retroblog.net

Can’t seem to get Kim Wilde‘s version of Kirsty MacColl’s “They Don’t Know” out of my head. Yes, I know it’s inferior to Kirsty’s original (plus she doesn’t even do the climactic “Baby!” in her version!) but I’ve got a soft spot for Kim Wilde. Come on, I was a young teen when “Kids in America” came out. Kim was a hottie. Nowadays, not so much… but she still sings like she did back then.

You’ve been around for such a long time now
Oh maybe I could leave you but I don’t know how
And why should I be lonely every night when I can be with you
Oh yes you make it right
And I don’t listen to the guys who say
That you’re bad for me and I should turn you away
‘Cos they don’t know about us and they’ve never heard of love

No I don’t listen to their wasted lines
Got my eyes wide open and I see the signs
But they don’t know about us and they’ve never heard of love
written by Kirsty MacColl

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it has been a while since I’ve shared any links of interest. So, here ya go, some random links for the weekend. Normally I share more of these types of links via my facebook page so if you enjoy this type of thing, be sure to “like” my FB page to keep in the loop.

Keith Emerson Band Feat. Mark Bonilla – Live In Moscow (2011)
The great return of Keith Emerson to Progressive Rock was debuted in the summer of 2010 in Moscow, Russia, at the Moscow Theatre – an explosive combination of the classic ELP sound and modern Hard Rock flavor which was captured on tape. Several Emerson, Lake & Palmer classics have been cleverly re-arranged with new guitar versions, adding entirely new elements to the already epic sound. Emerson’s keyboard is flamboyant and explosive more than ever. When interviewed recently, Keith confessed, that these new re-constructions with guitar reflected more accurately the way he had originally envisioned them. Besides Emerson and guitarist Marc Bonilla, the band members include drummer Tony Pia (Edgar Winter, Brian Setzer, Doobie Brothers) and multi-faceted newcomer Travis Davis on bass and backing vocals.
CD 1 | CD 2 | CD 3

Kim Wilde – Original Gold 2 CD (1998)
Kim Wilde. Mention her name and people’s eyes light up. The blonde singer with the siren voice is after all one of pop music’s most dazzling stars. For years she has held the record as England’s most successful female pop star ever. The French consider her the “Brigitte Bardot of Rock” and her German fans still venerate her as the sexiest glamour girl to come out of the eighties. Even today megahits such as “Kids In America” and “Cambodia” are guaranteed to rock the dance floor.
click here

Eric Clapton – live 1998-10-15 – London (SBD)
This soundboard recording of the first night, October 15, 1998, is unique in several respects. First, Eric plays acoustic guitar on 4 numbers, a rarity in concert for him. Second, he’s supported not only by his regular band, but also by a 20 piece orchestra. Third, Bonnie Raitt joins him during the encores for Before You Accuse Me. Finally, the sound is so good on this bootleg, that the Geetarz website, which normally rates bootlegs on a scale of 1 (worst) to 6 (best), gave this recording a 7! Download this one to hear one of the best Clapton recordings you’ll ever find.
boot recording via So Many Roads to Ease My Soul

David Foster – A Touch Of David Foster (1992)
a nice compilation of David Foster’s most sappiest tunes.
click here

Evanescence – Live At Rock in Rio (2011)
set includes “What You Want”, “My Immortal”, “Sick” and “Bring Me to Life”
click here

enjoy!

I’m looking forward to a brand new Bangles album coming out on September 27th titled Sweetheart of the Sun. I should have a review copy arriving shortly. In the meantime, I’ve got an old Susanna Hoffs tune uploaded for you all to enjoy.

Have a great labor day weekend!

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This is currently my favorite off of the latest album by They Might be Giants, Join Us. Man, these guys make it seem so easy! John Flansburgh and John Linnell are so prolific, releasing countless albums, EPs and singles over the years. And you’d think they’d run out of ideas by now but they somehow manage to keep things fresh, exciting and more importantly, they keep coming up with some fantastic “ear candy” hooks.

Let your hair hang down
It is now the time
To untie your hair
Let your hair hang down

Let the wrong be wrong
Would it be so bad?
When your hair’s so long
When you look so sad
Let your hair hang down
It is now the time
To untie your hair
Let your hair hang down

-They Might Be Giants

70′s teen idol Shaun Cassidy made a rare TV appearance on Oprah this past week. It was great to see him after all these years. He seemed to have a good perspective on his fame and appeared humble before all the adoring middle-aged moms in the audience. heh.

seeing Shaun on the show gave me a reason to dig up his 1980 release, WASP which was produced by Todd Rundgren. It’s just as bad as I remembered. heh. Some may think that Rundgren ruined Cassidy’s career with this left-turn of a record but the truth is that Cassidy’s music career already stalled by the time Rundgren got his hands on him. But then again, with a crappy David Bowie cover such as this one, Rundgren sure didn’t help the cause.

for today’s RetroBlog song of the day – here’s Shaun’s awful (but funny in that oh so bad way) cover of Rebel, Rebel from the album, WASP.

