Show 76: Crowded House - Live at The Albani Club Winterthur Switzerland - 28 October 1991

Its another debut on on Live and Loud! this time - for Crowded House, a band requested by 1 of my listeners.

I originally found a gig from 1986 - a really interesting listen as its from so early in their band history. I couldn't do anything with that one to repair it unfortunately as the recording levels were slightly too high - which means distortion appears throughout. Not lots of it - the gig is still listenable, especially if you're a fan of the band; but distortion is the one thing I can't remove - once its there, its there. And I like Live and Loud! gigs to be as blemish free as possible, once I've finished with them! So I went in search of another and found this gig from 1991.

Tim Finn, Neil’s brother of course, joined Crowded House for the recording of Woodface, their 3rd album, and initially for the tour in 1991 which followed. At some point they realised they had contrasting styles and were probably better not continuing together, so before they fell out, they agreed he would leave the tour during the UK leg in early November, just before the band were due to go on stage in Scotland. The recording we have here was taken a few days before that, so is one of the last gigs with Tim Finn featuring in the lineup.

This was originally a good clear stereo recording (if a little flat), I guess from Swiss FM radio - but with some sensitive EQing and gentle remastering, its really brought the recording back to life and sounds really great.

The show is now available for free download HERE  as 1 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
Tall Trees
Something So Strong
Weather With You
Into Temptation
There Goes God
World Where You Live
It's Only Natural
All I Ask
Don't Dream It's Over
Mean to Me
When You Come
Chocolate Cake
Fall at Your Feet
The Same Language As Me
Sister Madly
How'm I Gonna Sleep
I See Red
The Weeping Song
Better Be Home Soon
Throw Your Arms Around Me
Four Seasons in One Day


Congratulations on reading this far in the blog - if you have, you will now be rewarded! Remember that 1986 recording I said I couldn't use for this series? Well, you can still have it for absolutely free - unremastered, just as I found it in a hidden corner of the internet, right HERE. Its worth it just for the banter on stage. For a setlist check out the excellent (but not always 100% accurate) Setlist FM website if you want to go looking for it. You don't want to go looking for it? Ok then - the page is right here... ;-) Enjoy this as a little extra bonus.

Show 109 - Talking Heads - The Paradiso Amsterdam - 14 January 1978

A first appearance on Live and Loud! for Talking Heads. This is an exciting show taken from a Dutch FM radio broadcast featuring mainly tracks from their first album but also their first single, a track 1 from their 2nd album and 1 track - Let's Work (later known as A Clean Break) - which only ever appeared on a live album. Not quite a full set but then few FM recordings are. Supporting Talking Heads that night was British band XTC as you can see from the flyer below.

The recording was in good condition and responded well 30 band EQ to bring clarity to the instruments and reinforce the bottom end a bit, and a bit of final mastering to finish off. What you have now is a great stereo recording of Talking Heads in between their 1st and 2nd albums.

You can download it for free here as 1 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
Love -> Building On Fire
Uh-Oh, Love Comes To Town
Don't Worry About The Government
Take Me To The River
The Book I Read
New Feeling
Let's Work (A Clean Break)
Who Is It?
Psycho Killer

Show 108 - Sparks - Live at The Record Plant Hollywood - September 1974

A first showing for Sparks on Live and Loud! and hopefully not the last. A great set from a publicity appearance at The Record Plant in front of a select audience - the first of two sets I think.

The original recording was also available once as a bootleg entitled One and a Half-Nelson and was basically clean, if a bit thin and rather hissy. So I cleaned up the hiss - leaving a little in, to avoid that suffocating "everything sounds underwater" quality so many recordings have get when hiss has been removed badly. After that, it was out with a 30 band graphic EQ to tighten up the bass and drums and take away a bit of harshness which was noticeable on the vocals and Ron's piano, and to reshape the sound a bit to make it clearer.

Fairly subtle changes which will really be heard if you listen on good 'phones or speakers. If you've never heard the original bootleg, well you're in for a treat! A short set but with plenty of chatting from Russell in between songs. All in all, its a great record of Sparks not long after they hit the bigtime in 1974. Mainly songs from Kimono My House but two tracks also from Propaganda (which was released a month or 2 later) make an appearance too.

The show is available to download here as 1 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
Hasta Manana Monsieur    
Something For The Girl With Everything    
Talent Is An Asset    
Thanks God It’s Not Christmas    
B.C.    
Here In Heaven    
This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us    
Amateur Hour