Anniversary Month Thanks At So Many Roads

To close our first anniversary month here at So Many Roads, I want to share some of the great thank you posts I’ve received in the last few weeks. I’ve shared some of these type of posts in the past (go here and here) and will continue to do so from time to time because these comments really help keep me going. As I’ve said on several occasions, this blog takes a lot more work than I ever thought it would and there are days when I wonder if I should keep it up. Then someone sends a thank you, and this whole endeavor seems worthwhile once again! My thanks to each and every one of you who have taken a moment to leave a comment! I really appreciate it. Looking forward to year #2 here at So Many Roads To Ease My Soul!

Anonymous said...
You have an astonishing blog! Really a very good taste and a complete selection of Rock artists.

iggy said...
Your kindness and generosity have made 2010 an exceptional year for music appreciation and enjoyment at my house. You run a top quality operation, and that shows in all you do here. Thanks so much and all the best to you.

Canadian rocker said...
I never get get a bad show from you-everything is FIRST class!!

Paul said...
Congrats and thanks for a fine year. Not only is the music top notch, but your write ups are always enjoyable. Keep up the great work!!!

arc said...
Well done and congratulations Speedy, for providing a fine and vast selection of elixirs for the ears.

Alex said...
Happy 1st anniversary Speedy! Keep up the good work, and Thank you :)

Jordan said...
Best of luck for your 2nd year, Speedy! This is a super-fine site.

staffie said...
Happy anniversary SMRTEMS 1 year old today! The first of many more I'm sure....
Great job speedy, long may you continue!

scousemike said...
Have a great 1st anniversary speedy & all the very best for the next 12 months. Your a great guy to know!

kath said...
Happy anniversary!! Love your blog. Your hard work is much appreciated!

Anonymous said...
I read your stories and soon I'm interested even though the artist is not really one of my favorites. I want to say thank you for all this beautiful music and the way you tell the stories of it. Please continue, it's a great pleasure to visit it day after day.

Anonymous said...
A very happy first birthday. A lot of people derive a great deal of pleasure from all your hard and diligent work you do on your site.

Ken said...
Love your site, check it often. Thanks for what you do!

Anonymous said...
Happy birthday to your fantastic blog. Clever presentation of the shows with "xx years from today". You make happy a lot of people around this small planet so the best to you.

James said...
Thanks Speedy. This is my favorite bootleg blog. the shows are great and I especially like your descriptions. Some blogs don't do this so you have no idea what you're getting.

AvgJoe50 said....
A belated Happy Anniversary Thank You! Over the past year I have watched your blog grow into one of the best. The music you post is terrific, but I especially appreciate the time spent adding your personal notes. Makes it feel more personal, I would have loved to have attended some of these concerts with you.

Normski said...
Congrats Speedy, on a splendid site, and on your dedication.

Tunz Master said...
You are the one & only SPEEDSTER-ROO! happy anniversary

LakerCrazy said...
Brother Speedy....Like A Great Bottle Of Vino....Your Blog Just Keeps Getting Better And Better!...Thanks For Your Friendship....And May You Have Continued Success...

More Hidden Gems At So Many Roads

I received such positive feedback for my first "Hidden Gems" post, I decided to sneak one more in before our Anniversary Month ended. Check out these 5 shows for some excellent, but somewhat overlooked, music!

Jimmy Buffett - 2008-04-29 - Charlotte: All of Jimmy's classics, plus great covers of Scarlet Begonias (when Dead Heads meet Parrot Heads), Brown Eyed Girl, Southern Cross, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Rainy Day Women #12 and 35.

The Who - 1996-07-18 - Madison Square Garden: Quadrophenia, in its entirety for the first time in over 20 years!

Dave Edmunds - 1990-04-07 - San Francisco: Dave Edmunds, with help from Kim Wilson (of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Graham Parker, Steve Cropper and Dion make up the Rock 'N' Roll Revue.

Sheryl Crow - 1999-05-06 - Camden NJ: Ms. Crow plays all her hits, as well as stand out covers of George Harrison's What Is Life, Bob Dylan's Mississippi and Dobie Gray's Drift Away!

Crossroads Festival - 2007-07-28 - Bridgeview IL: EC hosts an all star guitar celebration, with help from folks like Jeff Beck, Willie Nelson, Buddy Guy, BB King, Albert Lee and Robbie Robertson, just to name an few. And he and Steve Winwood team up for a Blind Faith reunion!

