Down the Holiday Trail, pt. V
Maybe it’s the colder weather but I’m feeling a little more Christmasy than a couple of days ago. I’d like to see this chill continue on through the weekend, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.
I was looking around the Internet a couple of days ago, trying to find out if the Stones had ever released any kind of a Christmas song. I know there’s Keith’s version of “Run Rudolph Run,” which I posted the other day, but beyond that, it doesn’t seem there are any Rolling Stones Christmas releases . Being the anti-Beatles they were, apparently Christmas music wasn’t their style. About the closest I found is “Winter” from the
Goats Head Soup album. I’m not a hundred percent sure what the song is about but it’s – no surprise – a winter sorta tune with the line “And I wish I'd been out in California / When the lights on all the Christmas trees went out.”
Actually, if you look at the lines around that line, the song seems to be about someone being exiled for sexual sins. And if that ain’t Christmas, I don’t know what is.
Winter.mp3 ~ Rolling Stones
Joy to the World.mp3 ~ Pure Defiance
Dead By Xmas.mp3 ~ Hanoi Rocks
Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time).mp3 ~ Pearl Jam
Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me.mp3 ~ Charlie Sexton
Labels: holiday, Pearl Jam, Rolling Stones
Down the Holiday Trail, pt. III
My personal little slice of Christmas spirit and why I’d prefer to shop online: I went this morning to a big box retailer, looking for two specific items and an unspecific one. I couldn’t find the two specific items and decided not to get the third.
While at the store, I was subjected to crowds, rudeness, and a couple of people who apparently decided it was more important to shop than bathe. I also caught sight of an individual unironically wearing full
Ed Hardy gear, including a hat carefully cocked and tilted. That made me laugh, which made the whole trip worthwhile.
Enjoy today’s music.
Must Be Santa.mp3 ~ Bob Dylan
Jingle Bells.mp3 ~ Pearl Jam
Story of the Magi / Silent Night.mp3 ~ White Stripes
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.mp3 ~ Christina Aguilera
Santa Baby.mp3 ~ Madonna
Labels: holiday, Pearl Jam, White Stripes, Xtina
The 12 Days of Xmas (day 5)
On the fifth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree 
I hope no one minds that this is my second Pearl Jam post within a week. The number of Xmas songs I have from PJ just happened to fit conveniently into this Fifth Day of Xmas post.
If you’re not a member of
Pearl Jam’s Ten Club, you really miss out on some very exclusive, very cool stuff. Every year, for example, they issue a special Christmas single to members of their fan club, usually with unreleased live stuff, covers, or, sometimes, Christmas songs.
I believe I have the wonderful Heather over at
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends to thank for most, if not all, of these songs. (No, I’m not a member of the Ten Club, either. That’s how I know you miss cool stuff.)
Jingle Bells.mp3 Don’t Believe in Christmas (live, Sonics cover).mp3 Someday at Christmas (Jackson Five cover).mp3 Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time).mp3 Santa God.mp3Labels: covers, grunge, holiday, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam reissuing Ten
Call me a little slow, but I just this morning heard (on CNN, of all places – not my usual source for music news) that Pearl Jam is planning on re-releasing their classic debut album,
Ten, next year.
I verified the info with
Pearl Jam’s Website, and also learned the re-release will contain a host of goodies to accompany the remastered disk: Among other items, you’ll get a DVD of a previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance; an LP of the band’s 1992 “Drop in the Park” concert; and a replica of Pearl Jam’s three-song demo cassette with Eddie Vedder’s original vocal dubs. Pretty cool, huh?
The package will be issued in four expanded editions and will go on sale March 24, 2009. You can pre-order now if you’re a member of the
Ten Club. The reissue of
Ten serves as the launch of a planned two-year catalogue re-release campaign leading up to the band’s 20th anniversary in 2011.
Some
Ten trivia, which you probably already know if you’re any sort of fan: Pearl Jam's original name was taken from the professional basketball player Mookie Blaylock. It was changed after the band signed to Epic Records, as record executives were concerned about intellectual property and naming rights following Blaylock's inking of an endorsement deal with Nike. In commemoration of the band's original name, the band titled its first album
Ten after Blaylock's jersey number.
For tonight’s music, I pulled a few tracks from a recording of the Nov. 30, 1993, show at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas, Nev. In keeping with the theme of the
Ten re-release, I’m just posting the tracks from that album. I’ve had this recording forever, so I’m not sure of the source. Nonetheless, the sound is really good. And you’ve gotta check this version of “Black.” Incredible.
