Prince's Funky Instrumentals (1977)

I can’t believe I haven’t posted this sooner, but I saw someone mention it the other day on Twitter and it was like I was hit with a lightning-bolt need for some unreleased (as far as I know) Prince instrumental tracks from 1977.

Prince was about 19 years old here and plays organ on these tracks. He is accompanied by Prince, Andre Cymone on bass, and Bobby Z on drums. These recordings are dated about a year before Prince’s first “official” album, For You. They are generally known as the “Loring Park Sessions ‘77” but there is a version floating around called “Husney’s: A Work In Progress,” and frankly, I enjoy the artwork for that one, so that’s what I’ve included in the download. Feel free to replace it or create your own or both.

Download mp3 files and the “Husney’s: A Work In Progress” artwork here.

Anyways, enjoy this early, funky Prince:

---

• Visit Prince’s official website

• Purchase Prince’s music at Amazon

• Download mp3 files and the “Husney’s: A Work In Progress” artwork here.

---

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Live At Sojus (1998)

This music blog is a hobby. I do it because I enjoy sharing music. I’ve mentioned several times how much tape trading through the mail played an important role in my musical development. I’ve shared lots of live concerts that I was first exposed to during my tape-trading days.

Today we return to those roots and feature a show by Godspeed! You Black Emperor. 12.17.98. Live at Sojus, Monheim, Germany. This remains one of the most pristine live recordings I have come across. I don’t tape trade any more but this one always holds a special place in my memory. I vividly remember putting this on and writing a paper (with headphones on) in one of the seminary lobbies where I used to study.

I have also shared my personal giddiness every time one of these personally-memorable shows is already available online so that I don’t have to upload, label, and all that crap. This is one of my favorites.

Oh, and feel free to skip the “Intro.” Otherwise, Enjoy.

Setlist:

1. Intro

2. The Dead Flag Blues

3. Moya

4. World Police And Friendly Fire

5. She Dreamt She Was A Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone In An Empty Field -> String Loop Manufactured During Downpour”

---

• Visit Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s page at Constellation Records.

• Support Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Bandcamp

• Follow Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Facebook

• Purchase Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s music at Amazon

---

Sonic Youth Sessions At West 54th

Imagine a time when Sonic Youth was beamed into PBS stations covering 85% of the country. Such was the magic of Sessions at West 54th, the three-season live music extravaganza hosted by KCRW’s Chris Douridas (Season 01), David Byrne (Season 02) and John Hiatt (Season 03). So far we’ve featured sessions from Medeski Martin and Wood with DJ Logic, Phish, David, Byrne, and Beck.

Sonic Youth appeared on Season 01 paired with Bill Frisell.

Setlist:

• Anagrama

• The Ineffable Me

• Wildflower Soul

• Stil

• Female Mechanic Now on Duty

• Hits of Sunshine (for Allen Ginsberg)

---

• Visit Sonic Youth’s official website

• Follow Sonic Youth at Facebook

• Purchase Sonic Youth’s music at Amazon

---

David Byrne Sessions at West 54th

As long as we’re jumping down the Sessions at West 54th Rabbit Hole, here’s another one that I remember recording but for some reason no longer have. David Byrne performed for season 01 of the show while KCRW’s Chris Douridas hosted, before himself becoming host for season 02.

Setlist and Times:

• 0:32 -  Fuzzy Freaky

• 5:54 -  Making Flippy Floppy

• 12:01- Take Me To The River

• 17:54- Help Me Somebody

• 22:06- Dance On Vaseline

• 27:04 -Back In The Box

• 33:30- Miss America

• 39:21- Psycho Killer

• 44:16- I Zimbra.

The Players:

• Lead/Backing Vocals – Christina Wheeler

• Bass, Guitar, Vocals – Desmond Foster

• Drums, Sampler – Rea Mochiach

• Lead Vocals, Guitar – David Byrne

• Steel Guitar, Keyboards, Guitar – Bruce Kaphan

---

• Visit David Byrne’s official website

• Follow David Byrne on Facebook

• Purchase David Byrne’s music at Amazon

• Browse all Holiday at the Sea David Byrne posts

---

Medeski Martin and Wood with DJ Logic Live: Sessions At West 54th

I still have this show on VHS.

I don’t have a VHS player.

