Review: Captured in San Francisco in December of 1982, only over six months before their original dissolution in July of the following year, this live performance from gloom maestro goth rock pioneers Bauhaus leans heavily on material from their (at the time) two-month old third full-length The Sky's Gone Out including their opening cover of Brian Eno's 'Third Uncle' and 'Silent Hedges', as well as 1981's career height sophomore classic Mask, with cuts such as 'In Fear Of Fear', 'Kick In The Eye', and 'Hollow Hills' making appearances. Some love is shown to their debut In The Flat Field with the inclusion of 'Spy In The Cab', but most noteworthy is that the set features an early live unveiling of 'She's In Parties', which wouldn't see release for another four months with the band breaking up just a week before the single's adjacent album Burning From The Inside would drop.
(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear (2:27)
Sunday Girl (2:20)
Denis (6:04)
Fade Away & Radiate (4:57)
Fan Mail (2:44)
Picture This (2:45)
One Way Or Another (3:53)
Heart Of Glass (4:16)
Bang A Gong (5:34)
Review: One of the key spots in Boston's vibrant student scene, the Paradise Ballroom was the place to be in 1978 with the likes of The Ramones, Thin Lizzy and Blondie gracing the intimate space with their hit-laden sets. And New York City's Blondie were at the peak of their powers in 1978, touring their Plastic Letters album and pre-empting their Parallel lines album, so it was a chance for fans to hear the likes of 'Hanging On The Telephone', 'One Way or Another' and 'Heart Of Glass' before they were released. With said tracks being classics on heavy rotation to this day, there's no denying that this Blondie show goes down in Boston's music history as one of the all time great performances.
Review: Recorded at the BBC Paris cinema in Regent Street in 1970, which was the beginning of Bowie's defining decade. The performance tapes were lost by the BBC so if it wasn't for someone with the legendary foresight to make a cassette tape recording we wouldn't have this collection. Whilst Bowie is known for big, complex arrangements, the set here offers something stripped back and much more 60s sounding. You could imagine Bowie humming 'Amsterdam' around a campfire in Glastonbury, 'The Prettiest Star' shows the immense sustain of Bowie's voice and 'London By Ta-Ta' shows a more playful psychedelic side. Having taken this showcase opportunity with John Peel in his stride so well, it's his energy to play every show as if it was his last that is admirable and a key reason he managed to climb the ladder from here.
Review: Kate Bush enjoyed an unlikely renaissance (and a welcome boost to her bank balance, no doubt) with the younger generation when her music was used in iconic scenes in the hit Netflix show Stranger Things. She has long been a revered pop great who always had an outlier sound which despite that saw great commercial success. For that reason, she was invited to the BBC for a Christmas Special in 1979 and that recording is now pressed up just in time for the festival season. It features plenty of her best moments which will bring great warmth to the winter including the likes of 'December Will be Magic Again' and 'The Man With The Child' plus a version of Peter Gabriel's 'Here Comes the Flood' featuring the former Genesis frontman himself.
Review: After recording sessions for their legendary fifth LP Combat Rock would come to a close at the end of 1981, punk heroes The Clash embarked on a six-week jaunt across Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand (where they shot the iconic cover for their forthcoming record) and Hong Kong. Hitting the city of Kowloon on 25th February only a few months out from record release, this was an era when Hong Kong was still a colony of the British Empire (the last existing dependency of any significance at this time) and enjoyed less government interference in personal freedom, yet there had never been an act as bold as The Clash over to visit. With a setlist that reads today more like a greatest hits including the signature opener 'London Calling' along with bangers galore from 'The Guns Of Brixton' to 'I Fought The Law', '(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais' and 'Jimmy Jazz', with the band even treating the crowd to an early earful of Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' more than two months before official release (a time when no one had smart phones to film and throw up on YouTube or include on Setlist.fm as "New Song"), this performance and tour would also be one of the final to feature drummer Topper Headon, who would be fired due to his heroin addiction just a few months down the line, marking the end of the original line-up.
Review: Following the end of recording sessions for what would become their iconic fifth full-length Combat Rock in December 1981, punk legends The Clash would embark on a six-week tour of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand (where they would shoot the cover for the upcoming album) and Hong Kong. Captured in Kowloon on the 25th February three months before record release, and during a time where the city enjoyed less stringent government oversight, there had still never been an act as rambunctious and declarative as The Clash to hold court. Delivering a set that now reads like a greatest hits from the obligatory opener of 'London Calling' to bangers such as 'Tommy Gun', 'The Guns Of Brixton', 'I Fought The Law' and 'Jimmy Jazz', while even unveiling Combat Rock lead single 'Know Your Rights' two months before studio release, the performance and subsequent tour is also noteworthy for being one of the last with the original line-up, as drummer Topper Headon would be fired due to his heroin addiction only a couple of months later.
Review: Amsterdam has two celebrated, long standing venues - the Paradiso and the Melkweg - and this 1979 broadcast caught the soon to be huge Cure in action in the latter, way more intimate one. It's a collection of the tracks that made the early part of their career as a wiry, lean three post-punk piece more than goth behemoth - 'Killing An Arab', '10:15 Saturday Night', 'Boys Don't Cry' and two speedy versions of 'A Forest' that both come in under five minutes (as opposed to the latter versions that are closer to ten) all figure. It's a period that has its own, rather different following to the normal Cure legions, and this display of sharp pop sense and its jagged approach to sonics showcases just why that is.
