Download Mumford and Sons, 25th Bridge School Benefit Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA, October 23rd 2011

Music lets you write your own checks. Don't ever forget that.
-Preston Black


Mumford & Sons
25th Bridge School Benefit
Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
October 23rd 2011
Download at Sugarmegs.com.

Lineage: Sony ECM-121 => iRiver H340 (ROCKboxed) => USB => SoundBlaster X-Fi => Adobe Audition 2.0 => FlacFrontend (level 6 - Align on sector boundaries)

Recording position: Section 203 - the rustrows

Setlist:
01. Sigh No More
02. Roll Away Your Stone
03. Lover's Eyes
04. Sister
05. Dance, Dance, Dance (Neil Young cover) (with Neil Young)
06. Awake My Soul (With Sarah Neufeld and Marika Shaw from Arcade Fire on violin)
07. The Cave
-------------------
Total time: 32:19

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK, THE BEATLES, Empire Stadium, Vancouver, August 22, 1964

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     Katy got a cheeseburger and a strawberry milkshake. I got a double with extra pickles and a Coke. We split an order of fries. They were cut real big and came in a red plastic basket lined with paper, like French fries used to be when you were little. Drenched in Heinz, the taste reminded me of when there used to be lunch counters at the drug stores on High. I ate like I'd never eaten before.
     A couple of old guys kept playing Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline songs. Katy sang in a really deep voice, "Crazy..." I laughed. The lights came on in the parking lot, and Katy asked if I was ready to head back. I wasn't, but I knew she had things to do and felt guilty for keeping her all day.
     When she went to the bathroom to freshen up my phone buzzed. I read Lennon's text and smiled.

Download the book on Amazon.com.

Download the show on Sugarmegs.

From SUGARMEGS:

I didn't see this show on Dimeadozen, either in active or dead torrents, so I thought I'd share.

This is the Beatles playing at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on August 22, 1964, during their first full-length North American tour.

The recording comes from a radio broadcast at the time. The tape eventually found its way into collectors' circles, and now it comes to you.

This is from the Purple Chick release of "Seattle Down Now". I didn't share that full disc because there's some officially-released stuff on it, and the rest (particularly the Seattle show) is of unlistenable sound quality.

The presumed lineage would be:
FM broadcast >> 1st Gen tape >> Silver Disc >> FLAC.

But I don't know Purple Chick's lineage--there may be more generations between the tape and their disc (and I don't know if the tape was reel-to-reel or cassette or what). Either way, it sounds as good as it ever will. I'd give it about an 8.5 out of 10 on sound quality.

The show itself is probably my favorite Beatles concert from 1964. The crowd gets really rowdy, and the emcee has to come on stage to scold them to stand back, otherwise, "kids are gonna get crushed". The Beatles' press officer Derek Taylor joins in at one point as well, pleading with the crowd to stand back. And then the Beatles have to go right back to their set! (And even encourage them to "clap your hands and stomp your feet"!)

None of this has ever been released officially in any form--PM me if you have questions. Enjoy! Here's the tracklist:

01 - Intro
02 - Twist and Shout
03 - You Can't Do That
04 - All My Loving
05 - She Loves You
06 - Things We Said Today
07 - Roll Over Beethoven
08 - Can't Buy Me Love
09 - If I Fell
10 - Boys
11 - A Hard Day's Night
12 - Long Tall Sally

THE MUSIC AND JASON JACK MILLER U2, Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois, July 5, 2011

In honor of Tuesday's how at Heinz Field...

Download the show at Sugarmegs. It's a decent-sounding show. I'm sure it'll sound better on Tuesday.

U2
Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
July 5, 2011

Source: Church Audio CA-11 cards => UGLY pre-amp => Tascam DR-2D (24/48)
Transfer: DR-2D => WAV => Audition 1.5 (dither to 16-bit) => WAV => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC (level 8)

Location: Field, slightly in front of soundboard, in line with right speaker stack

Disc one (67:36):
(1) Even Better Than The Real Thing (4:39)
(2) The Fly (5:07)
(3) Mysterious Ways(/Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World/Independent Woman) (4:42)
(4) Until The End of the World (6:12)
(5) Out of Control (4:58)
(6) Get On Your Boots (4:02)
(7) Banter (3:37)
(8) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For(/The Promised Land) (4:20)
(9) Banter (0:57)
(10) Stay (Faraway, So Close) (4:58)
(11) Intro (1:42)
(12) Beautiful Day(/Space Oddity) (5:11)
(13) Elevation (4:20)
(14) Pride (In The Name Of Love) (4:27)
(15) Miss Sarajevo (4:24)
(16) Zooropa (3:52)

Disc two (73:49):
(1) City of Blinding Lights(/My Kind of Town) (5:34)
(2) Vertigo(/Miss You) (4:11)
(3) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix) => Discotheque(/Life During Wartime) (6:27)
(4) Sunday Bloody Sunday (4:15)
(5) Scarlet (2:18)
(6) Walk On(/The Battle Hymn of the Republic) (6:31)
(7) Encore break (1:49)
(8) One (5:48)
(9) Where The Streets Have No Name (5:34)
(10) Encore break (3:12)
(11) Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me(/My Kind of Town) (5:11)
(12) With or Without You (5:37)
(13) Bono Banter (3:25)
(14) Moment of Surrender(/One Tree Hill) (8:03)
(15) One Tree Hill (5:47) *

