retroblog.net

According to Roger Linder’s calendar over at TR Connection, September 1st is Todd Rundgren Appreciation Day. So, I might as well take the opportunity to post some TR related items here for all to enjoy. like who’s gonna stop me, right? heh.

First up, here’s Ed Vigdor’s trailer for the upcoming ToddStock movie that’ll premiere next week at the Cinema Carousel Theatre in Muskegon, MI.

Also, if you don’t already know, Rundgren will be performing the albums, Healing (1981) and Todd (1974) in their entirety at six shows beginning this sunday. check my previous post for more info.

as for TR songs – I thought I’d post some neat TR covers I have lying around on my current computer. My huge music archive is still on my laptop hard drive that went kaput a few weeks ago. no worries though, I’ll retrieve the files off the old hard drive once I get my new laptop setup and running.

[the following mp3s will be available for a limited time so get 'em while you can...]

Couldn’t I Just Tell You by Joe Jackson
Keep your head and everything will be cool
You didn’t have to make me feel like a fool
When I try to say I feel the way that I do…

Love of the Common Man by Future Kings of Spain
I’ve been burned in my prime
The simple things in life seem so hard to learn sometimes..

Mated by Jaki Graham and David Grant
I see things far ahead, maybe light, maybe beautiful children
I don’t have words I’m thinking of but it’s way beyond what they call love

I Saw the Light by Lori Carson
But my feelings for you were just something I never knew
‘Til I saw the light in your eyes..

Couldn’t I Just Tell You by the Wondermints
Couldn’t I just tell you the way I feel
I can’t keep it bottled up inside
And could we pretend that it’s no big deal
And there’s really nothing left to hide

Love of the Common Man by the Lovemongers (Nancy and Ann Wilson)
Everyone is waiting, just anticipating on you
Won’t you make a showing everybody knows what to do..

(more…)

In honor of the start of another summer season, I thought I’d post a set of songs linked to this lovely (but HOT) time of the year. Can’t believe it’s already summer. Gotta hurry and plan out some fun excursions with the little ones before they go back to school. Summer’ll be over before ya know it!

enjoy!

Some Like to Hot – The Power Station
Some like it hot and some sweat when the heat is on
Some feel the heat and decide that they can’t go on
Some like it hot but you can’t tell how hot ’til you try
Some like it hot so let’s turn up the heat ’til we fry

Waiting on a Sunny Day – Bruce Springsteen
Funny, thought I felt a sweet summer breeze
Must of been you sighin’ so deep
Don’t worry we’re gonna find a way
I’m waitin’, waitin’ on a sunny day
Gonna chase the clouds away, waitin’ on a sunny day

Summer of Love – The B-52′s
It’s the summer of love, love, love
I’m in love with love, love, love
For everyone transcends here, I’m thinking of you boy
Love energy is giving us a shove, making this the summer of love

Summer Dress – Shawn Colvin
I put on my finest summer dress
So light and thin, torn at the chest
I brushed my hair, I held my breath
I went out to face the wilderness,
I went out to face the wilderness…

Too Hot to Sleep – Survivor
Too hot to sleep Come take me higher
caught up in the heat of the moments fire

My Paradise (live version 2003) – The Outfield
Everbody’s got one thing on their mind
A set of wheels and a cranked up radio
In this town there might be nowhere to hide
In this town there might be nowhere to go but
On my left, to my right, this is my paradise
You can call it what you like
I know, this is my paradise

Summer (Can’t Last too Long) – Demo version by Wetton/Downes
Spring, winter or fall but out of them all
The summer can’t last too long

Summer Skin – Death Cab for Cutie
The water’s warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin

(more…)

With all the Go-Go’s fans bummed out after the girls canceled their farewell tour, I thought I’d take this moment to share some rare live tracks by the band.

Hopefully Jane Wiedlin will be able to recover from her injuries in a timely manner so that the band can get back on stage for one last hurrah.

just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s what Jane wrote to her fans on her mailing list about the situation:

Dear pen-pals,
It is with heavy heart I tell you that the Go-Go’s tour has been canceled. You may have already read about this online, or in a real newspaper (do those still exist?). Still, I wanted to personally tell you guys that it is always my intention to entertain and to please, and never to disappoint.

On the off-chance you didn’t hear yet, on May 21 I fell down a 20 foot cliff while hiking near my home in San Francisco. I knew something was terribly wrong with my knees as I rolled down the mountain, because there was a horrendously loud popping noise, like champagne being uncorked, but not nearly as fun!