Review: This superb recording of a Live FM Broadcast captures the wonderful Depeche Mode at their dynamic peak during the Songs of Faith and Devotion tour. Recorded in San Francisco, this live set detailed their evolution as they blended dark synth-pop with raw, rock-infused energy. Classics like 'Rush' and 'World In My Eyes' shine alongside then-newer, grittier tracks that showcased Dave Gahan's electrifying vocals and Martin Gore's emotive songwriting. The high-quality audio helps immerse you in the band's onstage charisma while offering a nostalgic yet timeless revisit to a wonderful period in the band's history.
Review: Experience the white knuckle energy of the band's early U.S. tour at the legendary punk club, with a mix of tracks from their 1977 debut In the City and their second album - also released '77 - This Is the Modern World. Technically named the Rathskiller, the Boston venue was nicknamed The Rat and built a reputation as a basement dive bar that has hosted acts that have gone on to be the biggest names in rock. The Jam are a case in point and on red hot form here with the Paul Weller-led band thrashing through the likes of 'Carnaby Street', 'In The City' and 'All Around The World' in an unpolished, ramshackle and intimate way that the studio albums can't conjure.
Atmosphere (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (2:22)
Wilderness (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (3:00)
Shadowplay (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (3:53)
Insight (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (4:06)
Colony (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (4:06)
Review: Famed for having hosted the likes of Hendrix and The Stones, the Moonlight Club in the basement of the vintage Hampstead pub The Railway, was a ram-packed sweaty room and a fantastic place to have seen Joy Division live. The Ian Curtis-fronted Macclesfield post-punk legends played three nights on the trot here and the setlist is the stuff of legends, nicely meandering through the best tracks from their Closer, Still, Unknown Pleasures albums and beyond. Side 2 includes a run of tracks that they recorded in the briefly opened and since demolished Factory live venue in Moss Side, Manchester, bringing you back to a time when the city was in its monochromatic prime..
Review: A limited edition (300 only) coloured vinyl collection of tracks from early Oasis days rendered in acoustic, unplugged style, culled from a variety of sources - the Simon Mayo Show, Gary Crowle and Mark Lamarr's GLR shows, the Orpheum Theatre, Boston, a Creation Records Birthday Party at London's Royal Albert Hall and the BBC Radio1 Live Lounge. From 'Wonderwall' to 'Live Forever', the songs are the most cherished and celebrated among the Mancunians' canon. They're no less strong as a result of these stripped down arrangements, though, and this compilation sheds a new light on an already much loved period in indie rock history.
Review: The title is lifted from a line in the song from their 1969 studio album, More, which is an acoustic folk ballad titled 'Green Is The Colour': "Heavy is the bond between the hopeful and the damned." Live they slap on a more electric feel with Gilmour's inimitable soloing a strong part of it. The overarching loose, exploratory feel to this collection is a result of Pink Floyd's tendency to improvise and see where the music takes them. Clearly playing for themselves here but nevertheless compelling and awe-inspiring in what they do.
Review: Captured at Parque O'Higgins in Santiago, Chile, on April 1st 2017, just two months before the release of their ninth full-length studio album Trouble Maker (though the set features no early sneak peek cuts), El Punk No Ha Muerto offers up a fly-on-the-wall earful from California punk lifers Rancid, deep into their seasoned veteran status. Boasting a catalogue spanning greatest hits set featuring classics such as 'Maxwell Murder' and 'Ruby Soho', this live LP is Rancid as they were always meant to be heard. Messy, chaotic, gruff yet underpinned with a poignant precision and internal understanding of live dynamics and audience appeal, this is as close as you can get to the intense camaraderie of one of their incomparable shows without paying the price of admission (for a ticket anyway, no freebies).
The Biggest, Loudest, Hairiest Group Of All (3:52)
Femme Fatale (3:47)
All Tomorrow's Parties (3:08)
Janitor Of Lunacy (4:06)
Review: This broadcast was first aired on French TV having been recorded at the Bataclan club in Paris, on January 29, 1972. It got a first official release in 2004 having been bootlegged for many years before that from a recording taken from the sound board at the gig. Fans of The Velvet Underground will know that this was the first time the group members Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico had all been up on stage together.
Review: Siouxsie Sioux remains a real icon of post-punk. The English singer and songwriter was the powerhouse lyricist behind her band the Banshees from formation in 1976 until they stopped performing in 1996. She is often held up as a pioneering women who was way ahead of her time. With her band, she was part of this iconic 1991 performance at Le Zenith in Paris, right when they were at their peak and delivering an unforgettable fusion of haunting vocals and brooding post-punk energy. The legendary setlist includes fan favourites such as 'Spellbound' and 'Kiss Them for Me' which both capture the dark, hypnotic essence that defined their sound. Now, this historic concert is immortalised and means you can relive it time and time again.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.