{"id":2782,"date":"2010-04-03T09:02:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-03T17:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2782"},"modified":"2010-04-03T09:02:53","modified_gmt":"2010-04-03T17:02:53","slug":"jesus-just-left-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/03\/jesus-just-left-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus Just Left Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

1<\/span><\/p>\n

Guess they rolled away the stone early.\u00c2\u00a0 And ain’t that a great Leon Russell song.<\/p>\n

Anyway, they say Ativan is more addictive then heroin.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll tell you, the Internet’s got both of them beat.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s hard enough to resist the pull of the World Wide Web, but once you log on, you can’t get the fuck off.<\/p>\n

I can’t tell you how many sites I’ve been to that haven’t changed in years, I’m just waiting for them to be updated.\u00c2\u00a0 Then I’m looking up someone I used to know, or a synapse fires and I’m doing research on some act or ski area or arcane subject that could suck up the rest of my life.<\/p>\n

And when I’m truly a goner, when I know there’s no fucking way I’m gonna log off, that I’m stuck for hours, I go to my favorite music blog and see what bootlegs have been posted.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, it was the original recording of "Who’s Next".\u00c2\u00a0 In New York.\u00c2\u00a0 Ultimately scrapped, the fact they could cut shit this good in weeks floored me.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, there was a version of "Pure and Easy", the great Who song that no one knows.\u00c2\u00a0 I was riveted.<\/p>\n

And then there was this Bonnie Raitt\/Little Feat tour from back in ’73.<\/p>\n

But as good as those two documents were, what truly floored me was this.\u00c2\u00a0 A pristine edition of ZZ Top’s King Biscuit Flower Hour performance from June 16, 1980, from before I was a fan.<\/p>\n

They were an American act on London Records.\u00c2\u00a0 Explain that to me.\u00c2\u00a0 And a million people went to see them, and they toured with livestock, but I wasn’t in to base boogie.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, I liked to look for tush but I saw the band as a slightly improved Black Oak Arkansas, a red dirt version of Grand Funk.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t have been more wrong.<\/p>\n

What changed me was "I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide".\u00c2\u00a0 With its stuttering intro and humorous lyrics…<\/p>\n

Well I was rollin’ down the road in some cold blue steel<\/span>
I had a blues man in the back, and a beautician at the wheel<\/span>
We going downtown in the middle of the night<\/span>
We laughing and I’m jokin’ and we feelin’ alright<\/span>
Oh I’m bad, I’m nationwide<\/span>
Yes I’m bad, I’m nationwide<\/span><\/p>\n

This wasn’t macho swagger, this was intelligent musicians having a LAUGH!<\/p>\n

That’s what players used to be, cool.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m not talking about charismatic, not that that’s mutually exclusive, no, I’m talking about cool cats.\u00c2\u00a0 Removed from the mainstream, functioning in their own universe, laughing at the rest of the world.\u00c2\u00a0 Musicians had it figured out.\u00c2\u00a0 That it was about living in the moment, enjoying the ride.<\/p>\n

And that’s what "I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide" sounds like.<\/p>\n

And every time I went to my friend’s house in Huntington Beach I played "Deguello", the album that it was ensconced in, to revel in the magic, to experience the euphoria.<\/p>\n

And then the stars aligned and ZZ Top became one of the biggest bands in the land.\u00c2\u00a0 And "Gimme All Your Lovin’" and "Legs" deserve the accolades.\u00c2\u00a0 But little did I know the dudes making this music were brothers.\u00c2\u00a0 I met Billy Gibbons and it’s like we went to the same high school together.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, he had a beard down to his belly button, but we were cut from the same cloth.<\/p>\n

Let me explain it to you…<\/p>\n

You know that kid you’ve known since kindergarten?\u00c2\u00a0 Who you used to crack jokes with in the back of class, all the way through high school, even though you no longer shared the same friends, even though you no longer treaded in the same social circle?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s Billy.<\/p>\n

He wasn’t edgy and distant, he was soft and warm, welcoming.<\/p>\n

He was a musician.<\/p>\n

And believe me, it’s rare you meet your heroes and they live up to the rep, that they don’t disappoint.<\/p>\n

2<\/span><\/p>\n

You download these bootlegs in .rar format.\u00c2\u00a0 You decompress them in programs that record execs have never heard of.\u00c2\u00a0 And then you end up with a folder on your desktop, containing gems.\u00c2\u00a0 To say this King Biscuit Flower Hour concert is a find is to do it a disservice.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s an elixir, the essence, the pure guava of the experience.<\/p>\n

We used to sit at home in front of our giant stereos, listening to these live broadcasts on the radio. They were a facsimile of being there.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era when every gig was a little bit different, when you went to the show like going to a movie, when you didn’t have to join the Christmas Club in order to save enough money to attend, when you didn’t have to join a fan club or get a credit card to get inside the building.<\/p>\n

Oh, you did have to get up early and wait in line.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t so bad, you were with your brethren.<\/p>\n

Anyway, this show was recorded when the band was promoting "Deguello", it’s got all my favorites. But what got my fingers working, what made me need to reach out was the take of "Jesus Left Chicago".<\/p>\n

