B-Side Of The Week: Radiohead

I first heard this Radiohead track on a boot of their tour supporting 1995's The Bends. After becoming the rabid fan that I now am, I proceeded to collect every track that the band released. "Bishop's Robes" is on the Japan-only No Surprises/Running From Demons EP as well as some versions of the "Street Spirit" singles, and it is reportedly about an old school teacher of singer Thom Yorke's. Needless to say, Yorke wasn't very fond of the guy...

"Bishop's Robes" - Radiohead

Buy Radiohead's music here.

Even More Link Updates

These will probably be the last old posts that I'll update unless I get some specific requests from readers.

Juliana Hatfield: 09-17-1993

The Black Crowes: VH1 Storytellers

Elbow: Other Voices TV Program

Elbow performed on the Other Voices TV show in February 2006 while promoting their 2005 release, Leaders Of The Free World, and I found a stream of the show online. Here's the mp3 version of the audio stream. Tragically, the producers of the show decided it was a good idea to chop up the first song, "The Stops". The program started with an acoustic performance of the song on a beach, then cuts into an interview, then cuts back to the in-studio performance of the song, and finishes with a bit more of an interview. Why do producers of music TV shows almost always find it necessary to butcher the music on their shows?!? It's a question for the ages...

Elbow
Other Voices TV Program

The Stops/Interview
Fugitive Motel
Interview - Story
Switching Off
Great Expectations

Buy Elbow's latest, Leaders Of The Free World, here.

More Link Updates

Due to the fact that EZArchive is dead to me (and the rest of the music blog community), I've been gradually re-linking selected old posts. The ones below now have working links to 192kbs mp3s.

Radiohead: 12-19-1997 Live At The Ten Spot

Gemma Hayes: 06-15-2002 Norwegian Woods Festival

Catherine Wheel: 08-09-1995 BBC

Matt Nathanson: 10-11-2002

B-Side Of The Week: Nirvana

Since it was a lot of fun to revisit Nirvana in my last post, I thought I'd continue the good times with this b-side of the week. "Even In His Youth" was originally demoed in 1989 with Chad Channing on drums, I believe, and the demo was included on 2004's With The Lights Out box set. This proper version was recorded in January of 1991 with Dave Grohl on drums and was a b-side of the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" singles. It's always been my favorite of their b-sides.

Nirvana - "Even In His Youth"

Buy Nirvana's music here.

Nirvana: Reading Festival 08-30-1992

I haven't revisited Nirvana since their box set came out in 2004, but I recently stumbled across this recording from the Reading Festival in 1992. If I remember my Nirvana lore correctly, this was the show at which Kurt Cobain was wheeled on stage in a wheelchair wearing a blond wig amid much speculation that the band was breaking up. The show itself is a beautiful disaster - in other words, it's classic live Nirvana. The set includes pre-In Utero versions of "Tourette's", "Dumb" and "All Apologies" along with b-sides "D-7" and "Spank Thru".

Nirvana
Reading Festival
08-30-1992

Sound testing
Krist's introduction & The Rose
Breed
Drain You
Aneurysm
School
Sliver
In Bloom
Come As You Are
Lithium
About A Girl
Tourette's
Polly
Lounge Act
More Than A Feeling (tease)
Smells Like Teen Spirit
On A Plain
Negative Creep
Been A Son
All Apologies
Blew
crowd noise
jam & banter
Dumb
Stay Away
Spank Thru
Love Buzz
The Money Will Roll Right In
D-7
Territorial Pissings
noise - Star-Spangled Banner (tease)

Buy Nirvana's music here.

Twilight Singers Kick My Ass

I saw the Twilight Singers on Monday night at the TLA and they were awesome. It was the first time I'd caught them live, and I was thoroughly impressed with their energetic, passionate performance. Band leader Greg Dulli owned the stage and had the audience in the palm of his hand from the first note. Mark Lanegan joined the band for six songs during the set - a serious highlight for me since I hadn't seen him since the Screaming Trees played Lollapalooza in the mid-90's. The Philly setlist:

Teenage Wristband
I'm Ready
Bonnie Brae
Too Tough To Die
Live With Me
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
I'll Take Care Of You
Sideways In Reverse
Amazing Grace
King Only
Fat City
Theres Been An Accident
Candy Cane Crawl
Papillon
Martin Eden
Forty Dollars
-----------
Lovestoned/The Killer/Wolf Like Me
Boogie Boogie
Flashback
Underneath The Waves

I don't have a recording of the Philly gig, but I do have the Lowlands Festival from August of this year. Enjoy.

Twilight Singers
08-20-2006 Lowlands Festival
Biddinghuizen, Holland

Intro/I'm Ready
Este Noche
Bonnie Brae
Too Tough To Die
Live With Me *
Where Did You Sleep Last Night? *
Sideways In Reverse *
Flashback *
Teenage Wristband
Candy Cane Crawl
Papillon
Underneath The Waves

* = featuring Mark Lanegan on vocals

Buy the Twilight Singers' music here.

B-Side Of The Week: Centro-Matic

I've decided to start a new feature here at Sweet Oblivion. Each Wednesday I'll post a b-side from a different artist. B-sides offer an interesting glimpse into the deeper reaches of a band or artist's songwriting, and many music fans spend lots of time and money tracking down these elusive tracks that appear on import singles or special versions of records. When I get into a band, I obsessively have to collect all of their songs, not just the ones that appear on the official albums. Perhaps this feature will serve as a kind of therapy for my obsession...

