John Coltrane - Offering: Live at Temple University,1966 (Resonance, 2014)

Today is my Holy Day, my only holy day. Sept. 23, 1926, my hero, John Coltrane,was born, and there is no better gift to the world than a never before released live concert. This show was unearthed in 2005 and sees its first proper christening today by (Resonance Records).

Recorded just months before his death, This Philly show saw Trane pushing all limits. His health was declining and he knew the end was nigh. Mind you, this is a year or so after McCoy Tyner told someone that Trane was playing so hard that blood was spewing from his mouth. At one point, he removes the sax and begins chanting, and changing vocalization by beating his chest. This was at the point where he felt he had pushed the instrument to its furthest extent, and the only maneuver beyond was to cut out the middle man and push from the depths of his diaphragm.

As far out as he gets here, with Alice Coltrane, Rashied Ali, Pharoah Sanders and a crew of Philly based percussionists, he returns to finish with his rendition of "My Favorite Things", a fan favorite. The drastic departure from the extremes to finish with this was FOR his fans. He never forgot that his spiritual quest could never have launched and finished without those people that loved him.

Trane's body was dying, and the end was soon. He didn't succeed or fail, because,as he would have told you, there is no beginning or end, just the journey.

Recorded November 11, 1966
Mitten Hall, Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Featured Artists: John Coltrane – soprano & tenor saxophones, flute & vocals

Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone & piccolo

Alice Coltrane – piano Sonny Johnson – bass

Rashied Ali – drums

Additional musicians include: Steve Knoblauch, Arnold Joyner – alto saxophone Umar Ali, Algie DeWitt, Robert Kenyatta – percussion

Resonance Records, which is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit foundation, will contribute a portion from every sale to the John Coltrane Home (www.thecoltranehome.org), an organization devoted to the preservation of Coltrane’s former home in Dix Hills, New York.

TRACK LIST:

DELUXE 2 CD DIGI-PACK
Disc One
01. Naima (16:28)
02. Crescent (26:11)

Disc Two
03. Leo (21:29)
04. Offering (4:19)
05. My Favorite Things (23:18)

DELUXE 2 LP GATEFOLD
Side A
Naima (16:28)

Side B
Crescent (26:11)

Side C
Leo (21:29)

Side D Offering (4:19) My Favorite Things (23:18)

Wire:On the Box 1979 (Pink Flag Archive Series, 2004)

It was a decade ago I wandered into my local record store, saw this CD/DVD release, and immediately proceeded to checkout. I knew it was going to be crucial. What I didn't know was that it would soon be my favorite live concert video of all time. I've not strayed from that opinion in all these years. Wire, in that era, was something that could neither be matched, nor improved upon. I'm still in awe of the creativity displayed with guitar, bass, drums and vocals. They are the kings of angular art house snob music, both for the proles and those at university. If you've not seen it, I urge you to do so now. Masters at work.

I've included a great review by Craig Grannell from the 2004 release:

"The gig happened between Chairs Missing and 154, and finds Wire in typically abrasive mood. In front of a polite, but nonplussed German television audience, Wire race through a set of proto-154 numbers and some older tracks, devoid of Mike Thorne's sometimes heavy-handed production. It's testament to the band's creativity and unique vision that the gig still stands up well today and doesn't sound terribly dated, despite it being over two decades old.

 Amusingly, the band's on-stage persona seems to be little different from today: Newman a proto-Kraktwerk robot (albeit wearing a tie in those days), barking lyrics, wrestling with his guitar, then twisting like a marionette, dancing in staccato; Lewis flinging his bass around with merry abandon, with eyes that suggest if anyone wants to start anything, he's all-too ready; Gotobed, the metronome—eyes closed, keeping the beat; and Gilbert, at the back of the stage, carefully and purposely adding counterpoint to the Newman guitar. Although a little bass-heavy, the remixed soundtrack pleases, as does the video, which while having some artefacts and colour distortion, is perhaps as good as you'd expect from a 20-year-old television show. Unfortunately, someone saw fit to ignore one of the main bonuses of DVD: the gig has no track markers whatsoever. We presume that Wire's argument will be something like the gig is a whole entity—a complete performance—and should be watched as such, in one sitting. However, part of the magic of DVD is the viewer having the ability to skip to where they want to. Also, track markers to specific tracks would have made sense, seeing as the DVD retains the original broadcast's rather erratic titling.

 Two extras, both desirable, come with this package. The first is an amusing interview conducted with the band after the gig. Wire are their usual obstructive selves, making life difficult for the interviewer and providing succinct, sometimes abstract answers. The video quality of the interview is notably inferior to the gig, but this matters little: the soundtrack is fine, and Gotobed fans will be interested to note that he offers a few well-chosen words part-way through. The other extra is a CD of the entire gig soundtrack—a nice touch, enabling you to listen to the audio wherever you want, rather than being glued to your TV set. Thankfully, the track marker issue doesn't extend to the CD, which enables you to skip tracks as you'd expect. Overall, this is a promising start to the archive series. We hope the lack of track markets will be addressed on future releases, such as the forthcoming Send DVD, but the CD is a welcome bonus, and the gig itself still manages to excite after all these years."

The Cure - Paris (Elektra / Asylum, 1993)

If you want to bitch about The Cure being capitalistic by the early 90's, I'll give you that. If you want to say you were sick and tired of them putting out every damned live show they felt like, I'll give you that too. But, did you ever hear this one?

I remember digging through the cut-out bin at K-Mart when I was 18 and finding this failed gem of a cassette for $2.99. It was quite a nice surprise to see the track listing of older, darker, more cult classic songs like "The Figurehead" and One Hundred Years" (this was pre-internet, so I wasn't familiar with every available release by the band. Guess I had stopped following Rolling Stone at that point).

Recorded at Le Zénith de Paris, in October 1992 during their Wish tour, what makes this show so special is the voracious crowd. They can't get enough of these classic early goth tracks, songs that make up what the band (Smith) was originally about. Its pretty powerful to hear the whole place singing along to the keyboard line on "Play for Today".

A moving recording for those fans partial to the early work.

Get it Here

Coil - Live in NYC 08-18-01

Get it Here