Technically this doesn’t fall in the “I had this show via tape trading” category that a lot of things I post. I recorded this on to VHS directly from my faithful local PBS station. I remember watching it.

I don’t know if you remember, but Sessions at West 54th was a New York variation of Austin City Limits. Originally hosted by KCRW’s Chris Douridas, David Byrne took over hosting duties beginning of the second season while John Hiatt hosted the third season. Yes, PBS is that cool.

Enjoy:

I never took the time to write down a setlist but the Wikipedia blurb for this episode of the show (Season Two Episode 06 originally aired 08/14/98) lists:

• Wiggly's Way

• Coconut Boogaloo

• Latin Shuffle

Enjoy.

---

• Visit Medeski Martin and Wood’s official website.

• Follow Medeski Martin and Wood at Facebook.

• Follow Medeski Martin and Wood at Twitter.

• Purchase Medeski Martin and Wood’s music at Amazon.

• Browse all Holiday at the Sea Medeski Martin and Wood posts

---

The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band

So much to tell you about here.

Music-loving, like life, is a journey of learning and exploration. I recently posted a live session by Sarathy Korwar and friends for a site called The Boiler Room. I featured Korwar’s track “"Bismillah" from his 2016 album Day To Day on Episode 08 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

I had not heard of The Boiler Room before this but I have since become quite enamored. Their Facebook “About” section says:

“Boiler Room televises underground music as it happens from around the world to a massive online community. By doing so, we create windows into scenes and sounds from every corner of the globe, connecting millions of music heads with the specific music they love. This communal participation has redrawn the map for underground culture and proven that mass audiences now subscribe to alternative choice.”

And that’s a vision I can get behind.

I recently came across a 2016 live set from The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band. I featured the band’s Thai band’s song "Lai Wua (Chasing the Cow)" from their 2016 album Planet Lam on Episode 11 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

There is a link on the video’s Youtube page that says: “TRACKLIST & DOWNLOAD HERE” but the link doesn’t go to anything and the video’s page at the Boiler Room page doesn’t include a setlist so if you have that information it would be greatly appreciated. Though not knowing the song titles (or words for that matter) doesn’t inhibit the global choogle.

• Visit the Paradise Bangkok website.

• Visit the group on Facebook.

• Purchase the group's music on Bandcamp.

• Purchase the album at Amazon.

Muddy Waters Copenhagen 1968

Muddy Waters live at Copenhagen Jazz festival (October 27,1968).

The Band:

• Muddy Waters - guitar & vocals

• 'Pee Wee' Madison – guitar

• Luther "Snakeboy" Johnson - guitar

• Otis Spann – piano

• Paul Oscher – harmônica

• Sonny Wimberley – bass

• S.P. Leary - drums

Setlist:

1. "Back At The Chicken Shack" 

2. "Train Fare Home Blues" 

3. "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man" 

4. "Long Distance Call" 

5. "Nobody Knows My Trouble" 

6. "Cold Cold Feeling" 

7. "Got My Mojo Working" 

8. "Tiger In Your Tank" 

• Visit Muddy Waters’ official website

• Like Muddy Waters on Facebook

• Purchase Muddy Waters’ music at Amazon

Grateful Dead: Playing In The Jam (A Holiday At The Sea Mix)

Ever wonder what “Playing In The Band” might sound like as an extended instrumental free-jazz-space-rock suite? Well, I did.

Inspired by Save Your Face and their various Grateful Dead mixes, I edited six different performances of “Playing In The Band” into an instrumental suite.

I’m not entirely happy with a couple of the transitions, but I dig how it turned out overall, seeing as how I am not a professional, I didn’t actually spend that much time on this, and I really only made this for myself to listen to either while I work or commuting. Enjoy.

Here are the deets for the six pieces making up the Suite:

• 00:00 - 11:39 :: 09.21.72 at the The Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA (released as Dicks’s Picks 36)

• 11:39-25:45 :: 03.24.73 at the The Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA

• 25:245 - 34:47 :: 11.10.73 at Winterland Arena in San Francisco, CA (released as part of Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings)

• 34:47 - 44:09 :: 05.17.77 at Memorial Coliseum, U of Alabama, MS (released as part of May 1977)

• 44:09: 52:31 :: 05.28.77 at at Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT (released as To Terrapin: Hartford '77)

• 52:31 - 56:27 :: 05.28.77 at at Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT (released as To Terrapin: Hartford '77)

I chose these performances for no real reason other than that this is the time-period of the Dead that I listen to most and these shows happened to be on my laptop when I decided to try out this idea.