Jerry Garcia Band - 1988-11-26 - Los Angeles, CA (SBD)

Jerry Garcia Band

1988-11-26

Wiltern Theatre

Los Angeles, CA

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

1st Set:

01. Cats Under The Stars

02. Forever Young

03. Someday Baby

04. Mississippi Moon

05. Dear Prudence

06. And It Stoned Me

07. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

2nd Set:

08. Harder They Come

09. Waiting For A Miracle

10. Evangeline

11. Don't Let Go

12. My Sisters And Brothers

13. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)

14. Tangled Up In Blue

Jerry Garcia Band - 1988-11-26 - Los Angeles, CA (SBD)

In 1988, Jerry Garcia was two years removed from the diabetic coma that almost took his life in July 1986. Healthy and happy, Garcia's playing was the best it had been in years, and would soar to heights not seen consistently since the 1970s, in the 3 years to follow.  As the Dead began to increase their touring schedule in the late 1980s, the Jerry Garcia Band reduced their workload to somewhere between 20 and 40 shows annually, as opposed to the 50 to 8 they had played in prior years. Each individual show, however, was now longer, with 2 sets becoming standard, unlike when I had seen the band in 1978 and 1980, when they performed only 1 set.  This soundboard, from November 26, 1988, 22 years ago today,  at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, is a great example of the later era of the band.   Jerry plays a classic mix of his own tunes along with coves of songs from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Jimmy Cliff, James Taylor, and Bruce Cockburn, just to name a few.  Download this one to hear how Garcia interprets the music of each of these rock legends!

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Hidden Gems At So Many Roads

Earlier this month, as part of our 1st anniversary celebration, we posted a list of the 25 most downloaded shows on this blog.  Well, today, we present a a slightly different list.  These are hidden gems, shows that may not be as popular as some others but which feature exceptional playing, historic moments and/or amazing sound quality.  If you haven't grabbed these yet, you should definitely need to check them out!

01) Grateful Dead - 1987-09-18 - Madison Square Garden, NY:  Best Grateful Dead concert I ever had the pleasure to attend.  An incredible 2nd set.  One of the Dead's best moments of the 1980s.

02) Eric Clapton - 1987-04-27 - Madison Square Garden, NY:  I was front row, behind the stage for this one, and EC made several visits to play to those of us in the cheap seats.  The whole show is amazing and the Badge into Let It Rain segue is as good as it gets.

03) Paul McCartney - 1993-06-15 - Charlotte, NC:  One of the best sounding boots I've ever heard.  Sir Paul really begins to embrace his Beatle heritage on this tour.

04) Pink Floyd - 1977-07-02 - Madison Square Garden, NY: The playing is excellent, and loud, as the band cranked up the amps to drown out fireworks erupting inside the building.  Waters snaps at the audience on several occasions, and the groundwork is laid for The Wall.

05) Elton John - 1977-05-07 - Rainbow Theatre: Elton, playing solo acoustic, with just a little help from Ray Cooper.  Great sound and a must have for any collector.

06) Creedence Clearwater Revival - 1971-07-04 - Fillmore West:  CCR closes the legendary Fillmore West on Independence Day in 1971.  Need I say more?

07) Grateful Dead - 1973-06-10 - RFK Stadium, Washington DC:  After the Dead play 2 incredible sets, they are joined by the Allmans for a 3rd set jam of epic proportions.

08) Neil Young - 1974-05-16 - Bottom Line, NY:  Neil does a surprise set after Ry Cooder finishes his performance! 

09) U2 - 2001-10-25 - Madison Square Garden, NY: Just weeks after 9-11. No words could describe the emotions that we all felt when the names of all the victims of that day scrolled on the video screens as U2 sang "One".

10) John Hiatt – 1988-10-07 – Bottom Line, NY:  John Hiatt is one of rock's most  under rated singers and song writers.  If you're not familiar with his work, down load this show to see what you've been missing.

11) Marshall Crenshaw - 1982-05-15 - Capitol Theatre, NJ:  If Hiatt is under rated, then Marshall Crenshaw is, unfortunately, an afterthought.  Not to famed rock critic Robert Christgau, however, who deemed Crenshaw's first 2 albums as perfect!  Download this show (or the 1983-06-27 one) and see why.

12) CSNY - 1974-09-08 - Westbury, LI:  This is the last show of CSNY's chaotic 1974 US tour, a 33 song marathon.  The band would not tour again for over 25 years after this one!

13) Grateful Dead - 1977-05-09 - Buffalo:  This is the night after the historic Barton Hall show, which fans say was the best Dead show ever.  The Dead's tape archivist, however, thinks that this show from Buffalo may have been better!

14) Traffic - 1970-10-16 - Portchester:  This one captures the rebirth of Traffic in 1970, just as the reformed band releases John Barleycorn Must Die.

15) The Byrds - 1968-05-02 - Piper Club:  A rare recording of The Byrds with Gram Parsons. 

16) Santana - 1971-03-23 - Los Angeles:  Classic Santana, with Neil Schon and Greg Rolle, as well as special guest Jose Feliciano.

17) Jerry Garcia Band - 1978-03-19 - Pittsburgh:  A great show to understand the differences between Jerry's solo work and his performances with the Dead.

