Full Show Friday: Circle Jerks - Live at the Peppermint Lounge (June 27th, 1981)

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...Circle Jerks!

Back to some classic West Coast Punk in NYC from Circle Jerks this week. 

Enjoy!

Full Show Friday: The Gap Band - Live In Houston (1981)

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 Gap Band!

Travel back in time to 1981 with The Gap Band in Houston, TX. 

Pro shot (for '81), Pro sound, Full Set list below. Enjoy!

00:00 Introduction 00:48 When I Look In Your Eyes 03:52 Gash Gash Gash 06:35 Shake 12:40 Party Lights 17:44 You Can Count On Me 22:30 Nothing Comes To Sleepers 27:26 No Hiding Place 40:22 Oops ( I Don‘t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance) 46:39 Yearning For Your Love (Part 1) first encore 52:25 Yearning For Your Love (Part 2) second encore

Full Show Friday: The Buzzcocks - Live 1981

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 Buzzcocks!

A great sounding and pretty good (for '81) visual capturing of The Buzzcocks original lineup at the peak of their power. 

Enjoy:

0:20 Why She's A Girl From The Chainstore 2:50 What Do I Get ? 5:45 Fast Cars 8:00 Fiction Romance 12:54 Harmony In My Head 16:04 Everybody's Happy Nowadays 19:16 Lipstick 22:00 Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) 24:46 Something's Gone Wrong Again 28:45 Airwaves Dream 32:05 Strange Thing 35:45 Noise Annoys 38:55 What Do You Know? 41:25 I Believe 47:07 Love Battery 49:19 Time's Up 53:15 Boredom

Album Review: The Grateful Dead - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 3/9/81

The Grateful Dead

Madison Square Garden, NY NY 3/9/81

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

The Grateful Dead decided to release this individual show as a standalone from 17 CD box set In and Out of The Garden, March 9th, 1981 and it is a solid effort from the worlds most famous arena. 

Full Show Friday: Parliament Funkadelic 1981-04-17, Capitol Center, Landover, MD

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...Parliament Funkadelic! 

All aboard the mothership!  Today we get down with Parliament Funkadelic from their 1981 tour. Great stuff here, even giving the home crowd some D.C. Go-Go with "Bustin' Loose" from Clinton and company. 

The show was Pro shot, with pro sound, but with a VHS transfer with full set list and info below. Enjoy!

Parliament Funkadelic 04/17/81 VHS mislabled as D.C 1979 The Capitol Center Landover, MD VIDEO ATTRIBUTES: VHS unknown gen TV system: NTSC Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Bitrate: 7500 kb/s VBR Menus Included editing and sync done in Vegas 6.0, authored in Pinnacle Studio 9 by TeddyDunski. Thanks to fonky1 for the VHS AUDIO ATTRIBUTES: VHS unknown gen, no known upgrade available Audio Coding mode: DVD_LPCM_AUDIO Audio Bitrate: 1536 kbps, 16 bit 48khz 1. Intro 2. Alice In My Fantasies 3. Cosmic Slop 4. Bustin Loose 5. Give Up the Funk 6. Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples 7. One Nation Under a Groove 8. Theme From the Black Hole 9. Medley 10. Shockwaves 11. It Ain't Illegal Yet 12. Standing On the Verge of Getting It On 13. Agony of Defeet 14. Flash Light

Album Review: Frank Zappa - Halloween '81

Frank Zappa

Halloween 81 - Live @ The Palladium 

*** out of *****

(This is a review of the single disk highlights disk, you can buy the full 6 CD box set here)

Frank Zappa on Halloween at the Palladium was iconic, even the Zappa family estate thinks so since this is the 3rd box set released following Halloween '77 and Halloween '73. Sure it is overkill and the lesser of the three box sets, but like The Grateful Dead, Frank was always evolving and has a rabid fan base who will purchase any and everything the artist ever created. 

For this run of shows the band supporting Frank was as whip-crack tight as always with Ray White on guitar, Ed Mann on percussion, Tommy Mars on keys, Steve Vai on guitar,  Scott Thunes on bass, Chad Wackerman on drums and Robert Martin on keyboards. This is the band who would record Ship To Late to Save A Drowning Witch and continue through the early 80's with Zappa before his bigger band outings later in the decade. 

Some of the bright spots from this stand alone highlights disk are the quick, bright and excellently played "Montana" that moves into the chugging "Easy Meat" which incorporates a more 80's synth vibe while remaining musically dexterous.  

