Third Man Records vinyl exclusives, Part 60: "Third Man Live" 3-LP set (2024)
The 60th set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in July of 2024. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months.
The 60th Vault package featured a 3-LP set titled Third Man Live, containing live discs from Jack White, Dinosaur Jr., and W.I.T.C.H., recorded at the three different Third Man Records locations in Detroit, Nashville, and London. The 7-inch single offers three live cuts by Mudhoney, recorded at Third Man in Nashville. All of the discs in this set were pressed in beautiful "skycloud" colored vinyl, a blue-and-white marble blend based on the color of the walls in all three Third Man venues. Each of the three LP's packaged in the set's slipcase also came in an individual jacket with eye-catching cover art based on the show's promo posters.
Jack White's Live In The Blue Room LP was recorded at Third Man's Nashville location on April 19, 2014, which was Record Store Day that year. This concert was performed before a small group of "Ultra Ticket Holders", and took place shortly before the release of White's second solo album Lazaretto. Five of the selections were songs from that album, while three were drawn from its 2012 predecessor Blunderbuss, and three others were White Stripes numbers. White had eight musicians supporting him for this intimate show. Although the full-band sound impresses, especially during the excellent show-closer "Would You Fight For My Love?", White's guitar is still the undisputed star instrument of the set, producing plenty of fierce electric noise and occasionally surprising effects (particularly on "Weep Themselves To Sleep" and the opening instrumental "High Ball Stepper"). One notable benefit of the fuller band sound is that it gives White and company room to add more dimension to the White Stripes songs, especially when they add country flavor to "Hotel Yorba" and render "Hello Operator" as an instrumental jam. It's surprising that this nearly solid Blue Room concert was kept under wraps for ten years, but this Third Man Live set is as good a place as any to finally give it an official issuance. (Note: Ten random Vault packages also contained a copy of “The World’s Fastest Record” 7-inch single, which was recorded during this concert and released on the same day. That single (Third Man TMR-280) included these performances of "Lazaretto" and Elvis' "Power Of My Love").
Dinosaur Jr.'s Live at Third Man Records LP was recorded in the Blue Basement at Third Man's London location on October 17, 2022. This set was performed by the alternative rock band's original lineup from the 1980's, featuring J. Mascis on lead guitar and vocals, Lou Barlow on bass and vocals, and Murph (aka Patrick Murphy) on drums. This lineup has been active since they reunited in 2005, but with the exception of the 2007 song "Been There All The Time", the songs from this set were drawn from the band's '80's and '90's recordings, including "Does It Float" from their 1985 debut. Their performance of that song purveys a particularly furious post-punk fuzz attack, but don't be fooled by that apparent bit of anarchy. The seasoned trio show plenty of control during this concert, along with plenty of irreverence. Mascis' distortion-heavy guitar sound has always shown a strong Neil Young and Crazy Horse influence, but generally involves more discipline. The opening song "Little Fury Things" immediately sets the tone for the set's blistering yet artful distortion, oddly matched with the often laid-back drawl of Mascis' vocals. The minor '90's radio hits "Feel The Pain" and "Start Choppin'" come across well here, but the rest of the disc's second side is where the trio show particular bravura. Mascis generates amazing guitar sounds during "Freak Scene" and "Kracked" (the latter of which incorporates "SludgeFeast"), and "No Bones" is a satisfying closer.
