Golden Smog - 2006-09-19 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL

Golden Smog
2006-09-19
Vic Theater, Chicago, IL
 FM Broadcast recording, very good quality
Available in both lossless (FLAC) and mp3 (320 kbps) versions

Here's one more show from Golden Smog, this one from the later incarnation of the Smog which got back together in 2005, and recorded and released 2 more albums (Another Fine Day-2006 and Blood on the Slacks-2007). By this time Jeff Tweedy was only an occasional member of the band. Fortunately, this recording was one of those occasions, a broadcast recording from a Chicago show that featured Jeff along with the rest of the band performing songs from their new album, as well as their previous songs and select covers. So, here's another chance to check out  Golden Smog. One last note: I need to make a shout out to John at Ousterhout.net for making these files (and so many others) available in high quality. All these Golden Smog shows came from there, and he has many other unique and hard to find artists and shows. But for now, here's Golden Smog.

Tracklist:
01 Looking Forward to Seeing You
02 You Make It Easy
03 V
04 To Call My Own #
05 Easy To Be Hard
06 Can't Keep From Talking
07 Long Time Ago
08 Glad and Sorry
09 Ill Fated
10 5-22-02
11 Never Felt Before
12 Starman
13 Frying Pan Eyes

14 Hurricane
15 Won't Be Coming Home
16 Band Intro - Red Headed Stepchild
17 Beautiful Mind
18 If I Only Had A Car
19 Corvette
-- encores:
20 Radio King
21 Until You Came Along

Lineup:
Gary Louris - guitar, keyboards, vocals
Marc Perlman - bass
Dan Murphy - guitar, vocals
Kraig Johnson - guitar, vocals
Jeff Tweedy - guitar, vocals
Sim Cain - drums
? - horns
Blake Hurlbert - tambourine
Jim Boquist - guitar ?#

mp3 - Golden Smog_2006-09-19_Chicago_mp3.rar
link updated 2/5/2024

FLAC - Golden Smog_2006-09-19_Chicago_FLAC.rar

Golden Smog - 1996-04-18 - Carrboro, NC

Golden Smog
April 18, 1996
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC
Soundboard/Audience matrix recording, good quality
Available in both lossless (FLAC) and mp3 (320 kbps) versions

Here's more from Golden Smog, this one a couple years earlier, on their first real tour, promoting their first full-length album, Down By the Old Mainstream. It features a mix of their original songs and some choice covers, including songs from Bowie, The Stones, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe, and even Charlie Rich). If you are at all a fan of alt.country, country-rock, Wilco, The Jayhawks, or bands of that kind, you definitely need to check out Golden Smog. Great stuff that generally flew under the radar of most people (including me) for a long time.

Tracklist:
01 intro
02 V
03 Ill Fated
04 Glad and Sorry
05 Yesterday Cried
06 Walk Where He Walked
07 Signed D.C.* (Love)
08 Backstreet Girl* (Rolling Stones)
09 Nowhere Bound
10 (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (Nick Lowe)
11 He's a Dick
12 Pecan Pie
13 Friend
14 Hanging on the Telephone (The Nerves, Blondie)
15 The Most Beautiful Girl* (Charlie Rich)
16 Won't Be Coming Home
17 Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson)
18 Red Headed Stepchild

19 Radio King*
20 She Don't Have to See You (To See Through You) (Bobby Patterson)
21 Five Years (David Bowie)
22 Powderfinger (Neil Young)
23 I Don't Care (??)

Gary Louris -- guitar, vocals
Jeff Tweedy -- guitar, bass, vocals
Dan Murphy -- guitar, vocals
Kraig Johnson -- guitar, vocals
Marc Perlman -- bass
Noah Levy -- drums
* Jesse Greene -- violin

FLAC - Golden Smog_1996-04-18_CarrboroNC_FLAC.rar

mp3 - Golden Smog_1996-04-18_CarrboroNC_mp3.rar
link updated 02/05/2024

Golden Smog - 1998-12-12 - First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN

Golden Smog
December 12th, 1998
First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
Soundboard recording, very good quality
Available in both Lossless (FLAC) and mp3 (320kbps) versions