And if all that weren’t enough goodness, here’s an instrumental edit of the mammoth “Playing In The Band” from the Pacific Northwest '73-'74: Believe it If You Need It (Live) set (Live at Hec Edmundson Pavillion, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 5/21/74).

Enjoy.

• Visit the Grateful Dead’s official website.

• Follow the Grateful Dead on Facebook.

• Follow Grateful Dead on Twitter.

• Purchase Grateful Dead music on Amazon.

Southern Jukebox Music Presents Bitchin Bajas (02.14.18)

Being a music fan is highly a subjective thing. We all have different preferences and that includes band names. I don’t care how good you tell me they are, I just can’t see myself listening to a whole of Diarrhea Planet. Or Radical Face while I’m thinking of it. But, then again, everything is subjective and subject to change, right?

Despite years of reading such enticing descriptions as “expansive, looping, shifting synths and rhythms” and even despite their ties to Holiday at the Sea favorite Natural Information Society, I resisted the music of Bithin Bajas because of their name.

But the good folks over at Southern Jukebox Music remind us of why sometimes it’s worth looking past the name. Bitchin Bajas “is a band operated as a side-project by Cooper Crain, who is also guitarist/organist of the band Cave. The other members are Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye.” Southern Jukebox Music is the project of Matt Beachey who records live performances on a Realistic TR-3000 reel-to-reel. Yes, he lugs that thing to and from shows. Why? He says:

I choose to record shows this way because (a: I just dig the sound of almost anything on tape, and I still haven't found a satisfactory substitute, and (b: I find that sometimes setting up a weird, clunky process of recording invites unique performances out of people. Digital recording has done wonders in democratizing the art of on-the-fly live recording; still, I think there’s something worth keeping around about the way sound waves cling to the iron grains of magnetic tape, and then play back a little jumbled up—a slightly impressionistic version of whatever was recorded. And I guess maybe I feel a sort of kinship with bootleggers of yore who hauled their reels to Grateful Dead shows, putting in the extra effort to make a lasting record of the night, albeit a colored and faded one. Sometimes a grimy record of the past better suits your memory anyway.

Whatever the reasons, we’re glad he does it and happy to support on Bandcamp where any proceeds will go to the artist. We first featured a selection from Southern Jukebox Music in August 2019 with Chris Forsyth and the Broken Mirrors Motel Band’s 07.11.19 performance. Today we feature Bitchin Bajas “Live at the 7th Street Entry.”

The Deets:

• Live at the 7th Street Entry. Any proceeds will go to the artist.

• Released June 15, 2018.

• Composed and performed by Bitchin Bajas, recorded and mixed by Matt Beachey

• Visit Bitchin Bajas’ Drag City site

• Support Bitchin Bajas at Bandcamp

• Purchase Bitchin Bajas’ music at Amazon

• Visit Southern Jukebox Media

• Support Southern Jukebox Media at Bandcamp where any proceeds will go to the artist.

Akron/Family Live At Ekkko (2006)

I was digging through Ye Ole CDR spindle the other day and came across this 2006 live set from Akron/Family. If you’re not familiar with the band, think one of those geographically spread out bands that comes together to make blissed out space-folk for the existential campfire singalongs.

Anyway, I was going to upload it here and did a quick search only to find that the band themselves have already uploaded it at the amazing Live Music Archive.

Akron/Family Live at Ekko on 2006-04-14

• Visit Akron/Family at Facebook

• Support Akron/Family at Bandcamp

• Visit Akron/Family’s page at the Live Music Archive for lots more shows

• Purchase Akron/Family’s music at Amazon

Anathallo Live In Japan

Anathallo was a band from Michigan (though they later relocated to Chicago if I remember correctly?). The fluctuated in size and the arrangements grew in complexity and beauty. The early recordings are great but they don’t quite yet arrive at the sophistication of the later work. And isn’t that all of us? Hopefully as we grow older we also mature and grow more nuanced in our thinking, even learning to allow time for the quiet moments which are as much part of the story as the loud parts. Can you really feel a crescendo when it’s all loud to begin with? The hills and valleys of the journey. And I’m rambling.

So allow me to ramble a bit more.