18) Billy Joel - 1997-05-06 - CW Post:  Billy on his home turf in Long Island, before all the hype of The Stranger album!

19) Bruce Hornsby - 1993-11-20 - Cleveland: In 1993, Bruce Hornsby began to stretch his musical sound -- adding new songs with a jazzier feel to his repertoire, incorporating tunes from his stint with the Grateful Dead into his set list, and re-inventing some of his classics.

20) Steely Dan - 2003-10-01 - Los Angeles:  Always known for their studio work, this bootleg demonstrates just how good they are live!

I could have easily listed twice as many shows, but these 20 will get you started on exploring a host of music here on So Many Roads.  Enjoy!

Paul McCartney - 2002-11-11 - Tokyo, Japan (HQ Aud)

Paul McCartney
2002-11-11
Driving Japan Tour
Tokyo Dome
Tokyo, Japan
HQ Audience Recording
320 kbps
Artwork Included

CD 1:
01. Hello Goodbye
02. Jet
03. All My Loving
04. Getting Better
05. Coming Up
06. Let Me Roll It
07. Lonely Road
08. Driving Rain
09. Your Loving Flame
10. Blackbird
11. Every Night
12. We Can Work It Out
13. You Never Give Me Your Money > Carry That Weight
14. The Fool On The Hill
15. Here Today
16. Something
17. Eleanor Rigby
18. Here, There And Everywhere
19. Michelle

CD 2:
01. Band On The Run
02. Back In The USSR
03. Maybe I'm Amazed
04. Let 'Em In
05. My Love
06. She's Leaving Home
07. Can't Buy Me Love
08. Live And Let Die
09. Let It Be
10. Hey Jude
11. The Long And Winding Road
12. Lady Madonna
13. I Saw Her Standing There
14. Yesterday
15. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band > The End

Soundcheck
16. Jam

Paul McCartney - 2002-11-11 - Tokyo, Japan (HQ Aud)

When Paul launched his Driving The USA tour in April 2002, his first tour since 1993, he had 24 dates scheduled over 2 months.  The shows proved so successful that he came back for another run in the states in the fall, performing another 23 shows.  He then took the tour to Mexico for 3 shows and finally to Japan for 5 concerts.  This high quality audience tape captures Sir Paul on his first night in Tokyo, November 11, 2002, 8 years ago today. As he was throughout this tour, Paul's in fine form, as is the new band he assembled for his return to performing; Brian Ray, Rusty Anderson, Paul "Wix" Wickens and Abe Laboriel Jr (who also plays drums for Clapton).  Despite the recent tragedies in his life -- the death of Linda, the passing of George Harrison, and the events of September 11, 2001 -- Sir Paul seems to have found peace.  Beatle songs abound throughout the performance, as Paul shows he has come to terms with his legacy!

Happy First Anniversary For So Many Roads

It is hard to believe that it was a year ago today that I put up the first post on So Many Roads To Ease My Soul. A lot has happened in those 365 days and the end result is nothing like I had imagined when I started. When I finally decided to start my own blog, after several months of sharing bootlegs with other sites, I really had no concrete idea of what I planned to do. Nor did I have any conception of what would be involved. I figured I'd post a classic rock bootleg from a band I liked every now and then, maybe write a few words about it, and then be done. I estimated 5 or 10 minutes of work, every 3 or 4 days, no big deal at all.

Within a few weeks, I realized I had taken on far more than I had expected. Finding good sounding shows wasn't easy, and uploading them with all the proper information, including artwork, took time. Writing something interesting about each show also consumed more time than I thought it would. I enjoy writing, and take pride in my work, so I spent plenty of time researching and editing each post. I soon realized that you could post a thousand concerts, but what good was that if no one knew your blog existed! Therefore, I had to spend time finding ways to publicize my blog, such as linking to other sites, and posting on blog search engines, such as Captain Crawl and Prognotfrog. In addition, I learned that I needed to post more frequently, and add more features, such as pictures, counters, gadgets, links to other blogs, etc., if I wanted So Many Roads to become a place folks would return to on a regular basis.  Updating the site to include all of those features took even more of my time,  Above all, I began to understand that I needed to establish a unique identity for So Many Roads, something that would make the site standout from other music blogs.

I finally hit on that unique idea in January. I decided to make each post on the site reflect that day in rock history. If the date was January 16, then I'd find a concert from January 16, sometime between 1 and 50 years ago. As I was a history major in college, that concept was right up my alley. That was the good news. The bad news was that I just made my life a thousand times more complicated because now I just couldn't post any old show on any old day. Now I needed a bootleg specific to whatever date was showing on the calendar. What the heck was I thinking?