To add insult to injury, two days later, while recuperating in bed, I realized that I must have rolled through poison oak and the rash was spreading all over my body. MISERY!!!!

So, I found out through an MRI that my left knee has an exploded ACL, which is the main tendon that holds your leg together at the knee. I am scheduled for surgery on 6/16, and my doctor tells me this can take up to a year to heal. Grrrr.

I don’t even know yet what is wrong with my right knee because my insurance would only pay for one MRI at a time. Once my left leg starts feeling a bit better, I will find out what my right leg requires.

So, though I didn’t mean to send my very first letter to my mailing list pals to be filled with BAD NEWS, I will just say I am really happy and flattered that you signed up to get news about me and LADY ROBOTIKA, my brand new COMIC BOOK!!

Lady R, being a cyborg and all, doesn’t have knee problems whatsoever, and the first issue will (finally) be launching on July 14. It only took us THREE YEARS to get Issue One completed. Luckily, from here on out we are obliged by our great publisher IMAGE COMICS, to release one episode per month. So the wait time will be seriously shorter!

At this time, I hope to be able to attend San Diego Comic Con for one day, on Friday July 23, since sitting in a chair for a couple hours and signing stuff is not nearly as taxing as traveling to a different city every day for a month to give shows that involve 90 minutes of dancing a night!!

Thank you for all your well wishes. They are most appreciated!
OK, that’s all for now.
Lots of love to you all,
Jane
————–

Anyway, enjoy the tunes…
—

Daisy Chain (live from Irvine, 2001)
Who knew we were going down
So careless with what we’d found
Making and breaking our Daisy Chain
Flowers bloom they fade too soon
What happened to our daisy chain

Turn To You (Live in LA 1984)
There may be some explanation
Why you feel the way you do
The world makes its rotations
But I just want to turn to you

Head Over Heels (Live in LA 1984)
Been running so hard
When what I need is to unwind
The voice of reason
Is one I left so far behind

Cool Jerk (nips and tucks version, live at the viper room 1999)
Can you do can you do can you do can you do
The cool jerk

Unforgiven (live Richardson, TX 2001)
Confessing every sin doesn’t make me a saint
Even though it’s obvious I’ve changed
Once I forgave you but I did not forget
Now I’m taking back everything I said

We Got the Beat (live in LA 1984)
Go-go music really makes us dance
Do the pony puts us in a trance
Do the watusi just give us a chance
That’s when we fall in line
(more…)

I recently came across an old boot of Genesis performing live at Madison Square Garden during their 1986 Invisible Touch Tour. Listening to the recording takes me back to senior year in high school when I saw them in early 1987 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill. It was one of the first “big arena” -type shows that I had been to at the time and so I was really taken aback with the what I saw that night. It was a fabulous show and this boot of the New York City show is a nice representation of that particular tour. The recording seems to be taken from a cassette of the soundboard. At various instances there are some “wow and flutter” effects which indicates stretching of the audio tape due to use. But even with the sonic imperfections, it’s still a fantastic document of the full show. The NYC gig was fairly early in the tour so “Follow You Follow Me” was still on the setlist and “In the Cage” was played toward the end of the show which they changed once they got into larger stadiums in 1987.

I had to laugh a bit when I heard those old Simmons drum sounds during “Home By the Sea”. Those Simmons drum kits definitely sound *dated* now and I can’t believe they actually played with those old trigger pads on stage. Those Simmons pads were like hard plastic so they were pretty brutal on the hands and arms when played for long periods of time. That’s the mid-80′s for ya. And if you’ve seen the Genesis 1987 Wembley video footage of them, you get the additional chuckle of seeing Mike Rutherford and Daryl Steurmer in “Miami Vice” garb. heh.

retroGrade : B+

The recording is worth seeking out especially if you’re fond of 80′s-era Genesis material like I am.

