hardwood floor

the Hoodoo Gurus at Irvine Auditorium.

I saw the Hoodoo's at the Chestnut Cabaret probably around 1988? or so? one of the loudest shows i've ever seen

i dug their records but the live show was just too fucking earsplittingly loud

Of the original list I saw REM in '83 at Irvine Auditorium at Penn. Let's Active opened. I also saw Miles Davis around '81. Far from his legendary period. I didn't see U2 until '84, saw them twice that year, they did a mini-tour of theaters (saw them at the Tower) and then a full tour of arenas (Spectrum).

 

My first concert was Elvis Costello in April of '79 on the Armed Forces tour. Saw Zappa not long after that.

 

I saw the original Replacements lineup at Houston Hall at Penn on the Tim tour. Saw them twice again later after Bob Stinson was fired (and died).

 

Saw Husker Du and the Minutemen (2 different shows)in '85 at a venue in Philly ("The Opera House") that I'd swear was an abandoned warehouse. Billy Bragg was supposed to open for the Minutemen but the rumor was he'd been deported that afternoon.

pretty cool stuff ... i remember penn having some amazing shows back then but i never made it to any of 'em - don't think they really promoted them off campus. now they have world cafe and they still have tons of great bands playing on campus.

hey, where was that opera house? i don't remember that venue

I listened to Half Smiles & Off to Business last night just to kind of try and get a better feel for what's missing these days and I think ya know Todd Tobias is an amazing technician and he can play a lot of instruments proficiently, but there's no fucking SOUL in these songs. It's been Tobias'ed out.

Bob desperately misses Doug & I guess that's why he's trying again with Tommy Keene, but Doug's playing gave Bob's songs life, and they have very little of that now.

Yeah, Gratification is a good track.

But saying this is the best thing he's done since From a Compound Eye is damning with faint praise because the guy has been on a downward spiral since FaCE, which I thought was every bit as good as B000, Alien Lanes or Under the Bushes. (although I do like Keene Brothers but haven't found it particularly enduring)

These songs are hollow and boring, watered-down Bob Pollard product. There's no spark. There's nothing musically adventurous about them. I mean, listen to Christian Animation Torch Carriers or Storm Vibrations from UTaC and compare them to these dull-edged flat-lined tracks. Listen to the depth on something like Fiction Man and these tracks are just claustrophibic in comparison. The magic is gone. The musical depth and muscle and sense of dynamic range that separated Bob's songs and GBV songs from the masses are gone. The effortless melodic gift that we heard on 50 records from Forever Since Breakfast through FaCE has been replaced by pile after pile of faceless songs that wouldn't have been good enough for Motel of Fools.

In my opinion, this is just a bad record. Another bad record from Bob. He's able to crank up one or two great songs per record - miles under the skin on coast to coast, for example ... pattern girl on sgt. disco ... etc. But I guess his days of filling records with brilliance like he did for two decades are over

Walter Egan

magnet and steel is a freaking GREAT song. i saw egan open for starcastle and journey that year ... hell of a triple bill

i should really make a list of every band i've seen. it would be insane.

Yeah, the fact that he remembers the concert sounds a little fishy to me..

I saw the Monkees. They were great. Actually, it was one of the reunion tours, probably early 1990s?

Opening bands were Gary Puckett & the Union Gap and I think the Grassroots.

In an incredible coincidence, all three bands shared the same drummer, bass player and keyboard player!

peter gabriel a bunch of times (i used to love him) he put on an awesome show in the early 80's.

i remember seeing gabriel right after his first solo record came out outdoors somewhere on the west side in NYC and it was just astoundingly great

i also remember the opening band, riff raff, who sucked but i learned years later included a very young billy bragg

oh yeah, i saw the Dead Boys in Cleveland in 1978

i saw muddy waters in 1978, that was pretty legendary

and got to smoke weed with him, which was even better

and got to watch pinetop perkins goof around on the piano before the show

& did see REM with the Feelies opening, probably in 1984? and a few other times during their mid-1980s heydey before they started sucking beyond description

interesting thread, i'm enjoying reading the responses

guided by voices -- friend plopped vampire on titus in the car on a road trip and that was it, it was over. everything i'd always looked for in pop music. weird, mystifying, goofy and explosively melodic

yes -- we were 15, bored with music on the radio, at my friend's house, and then roundabout came on. we just blasted it. whoa -- they were actual musical with guitar, keys and bass all winding around each other but making sense, all in a tight pop package. very cool. still dig 'em

replacements -- i'd been avoiding them because all my hip friends dug 'em. that's the way it worked back then. i figured they had to suck since everybody i knew was freaking out about the replacements. one night i secretly plopped on tim. on the bus? holy shit. life-changing

uncle tupelo -- same friend as gbv above but this time at his house. hey, check out this record still feel gone. gun. holy fucking christ. i couldn't believe how great it was. my friend is like, just wait, the other guy's songs are even better. looking for a way out comes on. good lord.

