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ROIO
of the Week [Recordings
of Indeterminate Origin] The
internet is the new rock 'n' roll all right. Here's an example of what
you can get in just one day of surfing the net searching for live concerts
and other music to download. Over at the BigO office, we don't touch MP3s
unless the artist has agreed. Instead we look for live recordings taped
by fans and recorded off the radio or from satellite broadcasts from all
over the planet. All of this music cannot be bought for money as they
are not meant for sale. Fans put them up on websites where you can use
a fast-speed broadband connection to download them. The music is than
transferred from our hard disk to a CD-R without any loss of bandwidth.
Here goes:
 The Who Orchestral Tommy [Party Line/1CD] The Who's "Orchestral Tommy" is a recording of a show at the Rainbow Theatre, London, Dec 9 1972. I recall reading about this in 1972 in a copy of New Musical Express. Lou Reizner had been approached by Pete Townshend to do a lavish, orchestral version of Tommy with superstar guests. Reizner assembled a stellar cast for a one-night stand at the Rainbow that included teen hearthrob David Essex, Elkie Brooks, Marsha Hunt, Merry Clayton, Viv Stanshall, Roy Wood and Sandy Denny. The concerts were to support the release of Tommy with the London Symphony Orchestra and all-star cast. Reizner had recorded a different cast for the album. This was the famous version that had Rod Stewart, Ringo, Peter Sellers, Steve Winwood and Maggie Bell plus The Who. The album has been out-of-print so it was timely to find a copy of the live concert from Dec 9 floating on the internet. The sound is very good for a recording from 1972 with clear stereo and a full orchestra and choir conducted by David Measham. You can play this very loud but there will be audible hiss. The last track is unfortunately incomplete. This Rainbow concert was later broadcast on BBC, Dec 26. Probably it still
hadn't dawn on Townshend that Tommy would stalk him for the rest of
his life. The Royal Albert Hall turned down hosting this concert as
the Hall's management considered the show "unsavory". - Michael
Cheah Tommy At The Metropolitan Opera House, June 7, 1970 [no label/4CDs] Rated by Life magazine, Billboard and Roger Daltrey as the best Tommy ever performed, this show at New York's prestigious Metropolitan Opera House was meant to be the last time Tommy was to be aired. It wasn't. Too bad that this audience recording is just "good" - you can hear lots of echo, the drums overwhelm the recording. From anecdotes at the time, Daltrey was in fine voice and Townshend a prick. At the end of Shakin' All Over and the jam, Spoonful, Pete hurls his guitar at the audience. Later standing in front of thousands of booing Americans, Townshend scolds the crowd and refuses to perform an encore. He then throws the mike stand at the crowd. Not caught on tape is Pete shouting "After two fucking hours, boo to you to..." The Who had played two shows, the earlier was in the afternoon. What's most annoying
about this audience recording is the taper keeps clicking his recorder
on and off. To conserve tape, we presume. - MC
Calexico An excellent soundboard recording of this Americana band on Oct 4 last year [2003]. The Joey Burns - John Convertino duo however fail to ignite. Why are critics drooling over a smoothed over version of the last decade’s Los Lobos? - MC
This was recorded before his Musicology Tour 2004 and the "artist previously etc…" was reworking his back catalogue here — Nothing Compares 2 U, Sign O’ The Times, Soul Man/Kiss and I Want To Take You Higher/ There Was A Time Jam. The latter two are smart soul covers. A bit of a boomy audience recording. - MC
Ian
Dury This is billed as the 25th Anniversary Edition of Ian’s 1977 debut album New Boots & Panties. All the same songs are lined up in the same order as the album’s but with rare and live versions. Was originally released in 2002. - MC
Eric
Clapton From the front row at the Wachovia Center on June 26, 2004, this is a powerful show from Clapton’s current Robert Johnson Tour. The band cook and Clapton even plays "God" on Layla. He has taken to including Badge to be played every night on this tour probably as a tribute to old pal George Harrison who co-wrote the song. This audience recording is the type we like - up close, in stereo and with the ambience of the hall and not too much distracting audience noise. - MC Here are the rest we downloaded: The Who The Who The Who Fleetwood Mac Pink Floyd Procol Harum Procol Harum Weather Report Can Phil Ochs Fotheringay
[with Sandy Denny] The Who For more... email singbigo@singnet.com.sg with the message, "Put me on your mailing list."
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