocals. If there’s a better gospel song written by a Jewish guy from Queens, I don’t know what it is.

So today’s Bootleg Friday is a Simon & Garfunkel show from November of 1969 in Oxford, Ohio. It’s from the same fall 1969 tour that the recent Live 1969 album came out on (through Starbucks) and it’s fascinating to hear the songs that would be released on 1970’s Bridge Over Troubled Water in sparser musical settings, played in front of an audience that had never heard these songs before. When Art Garfunkel introduces “Bridge” by saying, “Here’s another new song, probably my favorite, called ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,'” you can’t help but smile, knowing what’s coming for the audience.

What is eye opening on these songs is how powerful Art Garfunkel’s singing is on them. I had always thought of Garfunkel more as an appendage than as a true partner of Simon’s – but this show proves me wrong. And while the duo was backed here by their great studio band – drummer Hal Blaine, bassist Joe Osborn, pianist Larry Knechtel and guitarist Fred Carter Jr., they’re used sparingly and subtly, letting the strength, craft and skill of the songs and voices shine through.

Download: "Fakin' It" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "The Boxer" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "Why Don't You Write Me" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "The Sounds Of Silence" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "Bye Bye Love" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "Homeward Bound" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH
Download: "America" 11/11/69, Oxford, OH

Bootleg Friday: The Replacements, 1987

When I was a kid, I expected and waited for the Replacements to get huge. They didn’t. Even though it’s twenty plus years later, there’s still a part of me that thinks/expects/hopes/prays that someday, maybe just around the corner, justice will prevail, and it will happen.

Maybe someone will write a blockbuster movie about growing up in the 80’s and will use their music as the basis for it – the sound of sensitivity, snark and punk/soul all wrapped into one. I figure that there has to be someone who is a great writer in their prime, who, back in the day, was sustained by Let It Be, Tim and Pleased To Meet Me. Their catalog sales will explode and they will finally get the full measure of their due as one of the best, if not the best, American bands of the 80's.

Today’s Bootleg Friday is a selection of songs from the Replacements show at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit, on November 12, 1987. Touring behind the great Pleased To Meet Me, the music is a combination of punk insouciance and soul conviction. And the Prince cover (from Sign Of The Times, which had just been released) displays Replacements leader Paul Westerberg’s great taste to full effect. It’s shambolic and highly moving – just like the band.

Download: “I.O.U.” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Never Mind” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Hold My Life” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Can’t Hardly Wait” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Little Mascara” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Nightclub Jitters” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Sweet Soul Music (Arthur Conley)” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “20th Century Boy (T. Rex)” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Prince)” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Unsatisfied” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “I Will Dare” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI
Download: “Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)” 11/12/87, Detroit, MI

Bootleg Friday: Sam & Dave, 1967

There are two kinds of improvisation in music. One kind is self-conscious. It is improvisation for improvisations sake (countless jam bands). Then there is the kind of improvisation that exists because the performers can't be contained within the known limits of a song. The songs from this Sam & Dave show in Stockholm, 1967, are examples of the latter. The greatest of all soul duos take some of their best known songs and recreate them - slow them down, expand them, inject subtle changes in tempo and feeling and make them overwhelming.

Stax's Spring 1967 tour of Europe was one of their greatest triumphs. Greeted with a love and an un-ambivalent respect that they could not receive in America, they responded by delivering shows that forty years after the fact, remain legend. The four songs contained here are a small example of the fire they brought to the stage every night. Both Michael Jackson, who used to watch them in the wings at the Apollo, when the young Jackson 5 was playing the chitlin circuit, and Bruce Springsteen, who went to see them in the 70's, both said they stole liberally from Sam & Dave's show. Mediocre artists borrow, great artists...

Download: "You Got Me Hummin'" - 5/2/67, Stockholm, Sweden
Download: "Soothe Me" - 5/2/67, Stockholm, Sweden
Download: "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" - 5/2/67, Stockholm, Sweden
Download: "Hold On, I'm Coming!" - 5/2/67, Stockholm, Sweden

Bootleg Friday: The Faces, 1973

The Faces. June 4, 1973. Enjoy. I can't think of anything necessary to add.

Download: "Cindy Incidentally" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "Angel" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "I'd Rather Go Blind" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "Jealous Guy" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "You Wear It Well" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "Maggie May" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "Borstal Boys" 6/4/73, London, England
Download: "We'll Meet Again" 6/4/73, London, England

Bootleg Friday: Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia, 1972

This is inexcusably late of me, but losing Merl Saunders, organist extraordinaire, at the end of October was a loss I felt keenly. Saunders played with Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead, B.B. King, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Bonnie Raitt, Miles Davis and many more. His playing was warm, fluid and soulful – with an obvious debt to Jimmy Smith, with whom he studied.