* patch from alternate source (DPA 4060 => Edirol R-09 HR (24/44.1)

Md5 signature file is included. Sorry, no artwork (feel free to make some)

Comments:

Good performance by U2 at Soldier Field near the close of their 360 tour, 364 days after the originally scheduled date. Many changes have been made to the setlist since the North American tour opened in Chicago nearly two years ago -- all but three of the new songs have been dropped from the set, and the opening sequence showcases the nearly 20-year-old "Achtung Baby," which is a big improvement in my opinion. Overall, I thought the performance and song selection was a lot more compelling than the first leg of the tour. The band gave a high-energy performance all the way through, fueled by a vocal sellout crowd of 60,000 -- there was not an empty seat to be seen all the way to the top of the stadium.

The emotional highlight, of course, was "One Tree Hill," performed in honor of the 25th anniversary of Greg Carroll's death. This was clearly tentative and under-rehearsed, but it didn't matter. One of the coolest moments I've seen at any U2 show over the years.

The recording is pretty good, although I have no doubt that there are better recordings out there. I was in line with the right speaker stack about halfway back on the floor, and the sound was great. Vocals are prominent in the mix, and there isn't too much crowd interference near the microphones. As luck would have it, my flash card errored out and the deck shut off about 30 seconds into OTH, so the last track is patched from the source recorded by my friend standing next to me. The cutover is pretty seamless, though you might notice that the last track has more clarity on the upper ranges and a little more crowd noise due to the audience members to his right.

Many thanks to u2setlists.com to help me fill out all of the tags. Mp3 samples are included in the comments.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Pixies, Alexandra Palace, London, Aug 31st 2005

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    Besides, the douche bags who worked at Isaac's treated me like I had the musical tastes of a ten-year-old boy. I couldn't help it I never heard of Black Flag or The Pixies growing up. My brother and me were pretty much forced to listen to whatever mom played in the car. Mostly country. Kenny and Dolly singing "Islands in the Stream." Garth Brooks, if we were lucky. Most people didn't have to dig as deep as me to find something they recognized in an old record or song.
    And digging deeper was pretty much what I was doing the day I found my LP misplaced behind Blizzard of Oz. On my way to return it to the BLUEGRASS section the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen stepped out of the stacks. She smiled. I smiled back. She asked what I had in my hand. On the album cover a bunch of anonymous pickers sat in front of an old log cabin. The back of the record said Uncle Mason's Front Porch: Best of the Blackwater Sessions.
    And on the track list, between "Pretty Polly" and "Hangman's Reel" was a song called "The Sad Ballad of Preston Black," written by E. Black.
    I knew right then and there that if I could ever find the man who'd written that song, I'd have found my dad.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Back from the Sunshine State with a vengeance! In between readjusting to Pennsylvania time and keeping a groundhog out of my ten square feet of tomatoes, I found this AMAZING Pixies sbd. If you ain't familiar with The Pixies this is the place to start. (And you should be!) Radiohead's Thom Yorke said The Pixies changed his life, Bono said The Pixies are "one of America's greatest bands ever" and Kurt Cobain said "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it."

You have to download the .txt file to get the links to the show. Kind of a pain compared to Sugarmegs, but there's too much good stuff out there to ignore. Get the .txt file with the links here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MPP63AZC Many thanks to http://vivalesbootlegs.blogspot.com for the amazing boots!

The Pixies: Alexandra Palace, London.
Aug 31st 2005
Soundboard 192 kbps

1 - Wave Of Mutilation (Uk Surf)
2 - In Heaven
3 - Where Is My Mind
4 - La La Love You
5 - Here Comes Your Man
6 - Blown Away
7 - Holiday Song
8 - Vamos
9 - Winterlong
10 - Into The White
11 - Subbacultcha
12 - Is She Weird
13 - Ed Is Dead
14 - Planet Of Sound
15 - Cactus
16 - Tame
17 - Hey
18 - Caribou
19 - Stormy Weather
20 - Isla De Encanta - Something Against You
21 - Monkey Gone To Heaven
22 - Gouge Away
23 - Bone Machine
24 - Debaser
25 - Wave Of Mutilation
26 - Gigantic

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Beatles, River Rhine Tapes 1969

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    To his credit, he let it go. Maybe he was right, and maybe I knew it, but now wasn't the time. So we did my third song, which I called "Twickenham." The mediocre mid-tempo riff sounded too much like Social D. I wrote it about George Harrison after seeing the abuse he put up with while recording Get Back.
    I considered doing the Preston Black song as a fourth cut, but by the time I changed my mind Jamie started transferring files and fiddling with levels and all that, so I figured we were done. He burned me a disc, then said we'd leave in a bit, and that Katy would meet us later.

"Nobody ever loved me like she does..." Don't Let Me Down, John Lennon.

