30 Days of Dead Returns for November

We started our month long tribute to Phil Lesh yesterday, but forgot to mention the return of 30 Days of Dead, the free guessing game and MP3 downloads return, check it out here: The Grateful Dead's 30 Day's of Dead.

30 Days of Dead Returns for November

It is Novemeber 1st, which means the free guessing game and MP3 downloads return with The Grateful Dead's 30 Day's of Dead.

From the band themselves:

The rumors are true! Each day in November we give away a high-quality MP3 download. That's 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, selected by Dead archivist and producer David Lemieux. Intrigued? We're also going to put your knowledge to the test and give you the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.

If you've been here before, jump right in with the link below. If you need a little refresher, here's how it all goes down:

You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70's show? Each day we'll post a free download from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were warming it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? Step right up and try your hand all November long and win prizes while you're at it.

Guess the venue and date correctly and you'll be automatically entered to win the prize of the day - a 2024 Grateful Dead Wall Calendar. Each day a winner will be selected at random, so take your time and make your best guess! Answer correctly and you will also be automatically entered to win the Grand Prize - a copy of our SOLD OUT HERE COMES SUNSHINE 1973 boxed set.

Check it out every day this month or come back at the end and download them all. To get started here is a great version of today's first song "Comes A Time" and RtBE favorite from the group: 

30 Days of Dead Returns for November

It started yesterday, 30 Days of Dead has returned for 2022.

For those who are unaware, everyday throughout November the Grateful Dead do this:

We hope you've been brushing up on your live Grateful Dead and making room on all your devices because we're about to drop a motherload of high-quality MP3 downloads on you. Yes, there will once again be 30 days of unreleased Grateful Dead tracks from the vault, one for every day in November, selected by archivist and producer David Lemieux. The tracks are yours, no strings attached, but we hope you’ll stick around for the challenge and the chance to win some sweet swag from the Dead.


You know your Ables from your Bakers from your C's, but can your finely tuned ears differentiate the cosmic "comeback" tour from a spacey 70s show? Each day we'll post a song from one of the Dead's coveted shows. Will it be from that magical night at Madison Square Garden in '93 or from way back when they were just starting to warm it up at Winterland? Is that Pigpen's harmonica we hear? Brent on keys? If you think you know, lob your answer in and you just might find yourself taking home our daily prize of a 2023 Grateful Dead wall calendar or the grand prize - both, YES BOTH - of this year's coveted boxed sets, Lyceum '72: The Complete Recordings [24LP] and In And Out Of The Garden: Madison Square Garden ’81, ’82, ’83 (Dead.net Exclusive)[17CD]!

Getting 30 Dead tunes for free, gifts for guessing correctly, and allowing super fans to test their knowledge is a fun way to pass the month. So head on over and enjoy. 

They started the month off with a version of "Passenger" (RtBE has no idea the year or performance), so here is a different ripping version of a Dead tune that is quickly becoming one of our favorites, form one of the best Dead releases ever, Dicks Picks #18.       

30 Days of the Grateful Dead Returns

For the last few years the folks over at Dead.net have been hosting 30 Days of Dead during the month of November and it continues again this year. The site will hold a contest and post various live tunes from the group, available for free download every day. 

Head on over and grab a new tune every day from the archives. To get pumped here is a rousing version of "Bertha" live from the 4/12/78 concert at Duke University. 

Free Download PHISH LIVE BAIT VOL. 17

With their summer tour kicking off tonight Phish has released the newest version of their free download series, Live Bait Vol 17

Go over to live phish to grab it. 

A few months back we came across the 7/3/00 show from the E-Center in Camden, NJ and enjoyed reliving the night. It was a good show, but not one that particularly stuck out in our memory, outside of the insane downpour we were caught in and the mudslinging down the lawn. 

When diving back in though the "Runaway Jim" and the "Sand" from that night got immensely better upon re-listen and are now two of our favorite versions of those songs that we return to often. 

Phish liked it as well including Jim on this version of Live Bait. Below are both of those two from the show.