But more importantly, Saunders had a spirit that lit up a room – his playing was immensely joyful, and if you were lucky enough to be in a room in which he was playing, it was almost impossible not to be swept up in the good feelings he conjured. Saying someone is “all about the music,” can occur as cliché, but in Merle’s case, it was the glorious truth.

Today’s Bootleg Friday consists of a few selections from a Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders show from San Francisco, early in 1972. It features great ensemble playing from both Saunders and Garcia, and it’s heavy on the soul, with some great, extended versions of Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye classics. Really wonderful stuff.

Download: “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” San Francisco, CA 2/6/72
Download: “Expressway To Your Heart” San Francisco, CA 2/6/72
Download: “When I Paint My Masterpiece” San Francisco, CA 2/6/72
Download: “I Was Made To Love Her” San Francisco, CA 2/6/72
Download: “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” San Francisco, CA 2/6/72

Bootleg Friday (On A Monday): Randy Newman, 1972

America gets really weird during presidential elections. So I can’t think of anyone better to restart Bootleg Friday (on a Monday) then one of the greatest chroniclers of American contradiction and irony, Randy Newman.

This performance hails from Paul’s Mall in Boston show in 1972, supporting his epochal Sail Away album. His gift here is in full flower, as well as his incredible sense of humor. Equally influenced by Stephen Foster, George Gershwin and Fats Domino, Newman’s incisive, literary and moving songs have been recorded by artists as varied as the O’Jays, Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, the Everly Brothers, and yes, Pat Boone. This is Newman as his career was on an upward arc – when it seemed as though commercial success was in his grasp. That would happen five years later, with the almost accidental hit, “Short People,” a joke that caused an uproar.

Newman has had huge success as a songwriter for films, scoring dozens of movies, including several Pixar films. He's currently touring behind his new album, Harps and Angels.

Download: "Lover's Prayer" 8/24/72, Boston, MA
Download: "Lucinda" 8/24/72, Boston, MA
Download: "You Can Leave Your Hat On" 8/24/72, Boston, MA
Download: "Last Night I Had A Dream" 8/24/72, Boston, MA
Download: "Ballad Of Pat O'Reilly/Sail Away" 8/24/72, Boston, MA
Download: "Lonely At The Top" 8/24/72, Boston, MA
Download: "Love Story (You and Me)" 8/24/72, Boston, MA

Bootleg Friday: Guns N' Roses, 1988

Why are people still interested in Guns N' Roses?

It's been over twenty years after their debut album (Appetite For Destruction) and over sixteen years since their last relevant studio albums (Use Your Illusion I & II). Yet Guns N' Roses (in name only) can still fill arenas in the U.S. and abroad and there's still a sizable group of people waiting for the elusive Chinese Democracy, even though its release has been delayed possibly more than any album in history.

Perhaps it's because for a lot of people, Guns N' Roses were the last real rock band; dangerous, sexual, rebellious and thunderous, a combination of the Stones, the New York Dolls, punk and Aerosmith that served as a bridge between classic rock and the alternative revolution that would follow almost five years later. No band has filled the vacuum left by GN'R; indie bands have almost none of the power and the corporate rock bands have little of the heart, swagger or personality. I have think the reason people miss Guns N' Roses, and why they're still looking for their reappearance, is because they miss hard rock itself as a vital form, one that can command the attention of not just a niche audience, but the world. Perhaps the idea of hard rock as "danger" was an illusion all along, but it sure didn't seem to be back then.

As for me, I was a big fan of Appetite, but I could feel the end nearing for GN'R when I saw them at Madison Square Garden in December of 1991. Two and half hours late in going on, the band felt bloated; they had needlessly taken on a horn section, Izzy Stradlin was gone and I think Axl went through about three or four costume changes. The show was pretty good, but ultimately disappointing. What was most memorable about the show was the intermission; the P.A. blared the hits of the day and when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came on, the arena erupted. It was before Nirvana-mania had hit full bloom, but I could feel it coming, and in that, the end of GN'R's relevance, except as a foil to the Alternative explosion.

But today's Bootleg Friday is before all of that. It's from a February, 1988 show at the Ritz in New York City, before the band exploded, and while they were still lean, mean and hungry. What future relevance holds for Axl Rose and his band I do not know. But I sure wouldn't bet on them.