The W.I.T.C.H. LP October Nights was recorded on the Blue Stage at Third Man's Detroit location on October 5, 2022. This lineup of W.I.T.C.H. -- whose name is an acronym for We Intend To Cause Havoc -- is a new iteration of a '70's rock band from the African nation of Zambia, led by the original frontman Emmanuel "Jagari" Chanda. The earlier W.I.T.C.H. band released seven albums in their native country between 1972 and 1984; decades later, those albums were given wider distribution. (The U.S.-released four-CD box set We Intend To Cause Havoc! handily collects their Zamrock-defining '70's works, while the double-CD Movin' On & Kuomboka combines the two '80's Zam-disco albums recorded without Chanda. The 2019 documentary film We Intend To Cause Havoc provides more insight into the band's reformation and the Zamrock culture). The early work of W.I.T.C.H. bore much musical resemblance to the Rolling Stones, while their later-'70's works blended Afrobeat with psych, prog, funk, and hard rock ingredients. Besides Chanda, the W.I.T.C.H. lineup which performed this Third Man concert included keyboardist Patrick Mwondela (who played in the band during their latter-day disco era) and five younger musicians hailing from Europe and the Dominican Republic. Aside from the new song "Waile", which appears on the band's 2023 comeback album Zango, the other seven selections on the Third Man live LP are drawn from W.I.T.C.H.'s '70's repertoire. It's good to hear Chanda active at the age of 70, but his voice has roughened with age. However, the band supports him very well with their engaging, genre-blending jamming. The first two songs have the most retro-'70's feel, offering Afrobeat rhythms with a moderate rock edge. When the band moves into the new song "Waile", the set begins to take on more modern, alternative-influenced tones. As good as the first side is, the second side is the half that really delivers the goods, as the band turns up the level of energy. Chanda comes across as being remarkably animated on "Mashed Potatoe"; "Lazy Bones" is a particularly energetic funk-rock jam; and the closing number "Evil Woman" is a well-crafted prog opus. This disc is a good representation of the Zamrock genre, from this newer version of that genre's biggest band.
The 7-inch single in this package contains three punk covers performed by the Seattle grunge band Mudhoney in the Nashville TMR Blue Room on September 26, 2013. In what was called a "hardcore encore" to their Blue Room concert held on that day, Mudhoney covered songs by Fang ("The Money Will Roll Right In"), the Dicks ("Hate The Police") and early Black Flag ("Fix Me"). Their renditions of these songs are noticeably grunge-ified; in particular, "The Money Will Roll Right In" sounds very reminiscent of Nirvana, and makes a good A-side. On the two B-side tracks, Mark Arm's howling and bellowing becomes histrionic, but the fuzz amps still sound characteristically grungy. Did they tone down the profane lyrics of these punk songs? Not at all. In fact, I wonder if the band still performs "Hate The Police" in concert at this point in time, considering the recent political climate.
It made sense to include the Mudhoney single in Vault 60, which marks 15 years of the Vault service, which was inspired by the Sub Pop Singles Club -- from which Mudhoney were one of the first artists to have an exclusive vinyl single issued. Third Man now claims that the Vault is "the longest continuously running vinyl subscription club in the world". I still remember when the Vault service first began in 2009, during the early days of the enduring vinyl record resurgence. At that time, it was hard to predict how long such a service could last, and how well it could be done. I remember the original Vault web page stating that "the whole thing might blow up in our faces". Well, it's great to see that it didn't. Congratulations to Third Man Records for being able to carry out such a bold venture for 15 years. I hope the Vault will continue to deliver for many more years to come.
Another note for fellow vinyl aficionados: the practice of engraving text in the dead wax, or the runout grooves between the sticker and the last track’s grooves, is present on the vinyl items in this Vault package. The Jack White LP has “This is the day that...” carved in Side A, and “Jesus said not yet” carved in Side B. The Dinosaur Jr. LP has “Dino” carved in Side A, and “Junior” carved in Side B. The W.I.T.C.H. LP has "We Intend To Cause Havoc" carved in Side A, and "Wow interesting that's called hilarious" carved in Side B. The 7-inch Mudhoney single has "Just sit and grin" carved in Side A, and "Look at your son" carved in Side B.
Third Man Live
Jack White “Live In The Blue Room” (Third Man TMR-978) 2024
Track Listing:
1. High Ball Stepper
2. Lazaretto
3. Power Of My Love
4. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
5. Freedom at 21
6. Three Women
7. Weep Themselves To Sleep
8. Love Interruption
9. Hello Operator
10. Just One Drink
11. Hotel Yorba
12. Would You Fight For My Love?
Dinosaur Jr. "Live at Third Man Records" (Third Man TMR-981) 2024
Track Listing:
1. Little Fury Things
2. Out There
3. Does It Float
4. Been There All The Time
5. Feel The Pain
6. Start Choppin
7. Freak Scene
8. Kracked
9. No Bones
W.I.T.C.H. "October Nights: Third Man Detroit 10.5.2022" (Third Man TMR-982) 2024
Track Listing:
1. Introduction
2. Toloka
3. Waile
4. Living In The Past
5. Black Tears
6. Mashed Potatoe
7. Lazy Bones
8. Evil Woman
Mudhoney "Third Man Live" (Third Man single TMR-983) 2024
Track Listing:
A. The Money Will Roll Right In
B1. Hate The Police
B2. Fix Me
The 60th Vault package featured a 3-LP set titled Third Man Live, containing live discs from Jack White, Dinosaur Jr., and W.I.T.C.H., recorded at the three different Third Man Records locations in Detroit, Nashville, and London. The 7-inch single offers three live cuts by Mudhoney, recorded at Third Man in Nashville. All of the discs in this set were pressed in beautiful "skycloud" colored vinyl, a blue-and-white marble blend based on the color of the walls in all three Third Man venues. Each of the three LP's packaged in the set's slipcase also came in an individual jacket with eye-catching cover art based on the show's promo posters.
