I have no idea what The Garage is like these days, as the JB concert was the only time that I ever went, almost 20 years ago.
It was a great little place, and I read some years later (in Mojo magazine) that John McEnroe was an admirer, and had been one of the roadies carrying in the equipment. I didn’t notice him, but you don’t go to a concert expecting to see a tennis champion moonlighting like that.
Where he stunned us by singing “Dido’s Lament” unaccompanied, prompting June Tabor to comment, “now I realise where the top half of my vocal range went”!
Radio 3 used to have a weekly programme a few years ago called ‘Soul Music’ (I think), in which some musically learned person would introduce a particular piece of music performed by different musicians.
One episode featured ‘Dido’s Lament’, sung by the people that you might expect, including Janet Baker. But the programme ended with a recording of Jeff Buckley’s performance at the Meltdown Festival.
It was amazing to hear it again, and I’ve looked all over, trying to find a recording. (It was also the last time that I saw JB, before he drowned a couple of years later.)
I have a low fi recording of his performance, downloaded years ago, It’s listenable, sounds like an audience recording, it’s listenable, not sure how I would get it to you if you’re interested though?
Thank you so much, Chris. There’s not a lot of Xmas cheer in this wretched place. If I knew how many days before I get home, I’d be counting them.
I am so glad to have my iPhone with me. This morning I’ve been listening to The Doors’ first two (and best?) albums, Van The Man’s ‘Astral Weeks’ and ‘Moondance’, and now Wishbone Ash’s marvellous ‘Argus’ - never did twin lead guitars make so much musical sense!
I (think that I) have ordered a copy, but my Visa card isn’t behaving very well, and it’s not easy getting things like that fixed when I’m away from home.
But do, please, fire up the system and post again with your impressions once you’ve heard it. I see from the sticker in your photo that Albert King joins The Doors on three of the tracks, which is unexpected (to me, at least).
It will be interesting to listen to a few new Doors tracks soon (I hope) for the first time in 50 years (or thereabouts)!
I am indeed completely out of the loop, and had never heard of the ‘Live In Vancouver’ LP that you have shown there. Do you have any idea where/how I might find a copy?
Dare I ask if it’s good or even enjoyable?
I shall try next year to track down and buy a few more of these ‘unofficial’ (shall we call them) releases, once I’ve escaped my shackles.
They’re all official releases, Graham.
As to finding copies it’s really down to keeping an eye out…Discogs, Ebay etc & whether you will want to pay for the rarer ones.
Here’s most that have been released, excluding the London Fog boxset, the two RSD LPs and most of the Bright Midnight stuff. All legit.
Boston - Philadelphia - Vancouver
New York - Detroit -Hollywood Bowl (extracts)
Pittsburgh - SF Matrix -
Hollywood Aquarius - CD highlights -
vinyl First Performance/CD Second Performance - IOW-
Hollywood Bowl complete (also CD).
There’s others (ie Miami) but as they’re boots, of no interest to you so I’ve not included them.
Are they worth the time tracking down? Up to you…
You can get a flavour of each on YT to see whether you’re interested.
Well, good luck … the search’ll be harder as time slips by, but they’re still out there. Well, some. IOW and Live At The Bowl for example should be easy to find.
But there’s a wealth of listening to be had, on YT - official and fan recordings.
It sounds wonderful.
You’d never tell there was tape damage…
Ray features on You Want Meat of course & I’m Your Doctor - but he sounds a whole lot better than on AL. Still get the unfortunate “hot beef injection” though!