Earlier this month, Facebook friends of Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo were shocked to find a status update from the guitarist that contained a two-disc, MP3-only collection called The Caesar Demos. Included were rough takes on tunes Ween recorded from 2001 to 2003 in preparation for what would become the Quebec LP. Only a handful of the songs wound up making the album, which was originally set to be titled Caesar, and most of the tracks in the collection feature only Deaner and Aaron “Gene Ween” Freeman.
[Fan-Made Art via Santa Sangre Redux]
These tracks give an aural look at an important era in the band’s history. They had recently fulfilled their contract with Elektra and were returning to their indie roots. Drummer Claude Coleman Jr. was seriously injured in a car accident during this time, making his future with the band unclear. Deaner explained the backstory in his Facebook post…
well what can i say about this here, lemme see. the first thing that comes to mind is that all the while we were doing this we still had claude coleman on drums, he eventually got into a major car wreck and wasn’t around when it finally came time to make the “real” record. instead the drum duties fell on me, josh freese, and sim cain for a couple of tunes. almost all of this was recorded at our beach house in holgate, nj onto 16 track tape. a tiny bit of it was recorded in the garage behind aaron’s house in pt. pleasant, pa. some of it was recorded in the spare bedroom of my house in new hope. most of the tunes are just me and aaron, with the two of us playing everything, with me on drums. the songs with claude, dave, and glenn are pretty obvious. on just a few tunes we took what you hear here and cleaned them up and had andrew weiss mix them for the record after some overdubs. dave sings on “it’s gonna be a long night”, this was days before he had surgery to remove polyps in his throat and his voice was really rough so we figured he was the guy for the job. This isn’t even all of the tunes that we ended up choosing from, just the ones i happened to burn to cd before we drove home from the beach every week. hope you dig it for what it is.
– Mickey
Once Mickey posted links for fans to download the album, the servers hosting the tracks were bombarded leading Deaner to delete his Facebook posting. Luckily, a number of folks who grabbed the files have reposted them elsewhere. In listening, some of the songs that didn’t make the album are ridiculously good and we’re shocked a few of ’em haven’t turned up live or on future albums. We’re also fans of the mixes from some of the tunes that did eventually make their way onto Quebec such as this version of Happy Colored Marbles…
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/HappyColoredMarbles.mp3]Don’t sleep on this folks, here’s download links…
READ ON for the full track list…
We woke up to find a fantastic Christmas present from Trey Anastasio and Live Phish under our virtual tree this morning. If you head over to LivePhish.com, you can download
Yesterday, the handsome devil who runs YEMblog posted the definitive recording of the first Phish From The Archives broadcast that was aired on Radio Bonnaroo last summer. Today, as promised, comes FLACs, MP3s and AAC files of the second Phish From The Archives broadcast that aired on June 14, 2009, in the same quality as the file set that was posted yesterday.
The second Bonnaroo From The Archives broadcast featured a wealth of gems that span from 1985 to 1999 including an exploratory version of 2001 from September 29, 1999, a rare Mike Gordon demo from 1993 and a wild Run Like An Antelope from October 24, 1995. All tracks come from a source marked as “Pre-FM” meaning that the broadcast was recorded before the signal went out over the air as opposed to the webcast-rips that previously circulated. In other words, it doesn’t get higher quality than these files.
- More Uncirculated Phish: Another SBD Surfaces
- Previously on YEMblog: ‘Roo From The Archives #1
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2001.mp3]
2001 – 09/29/1999 @ The Pyramid, Memphis, TN
READ ON for the tracklist of this outstanding recording and for a poll of which tunes you’d like to see Phish bust out this summmer…
It’s springtime and around here that means one thing: the music of Jerry Garcia. Normally our thoughts turn to JGB in one of its various incarnations but this year’s JG
Just as the internet was responsible for helping to foster the early career of our favorite post-collegiate, polo shirt wearing, Graceland-loving act Vampire Weekend, the band has turned to using
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to kcmoejoe for the photo.
Artist & Title: Derek Trucks Band – Greensleeves > Afro Blue
Date & Venue: 2009-08-15 Hot August Blues Festival Cockeysville, MD
Taper & Show Download: su6oxone
Leading off this week is a smoking segment that features this traditional folk song coupled with a latin jazz standard. There is some really amazing guitar work in here, highly recommended listening. Derek plays tonight with the Allman Brothers Band in Holmdel, NJ. The Derek Trucks Band next have a gig August 23rd in Johnstown PA.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/dtbsauce.mp3]READ ON for more from the likes of John Cowan and Pearl Jam…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to H20 for the photo.
Artist & Title: The Brew – Seen It All
Date & Venue: 2009-07-25 Rock & Blues Cruise, Boston MA
Taper & Show Download: Mike Salvo
Leading off this week is the first track off The Brew’s 2008 release Back to the Woods. The Brew next play this Saturday at the Wellfleet Beachcomber in Cape Cod.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/brewsauce.mp3]READ ON for more tracks from the likes of Steve Kimock and Wilco…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. This is a special edition that exclusively features recordings from Bonnaroo captured the weekend of June 12th – 14th. Thanks to caymenreview for this week’s photos.
Artist & Title: Al Green – Let’s Stay Together
Taper & Show Download: Jeff Hatcher
Al Green, 63, is still out there doing it and sounding great as he leads the Bonnaroo crowd through a great rendition of Let’s Stay Together. Green plays this Saturday at the Ottawa Jazz Festival.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/algreensauce.mp3]READ ON for nine more selected cuts from Bonnaroo 2009…
Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to phanophish for this week’s photo.
Artist & Title: Cornmeal – When the World’s Got You Down
Date & Venue: 2009-06-05 – Wakarusa Music Festival, Ozark AR
Taper & Show Download: Sam Stratton
It’s apparent to me that Summer Music Festival Season is in full bloom based on all the great tapes that keep coming out of recent weekends and quickly making it up onto the Live Music Archive. Leading off this week we’ve got a track from Cornmeal with a little help from friend Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth. Cornmeal will be playing MANY more festivals this summer and they play tonight in Memphis with Outformation.
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/cornmealsauce.mp3]READ ON for more entries from the likes of Drive By Truckers and Fennario…
The fine folks at Phish Inc. have kindly shared a video of It’s Ice and an MP3 of Harry Hood from the upcoming Clifford Ball boxset with us, so we