Album Review: Lil Wayne - No Ceilings 3 (B Side)

Lil Wayne

No Ceilings 3 (B Side)

**and 1/2 out of *****

Lil Wayne has been performing for decades and released some solid records, but perhaps his peak came with the release of his 2009 mixtape No Ceilings. The album was a tour-de-force as Wayne used beats from everyone from Gucci Mane to Fabolous and owned each and every tune with a confidence via X-Rated assaults and humor. He continued the series in 2015 with No Ceilings 2 and now comes the newest installment of No Ceilings 3 (B Side).  

The best song on either of the No Ceiling 3 albums comes first here as Wayne and Big Sean both sound like they have something to prove over "Tyler Herro"'s flute accented beats. The pumping lyrics and earnest of the opener stands in stark contrast to the majority of the record which slips back into the minimalist modern R&B thin sound that has overtaken recent hip-hop. 

"Layaway", "Ring Ring", and "Burner" all feature this dull style with auto tuned slowed down Wayne over forgettable thin beats while "Throat Baby" does the same thing but makes a porno out of it with Rich The Kid on board to make it a threesome.

"Low Down" is a flow of consciousness from the warped mind of Wayne that once again proves there are wild words bouncing around his head while "Peanut Butter" has the skittering trap beats but Wayne just slams right through the sound to show off his skills in grand standing fashion not caring about the beat. "Pop Off" is a crisp adventure over "Down Bad" with Wayne sounding powerful while album "Sum 2 Prove" stutters it's way back into the strip club around the original by Lil Baby. 

Wayne takes precautions and makes an effort to always sound like what is currently going on in hip hop, always following trends rather than starting them so the mixtape style is where he excels. No Ceilings 3 (B Side) is shorter, more streamlined and thus more successful than the A-Side but it still represents the modern state of hip hop feeling sluggish, stale and light musically. 

Lil Wayne still expertly plays with vocabulary, but unlike the original entry of this mixtape series, no song redefines the original or invigorates the listener to get down or even revisit once it concludes.

_____________________________________

Support the artists, buy the album and peep some video:

Album Review: Lil Wayne - No Ceilings 3 (A Side)

Lil Wayne

No Ceilings 3 (A Side)

** out of *****

Lil Wayne has been performing for decades and released some solid records, but perhaps his peak came with the release of his 2009 mixtape No Ceilings. The album was a tour-de-force as Wayne used beats from everyone from Gucci Mane to Fabolous and owned each and every tune with a confidence via X-Rated assaults and humor.   

He continued the series in 2015 with No Ceilings 2 and now comes the next installment of No Ceilings 3 (A Side). The record isn't as varied or consistent as past entries into the series and Wayne, while still stringing together a few dazzling lines, doesn't deliver a memorable or lively full length listen. 

The album opens with DJ Kahled shouting out Wayne and himself, playing like an old school mixtape as the flow of consciousnesses lyric stream spill out over the depressing beats of "V8". Wayne is rhyming strongly as he keeps dropping line after line before Drake joins for "BB King Freestyle".

The best track on the whole record is Weezy's take on Jay-Z's "Takeover" as he uses the big beats to boast with the best of them. It is one of the few upbeat tracks on the record which pumps up the energy. After the tune the record dips into more morose inner looking tracks from Drake, Pop Smoke and Future.   

Wayne is not at his strongest throughout but a fun guest spot from Euro, HoodyBaby & Gudda Gudda on "Church" punch things up while YD and Cory Gunz show up to enliven "3 Headed Goat". Tracks like the overloaded auto-tuned minimalist R&B of "Deep End" and skittering stop start of "2 Diamonds".

Lil Wayne's favorite guests on the album have to be his sons as  Lil Tune joins for "Fl4m3$", Young Carter, on the piano laced "Hollywood" and Young Kam Carter who shows up for "Kam" as all them mimick his dads style. "Afro" uses the bass heavy slow bounce of "No Dribble" from DaBaby to end the album on a positive note.   

Wayne takes precautions and makes an effort to always sound like what is currently going on in hip hop, always following trends rather than starting them so the mixtape style is where he excels. Unfortunately No Ceilings 3 (A Side) represents the modern state of hip hop feeling sluggish, stale and light musically. Lil Wayne still expertly plays with vocabulary, but no song here redefines the original or invigorates the listener to get down or even revisit once it concludes.      

