A Live One- The Cure Cleveland Music Hall ‘85
If good looks was a minute/ You know that you could've been an hour- Smokey Robinson, 'The Way You Do The Things You Do'
This look may not be fit now, but just wait twenty years.
Cleveland Music Hall 85 by The Cure in 320 mp3s
The Cure embarked on The Head on the Door tour in 1985 with a No. 7 album in the UK and a No. 59 one here in the States. They first came to America a year before, and meant to conquer the American market with this tour. ‘In Between Days’ broke the Top 100 here barely, hitting 99. The No. 1 single in America the week ending on October 19, 1985 was a-Ha’s ‘Take On Me’, which just bumped Dire Strait’s ‘Money for Nothing’ from its four week perch. There is nothing in the rest of the Top 10 which would leave anyone to believe the Cure would have any more success than they had the year before. Sphere: Related Content
A Live One- The Jam 5.26.1980 @ Pinkpop
The Jam at Pinkpop 05.26.1980 in 320 mp3
Paul Weller is my favorite British rock star. True. Not only am I head over heels with his music with the Jam and solo (eh, not so much Style Council), but I also love his taste in music. The compilation he made for Mojo last year provided K and I with our first dance song. I love the fact that his dad still manages him, even after all these years. His politics are dead-on working-class and sensible. Whenever you hear him interviewed he flashes the kind of sense of humor which would only get better after a few pints (even though Paul himself abstains). And last, but certainly not least, there is his sense of style. Sure, everyone wants to be a rock star, but Paul is the only one I want to dress like. I have to admit it. I have a man crush on Paul Weller. I’m OK with that.
Sphere: Related ContentA Live One- Bob Dylan 5.27.1989 @ Christinehofs Slottspark
I don't know Sven- Dylan or Golden Earring?
Bob Dylan Sweden 05.27.1989 in 320 mp3
Bob Dylan Sweden 05.27.1989 in FLAC
You can’t ignore Bob Dylan if you follow pop music. His work makes up a primary genetic strand in pop, recombining with other music to create entirely new pop genres. I fell in love with Bob at an early age, stopping whatever I was doing when ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ or ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ came on the radio. His music didn’t court you, like his peers the Beatles. No, it stood its own ground, aware that it sounded completely different than anything else of its time. Dylan’s music waits for everyone, and when you finally embrace it your world becomes all the richer. He is our modern Shakespeare- a poet of popular art whose work reveals universal truths which enlighten humanity. Like Shakespeare, he will always be out of time, sure to be heard and studied anew long after his last performance. His influence here can be seen at the top of every page. Bob Dylan will be with us forever.
Sphere: Related ContentA Live One – Elvis Costello & The Attractions 1.27.79 @ Sophia Gardens
This is how a real rocker plays with himself.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions Live ‘79 At The Sophia Gardens in 320 mp3
Elvis Costello was the first rock n roller to which I felt a personal connection. From his first album in 1977, Elvis was on heavy rotation in the Brett household. Elvis, Bruce, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and Michael Jackson made up the musical Mt. Rushmore of my childhood. I enjoy all of them immensely to this day, but to a five- or six-year old the the rest of them were glitzy and alien. Elvis wore big, thick glasses, like I did. He stared back from his album covers uncomfortably, like a caged animal. His songs combined smart lyrics with a burning restlessness. His music was frustration. I ate it all up. To this day, I believe if I were to run into Elvis in a pub, we’d share a couple of pints and be the best of friends. Elvis is one of those top echelon pop artists who mastered the album form. From his debut, My Aim Is True, through ’82’s Imperial Bedroom, he released six perfect albums (and one very good one). Today, these albums have not aged one bit. When you hear me turn old fogey on you, and say, “They don’t make music like the old days” it is to Elvis Costello’s early work I’m referring.
Sphere: Related ContentA Live One- The Smiths @ Hammersmith Palais 3/12/1984
Those charming men.
Last of the English Roses by the Smiths in 320 mp3
Today we feature a fantastic show from the Smiths’ first major tour in 1984. There is no way they can sound this amazingly good this early in their career?! Um, yeah way, it appears. There is no band in America right now that sounds this good three albums into their career. Highlights abound- for starters, check out ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, ‘Barbarism Begins At Home’, or ‘Back To The Old House’. There are many who talk of R.E.M as the rock band of the ’80s, but the Smiths’ were the gun in that knife fight.
Sphere: Related ContentA Live One – My Morning Jacket MSG 12.31.08
White tails and laser lights- It's a MMJ NYE in MSG!
Today, Shambollocks! starts a new feature- A Live One. When I was in high school, my friend Stas, Jeff, and I would frequent the Hillside Holiday Inn to join the vinyl geeks and Trekkies in quest of ever more of the pop culture artifacts we held dear. I loved going home, throwing on the earphones, and cranking up the Boss at the Spectrum or Zeppelin at the Garden. All those great classic rock bands, all those great venues I could never see. Well, the internet makes those runs to Hillside unneccessary. The first resource I’ll send you to if you’re a real nut for live music, like myself, is Wolfgang’s Vault. And the next resource is right here, every other week.
We kick off the new feature with a Shambollocks! favorite- Kentucky’s own My Morning Jacket. One of my favorite concert memories of recent vintage is attending Lollapalooza in ‘06 and walking toward the MMJ stage. I was midway through Grant Park, almost at the Buckingham Fountain, when I began to hear the strains of ‘Off The Record’. My head bobbed. MMJ was still six city blocks away. That was how loud they were. When I got to the stage, they preceded to tear my head off for two hours. Fantastic festival set.
Two weeks ago at MSG, MMJ were at the top of their game. They do what every band should do with a NYE gig. They have lots of fun! They cover Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown. And they do the songs justice. They do all the songs of theirs you’d want. The version of ‘Dondante’ plain out trawls. The wife and I would definitely made it out for this kind of NYE. Download here. Or play here.
Disc 1/Set 1:
1. intro music – What Are You Doing New Years Eve
2. Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield) *
3. Evil Urges *
4. Off The Record
5. Gideon
6. The Way That He Sings
7. Thank You Too
8. I’m Amazed
9. Golden ^
10. Librarian
11. You’re All I Need (marvin gaye) * +
12. Express Yourself (charles wright) *
13. Wonderful Man
14. Lay Low
15. Phone Went West
Disc 2/Set 1(cont):
16. Look At You
17. Dondante
18. Smoking from Shootin->
19. Touch Me Part 2->
20. Run Thru
21. The Wanderer (Dion) *
22. Dancefloors *
23. Magheeta
Disc 3/Set 2:
1. new years’ countdown
2. Celebration (kool & the gang) *
3. Get Down On It (kool & the gang) *
4. Wordless Chorus
5. Highly Suspicious
6. Cobra
7. Islands in the Stream (Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers) +
8. Bring It on Home to Me (Sam Cooke) *
9. Cold Sweat (James Brown)*
10. Anytime
11. One Big Holiday
12. Auld Lang Syne (sung by Jim James over a prerecorded backing track)
13. outro music – We’ll Meet Again 
O'Hare Arpt., IL
