Phish used to get funky; here’s twenty seven minutes of proof.

Phish – Ghost – July 23, 1997 Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amp.

I’ll admit that I’ve never been a big Phish fan. A few of their tunes interest me (mainly the instrumental passages, crazy prog epics like YEM, and funk work-outs like Meat) and many do not. But when a friend of mine forwarded me this 26 minute version of Ghost from a 1997 show, it gave me a newfound appreciation of the band.

I always heard that they were capable of “transcendant” musical moments, etc. but I rarely had the patience to get past the vocal heavy song beginnings and the many goof-ball choruses. One listen to this track caused me to revisit their 1998 album, The Story of the Ghost. Since then, I’ve learned that 1997 was the year of their “funk” sound period. And I do believe I may search out more 1997 live recordings in the future.

Happy Birthday Prince: The 1984 Birthday Show

Prince & The Revolution – Erotic City – June 7, 1984 – The 1984 Birthday Show

An audience recording of this show has been around the bootleg circuit for years (“Erotic City”, “Noon Rendezvous”, “26”), but I could never really listen to the whole thing because it sounded so bad. Now the pristine multi-track soundboard recording has leaked out into the general public and you can download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6LI5DCCH (the password is reggolboge)
or here: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91209.
The artwork is here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GLAL48KV (the password is dontbuypressedrehash).

Here is the accompanying “press release” (if a bootleg can ever really have a press release):

Presented here for the first time, just a month shy of 27 years, is an absolutely astounding soundboard recording of this historic show. In an unprecedented move, the two leading fan labels Free Boot Generation and 4DaFunk have joined forces with a completely anonymous benefactor in an effort to put the finest possible experience into the hands of the fans. For free. Enjoy.

Prince And The Revolution
“From The Soundboard: 1984 Birthday Show”
June 7th, 1984
First Avenue
Minneapolis, MN

Source: Soundboard
Lineage: SBD > Tape > WAV > Soundforge > FLAC > TLH SBEs fixed > You
Label: Anonymous / FBG / 4DF
Cat.-No.: Anony001 / FBG39 / 4DF088
Released: May 2011
TRT: 79:52

1. Shortberry Strawcake (PA) / Drums check (0’56)
2. 17 Days (5’24)
3. Our Destiny (3’23)
4. Roadhouse Garden (4’45)
5. Interlude (1’20)
6. All Day, All Night (5’42)
7. Free (4’40)
8. Noon Rendezvous (9’02)
9. Erotic City (8’31)
10. Something In The Water (Does Not Compute) (10’10)
11. When Doves Cry (11’37)
12. Happy Birthday Interlude (2’27)
13. Irresistible Bitch (6’07)
14. Possessed (5’48)

Prince celebrated his 26th year with a concert at the famed Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue. Sheila E. had flown in from California along with Prince’s management team. A mobile multi-track recording truck was hired to record this show. The 85-minute set opened with ”17 Days”. It was followed by two new songs, ”Our Destiny,” which went into ”Roadhouse Garden.” ”We’ve got some stuff you’ll recognize and some you won’t,” Prince said before playing another new track, ”All Day, All Night.” Both ”Our Destiny” and ”Roadhouse Garden” remain unreleased, although they were worked on later in 1984 by Wendy and Lisa. The Latter was at one point planned for release on the stillborn 1998/99 Roadhouse Garden project. ”All Day, All Night” surfaced on Jill Jones’ 1987 album, which featured basic tracks pulled from this performance.”Free” finds Prince at the piano accompanied only by Bobby Z. on drums. Prince dedicated ”Noon Rendezvous” to “that little girl over there, that’s Sheila E.” Next on the set-list were ”Erotic City” and a dramatically rearranged version of ”Something In The Water (Does Not Compute).” An extended take on ”When Doves Cry” was followed by an audience-led rendition of ”Happy Birthday”. The b-side ”Irresistible Bitch” and the unreleased ”Possessed” close the show.

The Roots Picnic 2011: Esperanza Spalding, Nas, Little Dragon

The Roots & Nas – Get Down / The Boss (James Brown cover) 6/4/11 @ The Roots Picnic

Funk It presents full audio downloads of 3 sets: Esperanza Spalding with The Roots, Little Dragon, and The Roots with Nas. Scroll down for the download links in both MP3 and FLAC formats!

Esperanza Spalding & The Roots
June 4, 2011
Philadelphia, PA @ 4th Annual Roots Picnic – Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
SBD > WXPN webcast > Cool Edit Pro > WAV > CD Wave Editor > FLAC/MP3
01. Precious
02. I Know You Know http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHtvEAANA4o
03. Predator (Weather Report cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-D181tf5fk
04. I Can’t Help It (Michael Jackson cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8C-mOWjXlg
MP3 download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IQK9R09U
FLAC download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5JXH0KG0

The Roots & Nas & Brass Heaven
June 4, 2011
Philadelphia, PA @ 4th Annual Roots Picnic – Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
SBD > WXPN webcast > Cool Edit Pro > WAV > CD Wave Editor > FLAC/MP3
01. Intro > Dilla Interlude > Proceed >
02. Quills >
03. Step Into The Realm >
04. The Fire >
05. Respond/React >
06. Stay Cool >
07. Concerto Of The Desperado >
08. The Mic (w/ Truck North) >
09. How I Got Over >
10. Here I Come >
11. Get Busy (w/ Dice Raw & Peedi Peedi) >
12. Jungle Boogie [Kool & The Gang cover] >
13. Get Down (w/ Nas) >
14. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (w/ Nas) >
15. The World Is Yours (w/ Nas) >
16. Made You Look (w/ Nas) >
17. One Mic (w/ Nas) >
18. Nas Is Like (w/ Nas) >
19. If I Ruled The World (w/ Nas)
20. Hip Hop Is Dead (w/ Nas) > Apache outro >
21. The Next Movement >
22. The Seed 2.0 >
23. The Bottle [Gil Scott-Heron cover] >
24. Men @ Work [Kool G Rap & DJ Polo cover]
25. Radio Outro
MP3 download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OMUHIGKE
FLAC download link: http://filepost.com/files/8631dd2m/RootsNas2011-06-04.webstream.flac.zip/

Little Dragon
June 4, 2011
Philadelphia, PA @ 4th Annual Roots Picnic – Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing
SBD > WXPN webcast > Cool Edit Pro > WAV > CD Wave Editor > FLAC/MP3
01. A New
02. Little Man (new song)
03. My Step
04. ??? (?new song?)
05. Feather
MP3 download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TX2N7YLE
FLAC download link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HAQ5BN23

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