I’m sure you know what I mean when I say that music often carries with it memories and feelings associated with particular time periods. Certain albums or artists or songs often carry with them very specific memories. And now I’m digressing. Let me get back to rambling.

I have always loved music. That’s just part of who I am. And in hindsight, I should have paid more attention to the red flags early on. I had just graduated seminary and was moving in to my first role as “Lead Pastor,” though this church used the title “Teaching Pastor.” My family had not yet moved from Kentucky to Texas yet but we had already accepted the position and I flew to Minneapolis to meet the staff and elders for a pastors conference.

I was wearing a Tortoise shirt that disappeared some time over the years. It was yellow and I wish I still had it. I was in the elevator with one of the staff members who made a comment about liking my shirt and being surprised that the new pastor knew who Tortoise is but that I might want to keep things like that to myself because the other leaders weren’t really into secular music. I’m paraphrasing of course, but you get the gist. And then we moved there.

I don’t know if you’ve ever visited a church that just didn’t feel like “home”? If you have, then you might be able to imagine pastoring a church where you felt like that all of the time. If you’ve never had that experience, just imagine that you are continually not allowed to be yourself because when you do, it just seems to cause trouble, so you create a version of yourself that pleases the other people and you have to live in it 24 hours a day. It’s something like that.

Anathallo was touring the amazing Floating World album and I took several of the college students in the church to go see them. The next day I got called in to my own office where I rebuked by the other elders of the church because I was a small group leader and had missed small group in order to attend the concert. Even though I arranged for someone to facilitate in my absence. And, even though I knew it already, it was then confirmed for me the rest of the leadership of that church and I shared very different visions and approaches. It was totally worth it.

We left Texas in 2008 and Anathallo went on “indefinite" hiatus in 2009 and I guess that’s my story.

Here is a full show from the band’s 2008 tour. Apparently this was released on a very limited (now out of print I think ) tour DVD which some fine person uploaded for the rest of us and I could pass it along to you and we could watch it together. Let’s:

From the video’s Youtube page:

Anathallo @ O-Nest Japan during their 2008 tour. I was searching for this for a long time and couldn't find it anywhere. Finally got a hold of the DVD from Japan. Absolutely fantastic band, lucky to have seen them live a few times.

1. Dokkoise House 00:00

2. John J. Audubon 07:05

3. Hanasakajijii (four: a great wind, more ash) 10:55

4. Hanasakajijii (one: an angry neighbor) 15:25

5. Hanasakajijii (two: floating world) 18:55

6. Italo 25:20

7. Northern lights 28:42

8. Holiday At The Sea 32:26

9. All the First Pages 39:15

10. Cuckoo Spring Blood (Encore) 45:40

11. Kasa no hone (Encore) 49:00

• Support Anathallo at Bandcamp

• Purchase Anathallo’s music at Amazon

Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, RFK Stadium, 1990

If you spent any time “tape trading” after the advent of CDRs, you probably had at least one spindle of shows. At one point I had lots of such spindles. I thought that I had gotten rid of most of them over the years, but I came across one the other day and this was the show right on top so I figured why not share (especially when someone has already archived it at the Live Music Archive).

July 1990 saw Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians opening for the Grateful Dead at Washington D.C.’s RFK stadium (read some brief thoughts from Edie Brickell about her history with the band). I’m pretty sure this would have been right around the time Brickell’s second album, the often-overlooked gem Ghost of a Dog came out.

Edie Brickell and New Bohemians Live at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium on 1990-07-12

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
7/12/1990
Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Setlist:
1. She [05:52.41]
2. Nothing [05:02.74]
3. Woyaho [02:50.35]
4. Oh To Be [04:39.60]
5. Stwisted [04:18.29]
6. Carmelito [04:57.08]
7. 10,000 Angels [06:21.23]
8. Strings Of Love [04:35.09]
9. Forgiven [06:12.65]
10. Wait A While [04:47.67]
11. Love Like We Do [05:01.41]

• Visit Edie Brickell’s official website

• Follow Edie Brickell and New Bohemians at Facebook

• Follow Edie Brickell at Facebook

• Purchase Edie Brickell’s music at Amazon

• Visit the page for this show at the Live Music Archive to stream or download for yourself

• Download the show for yourself

Ali Akbar Khan: Live from Delhi (1981)

Today we feature a 1981 concert from Sarod master Ali Akbar Khan in Delhi.