This band was something of a revelation for me. Although it has been around (on and off) for over 20 years, and is comprised of well-established musicians from some well-known other bands (Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, Wilco, etc.), all of which I also like, I was completely unaware that this band existed until a couple months ago. Then after I got a chance to hear some of their music, I was even more surprised that I had never heard them before, because they are right up my alley, and I really enjoy their stuff. This band may just be something of a low-key side project for these guys, but they make some very entertaining, thoroughly enjoyable music. OK then, for others out there who also may not be aware of these guys, Golden Smog started way back around 1989 when a fluid assortment of musicians from various Minneapolis-area bands got together to hang out, jam, and have fun performing cover songs at area clubs. By 1992, the lineup had settled to include Dan Murphy and Dave Pimer (of Soul Asylum), Gary Louris and Marc Perlman (of The Jayhawks), Kraig Johnson (of Run Westy Run), and drummer Chris Mars (of The Replacements), with the band playing primarily alternative country-rock covers of a wide variety of songs, with a loose and ragged style. They even released an EP , entitled On Golden Smog (with band members using various pseudonyms) of some of their covers. As they went on, they started adding in some original songs as well. By 1995, Mars left, replaced by Noah Levy (of the Honeydogs), and Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) also joined in, and they began work on their first-length album consisting of mostly original material, which was released in 1996 and titled Down by the Old Mainstream. Also around this time, they also started some touring outside of the Minneapolis area. After changing drummers again, now adding Jody Stephens (of Big Star), they released their 2nd full-length original album, Weird Tales, in 1998, and by now they really seemed like a full-fledged band, and what a fine album this is. After some years of inactivity, they got back together in 2005, releasing 2 more albums, Another Fine Day (2006) and Blood on the Slacks (2007). Although all of the members were full-time members of other (more famous) bands, the albums don't seem to be in any way second-rate or afterthoughts, but rather just have a different feel and style from their primary bands. I don't know of any plans for further Golden Smog albums, but I wouldn't be surprised to see or hear of some form of Golden Smog performing and recording again. This is a great-sounding recording from 1998, after Weird Tales was released, from one of the Minneapoils clubs where they started, First Avenue, with a wonderfully eclectic set featuring original songs from their albums and some entertaining and diverse covers (from Elvin Bishop to Neil Young to Split Enz). So great to hear a band like this, with its mix of well-known musicians, but no egos, very low-key, and just playing what they want, for the enjoyment of it.  I hope others find out about and enjoy these guys like I did.

Tracklist:
01 Looking Forward To Seeing You
02 Ill Fated
03 Won't Be Coming Home
04 Lost Love
05 Making Waves
06 White Shell Road
07 To Call My Own
08 Glad and Sorry
09 V
10 He's a Dick
11 Walk Where He Walked
12 Keys
13 I Can't Keep From Talking
14 Jennifer Save Me
15 Pecan Pie
16 Fooled Around and Fell in Love
17 All The Same To Me
18 If I Only Had a Car
19 Until You Came Along
- Encores
20 Radio King
21 Please Tell My Brother
22 Hurricane
23 Revolution Blues
24 Reflections on Me
25 I Got You
26 Spooky

lineup:
Gary Louris - vocals/guitar
Dan Murphy - vocals/guitar
Jeff Tweedy - vocals/guitar
Kraig Johnson - vocals/guitar
Marc Perlman - bass/guitar
Jessy Greene - violin
Jody Stephens - drums

mp3 - Golden Smog_1998-12-12_Minneapolis_mp3.part1.rar
Golden Smog_1998-12-12_Minneapolis_mp3.part2.rar
links updated 2/5/2024

FLAC - Golden Smog_1998-12-12_Minneapolis_FLAC.rar

They Might Be Giants - 1990-02-28 - Vienna, Austria

They Might Be Giants
1990-02-28
Vienna, Austria
FM Broadcast recording, very good quality
mp3 @ 320 kbps

Hers's one more from TMBG, still from their earlier days, but a couple year's later, around the time of the release of their third (and breakthrough) album, Flood. It's interesting to hear the Flood songs as they were originally performed live at the time, compared to the recent live versions of these same songs, as they are now performed, in the Flood Live album download (posted last month). This is a very good european FM broadcast recording.
 
Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. Lie Still, Little Bottle
03. Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
04. Youth Culture Killed My Dog
05. Kiss Me, Son Of God
06. Ana Ng
07. Your Racist Friend
08. Particle Man.
09. Lucky Ball and Chain
10. Whistling in the Dark
11. Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
12. (She Was A) Hotel Detective
13. Where Your Eyes Don't Go
14. Birdhouse in Your Soul
15. Cowtown
16. Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
17. DJ Outro

Link Updated 01/15/25
They Might be Giants_1990-02-28_Vienna.rar

They Might Be Giants - 1987-12-31 - New York, NY

They Might Be Giants
1987-12-31
Gusto House, New York, NY
Soundboard recording, good quality
mp3 @ 320 kbps

Here's more from the early days of They Might Be Giants. Here is a New Year's Eve set in a New York Club from 1987, featuring songs from their first 2 albums.

Tracklist::
1. Kiss Me, Son of God
2. Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
3. For Science
4. Cage and Aquarium
5. It's Not My Birthday
6. The World's Address
7. Auld Lang Syne
8. Piece of Dirt
9. Alienation's For the Rich
10. Why Does the Sun Shine?
11. My Funny Valentine
12. Lie Still, Little Bottle

Updated 01/15/25
They Might Be Giants - 1987-12-31 - New York.rar

They Might Be Giants - 1985 Demo Tape

They Might Be Giants
1985 Demo Tape (First recordings)
Soundboard recordings, very good quality
mp3 @ 320 kbps


Here's  more from TMBG, this time going back to the very beginning of the band. This is a collection of demo recordings that were never officially released commercially, but were sold by the band as a cassette tape at their early shows in 1985-1986. Most of the tracks would later appear (in re-recorded versions) on the band's first official album, They Might be Giants (pink album) later in 1986, a few others on their second album, Lincoln, in 1987, and a few more that did not make it on any album. It's interesting to hear these earlier versions of some familiar TMBG songs. In some cases, the versions of the songs were re-recorded with almost the exact same arrangemet, instrumentation, etc. as these early versions, while some songs were re-arranged or done quite differently. Anyway, here's a look back at the very early days of the band (a duo, really), and their convoluted oddities and original weirdness.

Tracklist
01. (Put Your Hand Inside the) Puppet Head
02. When It Rains It Snows
03. Number Three
04. Don't Let's Start
05. You'll Miss Me
06. I Hope that I Get Old Before I Die
07. The Biggest One
08. 32 Footsteps
09. Boat of Car
10. Cowtown
11. Chess Piece Face
12. Rabid Child
13. Youth Culture Killed My Dog
14. Alienation's for the Rich
15. The Day
16. (She Was a) Hotel Detective
17. Which Describes How You're Feeling
18. Toddler Hi-Way
19. Become a Robot
20. I'm Def
21. Hell Hotel
22. They Might Be Giants
23. Nothing's Going to Change My Clothes


They Might Be Giants_1985 Demo Tape.rar
Link updated 10/12/21

They Might Be Giants - Flood Live in Australia (2015)

Free live album downloads from They Might Be Giants


Here are some more free album downloads available directly from the artists.

They Might Be Giants are currently offering a free download of a professionally recorded complete live performance of their third album, Flood (1990), from a recent show in Australia, and is available through their website (www.theymightbegiants.com). They perform the entire album, but, for some reason, in exact reverse order of the original album. They Might Be Giants are, of course, the singing songwriting duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, along with various back-up musicians, who have been around since 1982, and are known for their delightfully daft oddball pop-rock ditties. Flood was one of the group's most popular albums, was their first major-label release, their breakthrough album, and took them from smaller cult status to more widespread appeal and acclaim. And they have been carrying on ever since, with their unique brand of weird, fun songs. They recently released a new album, Glean, and are also in the midst of an ambitious revival of their old answering-machine-based dial-a-song service, now updated for the internet age, where they will be making available a new song every week for all of 2015 (that's 52 different songs!) (at dialasong.com or by phone at 844-387-6962). Here is the link for the free Flood Live album (also of note, the download is high quality 320 kbps mp3 files).


http://www.theymightbegiants.com/flood-live-in-australia/

Also, still available from TMBG, is another Live album download of another performance of an old classic TMBG album, this time their eponymously titled first album, They Might be Giants, performed in 2013. This one has been available for quite awhile, but is still available for free download on their website, so check this one out, too. This one is also available as HQ (320 kbps) mp3 files (that's important, since many artists that offer free downloads generally have them only available in lower quality 128 or 192 kbps Mp3 rates). Anyway, here's the link for the First Album live download.

http://www.theymightbegiants.com/a-gift-for-you-tmbgs-first-album-live-a-free-download/

Also, TMBG are on tour right now, so if you like their stuff, check 'em out live if you get the chance.