My Morning Jacket – New Year’s Eve 2008

I know I just posted a MMJ boot, but I felt the need to post this one as well, for two reasons:

1. We’re still in the One Big Bootleg Holiday season, and this is the best New Years Eve bootleg I’ve ever heard (sorry Phish fans).
2. I was reading one of Elana’s magazines (In Style?) and right after the Stars Are Just Like Us! section was a feature on a few people’s favorite New Years’ ever. At which point I turned to Elana and said that my favorite New Year’s Eve was the one we spent together at this very MMJ show.

So fill your glasses, put on your party hats, and crank up the music to celebrate what is sure to be a wonderful year.

The Flaming Lips – Dark Side Of The Moon (Bonnaroo 2010)

I realize I just posted a boot just a few hours ago, but I just started listening to The Flaming Lips’ remake of “Dark Side Of The Moon” and it’s making me giddy with musical excitement. It’s not often that another artist’s remake of a classic album is recieved warmly – it’s even rarer when the original album is one of the most innovative and greatest of all time, and the remake does justice to the original both in staying true to the idea of the album, and in the ideal of musical innovation, by taking the album to another level.

So here, in one track, is The Flaming Lips’ version of “Dark Side Of The Moon” as performed at Bonnaroo 2010. That it’s one track is not due to my laziness – it’s because this album, more than any other album, is truly one track. It’s one idea, one continuous thought, and one hell of an unbelievable musical feat – both the original, and the redone version posted below.

The Flaming Lips – Dark Side Of The Moon

Elton John & Leon Russell – Bridge School 2010

Now this is one of the albums that I somehow missed in 2010. Despite their seeming divergent musical styles, Mr. Russell and Mr. John have combined to create a most perfect sound. Their vocals and pianos weave together so beautifully that both musicians seem like they’ve finally met their perfect bandmate. Billy Joel my ass – Elton John belongs with Leon Russel.

So check out their recent performance together at the Bridge School Benefit, as we continue our One Big Bootleg Holiday.

State Radio – Bowery Ballroom 2007

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Dispatch has recently updated their website with a cryptic countdown timer. The countdown will end at the New Year, but it’s clear that the oft-broken up band with a massive cult following isn’t just counting down to 2011. Rumors are swirling with everything from world tours to new albums.

Personally, I prefer State Radio, Chad Stokes’ current band. And so, continuing our One Big Holiday of Bootlegs, check out this State Radio bootleg from 2007.

Update: My brother Ezra just directed me Dispatch’s Facebook page which has a photo album featuring barcodes, which when scanned bring up the following locations in Google Maps:

• Morrison, CO
• Chicago, IL
• Berekely, CA
• Boston, MA (hey! I live there!)
• Atlanta, GA
• Harrison, NJ

So, it’s looking more like a tour than anything else. Hurrah!

The Rolling Stones – Brussels 1973

I’ve been reading Keith Richards’ informative, entertaining, and enjoyable autobiography Life for the past few weeks, and it’s given me a bad case Stone’s nostalgia. Not real I-saw-them-on-the-Exile-tour nostalgia – I wasn’t born until 13 years after Exile was released, and didn’t truly appreciate the band until I was about 20. More of an I-can’t-believe-I-don’t-listen-to-this-band-more type of nostalgia.

New(ish) Music – Gorillaz and Yeasayer

For those of you who use this blog as a music news outlet, stop. I’m not very good at updating content often enough, nor do I have any real industry insiders to tell me anything before I discover it on Pitchfork or Stereogum.

Still, I feel that it’s important to update this site with news every now and then. So here’s a few releases that were dropped during the holiday weekend:

My Morning Jacket – Bonnaroo 2008

Continuing our One Big Bootleg Holiday series, this is one of my favorite My Morning Jacket bootlegs of all time. Sadly, despite two of the headliners being my two current favorite bands (Pearl Jam and My Morning Jacket) and another one being my favorite band from middle school (Metallica), I did not attend the festival.

MMJ’s setlist was peppered with amazing covers, and stellar originals, and it’s something that I’m quite sad I missed. Thankfully, this great recording exists for those of us to listen back to.

One Big Bootleg Holiday

Well, here we are at the holidays, when bloggers usually take a bit of time off from posting to relax with their families. Not I. Your faithful blogger will be spending his Christmas working diligently on posts for you, so that your holidays can be properly soundtracked, and you’ll have what to play through those new speakers you’re hoping to find under the tree.

New R.E.M. Featuring Eddie Vedder

A new R.E.M. track, It Happened Today, was leaked on the web sometime earlier this week. [Update: The track wasn’t leaked. It was given as a free download to those who pre-ordered R.E.M.’s forthcoming album on iTunes, which will be released on March 8th.]

The track features Eddie Vedder in some capacity, but it’s not clear how. He’s obviously singing background vocals from about halfway through the track and on, and there’s a good chance he’s playing acoustic guitar on the song, but who knows.

Either way, it’s always nice to hear some Eddie (and some new R.E.M.), so enjoy that track, and enjoy one of their earlier collaborations.

R.E.M. – It Happened Today (feat. Eddie Vedder)

R.E.M. and Eddie Vedder – Man On The Moon (live)

Captain Beefheart: 1941-2010

Captain Beefheart, the stage name of Don Van Vliet, and the ringleader of The Magic Band, died yesterday on December 17th 2010.

I don’t know very much about Captain Beefheart. I had heard of his as this nuttier version of Frank Zappa, an innovative musician who bent rules and defied genres. His music was wacky, but surprisingly accessible. Like the Velvet Underground, every band trying to sound like they had good and interesting tastes would cite him as an influence.