bootlegs Archives - The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Apr102014 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Listening Booth — Kiss New York City Loft Rehearsal, 1973

Well, today's the big day. After years of waiting, and a whole lot of politics and gossip in the meantime, Kiss is finally being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And so I felt it only appropriate to publish the first edition of the Listening Booth in more than a year. And this one should be a real treat for devoted members of the Kiss Army. Today's offering is a bootleg from the earliest days of the band, before they even had an album out. Hell, when this was recorded no one outside the immediate New York City area even knew who Kiss was. This recording, my friends, was reportedly made by Gene Simmons while the band played for an audience of no one in their New York City rehearsal loft (located at 10 East 23rd Street). What you will hear on this is a band still gelli...

Dec182012 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

Listening Booth — Rush at Stadhalle, Offenbach, Germany (May 28, 1979)

Listening Booth, Music

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, but it's high time I posted a Rush show on this site for the first time. After all, they finally made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so it only seems right. And so inspired by my friends at Addicted to Vinyl sharing an excellent concert from the band's first album tour, I'm sharing one of favorites. This concert was recorded at the Stadhalle in Offenbach, West Germany on May 28, 1979 -- the second-to-last date on the Hemispheres tour. It goes by several names, but the copy I have is called Black Forest. It's a fantastic soundboard recording and the band is, as usual, on fire. Of note is that the entire "Hemispheres" suite is played, as is all of "2112." Some of the transitions are rather abrupt, but otherwise this is an extreme

Jan72012 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Listening booth — Van Halen, “I’m So Glad” (Caracas, Venezuela 1/16/83)

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Guess what? I got Van Halen fever, and the only prescription is... more Van Halen! So here's one of my favorite VH boots, from the Diver Down promotional tour (dubbed the Hide Your Sheep Tour). It's I'm So Glad, a mono soundboard show sourced from the first night of the South American leg. It was the first of three shows in Caracas, Venezuela. The sound quality isn't fantastic for a soundboard, but it's a great setlist and the band is totally raging. I'm sure that playing in South America for the first time lit a fire under their collective asses. Eddie is in peak form as you would expect, while Alex and Michael are rock-solid as usual. As for Diamond Dave? Well, Dave is Dave. You know what to expect when you go to see VH with him as frontman, so you either love it or hate it. I lov

Aug242011 by Chris Holmes1 Comment

Listening Booth — Peter Gabriel at Rock Werchter, 1983

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Another day, another listening booth, another great concert for your listening enjoyment. Today I offer up a recording of Peter Gabriel at the seventh annual Rock Werchter festival in Belgium. Gabriel took the stage on July 3 with four solo albums behind him, most recently 1982's Peter Gabriel (aka Security in America). Gabriel was already popular in his native Britain after his time as the lead singer of Genesis, but was just now on the verge of stardom in America thanks to the "Shock the Monkey" single. Remember, although everyone loves "Solsbury Hill" now it wasn't a hit when it was released in 1977. Gabriel and his band are in excellent form here, and the mixture of songs from the first four LPs is great. We even get a preview of "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)," which wasn...

Aug12011 by Chris Holmes6 Comments

Listening booth — Amy Winehouse (Tränenpalast, Berlin, Germany 2004)

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I'll cop to not being the biggest Amy Winehouse fan in the world, but there's no denying the incredible talent she possessed. That talent is on display during the concert I'm sharing with you today. This is from a July 29, 2011 broadcast on Deutschlandfunk, a German radio station. It captures Amy performing in support of her debut album, Frank, on September 28, 2004 at the Tränenpalast in Berlin, Germany. This is the Amy that fans will likely want to remember. Before the scandal, before the very public -- and ultimately losing -- battles with addiction, and before the days of mysteriously canceled shows and poor performances. Here, she's in great voice and hits a groove with her sterling backing band. (These are all in .mp3 format by the way. If you want to download the show in .F

Jun282011 by Chris Holmes3 Comments

Listening booth — Kiss at the Cow Palace, 1977

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As the Fourth of July approaches, I felt it only right to dedicate an edition of the Booth to one of my favorite all-American bands -- Kiss. This show captures the original foursome during a stop on their Love Gun tour, August 16 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Fans will note that this setlist is nearly identical to that found on Alive II. A few noticeable differences are the order of the songs and the fact that Peter Criss's "Hooligan" is in this set. Oh yeah, and this recording wasn't completely doctored and fabricated. I'd say that Kiss was still firing on all cylinders at this point, although history tells us that the end wasn't too far away. Although Alive II continued the band's hot streak later in 1977, they were just a year away from the commercial fiasco of the four solo al...

Apr282011 by Chris HolmesNo Comments

Listening Booth — Queen, “High Voltage” (London 1974)

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God I miss Freddie Mercury, don't you? Thankfully we have a treasure trove of studio albums, concert videos, and of course bootlegs. Because Freddie was always at his best when he had a crowd in the palm of his hand. This particular crowd watched Queen perform at the Rainbow Theatre in London on March 31, 1974. That's just over three weeks after the release of the awesome Queen II album. This show -- which I acquired with the title High Voltage -- is just seven songs long but is full of energy and great playing by the whole band. Roger Taylor is a beast on the drums, and of course Brian May (who gets his showcase on "Son and Daughter" and busts out a solo that will remind fans of the one on "Brighton Rock") rules at all times. And let's not forget the ever-solid John Deacon on bass. ...

Apr192011 by Chris Holmes6 Comments

Listening booth — The Crusaders live in Colchester, 1978

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Today marks the first time I'm making a live bootleg available on GFS, but I think it's worth the wait in this case. What we have here is a smooth, yet super-funky 1978 set by the Crusaders performing at North Essex Polytechnic in the United Kingdom. This show, the group's last on their supporting tour of the Images album, was broadcast by the BBC and that's what you'll hear today. By this point in the group's history, it had been eight years since they changed their name from the Jazz Crusaders. That much will be obvious on first listen, as these songs draw much more from the wells of funk and R&B than jazz. It's also a different sound than even the early Crusaders years showcased, as founding member and trombonist Wayne Henderson departed a few years prior to become a full-time pr...