_____________________________

Support the artists, buy the album and peep some video:

Happy 7th Anniversary to Angels & Vagabonds Debut

Hard to believe @angelsvagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP seven years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last fifteen plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and the whole band are still very proud of the final result.

From the cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen, to the contributions of everyone involved The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do that now.

You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening to my music.

 

Angels & Vagabonds Anyways... Released Five Years Ago Today

RtBE not only writes about music, but also creates some. We are proud that Angels & Vagabonds acoustic EP titled Anyways... Turns five years old today.

It is exciting to go from critic/reviewer of music, to creator of tunes. Special thanks also goes out to our friends who helped out and while it has been a few years since a release from the band, more music is on the way...

You can stream Anyways... below and you can also go here and download the album for free (or any donation you would like). The album is also available on Spotify, Youtube, Itunes AMI Jukeboxes and elsewhere. Thanks for listening and reading.

Happy 6th Anniversary to Angels & Vagabonds Debut Release

Hard to believe @angelsvagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP six years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last fifteen plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and the whole band are still very proud of the final result.

From the cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen to the contributions of everyone involved The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do that now.

You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening to my music.

Happy 5th Anniversary to The A&V EP from Angels & Vagabonds

Hard to believe @angelsvagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP five years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last ten plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and five years removed, I am still very proud of the final result.

From the cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen to the contributions of everyone involved The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do the same now.

You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening.

Album Review: Lil Wayne - Dedication 6

Lil Wayne

Dedication 6

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

The sixth installment of Lil Wayne's mix-tape series Dedication comes while his fan base are still waiting for the elusive Tha Carter V to drop, something that seems more and more likely to never happen at this point.

Wayne has been through a lot, too much to really mention here, with labels, shootings, arrests, etc. however the good news is that Weezy's rhymes and flows on Dedication 6 are (for the most part) strong and prove that he still possess a ton of ridiculous word play and shit to say. All verses, few choruses, Wayne opens his mind and dumps it out on these beats of current popular songs.

When he rambles it is something to behold and it often moves into kooky places on Dedication 6, with the same areas being explored again and again (sex rhymes, drug rhymes, bathroom humor and boasts) while rarely sounding tired or rehashed. In fact he outshines every single guest he invites to join him including mega stars Drake on "Family Feud" and Niki Minaj during "5 Star", their version of "Rockstar". The best guests are Euro and Cory Gunz showing up to twist "Phone Jumpin'" into "Let Em All In" that features Wayne's least inspired verse on the mix-tape.

Overall Dedication 6 fails to these ears, not because of Wayne, but because of the sorry state of hip-hop beats. Nothing here is exciting, engaging or remotely memorable. If these are the best beats the master (all be it aging master) of the mix-tape has to currently work with, the industry has an issue.

However, Tunechi is an artist who never really needs bumping, inventive or even good beats. Wayne himself does all of the heavy lifting with these lines from "Bank Account" using a lackluster 21 Savage beat:

Wait, I just popped a Perc/ Another for dessert/ I washed it down with syrup/ I just left planet Earth/ Ran into Captain Kirk/ I pop a Perc, I'm trippy/ Call me Perc Nowitzki/ Just call her Lewinsky

or "Fly Away" his take on Kendrick Lamar's "DNA":

Shark bite to a flounder/ Bar fight to a bouncer, wait/ All Franks like Sinatra/ Face been painted, they ain't never clowned him/ Everybody rakin' cash like it's autumn/ Y'all boys sweeter than Whatchamacallit/ All y'all take a seat on this toilet

This isn't his best work by any stretch (for RtBE's money that is No Ceilings) but fans of Wayne  will take these moments of smile inducing hilarity as a step in a positive direction.

While the Free Weezy Album had the amazing "Glory" on it and very little else, Dedication 6 is a more solid listen with regards to Wayne's rhymes, but nothing comes close to that high point; in fact no song here is must listen. Unlike past mix-tape efforts, Wayne doesn't claim any of these beats as his own. It does however keep Weezy breathing and relevant until the next mix-tape, because we all know V isn't coming out in 2018 right? 
______________________________________________________________
Support the artist, download the mix tape and peep some video below:

Happy 4th Birthday to The A&V EP!

Hard to believe @angelsvagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP four years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last ten plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and four years removed, I am still very proud of the final result.

