Grousing The Aisles: ’80s Edition

Stevie Ray Vaughan 08/27/1983 SBD [FLAC, MP3]

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble came into the national spotlight in 1983 with the release of Texas Flood. Pride and Joy, the band’s first single, got airtime around the clock on rock radio, earning the boys big gigs both at home and abroad. Double Trouble headed to England in August where they played before a huge crowd at the legendary Reading Festival. Vaughan laid down the gauntlet during their short but sweet set, which was simulcast throughout the United Kingdom on BBC Radio.

Double Trouble came out of the gates strong with a powerful version of Testify that showed off their hard blues sound to the appreciative crowd. You can hear the audience go nuts at the end of each song, especially after an inspired cover of Voodoo Chile. Other highlights of the 40-minute set include a quick romp through Pride and Joy and Vaughan’s jaw dropping solo in Texas Flood. Stevie Ray sounds fantastic throughout the night, thanks to the steady beat laid down by the more than capable rhythm section of drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon. Listening to this show makes me think that perhaps Stevie Ray and Double Trouble were the best trio of all-time. Well…at least until I throw on a Cream show.

Led Zeppelin 06/21/1980 SBD Matrix [FLAC, MP3]

Led Zeppelin headed out for a brief tour of Europe in the summer of 1980 with a dynamic setlist that included some of the best songs ever written. Sadly the “Tour Over Europe” was the last run the band would ever play — John Bonham died on September 25th, 1980. Most of the shows from that last tour were a bit uneven, but on June 21st in Rotterdam, Led Zeppelin played their last truly epic concert. A big Zeppelin fan recently took the time to combine the best audience source with an incomplete soundboard source to create the best sounding version yet.

Every member of the band plays their heart out throughout the evening. Jimmy Page rips it up on every tune, even laying down machine-gun like runs during Kashmir and Rock and Roll. Robert Plant’s voice is in fine form, ranging from his beautiful delivery of The Rain Song to his gutty performance of Kashmir later in the show. Bonham also shows incredible versatility, adding raw power to Black Dog and a steady groove to the more mellow All of My Love. Listening to these great old Zeppelin shows is starting to get me really excited for their reunion gig.

The Cure 05/07&19/1987 SBD [FLAC, MP3]

Cure fans got quite a thrill this week when a recording from lead singer Robert Smith’s personal collection leaked to the major torrent sites. The Cure has been touring steadily since they formed in the mid ’70s, but until this week we’ve never seen good quality bootlegs out there. According to the story found with this torrent, in 1992 Smith gave a few cassettes to a German girl, who copied 70 minutes worth of the best shit onto a cassette of her own. Said German girl had been holding onto the tape for nearly 20 years when she finally gave it to a collector to transfer to CD. Luckily for us the collector decided to share this incredible document from The Cure’s heyday with everybody.

The Cure were promoting Disintegration in 1989 and started their live gigs with the same trilogy of songs as on the album: Plainsong, Pictures of You and Closedown. Robert Smith’s voice sounds great, and The Cure do a nice job of changing up the arrangements of those tunes for the live setting without totally killing the songs.

Most of the songs on this compilation show off the more serious side of The Cure, including the morbid Faith that closes the collection. The Cure were at their best when Smith is moping around as the rest of the band layers all sorts of synthesized sounds and beats underneath his lyrics. Hopefully more soundboards from this tour will surface showing off a bit of the lighter side of this band.

Have you downloaded anything interesting lately? Let us know if you’ve found anything good by leaving a comment below…

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3 Responses

  1. The 3 piece band, Fiction Plane, recently played a live gig at the Melkweg in Amsterdam on September 15, 2007.

    Here is the entire concert (mp3):

    http://www.studioruigrok.nl/fiction_plane/

    The lead singer is the son of Sting (of the Police)…and if you mix up the letters from Fiction Plane, you can get “Infant Police”. I haven’ stopped listening to this show since I downloaded a few weeks ago. Hope you enjoy it too.

    Cheers, Jon

  2. about double trouble being the greatest 3 piece band vs. cream… considering eric clapton as a solo artist, he has been in better bands. the one he is or at least was touring with-doyle bramhall II and derek trucks-is by far the most tone-filled and energetic band I have seen him with and he has stated himself that he plays better with them than he does alone. chris layton and tommy shannon were the ultimate rhythm section. there is absolutely no one who can groove together like them. I have said it a million times, the sound that chris layton got out of his drums in a time where double bass drummers were drowning in the reverb that was soaking their kits was absolutely influential to many musicians-not just drummers. tommy was an amazing bass player. he played in all the holes without ever stepping on the music’s toes. and SRV-not enough can be said. I would say that his tone to guitar player is like elvis to impersonators. everyone tries, some have gotten close, but there is not a soul who can get that tone. if jesus played guitar, it would sound like stevie ray. you can put heavy strings on and buy the vintage amps, but you’re wasting your time and money. it’s not “find something that someone hasn’t already done” with stevie, it’s something that no one else can do. there’s never been, isn’t, and never will be a stevie ray copy cat. it’s not physically or sonically possible. God bless you stevie, i’ll see you in heaven

  3. If you’re gonna drunkenly fluff SRV you might as well re-post the MP3’s so the great unwashed here can get educated. 🙂

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