Live NYC 09-30-1986
artist: Genesis
Date: September 30, 1986
Venue: MSG, NYC
Sound quality: soundboard recording (cassette quality)

the live band:
Tony Banks: Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Mike Rutherford: Guitars, Basses, Backing Vocals
Phil Collins: Acoustic & Electronic Drums, Vocals
Chester Thompson: Acoustic & Electronic Drums
Daryl Steurmer: Guitars, Basses, Backing Vocals

Tracklist:
CD 1
Mama (8:39)
Abacab (10:52)
Land Of Confusion (5:13)
That’s All (6:31)
Domino (12:41)
In Too Deep (5:42)
The Brazilian (5:38)
Follow You Follow Me (5:14)
Chester Thompson Intro (1:04)
Tonight Tonight Tonight (9:11)

CD 2
Audience Participation Time (4:28)
Home By The Sea (12:06)
Throwing It All Away (7:34)
Daryl Steurmer Intro (1:11)
In The Cage (8:00)
…In That Quiet Earth (3:58)
Supper’s Ready (8:28)
Invisible Touch (5:08)
Drum Duet (4:59)
Los Endos (6:48)
Turn It On Again (11:02)
(more…)

In honor of Valentine’s day I thought I’d post another installment of the RetroBlog mix tape. This time around, it’s a collection of the bittersweet aspects of love. yeah, I guess I’m just a cynical old fart. heh. check it out, enjoy the tunes.

Anyway, I hope you’re having a fantastic weekend but with all the snow around the east coast, please drive safe!


I can see your face but I know it’s not real
too much confusion caused by how I used to feel…
Eric Clapton – Old Love


We used to say “Ah Hell, we’re young”
But now we see that life is sad
And so is love …
Kate Bush – And So is Love


well, you’ve gotta be crazy to want a guy like me
yeah, you’ve gotta be out of your mind, crazy
Well, there must be some kind of mistake to give your heart away
yeah, you’ve gotta be out of your mind, crazy…
Icehouse – Crazy


Dr. Yang, now her voicemail box is full
And she won’t call me, I’m feeling like a fool
The last time I saw her in her car
I threw her shit out in the yard
Locked her out and headed to the bar…
Ben Folds – Lovesick Diagnostician


There’s a tension I can taste that speaks for the danger
Let the warnings go to waste
Eyes that reflect a secret fire that covers the fear inside
In a flash we’re lost from sight to explore the romance that we hide
And the thrill of the chase plays a part in the chances we take
We escape to the world after dark…
Survivor – Backstreet Love Affair


All my girls are no where to be found
they all split when I’m in trouble
but I’ll tell you all my secrets if you stick around
the “undercover-lovers” under the covers
I just wanna use your love…
Katy Perry – Use Your Love


you are my weakness, my weakness
You’re my Achilles’ Heel
The flame that melts the steel in my heart…
Todd Rundgren – Weakness


And once again she calls to me
Then she vanishes in thin air
And how she takes my breath away
Pretending that she’s not there
I would bleed to love her…
Lindsey Buckingham – Bleed to Love her


It’s not too late for us
We still got hope and trust
We can still hang tough and let it slide
And when it’s all too much
We’ll leave it in the dust
Climb up on that bus and ride…
Shawn Colvin – Let it Slide

While my kids were watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs the other day, I was in the kitchen doing some cleaning when I heard a vaguely familiar intro during one of the scenes. I went over to the family room to listen more closely and I immediately recognized the artist – Trevor Rabin. For some reason, the music editors of the film chose to include the intro to a old song of his titled “Promises”. I’m not sure why but perhaps it’s a nod and a wink to Rabin since he does soundtrack work for big-time movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer. In any case, hearing that lil’ snippet of Rabin’s song made me pull out his 1989 album Can’t Look Away for a quick listen. It’s a phenomenal album by the way. I wish Rabin would take a timeout from the lucrative work in movie soundtracks and get back to rockin’ out on the guitar a bit more. It has been way too long Trevor!!

It looks so easy to be walking close behind
And I found it easy to be near you all the time
I’m looking at you now as if you knew the way
But I can’t reach you, you’re far away
It doesn’t seem so easy like the river that flows upstream

Promises! Don’t give me promises
Don’t give me promises when all you do is lie
No promises when all I do is cry

Look for the questions from the minds of those who care
You’ll find them waiting and you’ll learn that we can share
Losing the love been looking out for freedom
Been losing our love along the way …
- Promises by Trevor Rabin
(more…)

It’s time once again for Retroblog.net’s Friday Free for All. For today’s edition, I thought we should explore the vast underworld of bootlegs a bit. thanks to the almighty internets, the sharing of rare and interesting boots exploded these last few years. here’s just a random sampling of some that I have on hand at the moment.

