Grousing The Aisles: Tea Leaf Reed

The Police 12/08/2007 SBD [FLAC, MP3]

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The Police have been on tour for more than six months, and up until this week no soundboards from the reunion have leaked. Now thanks to broadcasts from Buenos Aires and Rio De Janeiro, we’ve got two pristine recordings from the South American leg of the tour. When it rains, it pours.

We first told you about the Buenos Aires recording in our last edition of MP3 Boot Camp, but that recording is riddled with extremely annoying announcements from two Spanish speaking commentators. Conversely, the tapes from Rio are full of unadulterated Police goodness.

The Police don’t waste any time hitting their stride on this night. From the moment Stewart Copeland kicks off Message In A Bottle through Andy Summers’ final flurry of notes in Next To You, the boys keep the level of energy and cohesiveness high. Hole In My Life and the Voices Inside My Head > When The World Is Running Down segment both continue to steal the spotlight on a nightly basis. Other standout tunes include So Lonely and a rare flawless De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da. If you only download one bootleg from The Police’s reunion tour, make sure you pick up this outstanding recording.

Amy Winehouse 06/26/2007 FM [FLAC, MP3]

Oh, to look back on the long last days of June. Things were much simpler for Amy Winehouse back then, when her beloved husband Blake wasn’t incarcerated and she just sang about not wanting to go to rehab instead of having her mom beg her to attend. And back then, Wino gave one of her last lucid performances at the Hove Festival in Norway. Listening to this crispy FM boot of that performance makes us want to fly to England to help save her from ruining one of the most promising careers in music today.

Amy’s voice is in fine form throughout her performance, and she actually seems excited to be on stage. This is a far cry from her recent European tour where she just whined to the crowd about missing her husband. Amy sings most of the tunes from her latest album, but she also works some stellar covers into the mix. She does a nice job with Sam Cooke’s Cupid before moving onto Hey Little Rich Girl by The Specials and Monkey Man by Toots and the Maytals. Wino ended the show with a more contemporary cover: Valerie by Liverpool’s The Zutons. Hopefully Amy will get her shit together, and give us some performances as vibrant as the one she gave in Norway.

Here are five other downloads making the rounds on the torrent sites:

• Phish 12/11/1997 SBD Matrix
• Perpetual Groove 12/07/2007
• Justice League of America 01/22/2000 SBD
• ALO 10/12/2007
• Cornmeal 07/19/2007 SBD

What are you guys listening to this week? Let us know in the comments…