The floors were sticky.\u00c2\u00a0 The people were sweaty.\u00c2\u00a0 The refreshments were lame.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually there wasn’t even beer.\u00c2\u00a0 But you were thrilled to be there.\u00c2\u00a0 All together.\u00c2\u00a0 There was not a special section for hedge funders, no separation of the classes, we were one, reveling in the music.<\/p>\n

And the band reached out from the stage and tried to convert us.\u00c2\u00a0 Not because someone might be shooting video for YouTube, but because that was their job, that was the essence.<\/p>\n

Music’s not static.\u00c2\u00a0 Not choreographed.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a living, breathing thing.\u00c2\u00a0 And even though this cut is thirty years old, it feels like it was born yesterday.<\/p>\n

The bass sounds like a Yellowstone mudpot, oozing all over the floor.\u00c2\u00a0 The drums are accents. Thunderous.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Fred Flintstone is behind the kit, banging the skins with chicken legs.<\/p>\n

And Billy’s guitar is distorted, it’s fuzzy, there are only three instruments but the sound is a virus, infecting everyone in the building.<\/p>\n

I can see the heads nodding.\u00c2\u00a0 As the band is plodding.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s the song’s magic.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like Zeppelin’s "When The Levee Breaks".\u00c2\u00a0 You feel like you’re being banged on the head, and you’re enjoying it!<\/p>\n

3<\/span><\/p>\n

ZZ TOP – Best Of The Biscuit<\/p>\n

King Biscuit Flower Hour original airdate Aug 31, 1980<\/p>\n

Live from The Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey<\/p>\n

Sourced from original broadcast vinyl, second edition of program<\/p>\n

Recording date May 4, 1980<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

I originally first recorded this show in the early eighties from radio in Vancouver, B.C. This was still before all the videos and fur covered spinning guitars with television sets built into them, and even before their trademark beards were quite so bushy.<\/p>\n

It made me a fan for life. Imagine my surprise a few years later to acquire the actual records the radio had played! What an upgrade! Wow. Working in a collector’s record store had it’s priviledges!<\/p>\n

Through the years, I’ve taped these slabs o’ vinyl for many many people. About a year ago I finally got around to transferring them to my computer to put them on CD. I wasn’t happy with how flat and dull they sounded.<\/p>\n

I spent several months (off and on again) doing listening tests and messing around with several mastering techniques. I tried EQ, several different filter-y thingies, harsh radio compression, etc… Lots of crazy tricks…<\/p>\n

I finally settled on the settings I described earlier. I tend to go for ‘less is more’ and subtlety of processing is the key to success. I’ve heard some ‘ReMasters’ that really sound ReMastered! That is, you can hear how processed the sound has become. <\/p>\n

The main criteria of my listening tests was that if I could ‘hear the ReMaster’ job, it was processed too much, and should be scrapped. I found settings that improved it but still let it sound analog.<\/p>\n

This version is an improvement over my raw vinyl transfer, by far. The original’s really OK, but had some surface noise due to repeated heavy-handed radio play. It also sounded thin, and the transfer was done at a slightly lower volume.<\/p>\n

My ReMaster bumps the levels up to slightly less than average levels of today’s CD releases. They sure do master modern discs too loud these days! I also killed probably 90% of the vinyl groove imperfection sounds, but left a reminder that the source was a record. Not over-processed…<\/p>\n

I recently found out there is a bootleg of this ‘out there’, but I don’t think it is from a pre-FM source like this is.<\/p>\n

I included everything relevant on the records : commercials, test tone and all! I re-ordered the promo spots, and cut the silence bands between commercials and program, but everything else is there. Honest.<\/p>\n

Tracklist:<\/p>\n

01 ZZ TOP KBFH show promo announcer<\/p>\n

02 ZZ TOP KBFH show promo blank<\/p>\n

03 KBFH ZZ TOP test tone<\/p>\n

04 ZZ TOP KBFH show beginning<\/p>\n

05 honda commercial<\/p>\n

06 I Thank You<\/p>\n

07 Waitin’ For The Bus<\/p>\n

08 Jesus Just Left Chicago<\/p>\n

09 I’m Bad I’m Nationwide<\/p>\n

10 Low Down In The Street<\/p>\n

11 A Fool For Your Stockings<\/p>\n

12 Cheap Sunglasses<\/p>\n

13 Arrested For Driving While Blind<\/p>\n

14 budweiser commercial<\/p>\n

15 She Loves My Automobile<\/p>\n

16 Hi Fi Mama<\/p>\n

17 Dust My Broom<\/p>\n

18 Jailhouse Rock<\/p>\n

19 Tush<\/p>\n

20 honda commercial 2<\/p>\n

21 ZZ TOP KBFH show wrapup<\/p>\n

Included in the torrent are scans of the KBFH record labels and promo sheets from DIR broadcasting. Note the DJ handwritten notes on page 1. I also photoshopped a blank page to make cover notes on and combined data from page 2 + 3 for your printable origami masterpiece.<\/p>\n

I also included pre-existing cover artworx for the semi-commercial boot releases of this show. Note that the track numbering on them does not match my edition you have now.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Guess they rolled away the stone early.\u00c2\u00a0 And ain’t that a great Leon Russell song. Anyway, they say Ativan is more addictive then heroin.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll tell you, the Internet’s got both of them beat.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s hard enough to resist the pull of the World Wide Web, but once you log on, you can’t get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-IS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2783,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2782\/revisions\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}