Enjoy the tracks. and feel free to post a list of some of your favorite boots.

please note the sound quality will vary here due to these being “bootlegs” obviously.

GTR – Away (No One is to Blame) from the unreleased NeroTrend album (1987). This features Max Bacon on lead vocals and Steve Howe on guitar. Steve Hackett left the group at this point and Robert Berry was his replacement.

Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello – So Like Candy demo from the Flowers In the Dirt Sessions boot (1988). This is a great version that features both McCartney and Costello singing lead.

Todd Rundgren – Slut from the Vancouver August 25, 2006 boot. a great audience recording. It’s a rough and loose rendition with Tony Levin on bass and Jerry Marotta on drums.

Lindsey Buckingham – Go Insane from the Coach House December 10, 1992 boot. an awesome solo performance of his early eighties hit. definitely an improvement over the original recording which sounds a bit dated now due to the heavy use of the Fairlight sampler.

Susanna Hoffs – Darling One from her unreleased columbia album (1994). This is from the album that Columbia Records rejected. Hoffs ended up re-recording this song (along with some others) for her 1996 album “Susanna Hoffs”. This particular version is more upbeat than the officially released one.

Yes – Cinema/City of Love from the June 19, 1994 Canandaigua, NY boot. There are a ton of boots from this tour since the band did a simulcast of each show via “ConcertSonics”. Even though the “Talk” album isn’t one of my favorites, I thought some of the performances on this tour were pretty strong. I definitely miss Trevor Rabin, though. It’s definitely way overdue for Rabin to get back on stage!!

Journey – Send Her My Love from the Detroit Raised On Radio simulcast in 1986. It’s not the greatest sounding live recording but the “Raised on Radio” tour is fascinating to me for a multitude of reasons – one of which is the presence of Randy Jackson (of American Idol) on bass for this tour. listening to these old live recordings of Journey make me miss Steve “the voice” Perry even more!

—
Happy Friday, everyone!

Todd Rundgren mentioned during his recent chat on Rundgren Radio that the live dates scheduled in October will be the last remaining shows supporting his 2008 album, Arena. So essentially this will be the last chance for Todd fans to experience the entire “Arena” album live. Be sure to catch one of the shows if you can!

Sun 10/18/09 Bay Shore, NY – YMCA Boulton Center
Tue 10/20/09 Rochester, NY – German House Theater
Wed 10/21/09 Annapolis, MD – Rams Head
Fri 10/23/09 Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Spectrum (with Hall & Oates, the Hooters)
Sun 10/25/09 San Juan Capistrano, CA – The Coach House

The Spectrum show in Philadelphia is part of the “Final Farewell Concert Series” for the Spectrum which includes major rock acts like Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam closing out the sports arena. And believe it or not, tickets for the Hall & Oates/Rundgren show are only $6!!!

As for the musicians Todd will be using for these shows, it’ll be the usual “Arena” band minus Rachel Haden. I guess there was a scheduling conflict so in Rachel’s place will be none other than bassist Sara Lee. I’ve personally seen Sara Lee play live several times in the past, including her stint with the B-52′s and the Indigo Girls. She’s a fantastic bass player and it will be great to see her play along side the Wizard himself, Todd Rundgren.

OK, it’s time now for the Song of the Day! Since we’re on the subject of Todd’s Arena tour, I thought I’d post one of the many highlights from his Arena set.

Weakness by Todd Rundgren

I don’t keep a lot of secrets
But the ones I do will die with me
It’s not because I’m hiding something
A trusted friend I try to be

But when every adversary lies in wait to test me
My world they would undo
And they’d break me down to nothing if they only knew

That you are my weakness, my weakness
You’re my Achilles’ Heel
The flame that melts the steel in my heart

I don’t pretend to be objective
I will always come down on your side
But every time I see or hear or smell you
My bias grows more hard to hide

And when the truth must be protected
I find myself distracted
My duty I abuse and in the battle’s clamor
The flaw within my armor might shake the secret loose

There’s no ties
As far as anybody knows, no surprise
As far as anybody knows, you and I
As far as anybody knows, have no ties
And as far as they know, my will is bulletproof
And I’d be no good to no one if they knew the truth

That you are my weakness, my weakness
You are my Kryptonite
The sun that shines a light on my soul…
—

Download a live version of “Weakness” [mediafire, mp3]
recorded off the live webstream of the Norwegian Wood show in Oslo, Norway, 13 June 2009. (courtesy of TR fan robznl)

(more…)

happy friday, everyone! To celebrate the weekend, I thought I’d share some tunes. Usually when I share some mp3s here on retroblog, I’d have some sort of theme and label it a mixtape but for the “free for alls” I’m going completely random. enjoy!