"Sinister Footwear II" is more of the same high level musicianship and changes before devolving into the heavy metal stomps of "Stevie's Spanking" which showcased Vai's guitar technique. "Goblin Girl" combines Zappa humor (and love of kazoos) with the musically adventurous "The Black Page #2" ending the constructed set. The encore has the keyboard driven "Strictly Gentile" which is an album highlight before a fun requested "Whipping Post" cover which finds Ray White singing up a storm.   

Less successful are a tame version of "I'm the Slime", a rote"Joe's Garage" and a drawn out silly "The Torture Never Stops" to end the album. Unfortunately this would be Zappa's last stand at his beloved Palladium as the venue would close before he played Halloween again for the final time in 1984, this time at the Felt Forum. 

Every fan has their favorite era of Zappa's and ours is the mid to late 70's, while the 80's were OK for the zany virtuoso, things moved towards amped up cheesy synths/keyboard sounds and a less engaged all around style from the front man. 

This album takes highlights from the huge box set and flows seamlessly as it it was a show in itself and while fans will buy the full six CD sets, newcomers should look to other releases like Live in New York (RtBE's favorite Zappa) or Roxy and Elsewhere if looking for an intro into the strange world of live Zappa. 

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Support the artist, buy the album and peep some video below:

Full Show Friday: The Gap Band - Live in Houston 1981

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 Gap Band!

Let's get funky with The Gap Band live in Houston, Texas in 1981. This is the peak of the bands popularity as they were touring behind The Gap Band III. Who dropped the bomb on me indeed!

Pro Shot, Pro Sound, full set list below. Enjoy:


00:00 Introduction 00:48 When I Look In Your Eyes 03:52 Gash Gash Gash 06:35 Shake 12:40 Party Lights 17:44 You Can Count On Me 22:30 Nothing Comes To Sleepers 27:26 No Hiding Place 40:22 Oops ( I Don‘t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance) 46:39 Yearning For Your Love (Part 1) first encore 52:25 Yearning For Your Love (Part 2) second encore

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

Full Show Friday: James Brown - North Sea Jazz Festival July 11th, 1981

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...James Brown!

Our focus this month in our ongoing Masters series is James Brown.

For this installment of Full Show Friday we find he Godfather of Soul ushering in that dark period known as the 80's. Live from the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1981 comes Brown and his band. James has got some look going on this night, "Gonna Have A Funky Good Time" indeed...Pro shot pro sound full set list and information below.

Enjoy:


From the Youtube Description:
James Brown was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and bandleader. He was the creator of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance. He is known as the ""Godfather of Soul”. In a career that spanned six decades, he influenced the development of several music genres. In 1981 he performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival with his band. Tracklisting a.o.: - We Are The Funky Men - It’s Too Funky In Here - Gonna Have A Funky Good Time - Try Me - Get On The Good Foot - Georgia On My Mind - I Got The Feeling - Please Please Please - Jam - Sex Machine Also watch the 2nd concert James Brown did that same day, 11 July 1981. He really brings the audience to their feet. Also it is a different tracklisting, including ''Its' a man's world'! We will upload this concert on 17 august 2018. Watch more World of Jazz videos ► https://goo.gl/Z28cxv Join us. Subscribe now! ► https://goo.gl/n2FHaL Thanks for all your support, rating the video and leaving a comment is always appreciated! Please: respect each other in the comments. This is the official YouTube channel of World of Jazz.

Album Review: Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band - 6/5/81 Wembley, London

Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band

June 5th, 1981 Wembley, London

**** out of *****

The Site http://live.brucespringsteen.net/ has been releasing shows from Bruce's past for anyone to download and enjoy. While all of the recent shows have been recorded and uploaded, every month or so the site will dig into the archives for a blast from the past. Last month the site offered up the June 5th 1981 Wembley Stadium show and it is a behemoth; over three and a half hours of music.

This performance was during the bands six night London stand on the worldwide River Tour. The European leg was Springsteen's first shot at playing to this market and he poured his all into it, so much so that the Western European leg was delayed three weeks due to Springsteen's exhaustion from the first two legs. There is a weariness in Springsteen's voice on the selected night, but the band is whip crack tight and the (slightly) reserved Bruce lends himself to the quieter/softer numbers.

