Hidden Gem / Buried Treasure Downloads

Ok, I already featured the most popular downloads. These are among the least popular downloads on the blog, but are all really excellent shows, recordings, and performances, that are just by artists that may not be as popular or well-known. I highly recommend each of these. So, if you take the time to download and listen to them, I think you will really enjoy them. C'mon, check out these lesser-known buried treasures.

Easily one of the least downloaded artists that I have featured on this blog is Ben Folds. I was shocked by this, because he is so talented and the music is great. If you haven't heard him, you should check out at least one show. So, here is probably the best of the Folds downloads. It is a great recording (from an XM satelite radio broadcast that features Ben and his piano in a more intimate setting) and a great showcase for some of his more introspective songs. if you like this, be sure to check out his other stuff here.
Ben Folds - 2005-12-29  Loft Sessions 

Many have downloaded Joe Jackson's 1983 Rockpalast show, but only a fraction as many have downloaded this excellent soundboard recording from what I believe is Joe's best album and tour (Big World - 1986). So, here's another chance to hear Joe at his best. go ahead and compare it to the 1983 show.
Joe Jackson - 1986-10-21 - Tokyo 

The Bodeans offer great roots rock. here is a radio show from 1988.
Bodeans - 1988-4-20 Boston


The Fabulous Poodles were just a great, but short-lived band from the late '70's. If you like The Kinks and early Who, you should appreciate these guys music, style, wit, and wisdom. I wish I had more live stuff from these guys, but for now, all I can offer is this short radio show, but it is a decent introduction to the band.
 Fabulous Poodles - 1979-05-26 London 

Ian Gomm started out with Brinsley Schwarz (which also featured Nick Lowe). His first couple solo albums were pop gems, then he faded away. Check out this fine FM show from his only US tour.
Ian Gomm - 1979-11-21 SF

Earlier this year I featured several shows and compilations from the great singer-songwriter Steve Goodman. In the last Goodman post, I indicated that if you only downloaded one of his shows to check him out, that it should be the 1982-3 Houston show, which was a great recording and included some of his most clever songs. Well, evidently, few people listened to me, because this show downloaded less than most of the other Goodman shows. All of the Goodman shows are gems, but this one probably is the best overall, so please, if you haven't already, check out one of the all-time greats at what he did, Steve Goodman.
Steve Goodman - 1982-03-02 Houston 

Ok, there you go, just a few of the great hidden Gems / Buried Treasures posted on this blog. Some of the lesser-known stuff, perhaps, but great nonetheless.

Happy New Year Everyone!
thanks for your interest and support. I'll be back next year with more new stuff.

Most Popular Downloads

As one of those year-end event kind of things, here is a rundown of the most popular downloads on the blog. Not surprisingly, the list is comprised mainly of the biggest name acts I’ve posted, such as Neil Young, The Kinks, Genesis, The Who, etc., but there are also several surprises on the list. For example, I was quite surprised that boots by Procol Harum, the Band, and Jackson Browne also made the list. All of these have been downloaded more than a thousand times, which at least for this blog, is quite a lot.

Neil Young – A Perfect Echo (live rarities compilation) vol.1-4 (8-CD) vol. 5  vol.6

Genesis – Reunion Rehearsal 1982-9-29

Procol Harum – Easter Island 1969-03-15

Neil Young – Piano Songs

Neil Young – 2008 Winter Tour and Summer Tour Compilations

The Band – Academy of Outtakes 1971-12-28-31

The Band – The Complete Last Waltz 1976-11-25

Supertramp – 1975 BBC Concert

Jackson Browne – Criterion Demos

The Kinks – 1969 – Fillmore West

The Kinks – Rare Anthology Vol.1 & Vol. 2

The Kinks – Ultimate Compilation of Great Lost Kinks Album Rarities (BB-X)

The Who – This Old Lifehouse – Bootleg Compilation (BB-X)

Buffalo Springfield –The Missing Herd

BTW - BB-X indicates my own exclusive compilations, only available here.

In addition, here are several other great quality downloads, that although were not among the very most downloaded still received substantial activity (over 500 downloads each), and it was great to see somewhat lesser-known artists like The Guess Who, Little Feat, Little Village, Rockpile, and Nick Lowe get this much attention. and these are just great shows, so here are some of those downloads, too.

Little Feat - Ultrasonic Ultra (BB-X)

The Guess Who - 1974-05-06 St.Louis

Little Village - 1992-04-26 Boston

Rockpile - 1978-10-24 NY

Nick Lowe and His Noise To Go 1982-03-15 London


Next up, I'll feature some other downloads, hidden gems, that may not have been as popular, but are well-worth seeking out.

Year-End Blog Cleanup

New updated links to replace dead and broken links.