Jack White's Live In The Blue Room LP was recorded at Third Man's Nashville location on April 19, 2014, which was Record Store Day that year. This concert was performed before a small group of "Ultra Ticket Holders", and took place shortly before the release of White's second solo album Lazaretto. Five of the selections were songs from that album, while three were drawn from its 2012 predecessor Blunderbuss, and three others were White Stripes numbers. White had eight musicians supporting him for this intimate show. Although the full-band sound impresses, especially during the excellent show-closer "Would You Fight For My Love?", White's guitar is still the undisputed star instrument of the set, producing plenty of fierce electric noise and occasionally surprising effects (particularly on "Weep Themselves To Sleep" and the opening instrumental "High Ball Stepper"). One notable benefit of the fuller band sound is that it gives White and company room to add more dimension to the White Stripes songs, especially when they add country flavor to "Hotel Yorba" and render "Hello Operator" as an instrumental jam. It's surprising that this nearly solid Blue Room concert was kept under wraps for ten years, but this Third Man Live set is as good a place as any to finally give it an official issuance. (Note: Ten random Vault packages also contained a copy of “The World’s Fastest Record” 7-inch single, which was recorded during this concert and released on the same day. That single (Third Man TMR-280) included these performances of "Lazaretto" and Elvis' "Power Of My Love").
Dinosaur Jr.'s Live at Third Man Records LP was recorded in the Blue Basement at Third Man's London location on October 17, 2022. This set was performed by the alternative rock band's original lineup from the 1980's, featuring J. Mascis on lead guitar and vocals, Lou Barlow on bass and vocals, and Murph (aka Patrick Murphy) on drums. This lineup has been active since they reunited in 2005, but with the exception of the 2007 song "Been There All The Time", the songs from this set were drawn from the band's '80's and '90's recordings, including "Does It Float" from their 1985 debut. Their performance of that song purveys a particularly furious post-punk fuzz attack, but don't be fooled by that apparent bit of anarchy. The seasoned trio show plenty of control during this concert, along with plenty of irreverence. Mascis' distortion-heavy guitar sound has always shown a strong Neil Young and Crazy Horse influence, but generally involves more discipline. The opening song "Little Fury Things" immediately sets the tone for the set's blistering yet artful distortion, oddly matched with the often laid-back drawl of Mascis' vocals. The minor '90's radio hits "Feel The Pain" and "Start Choppin'" come across well here, but the rest of the disc's second side is where the trio show particular bravura. Mascis generates amazing guitar sounds during "Freak Scene" and "Kracked" (the latter of which incorporates "SludgeFeast"), and "No Bones" is a satisfying closer.
The W.I.T.C.H. LP October Nights was recorded on the Blue Stage at Third Man's Detroit location on October 5, 2022. This lineup of W.I.T.C.H. -- whose name is an acronym for We Intend To Cause Havoc -- is a new iteration of a '70's rock band from the African nation of Zambia, led by the original frontman Emmanuel "Jagari" Chanda. The earlier W.I.T.C.H. band released seven albums in their native country between 1972 and 1984; decades later, those albums were given wider distribution. (The U.S.-released four-CD box set We Intend To Cause Havoc! handily collects their Zamrock-defining '70's works, while the double-CD Movin' On & Kuomboka combines the two '80's Zam-disco albums recorded without Chanda. The 2019 documentary film We Intend To Cause Havoc provides more insight into the band's reformation and the Zamrock culture). The early work of W.I.T.C.H. bore much musical resemblance to the Rolling Stones, while their later-'70's works blended Afrobeat with psych, prog, funk, and hard rock ingredients. Besides Chanda, the W.I.T.C.H. lineup which performed this Third Man concert included keyboardist Patrick Mwondela (who played in the band during their latter-day disco era) and five younger musicians hailing from Europe and the Dominican Republic. Aside from the new song "Waile", which appears on the band's 2023 comeback album Zango, the other seven selections on the Third Man live LP are drawn from W.I.T.C.H.'s '70's repertoire. It's good to hear Chanda active at the age of 70, but his voice has roughened with age. However, the band supports him very well with their engaging, genre-blending jamming. The first two songs have the most retro-'70's feel, offering Afrobeat rhythms with a moderate rock edge. When the band moves into the new song "Waile", the set begins to take on more modern, alternative-influenced tones. As good as the first side is, the second side is the half that really delivers the goods, as the band turns up the level of energy. Chanda comes across as being remarkably animated on "Mashed Potatoe"; "Lazy Bones" is a particularly energetic funk-rock jam; and the closing number "Evil Woman" is a well-crafted prog opus. This disc is a good representation of the Zamrock genre, from this newer version of that genre's biggest band.