The biggest surprise of the show has to be the pacing and song placement, this is immediately evident as the concert starts with none other than "Born To Run". Springsteen and crew used this as the opener on The River Tour and it is almost as if crowds weren't prepared for it right off the bat. The guitars are low in the mix for "Prove It All Night" but gradually increase in volume as the show goes on while the "Out On The Street" is a touch sluggish not hitting the joyful high of studio or other live takes.

On the flip side the introspective "Follow That Dream" is successful with only minimal instrumentation and Bruce's raspy/weary vocals. That sense of foreboding works amazingly well for "The River", "Independence Day" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" but the lesser played "Johnny Bye-Bye" never captures the 50's rockin' sound the group were shooting for while a mid-set "I Fought The Law" feels misplaced. The emotion and seriousness embedded in Springsteen's take on Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" is hypnotic while the cover of Creedance Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop The Rain?" nails the dramatic aspects of the song.

"Badlands" is grandiose, opposite of the some of the tighter/manic performances this group of players have banged out during this number and the performance on this night is an upbeat highlight of the first set. The odd pacing however returns as Springsteen chooses to wrap up the first set with the introspective "Thunder Road", it is a wealth of riches from a song perspective, but the performance aspect of the beginning of the show never truly locks in.

The second set flows better to start as "Hungry Heart" is already crowd pleasing, "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" is revved up hip swinging rocker and both "Cadillac Ranch" and "Sherry Darling" keep the party flowing with Clarence Clemons saxophone solo in particular highlighting the last of those.

The whole show hits a cinematic high-point however in the middle of the second set as "Because The Night" steals the evening. The band uses the songs dramatic opening to capture the audience, slamming them on the notes as the effort climbs before Springsteen shreds his voice screaming the mantra into the English air; this track alone reason to download this show.

After the blistering song, the band takes some time to gain it's footing again as "I Wanna Marry You" (complete with odd static sounds), and "Point Blank" are downers and normally blazing pair of "Candy's Room" and "Ramrod" never fully coalesce. Show closer "Rosalita" contains group intro's but the band is waning a bit, needing a break to gather themselves (who wouldn't) as the second set ends.

This being Bruce Springsteen however more is never enough and the encore finds all of the players back and completely energized as "I'm A Rocker" totally captures the Jersey shore rock jangle Springsteen envisioned. The heightened poetic tale of "Jungleland" is huge in scope as the piano of Roy Bittan sings, but not as lovely as Springsteen does though on the stripped down Elvis Presley cover "Can't Help Falling In Love".

The bands "Detroit Medley" finally ends the night paying respects to Little Richard by way of Mitch Ryder and is a dynamite exclamation mark on huge night of music. The River Tour had more famous shows, and probably a few better played, but the fact that THIS is a good-to-average night in this bands life circa '81 is a huge testament in and of itself.

Springsteen and the E-Street Band are a hurricane force, June 5th, 1981 Wembley, London proves that they always blew strong; their passion and commitment to the rock and roll spirit are still palpable almost forty years later.
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Support the band, download the show and peep some video below:

Full Show Friday: Prince Live at The Ritz 1981

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...Prince!

Occasionally for our Full Show Friday series RtBE decides to dedicate the month to certain topics like showcasing random years, say 1979,  or unique live venues, like CBGB's. Sometimes we combine both like Bonnaroo 2014. This month we are focusing on live shows from the historic NYC Venue Webster Hall aka The Ritz. Enjoy!

RtBE have enjoyed many a concert at the famed Webster Hall or as it was known in the 80's, The Ritz and a few weeks ago the club played host to it's last show for sometime as it will be undergoing a long renovation. To celebrate the illustrious venue we will be dedicating September's Full Show Friday's to the club, highlighting some amazing performances. 

We kick it off with The Purple One from 1981. Prince killing it at The Ritz with his funky amalgamation of rock, soul, R&B to go along with pure sexuality. The sound is crystal clear and while the video isn't perfect it is steady and watchable, full setlist is below. Enjoy!

Setlist:
Do It All Night
Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?
Gotta Broken Heart Again
Broken
When You Were Mine
Gotta Stop (Messin' About)
Sexy Dancer
Sister
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Head
Still Waiting
Partyup
Uptown
Crazy You
Dirty Mind

Encore:
Everybody Dance
Bambi

Full Show Friday- Muddy Waters Chicagofest 1981

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...Muddy Waters!