I originally got this recording in my tape-trading days by mistake. I was doing a big trade with a guy, like 10-12 shows. Mostly jazz/funk/groove/jam type stuff (Medeski Martin and Wood, Galactic, Greyboy Allstars, that kind of thing). When the other package arrived, there was one unmarked CDR. I e-mailed the guy and asked what it was because when I put it in my player, no information came up. The other person said they had not meant to that CDR to be in my box, it was supposed to go to someone else, but that it was a recording of Ali Akbar Khan in concert.

In all honesty, I was not ready for this music then and the CDR sat in a pile for years. Then, one day a few years ago, as my musical palette was expanding, I not only pulled out the concert but looked it up online to learn more. The fantastic Flat, Black, and Classical came to the rescue with a full-write-up! Included in their piece are the following observations and details:

The two pieces on this cassette almost sound like two different concerts (which could be the case). An alternative explanation for the differences in aural character between the two is that adjustments at the mixing desk were made during the show, which can often occur.

The first piece is an alap and jod section of Raga Miyan ki Malhar. This has a slightly dull upper end and some minimal distortion at the dynamic peaks. I would have though it was an issue with azimuth adjustment, but the fact is that the second piece sounds more full and with a crisp upper end in comparison. Because of the way cassettes are made, a cut had to be made in the longer piece so that the sides were about equal in timing. The first section of Raga Desh Malhar is on the same side of the tape as the entire alap and jod of Raga Miyan Ki Malhar, but sounds exactly like the rest of the raga on the other side of the tape. So it was not a case of one side of the tape being played with incorrect azimuth. I stitched together the longer piece in a way that is noticeable but not jarring.
Overall, it is an extremely enjoyable live performance from Ali Akbar Khan and tabla maestro Shankar Ghosh, who unfortunately died in late January of this year.

Ali Akbar Khan: Sarod
Shankar Ghosh: Tabla

Side 1: Raga Miyan Ki Malhar: alap and jod
Side 2: Raga Desh Malhar: gats in vilambit (slow) teentaal and medium

I don’t know where your musical palette is at these days, but I highly recommend serenading your Quarantine with some Sarod.

• Visit the official website for the Ali Akbar College of Music.

• Listen to/download a 1983 Ali Akbar Khan concert from Eugene, OR, here at Holiday at the Sea.

• Purchase Khan’s music at Amazon.

• Listen to “Raga Hem Behag” as featured on Episode 46 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Freddie Hubbard, Paris, 1973

I’m not sure if there is more video of this performance, but this seems to be from ORTF TV Studio, Paris, France, on March 25, 1973.

I believe the personnel here is:

• Freddie Hubbard - trumpet 

• Junior Cook - Tenor Sax 

• George Cables - fender rhodes 

• Kent Brinkley - bass 

• Michael Carvin - drums 

Check it out.

• Visit Freddie Hubbard’s official website.

• Visit Freddie Hubbard’s page at Blue Note Records.

• Follow Freddie Hubbard at Facebook.

• Purchase Freddie Hubbard’s music at Amazon.

Giant Sand, Live at Mad Dog Studios/The Atlantic Session (01/30/90)

I don’t know if it’s still around, but when we lived in KY (roughly 2002-2005), I was part of The Sandman Series. This was a CDR series of bootlegs organized by Jim Blackman and Howe Gelb. Basically, the way it worked was that CDRs were sent out to “seeders.” I was a seeder. The seeders committed to recording and mailing the CDRs to a certain number of people (I think it was around 10 but I really don’t remember). I seeded several different discs, but the one I still return to most was called The Atlantic Session.

The core group (at that time) of Howe Gelb, John Convertino and Joey Burns recorded this set as a demo for Atlantic Records at Mad Dog Studios in CA. It was never officially released until the Sandman Series helped bring it to the light of day. As the name suggests, this is a studio recording. The band is tight and the tunes are bitchin.

The set is available at the fantastic Archive.org.

Dive right in.

• Visit Giant Sand/Howe Gelb’s official website.

• Follow Giant Sand at Facebook.

• Follow Howe Gelb at Facebook.

• Visit the Archive.org page for the show.

• Browse all posts marked “Giant Sand” here at Holiday at the Sea.

• Purchase Giant Sand music at Amazon.