The 7-inch single in this package contains three punk covers performed by the Seattle grunge band Mudhoney in the Nashville TMR Blue Room on September 26, 2013. In what was called a "hardcore encore" to their Blue Room concert held on that day, Mudhoney covered songs by Fang ("The Money Will Roll Right In"), the Dicks ("Hate The Police") and early Black Flag ("Fix Me"). Their renditions of these songs are noticeably grunge-ified; in particular, "The Money Will Roll Right In" sounds very reminiscent of Nirvana, and makes a good A-side. On the two B-side tracks, Mark Arm's howling and bellowing becomes histrionic, but the fuzz amps still sound characteristically grungy. Did they tone down the profane lyrics of these punk songs? Not at all. In fact, I wonder if the band still performs "Hate The Police" in concert at this point in time, considering the recent political climate.
It made sense to include the Mudhoney single in Vault 60, which marks 15 years of the Vault service, which was inspired by the Sub Pop Singles Club -- from which Mudhoney were one of the first artists to have an exclusive vinyl single issued. Third Man now claims that the Vault is "the longest continuously running vinyl subscription club in the world". I still remember when the Vault service first began in 2009, during the early days of the enduring vinyl record resurgence. At that time, it was hard to predict how long such a service could last, and how well it could be done. I remember the original Vault web page stating that "the whole thing might blow up in our faces". Well, it's great to see that it didn't. Congratulations to Third Man Records for being able to carry out such a bold venture for 15 years. I hope the Vault will continue to deliver for many more years to come.
Another note for fellow vinyl aficionados: the practice of engraving text in the dead wax, or the runout grooves between the sticker and the last track’s grooves, is present on the vinyl items in this Vault package. The Jack White LP has “This is the day that...” carved in Side A, and “Jesus said not yet” carved in Side B. The Dinosaur Jr. LP has “Dino” carved in Side A, and “Junior” carved in Side B. The W.I.T.C.H. LP has "We Intend To Cause Havoc" carved in Side A, and "Wow interesting that's called hilarious" carved in Side B. The 7-inch Mudhoney single has "Just sit and grin" carved in Side A, and "Look at your son" carved in Side B.
Third Man Live
Jack White “Live In The Blue Room” (Third Man TMR-978) 2024
Track Listing:
1. High Ball Stepper
2. Lazaretto
3. Power Of My Love
4. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground
5. Freedom at 21
6. Three Women
7. Weep Themselves To Sleep
8. Love Interruption
9. Hello Operator
10. Just One Drink
11. Hotel Yorba
12. Would You Fight For My Love?
Dinosaur Jr. "Live at Third Man Records" (Third Man TMR-981) 2024
Track Listing:
1. Little Fury Things
2. Out There
3. Does It Float
4. Been There All The Time
5. Feel The Pain
6. Start Choppin
7. Freak Scene
8. Kracked
9. No Bones
W.I.T.C.H. "October Nights: Third Man Detroit 10.5.2022" (Third Man TMR-982) 2024
Track Listing:
1. Introduction
2. Toloka
3. Waile
4. Living In The Past
5. Black Tears
6. Mashed Potatoe
7. Lazy Bones
8. Evil Woman
Mudhoney "Third Man Live" (Third Man single TMR-983) 2024
Track Listing:
A. The Money Will Roll Right In
B1. Hate The Police
B2. Fix Me
Comments