Welcome - About Live and Loud!

Live and Loud! began as a fortnightly internet radio show in 2012 taking old unreleased live concert recordings I could find and working to repair and improve them - fixing tape hiss, noise, tape drop out, clicks, speed variations, defects - before improving the sound quality by EQing the sound to bring out the instruments as clearly as possible. These are now made directly available to download for free to reach as many fans of the music as possible.

Depending on the quality of the original recording, these can often be made to sound almost like commercial recordings - but of course I can't guarantee that for every show. What I can guarantee is it will sound far better than the original files available which have been floating around the internet and on bootleg recordings for many years.

Almost all are either "soundboard" recordings (taken directly from the mixing desk used at the gig on the night) or old FM radio recordings. A few gigs, if they are of special historical importance, make an appearance even if they were recorded from the audience - these can also be made to sound better than ever.

Do your ears a favour and listen on headphones or good speakers to get most benefit - laptop speakers will always sound pretty poor by comparison.

All shows still available are listed, including a link to download the remastered show for free. If you want to support the site with a small donation, you can receive the shows as either separate MP3s or FLACs (your choice) - head over to the Rewards for Donations page and see how you can get a lot for very little!

If you want to email me, an email link is in my profile in a link in the side panel.

And finally... These are great fun to listen to but DO NOT replace original releases - support these artists and buy their music.
There is nothing you can go and buy in a regular record store here. If a gig is made available as a regular release, then it will be removed (as a couple have been already).

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Show 67 - Nash The Slash - Live at The Edge Toronto - 15 February 1980


I first came across Nash The Slash (like many in the UK) while he was supporting Gary Numan on his UK tour in September 1980. Coventry, in my case. My first live gig and my first live experience was Nash, surrounded by his machines on 3 sides, with an ear splitting intro to what I would recognise as Nash's version of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. What an incredible noise that was, and what an image...


I could write reams about him but will try and keep it fairly brief...after buying all his solo material when it came out after that gig and through the early 1980s, I eventually got to meet Nash in 2008 when a member of the band I was in had the idea to invite him over to tour with us around the UK. Mad idea - but it paid off! He said yes and a deal with Flag Promotions was done to bring him over from Toronto, where he still lived. I can still remember meeting him for the first time at the rehearsal studio in a converted farm building not far from where I live. He sat on the sofa while we went through a few songs that we did (we played Gary Numan songs). A nerve wracking moment until I saw his foot tapping away - fortunately we passed the test!

Then he plugged in. To hear that wall of sound of his when he picked up his bow and played - a sound I'd loved since seeing him in Coventry in 1980 - well, it was quite something; there it was, live in front of me. While on the tour it was Nash’s idea to share his stage time with us - on most of the dates, we would play our set, he would play his - and then he’d invite us back on stage to play a few Numan songs - including You Are, You Are, a track he’d played on that Numan had never done live at that point; always went down a storm.


(pic of Nash on stage with us, taken from here)


For a few nights on the tour he stayed in my house - he loved the view out over the countryside from our back garden and used to sit out there to relax - he posted a pic of it on his site at the time. I also took him shopping for bandages (as a long term fan, that was quite surreal - but hey, I guess he had to get them somewhere!) and to the dry cleaners to get the famous white suit cleaned in a short break between gigs.

Nash retired from music in 2012, and sadly died on 10 May 2014. It was an honour to play with him - at his best he was a generous and talented musician, happy to share the stage with a few nobodies (that was us) and bring us up to his level. His website and music live on - go HERE for both.

Anyway, long before I met him, the story goes that Gary Numan came across Nash playing at The Edge club in early 1980 and immediately invited him to support him on his tour of Canada and North America - which started in Toronto on 18 February. I can’t say definitively this is that same gig - Nash was playing several nights at the same venue that week - but who knows? We'll probably never know for sure.

This show, featuring several rare tracks and early versions, was apparently an FM recording broadcast on local radio at the time but was very tinny and thin sounding if it was. I spent a lot of time EQing this to bring out the bass and drum machines a bit, while keeping the trademark mandolin and vocals to the fore. I hope you agree it’s an improvement.

This show is dedicated to Nash, and to those who knew him and called him a friend. I hope they enjoy this and approve of what I've done. And hopefully there will be 1 or 2 more in the near future.

***2021 UPDATE
Thanks to a listener who donated to the site and asked for this show as separated files, I had cause to listen to this again. In short, I have far better studio tools available to me now and so rather than just spend a few minutes splitting the show, I spent rather longer remastering the show a second time - the result is a far clearer recording - if you downloaded the earlier version, grab this one, it is far better!

 The new version of this show is available for download for free HERE as one 320 kbps MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate tagged MP3s, or even lossless files in FLAC format, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs. Either way - enjoy this new version. And, as Nash would say - "listen in safety".

Setlist
Wolf
Reactor No.2
Anthrax Gavotte
Next in Line
Million Year Picnic
Bring Out Your Dead
19th Nervous Breakdown
Dead Man's Curve
Dopes On The Water
Tending Sheep
Jester On A Tightrope

Tuesday 10 May 2016

Show 66: Blondie - Live at Hammersmith Odeon London - 12 January 1980



This show is from one of their UK dates following the release of their 4th album, Eat To The Beat, in October 1979, and, I think, its good to compare this to the 1978 show I remastered here. As you will hear, they're clearly far more polished but still retaining their enthusiasm and energy. Following on from the huge success that the previous album, Parallel Lines had would always be tough but judging by this show, they were clearly giving it a go with a really strong set list, featuring Robert Fripp making a guest appearance on 1 track later on in the set.

This recording was in fairly good shape already, so no major repairs were required. However, some removal of noise and some decent EQ has really brought out the instruments and the space in between them pretty well - and given the recording that live "oomph" back! This is a pretty well known bootleg but sounds far better for being worked on - so if you already have it, grab this and compare. And its a great gig! Best...played...LOUD! :-)

2020 update: While preparing this old show as separate files for a donator to the site, I found I could now improve the sound quality further, over what I’d originally done to the recording several years ago. You can now download this new version (as of 2020) HERE as 1 new 320kbps MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate tagged MP3s, or even lossless files in FLAC format, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs.

Setlist
Dreaming
Slow Motion
Shayla
Union City Blue
The Hardest Part
Atomic
Living in the Real World
Denis
Picture This
Die Young, Stay Pretty
Accidents Never Happen
Victor
Heart of Glass
Eat to the Beat
Hanging on the Telephone
Louie Louie
I Feel Love
"Heroes"
I Got You (I Feel Good)
Sunday Girl
Pretty Baby
One Way or Another