Rush – Time Stand Still – one of my favorites off of the “Hold Your Fire” album.

John Hiatt – Bring Back Your Love to Me – I love the vocal harmonies on this one.

Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band – Something About You – a level 42 cover by Paul Shaffer and company.

Paul Anka – Mr. Brightside – a big band remake of the Killers’ song.

Sarah Brightman – Only An Ocean Away – I can only take Sarah in short bursts. Her voice can sometimes be a bit grating. but it’s still a good song.

Tenacious D – Beelzeboss – the clean version. – I think it’s funnier to hear these guys replacing all the cuss words with stuff like “you mother truckers”. heh.

I told you these would be completely random!!

I recently stumbled across an interesting 2001 interview with guitarist Jimmy Haun (currently with Circa and AKA) conducted by Henry Potts that’s posted on Henry’s Bondegezou website. I’ve always known that Haun contributed guitar work on some of the tracks on Yes’ 1991 Union album but I didn’t realize the extent of his contributions. According to what he said in the interview, Haun pretty much redid the bulk of Steve Howe’s guitar tracks on the album. Apparently Howe, Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson weren’t really getting along with each other during the making of the album (yeah, I know, what’s new?) and producer Jonathan Elias had to rely on other studio musicians in order to complete the tracks.

Here’s an excerpt of the Haun interview:
So I went to A&M studios in Hollywood to meet Jon Elias and he played me the rough tracks for the new ABWH album. Basically he told me Arista felt Steve’s guitar parts were unacceptable and that he had just soloed over all the songs. Now this was partially true. What they wanted was a blend of the old classic Steve Howe sound mixed with Trevor Rabin! I guess they felt it would sell more records. So Jonathan gave me a mix of three songs with no guitar on them (“Without Hope”, “Dangerous” and “Silent Talking” ), told me to do what Howe/Rabin would do. So in my home studio I recorded wall to wall guitar parts and mailed Jonathan the tape to New York. There was also two other name guitar players (I wish I could tell you who) who had done the same thing but they liked my tape the best, so I flew to New York for approximately three months and recorded guitar for my favorite band (a dream come true!)
about the song: “Shock to the System”:
Must have been a shock to Steve’s system—there is simply no Steve Howe on that at all! Steve had, of course, written the opening riff (which I ended up replacing for sonic reasons). I think this was my favorite track because I got to write most of the riffs and there was this new section we came up with and tacked on at 4:10 and the riff is very reminiscent of “Gates of Delirium”. And I had to replace some of the bass! (Tony Levin left his bass at the studio so we got his exact sound and added the sections.) I guess Steve refused to play this section live. (This is the track that Rabin played for Steve on the plane during the Union tour and Steve’s mouth dropped.)

read the complete interview on Henry Potts’ website.

It’s definitely a great read for those like me who are always interested in that particular era of Yes. The Union album as a whole isn’t one of my favorites but I have to say that it spawned a once in a lifetime tour with eight legendary musicians on one stage.

Anyway, for today’s song of the day I thought I’d post a live version of a song from the much maligned Union album. enjoy.
—
Shock to the System

Shock to the system,
But you’re going back inside of the light.
Shock to the freedom,
Only one more body of love in the rolling
They’re rolling back to you!
Dreaming all the time; they be dreaming all the time.

Shock to the politicians,
You know they just got burned by the fire.
Shock to the freedom whispers,
They’re only coming after the rolling
They’re rolling, coming over!
Dreaming all the time; they be dreaming all the time.

So, in answer to the prayer, the one you want is there,
The one you feel inside of you.
So, in answer to the dream, this time you are so clear
It’s always got to be this way …forever…

Shock to the future, shock to the rights of Mankind.
And they won’t even go blind when they see what’s going on.

So, in answer to the prayer,
The one you feel is there,
The one you feel so close to (the order of the Sun).
And everyone is one and all the pieces fit together.
Did it all begin with Someone?
Did it all begin with Someone?
I could not admit to being alive!

- Shock to the System (from the Mountain View, California show, August 1991) [download mp3 via mediafire]
(more…)