Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

The Cars Live At The Agora, 1978 was a 2-LP set issued on Record Store Day 2017, limited to 5,000 copies. It was a previously unreleased recording of a concert performed by the Boston new wave quintet at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio on July 18, 1978. This concert took place the month after the release of the band’s platinum-selling self-titled debut album, which found success among both new wave enthusiasts and mainstream rock listeners. The 13 live cuts are spread out across the first three LP sides; the fourth side has an etching of a Cars “tire tread” logo designed by drummer David Robinson. During this concert, the band performed all nine of the songs from the debut album, as well as "Night Spots", which later turned up on their second album, Candy-O . All of those songs maintain the same mixture of new wave tension and rock and roll accessibility that graced the studio versions. As they did on record, Ocasek and the late Benjamin Orr alternated the lead voca...

David Bowie's Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74) was a 3-LP set issued on Record Store Day 2017, limited to 17,000 vinyl copies worldwide. It was the first official release of a much-bootlegged live concert recording from September 5, 1974 at the Los Angeles Amphitheatre. The 20 live cuts are spread out across the first five LP sides; the sixth side has an etching of the same Diamond Dogs -era "BOWIE" logo that appears on the front cover. This album was mixed by Tony Visconti in the fall of 2016. The album is going to be released as a 2-CD set on June 16th, first in a limited-edition digipack, then in a standard jewelcase package. Footage from this concert had appeared in the 1975 BBC TV documentary titled Cracked Actor . Bowie’s supporting players for this show consisted of some of the same musicians who worked on his 1975 album Young Americans , which was a work in progress at that time. These players included guitarists Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar, flute an...

For Record Store Day 2017, Sting issued the six-song EP Live At The Bataclan . Limited to 3,500 copies, the EP contained six live cuts from the former Police frontman’s November 2016 concert at the Bataclan theatre in Paris. That concert officially reopened the doors of that venue one year after the terrorist attack that took place there in November of 2015 . This concert was performed one day after the release of 57TH & 9TH , which was Sting’s first rock and roll album in 13 years. The two selections from that album, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You” and “One Fine Day”, have a straight-ahead rock sound, and have the most immediate appeal, thanks in large part to the guitar sounds provided by the supporting players. Sting and company also perform two of his well-known Police hits, “Message In A Bottle” and “Every Breath You Take”, which are both given respectable treatment. But the two most memorable tracks are drawn from Sting’s 1987 solo album …Nothing Like The Sun . The gentle...

On Record Store Day 2017, a live EP from Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes was issued. Limited to 4,000 numbered copies and pressed in white-and-black-marbled vinyl, Live At Jones Beach contained three live cuts performed together by the Led Zeppelin guitarist and the Southern rock band at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY on July 10, 2000. (Thus, these recordings are drawn from a later show than the 1999 concert documented on the 2000 double-album Live At The Greek ). All three of this EP's selected songs were Led Zeppelin songs. Page and the Crowes were a good musical match, as the Crowes' penchant for retro-'70's rock made them better equipped than most bands to help Page recreate the Led Zeppelin sound. One common criticism of this teaming was that Crowes drummer Steve Gorman was less impressive than Led Zep's legendary John Bonham -- but what living drummer isn't? Gorman is a fine drummer on his own smaller scale, and the band’s chemistry with Page result...