Yeah, that was my concern. Good news. I like Mike Mogis more than I like Conor Oberst.

I like the Captain & Tenille more than I like Conor Oberst

Ducks.

it seems that my list will have at least 7 Guided By Voices or Robert Pollard releases

and there's a chance that none of my 20 records will get a single vote from anybody else

Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow, The Monkees

Mary, oh, what a sweet girl,

Lips like strawberry pie....

Steve Wynn is the fucking greatest.

a little role reversal? slushy moves from bass to guitar and narduccy from guitar to bass? nice to see keene back in the mix too

i'll always go see pollard, but holy crap his last few records are just awful

coast to coast carpet of love? standard gargoyle decisions? superman was a rocker? off to business?

there are maybe a combined three good songs on them combined

i keep buying them though since this guy had an unparalleled 50-album run of genius from sandbox up through from a compound eye.

don't think he can write a good song anymore though. these records just keep getting more and more musically boring.

i'm told the next record - the boston spaceships one - is the worst thing he's ever done.

sad

BOSTON SPACESHIPS

2008 TOUR

 

Robert Pollard : vocals

Chris Slusarenko : guitar

John Moen : drums

 

plus Tommy Keene : guitar

Jason Narducy : bass

 

Thu 9/25 Cincinnati OH - Midpoint Music Festival

Fri 9/26 Cleveland OH - Grog Shop

Sat 9/27 Washington DC - Black Cat

Mon 9/29 Philadelphia PA - Johnny Brendas

Tue 9/30 Boston MA - Paradise

Wed 10/1 New York City - Highline Ballroom

Fri 10/3 Ann Arbor MI - Blind Pig

Sat 10/4 Dayton OH - Dayton Music Festival

Mon 10/6 Chicago IL - Double Door

Tue 10/7 St Paul MN - Turf Club

Thu 10/9 Champaing IL - Higher Ground

Fri 10/10 St Louis MO - Bluebird

Sat 10/11 Memphis TN - Hi Tone

Tue 10/14 Austin TX- Parish

Wed 10/15Dallas TX - The Loft

Fri 10/17 Atlanta GA - The Earl

Sat 10/18 Nashville TN- Mercy Lounge

 

Murmur

Reckoning

Fables

that's the holy trinity

how many bands have had a run like that

almost up there with bee thousand, alien lanes & under the bushes under the stars

almost

me too, but that song does rock.

you & I have different definitions of rock

ya think he could have mentioned the guys he's playing with

took me a while to realize it, but i think The Search may be as good as any of 'em

& I love Straightaways, Trace & okehmah

and if i had to pick one Uncle Tupelo record for such a list, it would be Still Feel Gone & not Anodyne

love 'em both, but Still Feel Gone is iconic ... Anodyne is just a great record

it's got GBV on it, so it's a good list

A quick run through the site shows vintage performances for sale by artists including the Alarm, Fleetwood Mac, the Kinks, Billy Joel, Iggy Pop, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople, Poco, Steve Miller, the Tubes, Uriah Heep, Warren Zevon and many others.

Uriah Heep brought the sledgehammer of rock on a nightly basis

i love this band

When the Roses Bloom Again at Chipotle. I must say, the stations they pick at Chipotle are pretty stellar for restaurant music.

their burritos rock, too

That's because they're the best rock and roll band ever.

 

Last Waltz, I could do without it. Yes, "Caravan" is great. The inclusion of Neil Diamond is a travesty. There's some great performances, the majority of the guest spots are snoozers. Its 50/50 for me.

i actually dig the Neil Diamond song more than the Van Morrison stuff

come dry your eyes

Perhaps this was just a blasphemous rumour, but I've heard that they had to airbrush a big ol coke booger Neil Young was sporting during his performance.

you can actually see it

i once heard a Muzak version of Everchanging Moods in a Walgreen's

i happily sang along