You’ve got your mother in a whirl
She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl
Hey babe, your hair’s alright
Hey babe, let’s go out tonight
You like me, and I like it all
We like dancing and we look divine
You love bands when they’re playing hard
You want more and you want it fast
They put you down, they say I’m wrong
You tacky thing, you put them on

Rebel Rebel, you’ve torn your dress
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?
Hot tramp, I love you so!

download Shaun Cassidy’s version of Rebel, Rebel – available for a limited time via mediafire.

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whew. I finally had the chance to transfer all of my music files from the ol’ HP hard drive to my new laptop. huzzah. I’m so relieved that the cheapo $14 SATA/USB hard drive enclosure worked with no fuss.

To celebrate, I thought I’d open up the RetroBlog Music Vault and share some music today.

Four Seasons in One Day (Hard Rock Cafe Live 1998) by Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter
Sleeping on an unmade bed
Finding out wherever there is comfort, there is pain
Only one step away like four seasons in one day

Have a Little Faith in Me (acoustic version) by John Hiatt
I will hold you up, I will hold you up
Your love will give me strength enough
So have a little faith in me

I Saw the Light/Kiss on My List (live, Aug 2005, Boston) by Hall and Oates with special guest Todd Rundgren
I go crazy wondering what there is to really see
Did the night just take up your time, ’cause it means more to me

I’m All Shook Up (live at the Cavern) by Paul McCartney
When she touched my hand what a chill I got
Her lips are like a volcano when it’s hot

You Do or You Don’t (live 1992) by Lindsey Buckingham
Living in exile ain’t the way to go
It’s just another way of dying
A whole lot of faces that you call your own
All those faces are crying

Hold Me Now (live 1994) by John Wetton
My shattered heart, in pieces now
And I’m gazing at the fragments of my life

This is Where You Ain’t (acoustic) by Glenn Tilbrook
This is where we had some fun and this is where we played
And now the fact I have to face is that this is where you ain’t

enjoy!!

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..

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The Bird and The Bee‘s new album Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates is a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for more “interpretation” but for the most part these Hall and Oates covers are pretty pedestrian. Yes, it’s fun to hear Inara George singing “Maneater” and “I Can’t Go for That” but the novelty wears off pretty quickly after a couple listens. The highlight of the album isn’t a Hall and Oates song but actually their sole original track titled “Heard it On the Radio”. The song is tuneful and breezy and perfect for when you’re out and about on a warm, sunny day.

So for today’s RetroBlog – Song of the Day, here’s Heard it On the Radio.

When we first met it wasn’t what you said
And still I loved you like mad, I loved you like mad

Now every time I hear it playing I think of you
And those summer days
Oh, I can still remember when I heard it on the radio
Oh, but now we are September, come on, forget what we know

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To celebrate next week’s CD/DVD release of Paul McCartney’s Good Evening New York City, I thought I’d share some tracks from his 1990 tour. It was his first tour in nearly a decade and he basically traveled the world over to support his superb Flower in the Dirt album.

The following are from McCartney’s April 21st, 1990 gig in Rio, Brazil. A record breaking 184,000 people attended the show.

My Brave Face
Ever since you went away I’ve had this sentimental
inclination not to change a single thing.
as I pull the sheets back on the bed I want to go bury my head
In your pillow.
We Got Married
It’s not just a loving machine, it doesn’t work out
if you don’t work at it.
This One
What opportunities did we allow to flow by
Feeling like the timing wasn’t quite right?
What kind of magic might have worked if we had stayed calm,
Couldn’t I have given you a better life?
Put it There
I don’t care if it weighs a ton,
as long as you and I are here, put it there.
P.S. Love Me Do
Someone to love, somebody new
Someone to love, someone like you
Let ‘em In
Someone’s knockin’ at the door
Somebody’s ringin’ the bell
Do me a favor, open the door and let ‘em in

The live band featured: Paul, Linda McCartney (on keyboards), Wix Wickens (keyboards), Hamish Stuart (bass, guitar), Robbie McIntosh (lead guitar), Chris Whitten (drums).

enjoy!! happy friday!!

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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!

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Happy Friday, everyone!