Even Flow.mp3 Once.mp3 Deep.mp3 Black.mp3 Alive.mp3 Porch.mp3Labels: grunge, live music, Pearl Jam
9/11
Long Road.mp3 ~ Eddie Vedder, with Mike McCready and Neil Young, from
America: A Tribute to HeroesLabels: current events, Neil Young, Pearl Jam
Eddie Vedder Demos
I haven’t found any local Tampa music. To be honest, I got up this morning, ate breakfast, and then went to the beach. In an hour or so, I’m going to eat dinner and go drinking. So... I haven’t really even been
looking for local music.
I like finding and sharing local music when I travel. I know those posts don’t get the hits like when I post recordings of John Lennon (allegedly) speeding like a freight train, but this is about having fun and finding new music. If I were here to turn a profit, well, first I probably wouldn’t be able to afford an Internet connection, but I would also try more often to post stuff that would draw millions of hits. Have you heard the latest about LiLo?
Moving on....
While not catering to the masses, I have found some Eddie Vedder demo recordings. I ran across these about a month ago, and, per usual, didn’t keep track of where they came from. Some obscure site somewhere, I imagine.
I don’t know much about these recordings, unfortunately. This note came with the file: “This tape was sent by Eddie to the guy who lived downstairs from he and Beth in San Diego when he moved to Seattle. A collective group of fans...purchased this from Eddie's neighbor/friend.”
The tape is from the 1988 time period, a couple of years before Eddie joined Pearl Jam.
The site
Cathedral Stone has a little additional background information about this demo tape, as well as the original version Eddie recorded.
Unfortunately, neither demo tape drew any response from the recording industry. To Eddie it was a letdown, but not a setback. He knew his demo tapes would be a long shot (recording quality problems and no band). Eddie was initially prepared for the worse, and had a thought out game plan to achieve his eventual success. At that time he knew it was time for plan B. It was time to find himself a band in which he could practice, play, record, and most importantly draw music industry attention. He now had a couple of demo tapes in hand to present to potential band members in the search for his new band. That was it. Eddie was ready to move on to the next step, and he was enthusiastic. It was almost time for some Bad Radio.
And if you go to the
I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog, you will find that Heather posted some Bad Radio quite a while ago (but the links were still active when I checked). There are also some sweet PJ demo recordings in that post.
Update: I wrote the preceding last night, then discovered that I had apparently cleared my cache, thus erasing the saved passwords (or something). Being out of town, I had no access to the master list of passwords, which is carefully kept on a piece of scratch paper somewhere at home. So I had to e-mail my host’s support team to get my password. Anyway, here’s the music I tried to post yesterday. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going out drinking again tonight.
One Step Up (Bruce Springsteen cover).mp3 Crossroads.mp3 Believe You Me.mp3 Reggae Woman.mp3Labels: covers, demos, Pearl Jam
Repost - Pearl Jam Unplugged
A few days ago I had a request from a reader that I repost this Pearl Jam unplugged show. He said he had “someone special” he wanted to hear it. It took me a little while to get to it, so I hope I didn’t screw him up on anything. I really don’t have enough readers to be pissing people off!!
Here’s the repost, though. Originally I split the 15 tracks between two posts, but I decided that if I’m going to put the tracks back up, I may as well do the decent thing and put them all up at once. And to make things easier still, the whole thing is in a zip file.
The recording features both nights of Pearl Jam’s second appearance at the Bridge Benefit Concert on October 1 and 2, 1994. My original post is
right here if you decide you need any additional information.
Pearl Jam Unplugged.zip 
NOTE: I doubt either of these pictures are from 1994, but they’re cool anyway. Deal with it!Labels: Pearl Jam, repost
I was looking around the Internet a couple of days ago, trying to find out if the Stones had ever released any kind of a Christmas song. I know there’s Keith’s version of “Run Rudolph Run,” which I posted the other day, but beyond that, it doesn’t seem there are any Rolling Stones Christmas releases . Being the anti-Beatles they were, apparently Christmas music wasn’t their style. About the closest I found is “Winter” from the Goats Head Soup album. I’m not a hundred percent sure what the song is about but it’s – no surprise – a winter sorta tune with the line “And I wish I'd been out in California / When the lights on all the Christmas trees went out.” 