From the cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen to the contributions of everyone involved The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do the same now.

You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening.

Full Show Friday: Pearl Jam 8/27/2000 SPAC Saratoga, NY

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...Pearl Jam!

August is a special month for us here at RtBE and the main reason why is the perfect little upstate New York town of Saratoga which blooms in full each summer. Live music at the gorgeous Saratoga Performing Arts Center is a major reason for that affection, so this month we will be picking shows from SPAC to present for our Full Show Fridays. 

Now that we got rid of that dreck from last week (Editors Note: Easy...) we can all agree on the greatness of this band. Pearl Jam are American rock royalty and they bang out some damn satisfying music under starry skies. 

This one is extra special because we were there. Another RtBE favorite Sonic Youth opened the set (wish that video was here) as they were touring behind their NYC Ghost and Flowers album. That was never one of our favorites, but the band still played old classics like "Teenage Riot", "Bull In The Heather" and "100%" . PJ even tipped their hat to NYC avant-rockers during "Daughter" and added a bit of SY noise-rock in one of favorite tunes of theirs, "rearviewmirror". 

For the main act the band seemed to put extra aggression into things to start before becoming nuanced later in the set. This was a long show, and one of my favorite memories was hearing "Yellow Ledbetter" wafting over the gorgeous grounds of the State Park with my friend Don who insisted we hit this show (Thank You!). This show reignited my love for the band and while the recording is on a video camera and a bit shaky the sound is excellent for a 2000 outdoor venue. 

Amazingly you can also download this full show over at the Internet Archive for free, keeping a lasting copy of this night. We did. Enjoy:

    

Support the band:
http://pearljam.com/activism/vitalogy...
http://pearljam.com/goods/

August 27, 2000
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Springs, NY

Breakerfall
Whipping
Spin the Black Circle
Hail Hail
Corduroy
In My Tree
Dissident
Given to Fly
Nothing As It Seems
Grievance
Light Years
Daughter/(Beginning to See the Light)(WMA)(Androgynous Mind)
Lukin
MFC
Wishlist
Better Man
Even Flow
Insignificance
Rearviewmirror
---
Sleight of Hand
Do The Evolution
Once
Timeless Melody
Small Town
Leatherman
Porch
---
Soon Forget
Black
Yellow Ledbetter/(Nobody's Fault But Mine)

Free Marco Benevento Live Album: Masquerade Ball

The keyboard wizard Marc Benevento is graciously releasing a free live album on Royal Potato Family Records. 

Click Here to Download

From Benevento himself in regards to this night of music up in Burlington, VT on April 4th 2015:

"This was great night! We'd been touring the record (Swift) for about seven months so the energy was high onstage. Plus, it was Signal Kitchen's Masquerade Ball show, so everyone in the audience was wearing masks and looking freaky,” remembers Benevento. "Our friend even came up on stage and danced for an extended 'Limbs Of A Pine.' Oh, and it was a full moon, oh geez, yes, you can hear it all here. We tested out two new tunes that will be on our upcoming record and we wound up, on a whim, segueing 'RISD' and 'Let's Spend The Night Together' (the Bowie version) at the end of the show. That even surprised us while we were playing through it!"

The last time we talked about MB here we highlighted his duet set with Stanton Moore, the more we hear and see him playing the keys the more we dig him and his easy style. Grab the album and check out the man in some video and album previews below:

Streaming Album: Angels & Vagabonds- Anyways...

Well it is with great excitement we can share the newest EP from Angels & Vagabonds titled Anyways...

The album is important to us because, well, we are in the band. As we said last year with our first EP, it is exciting to go from critic/reviewer of music to creator of tunes.

You can stream the album below and you can also go here and download the album for free (or any donation you would like) 

Free Mp3's: 30 Days of Grateful Dead Download

Here is a free gift after the nonsense of spending spree's that went on this weekend. The Grateful Dead do their annual contest called 30 Days of Dead in November allowing old time fans to guess the versions of tunes. Now they are all here for you to download and listen to (Scroll down to the bottom to download them all in one shot).