I decided to inaugurate the B-Side of the Week feature with a song from Centro-Matic. The reason I chose them is because I saw them perform tonight at the Khyber in Philly and they totally rocked the place. I posted earlier about their fantastic new record, Fort Recovery, so I won't repeat myself here. This track didn't make the US release of the album, but it very easily could have. As with most songs written by Will Johnson, the band's creative force, this tune is top notch.

"Not Like Anyone Would Mind" - Centro-Matic

Buy Centro-Matic's records here.

Update 11/18/06: Just found out that Centro-Matic has a live album for sale on iTunes. It's from this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival and it's great. Check it out here.

Link Updates

Any post dated before 10/21/06 likely has dead links because EZArchive lost the plot around then. Here are some my favorite old posts that now have working links. If you come across an old post that interests you, send me an email and I'll try to fix those links for you. More repaired posts to come. Thanks for your patience.

Mark Lanegan Career Retrospective

Jeff Buckley - Glastonbury 06-24-1995

Catherine Wheel acoustic performances

Pearl Jam 04-03-1994 Atlanta, GA

Rainer Maria Calls It Quits

Damn! I just find out about them this year, I'm totally loving their latest record (2006's fantastic Catastrophe Keeps Us Together), and they break up. From Pitchfork Media:

The end of 2006 will also bring the end of Rainer Maria, as the long-running band announced today that they will call it quits after two final shows, taking place December 15 and December 16 at Philadelphia's First Unitarian Church and New York City's Bowery Ballroom. Singer/bassist Caithlin De Marrais, guitarist Kyle Fischer, and drummer William Kuehn released the following statement:

"We are grateful to our new listeners and especially our longtime fans for their endless support and attention. We feel incredibly fortunate to have come up during a unique time in rock music, in a community that grew with us from the Midwest to Brooklyn and beyond. Making records has always been a revelation, and walking onto stage together we found a vision we could share.

"For us, this transition can be nothing short of heartbreaking. But for reasons both musical and personal, the three of us have chosen this time to move on."

You know I'll be at the First Unitarian Church on Dec 15th. As a tribute to the band from this recently converted fan, here's a radio performance from Indie 101 FM earlier this year.

Rainer Maria
Indie 101 Live Performance 2006

Catastrophe
Terrified
Ears Ring
I'll Keep It With Mine

Buy Rainer Maria's records.

The Black Crowes 10-31-2005 BC/DC

I meant to post this on Halloween last week but I couldn't find the CD anywhere. As usual, I found it in plain sight after the fact. On Halloween 2005, The Black Crowes took the stage dressed in costume as BC/DC and performed these three AC/DC covers before their regular set. Good times.

The Black Crowes
10-31-2005
Chicago, IL
BC/DC Pre-Show Set

Rock N' Roll Damnation
Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be
Highway To Hell

Buy the Crowes' latest, The Lost Crowes.

Nine Inch Nails - Woodstock '94

This show holds a special place for me because it introduced me to the music of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. I was home for the summer from college when Woodstock 1994 happened, and a friend and I decided we'd camp out in my parents' basement to watch the performances on TV for the weekend. Woodstock 1994 quickly earned the nickname "mudstock" because rain had turned the fields where the festival took place into a muddy mess. Mud was everywhere - during Green Day's set the band even got into a playful mud fight with fans until all of the band members and their gear were covered.

Nine Inch Nails was due to perform third to last on the same night as Metallica and Aerosmith. I'd heard some good things about NIN, and had even heard the single "Head Like A Hole" from 1989's Pretty Hate Machine, but I didn't know what to expect or whether I'd be into their songs.

The band took the stage after dark, with the sounds of the instrumental "Pinion" from the 1992 Broken EP gradually increasing in volume and in synch with the stage lights. The band was nowhere to be seen until the music reached its crescendo, and it was then that the TV audience could see the band take the stage.

And what and entrance! The band members were completely covered from head to toe in mud. A moment of solidarity with the mud-covered fans? Perhaps. Whatever the reason, the crowd was theirs from the second the started playing set opener "Terrible Lie". I was blown away by the visceral energy of the band's performance, particularly Reznor's. He was hitting the mic on his head during the opening song, screaming like a man possessed, and bounding around the stage. At different times during the performance he even attacked other band members. Apparently the band was riddled with equipment problems and frustrating monitor issues during the set, which may have led to the particularly intense performance. Nonetheless, it was awesome.

The songs were amazing too, and by the time they got to "Burn", from the soundtrack to the film Natural Born Killers, I was hooked. In my opinion, the NIN performance at Woodstock '94 completely blew away the Metallica and Aerosmith sets that followed - no small feat. I went out and immediately started collecting NIN's records, and I've been a fan ever since.

Here's the complete performance from Woodstock 1994.

Nine Inch Nails
Woodstock 1994

Terrible Lie
Sin
March Of The Pigs
Something I Can Never Have
Closer
Reptile
Wish
Suck
Burn
The Only Time
Down In It
Dead Souls
Help Me I Am In Hell
Happiness In Slavery
Head Like A Hole

Buy NIN's music.

For a taste of newer NIN, check out I Am Fuel, You Are Friends for the band's recent Bridge School Benefit performance.

Brandi Carlile - Room For Me

Brandi Carlile recorded three EP/LPs before she signed to a major label. The story goes that she used to burn copies herself to sell at shows when she was starting out in Seattle. I've been sitting on this and the other old records for a while, and I thought it was about time to share some of Ms. Carlile's early songs. Her 2005 self-titled record still gets regular rotation on my stereo, and is well worth picking up.

Brandi Carlile
Room For Me

5:00
Room For Me
Fall
Call You Out