For some reason I'm very partial to LET IT BE. I think it was because everybody else went for ABBEY ROAD or SGT. PEPPER. Little did I know when I picked the disc up I was catching a glimpse of a band in free fall. Yoko attached herself to John's hip and George had quit the band a few times. Paul's attempts to rebuild the band through live performances had the exact opposite effect--the others began to resent him for his pursuit of perfection.

The RIVER RHINE TAPES are a very clean set of outtakes from the LET IT BE rehearsals. If you're somebody who has overlooked this album because it's not ABBEY ROAD or the WHITE ALBUM, this is your chance to see what you've been missing. Highlights for me include Dig a Pony, Don't Let Me Down, the I, Me, Mine Waltz, and Across the Universe. It's a nice look at what could've been.


Download the show at Sugarmegs.com

The Beatles, River Rhine Tapes 1969

SOURCE- SILVER CD - FLAC (level4)
Quality - EX+

01.Two of Us [03:39]
02.I Dig A Pony [03:55]
03.I Got A Feeling [03:53]
04.Dont Let Me Down [03:36]
05.I Me Mine Waltz [01:26]
06.Let it Be [03:37]
07.For You Blue [02:52]
08.One After 909 [03:19]
09.Long and Winding Road [03:47]
10.Get Back [03:48]
11.Oh Darling [02:42]
12.Across the Universe [03:22]
13.Dig it [02:17]
14.(Track Deletet) [01:51]
15.Good Rockin Tonite [01:43]
16.20 Flight Rock [02:09]
17.Her Majesty [01:43]
18.Maxwells Silver Hammer by John [01:10]
19.Maxwells Silver Hammer by Paul [03:39]
20.Suzy Parker [02:00]
21.Bad Finger Boogie [01:17]
22.Mean Mr Mustard [01:21]
23.All Things Must Pass [03:09]
24.The Walk [03:54]
25.River Rhine [04:20]
26.Billybeatle Boogie [05:18]

SHARE FREELY, AND ENJOY. 75:47 min

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Beatles, Acoustic Submarine

Some people think the idea of a soul in literature is a bit passé. A critique partner told me that. Thankfully, I disregarded her advice and wrote a novel about a guy who has to fight for control of his own soul. Don't we all have to fight for control of our soul from time-to-time?

I think soul is what moves Earth's 4.5 billion tiny little sparks through the universe. Soul gave us "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day..." and "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow....' Soul is why we distillers wait seven years for good bourbon.

Maybe soul, or a soul, is one of those things you don't notice until it's gone. That's kind of what happens to Preston Black in my novel. One day he wakes up, and life as he knows it is gone forever. His means of making music are taken from him by external forces. Without his old routine he's forced to make a change to pursue his passion or lose it.

Who better to guide Preston toward his grail than John Lennon, a man who seemed to spend the last ten years of his life searching for his own soul. Only recently have I started to see early John Lennon and late John Lennon as two totally separate entities. India is probably where the split began. John hooked up with Yoko just after returning to England. She was in the studio with him for most of The White Album sessions. Prior to Yoko he'd never had to choose. The Beatles were his soul.

During their time in Rishikesh with the Maharishi, The Beatles worked on thirty songs. Some were completed in India, some, like "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Something" remained unfinished until the sessions for Abbey Road in 1969. Some, like "What's the New Mary Jane?" never appeared on any official releases. "Child of Nature" was reworked by Lennon as "Jealous Guy" and included on the album Imagine.

Most of what remained showed up on The Beatles, a.k.a. The White Album. (A month from now a purist is going to leave the comment, 'Um, there's no such album as The White Album. Did you mean...') In order of appearance, the India songs on The White Album are: Back in the U.S.S.R., Dear Prudence, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Wild Honey Pie, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, I'm So Tired, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Why Don't We Do It in the Road?, I Will, Julia, Yer Blues, Mother Nature's Son, Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey, Sexy Sadie, Revolution, and Cry Baby Cry. Demos of these songs recorded at George Harrison's estate just after everybody returned from England, and show up on a bootleg called the Esher Demos or the Esher Tapes. The White Album songs on this bootleg come from those sessions.

To me, the songs from India represent the last drop of life The Beatles were able to squeeze out of their collective soul.

Download Acoustic Submarine.

Here's the recording info from Sugarmegs:

The Beatles - Acoustic Submarine
Teddy Bear Records

Liberated Bootleg

Original silver discs>EAC(secure)>SHN(mkw)

Disc 1:
Do You Want to Know a Secret
And I Love Her
I'm a Loser
Help
Yesterday
Yes It Is
Norwegian Wood
I'm Looking Through You
We Can Work It Out
I'm Only Sleeping
Yellow Submarine
A Day in the Life
The Fool on the Hill
Christmas Time is Here Again
The Happy Rishikesh Song
Jubilee
Child of Nature
Goodbye
Everyone Had a Hard Year
What's the New May Jane

Disc 2:
Heather
Back in the USSR
Dear Prudence
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Blackbird
Rocky Raccoon
Julia
Mother Nature's Son
Hey Jude
Because
I Lost My Little Girl
Teddy Boy
Mama, You've Been on My Mind
For You Blue
Two of Us
Across the Universe
I Me Mine
Maggie Mae