So here we are, 1 year after So Many Roads To Ease My Soul was launched, and I must say, I'm feeling good about what this site has become. I never would have imagined that over 130,000 folks from 122 different countries would visit in year 1. Nor would I have believed that I'd be averaging over 550 visits a day. The Internet does make the world a much smaller place. I've also made some great friends through sharing this music, folks that I chat with daily over at Dino's incredible site. In addition, I've received some amazing comments about this site from visitors. On those days that I've wondered if all the time and effort is worth it, that positive feedback has helped me to stay motivated to keep So Many Roads alive. In fact, I plan a post later this month as part of our anniversary celebration in which I'll share some of those wonderful comments.

I took the title of this blog from one of the last songs Jerry Garcia wrote before his death. For me, all the different types of music I enjoy are like "so many roads to ease my soul". Now, as year 1 of So Many Roads comes to a close, and year 2 begins, I'm reminded of another famous Grateful Dead lyric ... "what a long strange trip it’s been". Here's hoping that this is just the start of this blog's long strange trip, and that many more years of sharing the music are still to come.

Most Popular Shows At So Many Roads

As part of our 1st Anniversary celebration, I thought it would be fun to post the 25 shows that have been downloaded the most here at So Many Roads To Ease My Soul:

1. Allman Brothers - 1971-03-30 - New Orleans
2. Allman Brothers - 1971-01-31 - Fillmore West, SF
3. Bob Dylan & The Band - 1974-01-31 - Madison Square Garden, NY
4. Beatles - Ed Sullivan Shows 1964 & 1965 - New York
5. Led Zeppelin - 1979-08-11 - Knebworth
6. Rolling Stones - 1989-09-03 - Exhibition, Hall, Toronto
7. Bruce Springsteen - 1984-08-20 - Byrne Arena  
8. Bruce Springsteen - 2009-06-28 - London
9. Paul McCartney & Wings - 1976-06-23 - Los Angeles 
10. Grateful Dead (with Bob Dylan) -  1987-07-12 - Giants Stadium, NJ      
11. Led Zeppelin - 1975-02-12 - Madison Square Garden, NY   
12. Rolling Stones - 1969-07-05 - Hyde Park, London
13. Neil Young - 2003-04-22 - Sweden
14. Bob Dylan & The Band - 1974-02-14 - Los Angeles
15. Jimi Hendrix - 1969-06-20 - Newport
16. Beatles - 1963-10-24 - Stockholm 
17. Rolling Stones - 1978-06-14 - Capitol Theatre, NJ
18. Rolling Stones - 1973-02-27 - Ranswick, Sydney
19. CSNY - 1970-06-06 - Fillmore East, NY
20. Paul McCartney - 1992-12-10 - Up Close MTV Special, NY  
21. Jimi Hendrix - 1967-09-10 - Lund, Sweden 
22. The Band - 1973-08-01 - Roosevelt Stadium, NJ
23. Eric Clapton - 1975-04-14 -Brisbane
24. Allman Brothers - 1973-06-09 - RFK Stadium, Washington, DC
25. Elton John - 1972-05-03 - Notre Dame, Indiana 

The list is dominated by The Beatles (and Sir Paul), Dylan, Jimi, The Stones, Led Zep, Bruce and The Allmans!  That said, I'm surprised that Pink Floyd and The Who didn't crack the top 25. Only 1 show from Clapton is also a bit of a shock!

Check out all 25 of the shows above if you haven't already.  And come back later this month for a list of shows that may not have made the top 25, but should definitely be on your list to download.

Grateful Dead - 1969-11-02 - San Francisco CA (SBD)

Grateful Dead

1969-11-02

Family Dog at the Great Highway

San Francisco, CA

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Cold Rain And Snow

02. In The Midnight Hour

03. Seasons

04. Mama Tried

05. Next Time You See Me

06. Good Lovin'

07. Big Boss Man

08. Casey Jones

09. Dancin' InThe Streets (tape flip in middle)

10. Dark Star >

11. St. Stephen >

12. The Eleven >

13. Death Don't Have No Mercy

Grateful Dead - 1969-11-02 - San Francisco CA (SBD) 

As the decade of the 1960s came to an end, the Grateful Dead were beginning to take the improvisational style to new heights. Their concerts at The Fillmore West in late February/early March that year, from which the album Live Dead was culled (and more recently a 9 disc box set of the entire run) found the band exploring the depths of space on tunes such as Dark Star and St. Stephen. At the same time, with Pigpen at the helm on vocals, they could produce powerful down and dirty blues numbers such as Alligator or Turn On Your Lovelight. When the Live Dead disc was released in late 1969, it marked the first time the band had released a live performance on disc. At the time, Robert Christgau wrote that side two of the album "contains the finest rock improvisation ever recorded." This soundboard recording captures the band during that historic year, on November 2, 1969, 41 years ago today, in their home town of San Francisco. The band was in peak form at the time, as evidenced by the fact that the show 6 days later was released as Dick’s Picks 16.