Full Show Friday: The Who 3-28-81 Rockpalast Festival

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...The Who!

For September The Masters Focuses on The Who

Here is a show from the fellows from 1981 with Kenny Jones playing drums. While this version of the Who is not our favorite Jones did a solid job and this show is a burner, just listen to the Ox's bass, killer. They mix up some versions of favorites here, "Can't Explain" is one example, and things aren't as bad as Roger's hair do would lead you to believe.

Pro shot, pro sound, full set list and info below. Enjoy:




setlist: 01 Substitute 02 I Can't Explain 03 Baba O'Reily 04 The Quiet One 05 Don't Let Go The Coat 06 Sister Disco 07 You Better You Bet 08 Drowned 09 Behind Blue Eyes 10 Another Tricky Day 11 Pinball Wizard 12 Who Are You 13 5:15 14 My Generation 15 Won't Get Fooled Again 16 Summertime Blues 17 Twist And Shout 18 See Me, Feel Me

Album Review: Dry Cleaning - Sweet Princess EP

Dry Cleaning

Sweet Princess EP

**and1/2 out of *****

The debut EP from UK post punk band Dry Cleaning is a strange mix of dance/power pop/punk with spoken word vocals in conversational/poetic manner titled Sweet Princess. 

The five songs have some locked in tone by the band of Lewis Maynard, Tom Dowse, and Nick Buxton with the front woman role played by Florence Shaw, who is a University Lecturer and uses those speaking powers instead of singing. This brief introduction to the band's style can be angular, strange yet warm and relate-able at times. 

"Magic of Meghan" is groove backed slashing guitar riff ode to the Duchess of Sussex and the constant media surveillance  around her, serving as the bands first single. While bass and drums lock in, the guitars ring almost off-key while Shaw rattles of headlines and sayings about Meaghan Markle. "Goodnight" deals with near death experiences the lost of a pet and other painful topics over bubbling rock, while a dancey beat and "fa-fa-fa's" color the buoyant "New Job".

"Traditional Fish" is more art piece with statements/observations, and haunting riffs with strange echoes while "Phone Scam" reminds of the Minutemen in it's jangle/off kilter groove before closer "Conversation" plays like warped pop rock.

Mixing performance art and post punk/warm rock the group is interesting and works more often than not on their first offering. Sweet Princess was recorded before the group ever played live and Dry Cleaning will grow as a band, and it will be worth seeing what they come up with next. 
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Support the band, buy the record, stream them on bandcamp or below and peep some video:

The Masters: The Who - Best Live Albums

RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.

For September The Masters focuses on The Who.

A band that was a force of nature. In their prime The Who were a must catch live act. From the magical timing of the sun coming up at Woodstock as if it was a light show to the story about Monterrey Pop and the rift between Jimi Hendrix and The Who which is a classic...

Townshend says “I’ve heard Roger talk about it as a jam session, but it wasn’t a jam session. It was just Jimi on a chair playing at me. Playing at me like ‘Don’t f—k with me, you little sh-t.’” 

The musical quarrel came down to Townshend’s insecurity over The Who playing after Jimi Hendrix at Monterey, a gig that he considered to be a “critical concert.” Attempting to negotiate with Jimi didn’t go well, as Hendrix said “that’s not what you really mean. What you really mean is that you don’t want me to go first. You want to be first up there with the guitar smashing,” to which Townshend replied “Jimi, I swear, that’s not what it’s about.” 

In the end, the discussion cooled down and Hendrix suggested a coin toss to determine who would go first and The Who came out on the winning side of that toss.

Watching Hendrix’s performance later from the crowd with Mama Cass, she told Townshend, “he’s stealing your act” and Townshend said “no, he’s not stealing my act – he’s doing my act.” Explaining further, Townshend says “for me, it was an act and for him, it was something else. It was an extension of what he was doing.”

They have memorable live moments, both good and bad and as a band continue to tour with two of the original members. While their hey day is clearly behind them, their recent past gets some love on our live albums list below. RtBE was not alive to catch the group as a four piece but we have caught them a few times as well as variations of their work and love every minute of it. 

So let's get to their top five live albums below. As a reminder this list is meant to start conversations, not end them....

Album Review: Black Pumas - Black Pumas

Black Pumas

Black Pumas

**** out of *****

The combo of Grammy Award-winning guitarist / producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton have crafted a winning debut with this self title record from their new band, Black Pumas. The Austin, TX based band have spun some great retro-soul that is not beholden to the genre and works as a late night get down vibe and a affirming testament to the solid music/songs.