Over the next couple weeks I will be doing some year-end cleanup work around the blog, making corrections, revisions, getting things in order. The first order of business was to fix and update any non-functional download links. So I have done that now. Currently, all links on the blog should be functional. If you find any that are not, please let me know. Overall, I have been quite impressed by how few links have died over the past 2-1/2 years I have been running this blog. The policy at megaupload is that links are deleted if there are no downloads for a period of 3 months. Many of my links have remained intact and functioning for over 2 years. Pretty impressive. This isn't exactly a high traffic site, but that that implies that you folks are continuing to download most of this stuff long after the initial period of frequent downloading following a post. So thanks for your interest and support. Keep up the good work.  Here are the new updated page links for those few posts that had expired. So, if you didn't get these previously, here's your chance to get these excellent boots now.

Neil Young - Archives Be Damned 2000

Neil Young - Rock 'n Roll Cowboy

Joe Jackson - 1986-10-21 - Tokyo SBD

In addition, I have now added a blog email address if anyone wants to be able to get in touch with me outside of the post comments. the address is bbchron@gmail.com
Stay tuned for more updates, fewer mistakes, new features, and of course, more great music.

Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band - 1992-07-13 - Montreux

Ringo Starr And His All-Starr Band
1992-07-13
Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland
Complete Show (reconstructed)
SBD or FM, very good quality recording
mp3 @ 224 kbps

Last week's John Lennon post got me thinking about possible other Beatle-related offerings. Although I am a big Beatles fan, I have generally avoided posting any Beatles stuff because there is just so much already available at countless other places, that there just isn't much point posting it here. The same goes for anything by John, Paul, & George. Not so much for Ringo. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is much less demand, and thus much less Ringo stuff available. So, here is an excellent show from Ringo and his All-Starr Band from 1992, the 2nd incarnation of the ASB, and I think the best overall line-up, featuring such rock icons (and BB Chronicle favorites) as Burton Cummings, Dave Edmunds, Todd Rundgren, Nils Lofgren, and Joe Walsh, yet there have been very few recordings from this tour featuring this stellar lineup. The 1st All-Starr group (1989) also featured some top names (Levon Helm & Rick Danko from The Band, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Clarence Clemons, and Lofgren & Walsh) ) but I like the '92 group the best, and this was also the year that I saw the show, so it has special significance to me. BTW, I think that the All-Starr Band concept was a brilliant idea and marketing plan for Ringo. Combining Ringo with several other rock icons from the '70's and '80's, each of whom have a following, but also probably unable to draw big crowds on their own, was just a great idea. That way Ringo could perform some of his best-known songs, and each of the All-Starrs get a chance to lead and play a couple of their big hits, and everyone is happy. Essentially, they took Ringo, who for many would be considered a somewhat marginal concert act (Hey, I love Ringo, but can you really see paying big bucks to see a 1-1/2 to 2 hr concert consisting of only Ringo songs?), and made his tour into a must-see concert event. This concept has kept Ringo viable as a concert act for decades. Over the years, Ringo has toured with 11 different All-Starr Bands, right up to 2010. Granted, some of the more recent lineups haven't been quite as stellar (Mark Farner? Simon Kirke? Eric Carmen? Gary Wright?), although they still have featured some A-list icons, such as Gary Brooker (of Procol Harum), Greg Lake, and Roger Hodgson. 
This show, from the Montreux Jazz Fest, comes primarily from an Italian boot (Resurrection), which had very good sound, but unfortunately only included 16 of the 25 songs played at the show. Through various other sources (including some of the same songs from different shows), I have cobbled together a reasonable reconstruction of the complete show (all 25 songs). When I saw this (very similar) show in '92, it was great. It was not only an opportunity to see Ringo live, but also Cummings, Edmunds, Rundgren, and Lofgren, some favorites of mine that I never got to see in their prime years. And here we get Cummings doing 'No Time' and 'American Woman', Edmunds doing 'Girls Talk' and 'I Hear You Knocking', along with Ringo's songs and goofy charm (although why Walsh does 'Desperado'-which is not even his song, and on piano yet, is very strange indeed). So here is Ringo & his All-Starr Band.
 
tracklist
01 - I'm The Greatest
02 - The No No Song
03 - No Time (Cummings)
04 - Girl Talk (Edmunds)
05 - Rocky Mountain Way (Walsh)
06 - I Can't Tell You Why (Schmit)
07 - Shine Silently (Lofgren)
08 - Bang On The Drum (Rundgren)
09 - Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go
10 - Yellow Submarine
11 - Desperado (Walsh, piano - solo)
12 - One World (Rundgren - solo)
13 - Keep On Trying (Schmit)
14 - Wiggle (Cappello)
15 - Black Maria (Rundgren)
16 - In The City (Walsh)
17 - You're Sixteen
18 - Weight Of The World
19 - Walkin' Nerve (Lofgren)
20 - I Hear You Knocking (Edmunds)
21 - American Woman (Cummings)
22 - Boys
23 - Photograph
24 - Act Naturally
25 - With A Little Help From My Friends