This month RTBE will pay homage to The Blues with 5 special shows for every Friday in October. So get sad, get happy eat your greens and get the blues. 

Well since we talked about some mean old blues in Chicago last week, why not start this monthly retrospect off in the same part of the world. Let's toss it back to that fair city and one of the kings of the blues, Mr. Muddy Waters himself in Chicago at Chicagofest in 1981. 

Enjoy the blues, as Muddy welcomes Johnny Winter to join his crack band for this show. Winters had produced the last few Waters albums and is a damn fine guitarist in his own right. This is considered one of the last great performances from Waters so give it a whirl and enjoy as we start this blues month of Full Show Friday's off with a bang:

Full Show Friday: Simon and Garfunkel - The Concert In Central Park 1981

Last year we searched the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and posted them to the site monthly.  That was all well and good but this year RtBE is upping the ante with a show every week to 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)...Today, Simon & Garfunkel!!!

With the Summer Stage season kicking off next week we wanted to post one of the best summer shows we have ever heard, Simon & Garfunkel's Concert In Central Park from 1981. This is professionally shot and recorded and can be bought here if you want to own this glorious show. We have seen some cool shows in Central Park, but this one is pretty amazing, and reminds me how great these guys were.  Timeless songs, flawless harmonies, this night had it all.

Highlights include "America" which is as pure of a song as there is, the upbeat "Me & Julio Down By the Schoolyard", the "Kodachrome/Maybellene" combo, the poetic "April Come She Will"and the funky "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover".  Enjoy:
 

Monday Dead From London 3-21-1981

Well the USA pulled out a draw with our old mother country England this weekend in the opening match of the World Cup.  Green couldn't handle Clint Dempsey's shot so we got what basically amounts to a win for us, and both squads looked poised to advance now. 

 So today for the Monday Dead series I am grabbing a show from London Town.  It is from 3-21-1981, you can listen to it via that link or stream it right c'here:


This is a soundboard recording that gives you crystal clear audio.  It is impressive, so much so that you may think it was a studio recording.   This show is from the Rainbow Theater in North London, the venue has quite a history, and while now it is a church, I am pretty sure some Dead Heads saw God on this night.

The recording puts the vocals directly in the forefront of this show, with Bobby and Jerry singing right in your ear and after some levels are played with during "Alabama Getaway" the music comes in fresh, with a heavy dose of Brent and a bit low level of Phil and the low end, but overall a clean listen. 

The segue of "Me and My Uncle" and Johnny Cash's "Big River" twinkle along with energy and set up an excellent and fairly unique pairing of "Tennessee Jed">"Little Red Rooster".  This starts the highlight of the show for me as the end of the first set contains some unique pairing and playing.  A growling Garcia leads a great stroll through TJ, lazily plucking and strumming before the blues of LRR come bounding out via Bobby's slide guitar.  Maybe not quite up to the Howlin' Wolf original but a hell of an effort...

There is a bit of sound quality drop in "Little Red Rooster" we get an audience patch briefly, but I don't mind it is good to hear the audience chime in after an awesome solo.   

"Althea" comes next and I think this was the perfect early 80's song for the band.  It has a great groove, fantastic lyrics and lends itself for some solo styling, and this version is great.  It is always a pleasure to hear when it is done well and this version certainly is as Phil comes alive dropping some unique bass lines while the drumming duo step up too.  Then we get a big time "Let It Grow" Phil has been fully turned up here blasting away, and the end gets a bit spacey, ala "Playing In The Band".  Then they end the set with a usual opening pairing of "China Cat Sunflower">"I Know You Rider", Great Stuff here as the band is hitting on all cylinders (Check out the Motoring going on right around the 4:20 Mark of CCS) before the set break, almost makes you wish they kept it going.

When they came out for of the break, they pulled out another favorite of mine, "Jack Straw" and this a rollicking version.  Things get a bit slower with one of my least favorite Jerry ballads (another pops up at the end of this set), "Ship of Fools" grinding out some of the energy, but the second set really focuses on "Estimated Prophet">"Eyes of The World".  Both contain some fine, if a touch sped up, experimenting before the "Drums>Space" singals the beginning of the end of the show.  "Not Fade Away" has some nice jamming , but then I have never been a fan of "Black Peter" which pops up before "One More Saturday Night".

Overall though this is a an excellent recording of a really great show, with the highlights coming mostly at the end of the first set, give it a listen.  Enjoy.