The 30 Days of Dead offering is an interesting one as most fans of the band are stuck on shows not jumping from around from different eras, at least that's never how I listen to them. In past years we have been all over this, but we haven't given the good ol' Grateful Dead much love on RtBE in 2014. While we don't listen to them that often they sound is kinda always playing in our heads which is nice. 

Enjoy the download and peep some video of the fella's, one acoustic, one electric:

Continuing the Halloween Spirit Through Tunes

On of the best blogs out there, WFMU's Rock and Soul Ichiban has put together a great collection of Halloween inspired tunes and playlists. 

They have crafted one dealing with ghosts which you directly download here. Another that tackles vampires and you can grab that one here directly as well. Both of these are fantastic and as always Ichiban gives us old songs that are brand new to us...and are also flat out awesome! I mean how could we have missed The Bar-Kay's "Holy Ghost" for all of these years?

Damn that is some funky stuff. WFMU Rock and Soul Ichiban always delivers the goods, but this year they got some help from their friends over at Fringe Factory who offered up a Halloween themed show themselves right here.

There isn't enough time in the day to hear all these great tunes that the people over there dig up, but we can always try to listen to it all. Here are a few songs that jumped out to us from these shows/free downloads:
The Pastel Six: "The Strange Ghost"

The Primates "The Creep"

The Upsetters "The Vampire"

Virgil Holmes "Ghost Train"

Album Review: Gary Clark Jr.- Blak and Blu The Mixtape

Gary Clark Jr. 

Blak and Blu The Mixtape

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

Bursting on the scene playing electric blues made Gary Clark Jr. famous and a Grammy winner but from his very first interviews he tried not to pigeon hole himself as a one trick pony. He constantly  name dropped hip-hop, pop, soul and rock artists as influences. This remix album is a common extension of that, as well as one that he hopes expands his fan base.

Blak and Blu The Mixtape is to be listened to straight through with various producers and MC's contributing to Clark's tunes. The work is a presented by D-Nice and is a free download acting as a extension/placeholder between albums. Big KRIT comes out for a verse off of the relaxed title track and provides his remix skills to swamp up "When My Train Pulls In" winningly moving things into a different, intriguing, direction from the original.

The vibe gets deep and the voodoo shakes for "Numb" as Bilal helps out with some vocals/playing and the disk closer sees Alice Smith spice up "Please Come Home" with some incredibly sultry vocal work.

Talib Kweli returns the favor of Clark playing on his last release by stopping by and dropping the most energetic rhyme on this digital mixtape during Clark's "Bright Lights". A bonus track called "Soul" is a slow jam outtake strictly from Clark and it is a pleasant journey with some delicate bass work proving Clark has more to offer then just the blues.   
___________________________________________________________________
When we posted a live show from Gary a few weeks ago we found out about this April release.

Support the Artist here, download this album here and peep some video below:

Album Review: Teen Hustle- Radio Spies

Teen Hustle

Radio Spies

*** out of *****

From the brain of John Sullivan comes Teen Hustle's first release Radio Spies with Sullivan singing playing guitar and bass while Matt Heroman slams the drums. The group has a link to indie/noise/pop groups of the late 80's and early 90's with acts like Dinosaur Jr. Afghan Wigs and more recently Kurt Vile getting shout outs. 

The group amps up the level of feedback and noise but keeps the songs out of the avant-garde realm. A highlight rocker is "Gossip" which motors along with upbeat drumming and floating vocals. A clanging repetition marks "One Day We Will Look Back At This And Laugh" while the opening title track "Radio Spies" pushes upward towards the arena rock ceiling.

"Off To" has a positive vibe through it with soaring vocals and "Darling One's" contains a smiling pop atmosphere. "Spring's Derision" showcases a rhythmic groove before closer "Sweeney, Matt" closes things with rising tempo builds, layers of 6 strings and pounding drums.

A confident first effort from the duo who float in alterna-rock waters down at the mouth of the Mississippi.  
__________________________________________________________________
The last of our NOLA bandcamp finds in honor of the city and Jazzfest. There is so much variety in that town it is crazy, Teen Hustle is probably the one closest to home for RtBE so we figured we would ease back into our regularly scheduled broadcasting with it. Stay tuned for our famous Sazerwrap of the festival coming soon...now we need to recover.

Support the artist here, grab the album here or stream it below: