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).

Saturday 14 October 2017

Show 115 - XTC - Live at Liverpool Erics - 13 August 1977


A debut on Live and Loud! for XTC - but surely not the last time they will appear (I now have a few of their gigs on my "to be done" list).

A very early gig this one - this was a soundboard recording from a gig played a couple of months before the release of their debut EP! It seems the source I received was worked on by someone at some stage, as, as so often happens, the loudness was off the scale almost and very unnatural, making it tiring to listen to. And quite toppy, with a shallow 2 dimensional aural range. So, I used EQ to not only improve the bottom end and clarity between the instruments but make it less tiring on the ears. Several hours of work later and it's a great show; the band are full of energy and it's a great - if short! - set.

You can download this new and improved recording for free here as 1 320kbps MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate properly 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
Radios In Motion
Cross Wires
Let's Have Fun
Fireball XL5
Science Friction
I'm Bugged
New Town Animal
Hang On To The Night
All Along The Watchtower
She's So Square

10 comments:

  1. thanx for this
    and for all the work
    you put into these recordings

    richie

    ReplyDelete
  2. this is really good, especially for hearing the the band's punk sound. a must for any xtc fan.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for that; yeah they sound great here.

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  3. Hi there, this gig was originally recorded by Virgin and made into a limited edition, in-house cassette - and possibly used for promotion purposes. The tape included Do What You Do, Spinning Top, Neon Shuffle, Traffic Light Rock and a final track, title currently unknown. It looks then, as though the recording here comes from side 1 of the Virgin Tapes cassette (which was on a Maxell C60, by the way) and that side 2 is missing. Traffic Light Rock from this gig was issued commercially on a promotional EP given free with Record Mirror in December 1977. And, sadly, no, I don't have a copy of the whole show! I wish I did and it's great to hear this gig, even if truncated!

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    Replies
    1. Great info, thanks for taking the time to post! Cheers!

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  4. Just to add a bit more info to what Bristol Tips provided: two of the songs from the missing second half of the performance were officially released on XTC's 2002 box set Coat of Many Cupboards: Spinning Top and Traffic Light Rock. Both are freely available on YouTube at these links:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWN1gkSFeHc&list=FL7ajO1W2Fz_3mwy4NPwWCtw&index=8&t=0s

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZrdv16kMKg&list=FL7ajO1W2Fz_3mwy4NPwWCtw&index=9&t=0s

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  5. Thanks for the upload, it's well appreciated. Any chance you also have the Jan 1979 "Live at The Edge" concert? It's one of Barry Andrews' last; he left the band later that month. It's not in exceptional quality (maybe a 4 out of 10,) but it's listenable, and I've heard worse.

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    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed it, cheers. Not come across that one so far, no.

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