Ringo's All-Starr Band 1992 (2nd version)
Ringo Starr - drums, vocals
Joe Walsh - guitar, keyboards, talk box, vocals
Nils Lofgren - guitar, vocals
Todd Rundgren - guitar, drums, vocals
Dave Edmunds - guitar, vocals
Burton Cummings - keyboards, guitar, tambourine, harmonica, vocals
Timothy B. Schmit - bass, vocals
Zak Starkey - drums
Timmy Cappello - saxophone, percussion, vocals

New Link! (Updated 10/3/21)
Ringo_Starr_-_1992_Montreux_Jazz_Festival.rar

John Lennon - 1972-08 One to One Concert Rehearsal & KBFH excerpts

John Lennon
1972-08-30
One to One Rehearsals & KBFH concert excerpts
Madison Square Gardens, New York
mp3 @ 320

It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years since John Lennon was so abruptly taken from all of us. There have been many tributes and remembrances, and there are are countless recordings of Lennon outtakes, sessions, demos, and home recordings available around the music blogs. I had hoped to include some actual live shows from the great man here, but was astonished to find that there really aren't any. Since his Beatle's days, Lennon only made a few live appearances, and apparently only one full length concert (the One to One Concert, 1972-08-30 - NY). And these live appearances have all been officially released (such as Live Peace in Toronto, Live in NY City, various Live tracks on Anthology, etc.). I had no idea he made so few live shows and appearances, what a tragic shame that we lost him so young. Anyway, here is the best I could come up with, a rehearsal session for the One to One Concert, and a few tracks from the actual One to One show featured on the King Biscuit Flower Hour, that were not included in the 'Live in NY City' or 'Anthology' albums (there were 2 shows on 8/30/72, an afternoon and evening show, most of the released album came from the afternoon show). So, here is to the legendary John Lennon, may he rest in peace.

Tracks:
One to one rehearsal (unknown date)
1. One-To-One Concert Radio Spot
2. New York City
3. It's So Hard
4. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World
5. Instrumental
6. Well, Well, Well
7. Instant Karma
8. Mother
9. Come Together
10. Cold Turkey
11. Medley: Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog
12. Send Me Some Lovin'
13. Roll Over Beethoven
14. Medley: Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On/It'll Be Me
15. On The Caribbean
16. Well (Baby Please Don't Go)

1972-08-30 KBFH concert excerpts
17. KBFH Intro
18. Mother
19. Imagine
20. Give Peace A Chance

New Link! (Updated 10/3/21)
John_Lennon_-_One_to_One_Rehearsals__KBFH_show.rar

Chicago - 1998-12-08 - Los Angeles, Christmas Show

Chicago
1998-12-08
Christmas Show
House Of Blues, Los Angeles, CA Pre-FM recording, excellent quality.
New! Now upgraded quality Mp3@320 kbps

Sorry for the scarcity of posts in recent weeks, just been very busy. But here is something to make the transition from my recent Chicago-related posts to the current Holiday season. It's a Christmas concert from Chicago, around the time of the release of their 1998 Christmas album, Chicago 25. This album was warmly received by fans, not only because it was about time they released some Christmas tunes, but mainly because the album marked a return to the more classic Chicago sound and horn arrangements, rather than the softer more ballad-heavy sound featured for much of the '80's and '90's. And they really did it right, too. This was not just an exercise of Chicago half-heartedly playing some Christmas songs. Instead, they gave the songs the full Chicago treatment, with interesting and innovative reimaginings of the standard Christmas songs, spirited and funky horn arrangements, and the whole works. Thus, Chicago gave us a classic Christmas rock album. Featured here is an excellent quality radio broadcast from their December 1998 LA House of Blues show, where we get a mixture of their Christmas songs and their classic hits. Overall an excellent show. 

 
Tracklist
01 Intro
02 Little Drummer Boy
03 You're The Inspiration
04 The Christmas Song
05 Hard Habit To Break
06 Let It Snow!
07 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
08 Saturday In The Park
09 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
10 Just You N' Me
11 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
12 Hard To Say I'm Sorry > Get Away
13 Credits

Lineup:
Jason Scheff - lead vocals, bass
Bill Champlin - lead vocals, keyboards, organ
Robert Lamm - lead vocals, keyboards
Lee Loughnane - lead vocals on Let It Snow, trumpet
Keith Howland - guitars
Walt Parazaider - saxaphone
Jimmy Pankow - trombone
Tris Imboden - drums

New Link! ( Updated 09/29/23)
Chicago_-_1998-12-08_-LA_Christmas_Show.rar