Cotton Mather - In the USSR + Back In the USA (Live 2017 + 2019)

St. Petersburg, Russia  
July 2, 2017
(opening for The Aquarium)

audience recording (sound quality VG; taper was near the stage and, judging by the results, must have used high-quality equipment)

 

Cotton Mather opened for Russia's legendary Aquarium

01 Wheels

02 Robert speaks

03 High Society

04 It's Better Not to 

     Be the King

05 Life of a Liar

06 Never Be It

07 Spin My Wheels

08 My Before and After

09 The Cotton Mather Pledge

10 Fighting Through

11 Candy Lilac

12 Close to the Sun

13 Girl With a Blue Guitar

14 The Book of 

     Too Late Changes

15 Life of a Liar

        (live on Nevsky Ave. July 4th)

Cotton Mather, on the streets of St. Petersburg,
Russia, playing on borrowed equipment

  
Guero's
Austin, TX
April 10, 2019
'Texas Radio Live' broadcast

preFM source (sound quality: VG++; this was a webstream capture, so the FLAC version offered below is a lossless recording of a lossy source)
  

01 High Society

02 Better Than a Hit

03 California

04 Mighty Girl

Gotta love Robert's willingness to attack his guitar

05 Girl with a Blue Guitar 

06 Homefront Cameo

07 Candy Lilac

08 Close to the Sun

09 band intros

10 It's Better Not to 

     Be the King

11 Never Be It

12 RH speaks, song intro

13 Vegetable Row

14 Sun Radio outro

15 Sun Radio interview

ROB SEZ: I'm taking a break from re-posts this week to bring you the ab fab Cotton Mather. In case you're not familiar, Robert Harrison's band plays his rock-pop confections, influenced by artists we love: Beatles, Kinks, Who, Squeeze, Elvis Costello — but certainly not the "slavish imitation" variety no ones needs. Harrison's songs are inventive, tuneful, lyrically thoughtful, and engagingly performed. Between these two performances, I prefer the first — even though the second has better sound quality. Must've been something about Cotton Mather opening for Russia's legendary The Aquarium in front of many hundreds that brought out an extra spark. The very recent hometown show in Austin inspired a solid, but at times workman-like performance. MEGA THANKS to Andre Minaev for the St. Petersburg recording and to Sun Radio for broadcasting the Austin show, which I streamed and recorded in real time. The blog will take an Easter break next Friday and be back the following. 

Happy Holidays / Happy Spring / happy vacation time to all
  

Young Life & Other Mysteries, Cotton Mather's latest collection, can only be had via the band's Patreon monthly subscription service. But it's well worth the modest amount of money to obtain exclusive songs, videos and posts by Robert Harrison (the above is an actual CD in a cardboard sleeve) There might also still be a few copies of the band's early, rare Crafty Flower Arranger mini album left, also available only through Patreon. 

CHECK IT OUT HERE & here:

FLAC (Austin show in lossless; St. Pete show = MP3@320)

MP3@320

Cotton Mather - Late 1990s + 2017 live sets

KUTX-FM live session

Austin, TX

May 23, 2017

  

web stream capture (sound quality VG++)
   

01 Better Than a Hit

02 I Volunteer

03 Girl With a Blue Guitar

04 Robert Harrison

     interview+

05 Candy Lilac*

+several interview segments put into a single file

*bonus track from an earlier KUTX live session in 2016

unidentified live session

a TV studio in Texas (?)

late 1990s

   

audio rip from video (quality VG++)
    

01 Animal Show Drinking

     Song (partial)^ 

02 Church of Wilson

03 She's Only Cool

04 Aurora Bori Alice

05 Flying (Badfinger cover)

   
^beginning cut, fades in (about 1 minute total)

ROB SEZ: Judging from the comments generated by my last Cotton Mather post, we seem to have some serious fans of this little-known band — and I'm one of them. ROIOs are hard to come by for this fab, Beatlesque group — so here's a couple more I recently acquired. I don't know much about the late 1990s set, but it seems to come from a live session in a TV studio (I'm guessing somewhere in Texas). Special treat: a live cover of the song the band contributed to a Badfinger tribute album in 1996. RIDICULOUS THANKS to KUTX in Austin and to Mike Rosen for sharing.

MP3@320 

Cotton Mather just released a second installment in front man Robert Harrison's ambitious Songs from The I Ching project. It's called Wild Kingdom, and I heartily recommend it. Purchase directly from the band HERE (while you're at it, pick up the first installment, Death of the Cool).
 

NoiseTrade has a cool freebie: a 9-track sampler that covers both albums. Check it out (you'll have to register with NoiseTrade, but you'll probably be glad you did. They give away lots of cool music).

Kontiki: Deluxe Edition is still available from the band HERE.

Learn more about Cotton Mather's music at 

the band's web page, FB page & Wikipedia

Cotton Mather - Live On the Radio

Live Sessions

1999 and 2002

GLR - BBC, London, UK

Jan. 3, 1999

+

Los Conciertos de Radio 3, Spain

March 28, 2002

FM recordings (sound quality VG to VG++; UK recordings are probably FM captures; 2002 set could be from a web stream) 

01 She's Only Cool

02 Camp Hill Operator

03 Password

04 Lost My Motto

05 Homefront Cameo

06 Spin My Wheels

07 Church of Wilson

Robert Harrison is Cotton Mather's main dude (seen here in 2012)

08 band interview
     (with 3 live songs)*

09 The Last of
     the Mohicans

10 40 Watt Solution

11 She's Only Cool

12 Panama Slides

13 Camp Hill Rail Operator
14 Monterrey Honey

15 AMPs of Sugarland

16 My Before and After

17 Pine Box Builder

18 Robert Harrison
     interview

NOTES:

01-07 = GLR - BBC 1999 set
09-18 = Los Conciertos de Radio 3 (2002)
*08 = band interview with BBC's Gary Crowley after the release of The Big Picture, c. 2002. The three live songs are Baby Freeze Queen, 40 Watt Solution & Panama Slides. There’s a signal drift problem that crops up about halfway through, but you can ignore it if you try.
For those who pay attention to such things, the two UK live tracks from the Kontiki-era singles are not included herein. Haper compiled those and other Cotton Mather goodies over at Popfair (HERE & HERE).

SAMPLE: "40 Watt Solution" (live 2002)


ROB SEZ: Regular readers of this blog know we love to celebrate lesser-known groups worth hearing, especially those with a Beatlesque bent. Cotton Mather is right in line, sporting inventive melodies, sharp lyrics & frontman Robert Harrison's uncanny Lennon-esque vocal style. Cotton Mather went by the boards in 2003 so Harrison could regroup and re-think his musical direction. He emerged in 2007 with the Future Clouds & Radar collaborative. But Cotton Mather reunited occasionally for live shows and, just last year, released Death of the Cool, an album of all-new studio material. The band even played a couple of times this week at SxSW. Check the sample & enjoy. THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO NICK, who kindly supplied the rare stuff you're about to enjoy. If you can find it, there's also a bonus mystery share somewhere around here...
         

Ironic title for the band's 2016 studio album — this album is very cool!
Buy it in all formats (except cassette) HERE

MP3

1999 set = MP3@320 kbps (band interview @192)
2002 set = MP3@VBR (med. bit rate)

   

Learn more about Cotton Mather's music at 
the band's web page, FB page & Wikipedia