Grousing The Aisles: British Edition
Ever since those four lads from Liverpool landed at Idlewild Airport, British bands have been a major part of rock history. Honoring the Brits, this week’s Grousing The Aisles honors three of the best acts to emerge from Britain in the ’70s.
We start with the David Bowie tribute from Jam Cruise, which features members of moe., Phish and the Greyboy Allstars among others musically rimming The Thin White Duke. Next, we take a look at Elton John’s legendary Christmas Eve concert from 1974, and, finally, we let you know about an amazing compilation featuring The Police playing blistering versions of all the tunes from their reunion tour.
Oh! You Pretty Things: Jam Cruise Tribute to David Bowie DAUD [FLAC, MP3]
Photo by David Steinberg
The best music to come from Jam Cruise over the past few years has stemmed from the all-star tribute jams that have emerged. On Jam Cruise IV, certain members of Umphrey’s McGee formed the Brain Damaged Eggmen with a few members of the Disco Biscuits to pay tribute to The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Then members of the West Coast bands on board Jam Cruise V combined forces to form the Sounds of San Francisco to honor the bands from that city. This year, a group of musicians channeled David Bowie under the moniker Oh! You Pretty Things. The first tapes from their gig have emerged, and they sound pretty damn good.
Oh! You Pretty Things combined the talents of Al Schnier, Jon Fishman, Jans Ingber, Ron Johnson, Robert Walter, Jeff Austin and a few other special guests who made cameos. During their public rehearsal the band decided to play a short, tight set at the actual gig instead of a solid long set, and the band delivered, dropping fantastic versions of 16 Bowie classics. Some of the songs are played straight, while others such as Let’s Dance are jammed out a bit. Hopefully a soundboard of this classic performance surfaces soon, as the quality of the recording isn’t as good as the quality of the performance — the strong winds which hindered the taper. Read on for much more GTA…
Elton John: Christmas Party 1974 [FLAC, MP3 Pt.1 Pt.2]
One of our favorite Brits is the ever-flamboyant Elton John. The Rocket Man celebrated the holidays in 1974 by throwing a grand concert on Christmas Eve at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. Elton’s band absolutely tears through the material during this performance, which was captured for posterity thanks to a radio broadcast. This bootleg features Elton at the peak of his career playing early versions of many incredible tunes.
Honky Cat, Burn Down The Mission and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are among the many standout tracks on this recording. Elton also drops a few Beatles covers, including Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and an I Saw Her Standing There that drives the crowd nuts. The highlight of the night comes towards the end of the show when Gary Glitter and Rod Stewart join Elton for a version of White Christmas that’s worth the price of admission by itself. We’ve heard a video of this crazy gig circulates, but we haven’t seen it yet. If you’ve got a lead on the DVD let us know by leaving a comment below.
The Police: Best of the European Tour DAUD [MP3, FLAC Pt. 1 Pt. 2]
Audience recordings of nearly every show from The Police’s extremely successful reunion tour have surfaced in recent months. The fine folks over at thepolice.com’s message keep tabs on every recording, and have compiled the best cuts from September and October’s European tour. After seeing two shows last year, I remember thinking I wish I could have seen certain cuts from one show combined with certain cuts of the second show I saw. This compilation features amazing versions of each tune they played on the tour. You should download this set if you’re looking for a taste of what the trio brought to the table last year.
Here are five other shows that caught our eye this week:
- The Mars Volta 12/31/2007 DAUD
- Pink Floyd 11/01/1987 SBD
- Frank Zappa 07/03/1980 SBD
- Garaj Mahal 12/28/2007 DAUD
- God Johnson 01/02/2008 DAUD
So have you downloaded any good shows lately? Share with the rest of the class by leaving a comment below…
Scott Bernstein
Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.
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Any word on whether Elton and Glitter had a Bacchanalian orgy with a teenage brother-sister duo later that night?
I remember the radio broadcast of the Elton Xmas 74 concert well. There definitely was no simulcast. Anything video-recorded was not broadcast at the time. I would be really curious if the footage showed up somewhere else.