Download: "Mr. Brownstone" 2/2/88, New York, NY
Download: "Sweet Child Of Mine" 2/2/88, New York, NY
Download: "Welcome To The Jungle" 2/2/88, New York, NY
Download: "Night Train" 2/2/88, New York, NY
Download: "Paradise City" 2/2/88, New York, NY
Download: "Rocket Queen" 2/2/88, New York, NY

Bootleg Friday (Finally!): Little Feat, 1973

Something in my life has not been right lately. And I've been looking and searching, trying to figure out what it is. And I finally got it - there's been no Bootleg Friday in the past few weeks!

To get back in the game, here are some selections from a Little Feat show in 1973 that was taped for the radio. It's been years since I listened to them, but when I put these tracks on, that heady rush of good time New Orleans came back immediately. Enjoy 'em!

Download: "A Political Blues" 3/14/73, Hempstead, NY
Download: "Got No Shadow" 3/14/73, Hempstead, NY
Download: "Willin" 3/14/73, Hempstead, NY
Download: "Two Trains" 3/14/73, Hempstead, NY
Download: "Fat Man In The Bathtub" 3/14/73, Hempstead, NY
Download: "Dixie Chicken" 3/14/73, Hempstead, NY

Bootleg Friday: The Rolling Stones

First things first. I need to apologize for not putting up Bootleg Friday last week. No excuses, but I'm still working on finding a final file hosting solution. The one's that I'm using now have very limited daily bandwidth, so if you cannot access the file today, try the following day, etc. I will have this issue resolved by the middle of next week.

Ok, now that business is taken care of, today's episode of Bootleg Friday is short (due to the bandwidth issue) but very sweet. It's two Rolling Stones songs; an alternate version of Let It Bleed's "You Got The Silver" with Mick Jagger instead of Keith Richards on vocals. I've always been more of a Keith guy and I slag Mick pretty casually, but Mick's vocal on this is incredible, and is a revelation. The other song is an outtake called "Highway Child," recorded around 1970 with Ry Cooder at Keith's house.

I haven't been listening to the Stones all that much lately, but their music from this period, 1968-1972, continually occurs for me as the greatest rock n' roll ever. Better than Dylan, better than the Beatles. Why? Because the Stones brought sex and groove like no one else, and in doing so, they exemplified the form of rock as music. If an alien came to me and said, "Play me one song so I'll understand what rock n' roll is," I'd probably play them "Gimme Shelter." Or "Rocks Off." Or "Brown Sugar." Or "Sway." You get the idea.

Download: "You Got The Silver"
Download: "Highway Child"

Bootleg Friday: Johnny Cash, 1994

Today I'm going to dispense with the preamble. Johnny Cash in Austin, Texas on December 8, 1994, touring behind his first album recorded with Rick Rubin, American Recordings. Enjoy.

Download: "Big River" 12/8/94, Austin, TX
Download: "Sunday Morning Coming Down" 12/8/94, Austin, TX
Download: "I Still Miss Someone" 12/8/94, Austin, TX
Download: "Man In Black" 12/8/94, Austin, TX
Download: "Delia's Gone" 12/8/94, Austin, TX
Download: "The Beast In Me" 12/8/94, Austin, TX
Download: "Ring Of Fire" 12/8/94, Austin, TX

Bootleg Friday: The Flaming Lips, 1999

You may be wondering why I'm posting Flaming Lips tracks on a site that has a large focus on soul music. Well, it's because for me, the Flaming Lips are an indie band with soul. Where I find many, if not most indie rock bands, ultimately unsatisfying because of the emotional distance they keep from their material and their audience (as well as their lack of songs), the Flaming Lips are all heart, and on The Soft Bulletin, they had the songs, too.

I didn't know much about the Flaming Lips until I saw them at Irving Plaza in the spring of 2000 while they were touring behind The Soft Bulletin. But when I saw that show, I was blown away by their inventiveness, their whimsy, and most of all, by their conviction. They struck me as the best kind of weirdos; a band doing it differently and uniquely, going out on limbs that no other bands would even think about going on and willing to make fools of themselves in the process, but always in the service of trying to touch people. And they really touched me - when they played "Waitin' For A Superman," even though I had never heard the song before, I teared up. The next day, I went right out and bought The Soft Bulletin and I listened to it non-stop for about six months.

The tracks posted are from U.K. radio broadcasts recorded in the spring of 1999. Of particular note are the absolutely gorgeous acoustic versions of "Feel Yourself Disintegrate" and "Waitin' On A Superman." Enjoy!

Buy The Soft Bulletin at Amazon

Download: "Race For The Prize" 4/21/99, Eve Session
Download: "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" 4/27/99, XFM Session
Download: "We Can't Predict The Future" 6/8/99, Peel Sessions
Download: "The Captain" 6/10/99, GLR Session
Download: "Waitin' On A Superman" 6/10/99, GLR Session

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