WHAT A TEMPER!: TO GERMANY, THERE AND BACK

I can't believe how quickly the weeks are passing by! It seems like before I know it Friday comes around and the fun happens late in the evening. This Friday was especially enjoyable because I had lunch with another avid Echo & The Bunnymen fan, followed by a late afternoon cigar with a buddy close to home. The Parker Days Festival was happening only a block away, the sounds of live music drifting in the air as we sat smoking on his porch, watching the people streaming towards the music and carnival rides. A busy week of wild weather, thunder storms generating heavy hail and tornadoes.

Friday night saw me pull out a pair of what are becoming old favorites. First up was an FM radio broadcast of Nirvana playing live in Bremen, Germany on August 27, 1991. Although its an FM broadcast, the recording is in mono, but it's excellent quality. This particular show took place shortly before the September 24, 1991 release of Nevermind, their second studio album. That's why during the show Kurt proclaims "some new stuff". When Nevermind reached number one in January 1992, Billboard proclaimed, "Nirvana is that rare band that has everything: critical acclaim, industry respect, pop radio appeal, and a rock-solid college/alternative base." A great rock performance.

Tonight's performance was nearly ruined when thoughts of work intruded, the sense of frustration welling up inside me. A couple of haiku's and it was out of my system.

Feels it all at once

Bright sunlight on the counter

The essence of life

Signs begging for help
There on every street corner
People abandoned

Nothing we can do
Trapped behind their ignorance
Fire barely contained

Rule with such confidence
With supreme incompetence
The king has no clothes

Download it here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/109191456/Nirv.1991-08-27.Bremen.rar

Next up was Echo & The Bunnymen, their live performance at the Berlin Kantkino, also in Germany, on June 15, 1981. This show followed the release of Heaven Up Here, their second album, released in 30 May 1981. In June 1981, Heaven Up Here became Echo & the Bunnymen's first Top 10 release when it rocketed to number 10 on the UK Album charts. During the show Ian speaks very little, just matter of factly giving song titles before they perform. An excellent quality recording, although Show of Strength was messed up digitally. I need to check to see whether its my version or the one available for download off the web.

"Liverpool's finest continue to sing the blues, continue to devote themselves to the glossy celebration of existential sadness. Heaven Up Here offers an anatomy of melancholy, resplendent with the glamour of doom." - Record Mirror, 1981

The bands performance this evening was not particularly remarkable, Ian's in particular, and I question whether they may have had one too many "beveys" prior to the show.

Tossing and turning