Quesada is a Texas soul music veteran, having worked with Brownout and others, Burton is a relative newcomer and the partnership gives off a soft warm glow as "Black Moon Rising" ascends to the heavens. While the opening track sets the tone the hits just keep on coming. "Colors" is a positive jam speaking to unity while "Know You Better" is a bright love song that uses crisp drums and electric keyboards to excellent effect. 

The restrained horns and deep bass come out to play during "Fire" as directions are given about help and heartache around the groove while "Touch The Sky" and "OCT 33" both use southwestern guitar styling and focus on Burton's vocals as the instrumentation rises around them. There are shades of Otis Redding throughout but the duo are well versed in the experts in soul and others such as RZA like production with drum beats and guitar warbles.

"Stay Gold" bring in strings and flexes Burton's vocal range while "Old Man" uses a squirrely guitar line and layers of bubbling keyboards as drums slap and loop around. Closer "Sweet Conversation" is more delicate based around acoustic plucking and bird chirps with sonic collage created by Quesada behind the layered vocals of Burton.  

If there is a detriment it is that some of the songs may run on a bit too long in relation to their ideas, but overall this is a minor quibble for such an impressive first collaboration. This is such a confident debut from this pair it is exhilarating,each song rings with confidence talent and a nod to their retro-soul roots while digging on the future. That future is bright for Black Pumas.

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Support the artists, buy the album, stream it on bandcamp or below and peep some video:

   

The Who Release New Song, Brand New Full Length Coming in November

Just like last month, when our Masters spotlight artist Neil Young announced a brand new Crazy Horse album, this months artists, The Who, announce their first album in thirteen Years.

WHO (cleverly titled) is the first record of new material since the awful Endless Wire and while RtBE loves the band, we do not have high hopes for this full length. Townshend talked about the album:

“This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions. There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice. Roger and I are both old men now, by any measure, so I’ve tried to stay away from romance, but also from nostalgia if I can. I didn’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Memories are OK, and some of the songs refer to the explosive state of things today. I made new home studio demos of all these songs in the summer of 2018 using a wide collection of instruments old and new. We started recording as The Who in March 2019, and have finished now in late August just in time to make some vinyl………maybe even some cassettes……ready for release in November”.

The first song "Ball & Chain" has been released and you can listen to it:

Dylan Cover #393 Band of Skulls - "It' Ain't Me, Babe"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by Band of Skulls playing "It Ain't Me, Babe"

Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this song:
One of the best Dylan songs because it is universal, to the point, lyrical, smirking, self-centered and a perfect statement. Dylan has written lots of songs that can be covered well (as evident by this series) but "It Ain't Me, Babe" fits perhaps better then almost any other one into a huge variety of styles. That is because we have all been in the singers position one time or another...and it is a damn good song.

Cover:


Thoughts on Cover Artist:
While Band of Skulls have hovered around our universe, we have yet to review them on RtBE.

Thoughts on Cover:
A stark simple arraignment which grows mildly at the end, the focus is strictly on the vocals which are solid. I think it is a pretty bad ass cover with solid singing.

Full Show Friday: The Who Live in Houston, TX 1975

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...The Who!

For September The Masters Focuses on The Who

This is a killer recording from The Who's 1975 tour in support of their Who By Numbers album, That one didn't make our top five studio albums and only three songs from this night come from that (and only one from Quadrophenia) as the tour was more of a Tommy Revisited adventure as the movie just came out. 

This is a ripping show from Houston. Just listen to Entwistle's bass on "I Can't Explain"...loose booty rockin'. The band is in fine form. I don't think it is pro shot, but sound is dynamite. Full set list below, Enjoy:

Recorded at The Summit in Houston - Texas, on November 20th 1975 All rights to the copyright proprietors! 01. Substitute 02. I Can´t Explain 03. Squeeze Box 04. Baba O´Riley 05. Boris The Spider 06. Drowned 07. However Much I Booze 08. Dreaming From The Waist 09. Behind Blue Eyes 10. Amazing Journey 11. Sparks 12. Acid Queen 13. Fiddle About 14. Pingball Wizard 15. I´m Free 16. Tommy´s Holiday Camp - (We´re Not Take It / See Me, Feel Me / Listening To You) 17. Summertime Blues 18. My Generation 19. Join Together 20. Naked Eye 21. Roadrunner - REMOVED due copyright claims!! 22. Won´t Get Fooled Again - ( Stills ) 23. Magic Bus 24. My Generation Blues Due copyright clains the - Won´t Get Fooled Again - motion picture is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c9rX...]