Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Reunion, London 2004 (sbd)

Hammersmith Apollo 
London, UK
Oct. 15, 2004
   
Instant Live limited ed. release
    
soundboard recording (sound quality: Ex; an excellent, flawless recording)

01 Rattlesnakes

02 Why I Love Country Music 

03 Speedboat

04 Charlotte Street

05 From the Hip

06 Cut Me Down

07 Brand New Friend

08 Sweetness

09 2CV

10 My Bag

11 Sean Penn Blues

12 Mainstream

13 Perfect Blue

14 Patience

15 LC banter

16 Lost Weekend

17 Perfect Skin

18 Mr Malcontent

19 Jennifer She Said

20 Four Flights Up

21 Heartbroken

22 Forest Fire

    

live photos courtesy of M.M.Minderhoud 

ROB SEZ: This one's pretty special and it's exclusive to this blog. Did you ever bid on one of those 1-penny eBay auctions? I have, but never won the "a penny plus shipping" deal — until a coupla weeks ago. That's when I bid on this rare, officially sanctioned, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions limited-edition reunion recording. I still can't believe I was the only fan in the world paying attention & bidding. A few days later, this lovely artifact arrived on my doorstep. And of course I'm sharing it with you. LC and the guys reunited to perform a handful of live shows in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Rattlesnakes, an album fully represented here, minus 1 song. You can tell the band spent 2+ weeks rehearsing for a 1-week tour: the performance is impressive for 20 years on. I thought the Instant Live artwork was boring: the CD equivalent of a brown paper wrapper. So I added the pertinent info and a photo from one of the 2004 UK shows to create custom artwork. If you like Lloyd Cole and haven't heard this, it's a must have. One more thing: I thought the straight-from-the-soundboard recording sounded kinda flat. One pass of modest compression did the trick, and now it sounds much more lively. PLEASE ENJOY. 

   

FLAC

MP3@320

   

Lloyd Cole - Live 1990-1993 (FM + sbd)

unknown city/venue 
unknown month/day 
1990 "X Tour" show

TV broadcast source (sound quality: VG+)

01 Why Don't We Do It 
     In the Road?
02 Perfect Skin
03 No Blue Skies
04 Brand New Friend
05 Mister Malcontent
06 Don't Look Back
07 A Long Way Down
08 Mainstream
09 What Do You Know 
     About Love?
10 I Hate to See You 
     Baby Doing That Stuff 
11 Sweetheart
12 Jennifer She Said

ROB SEZ: Gotta love Lloyd Cole. (Well, you don't have to love LC, but I sure do.) He's a class act, going all the way back to the 1980s and "Lloyd Cole & The Commotions." The man offers consistently great tunes, intelligent lyrics, all compellingly played. I'm on a mission to persuade Lloyd's unaware fans from the 1980s that he kept making worthy music, up through today. Were there a few failed experiments and overly-indulgent missteps along the way? Of course. But Lloyd's artistic success-to-failure ratio should be the envy of many wealthier & more popular artists. This is a good time to revisit Mr. Cole's mighty impressive back catalogue. I don't mind suggesting this is a good use of your quarantine time. HUGE THANKS to BBGrant and all the tapers for their generosity.
   

Lloyd Cole's early 1990s live dream team,
including Robert Quine and Matthew Sweet

Cirkus
Stockholm, Sweden
Nov. 4, 1991

FM recording
(sound quality: Ex-)

01 Rattlesnakes
02 Patience
03 Butterfly
04 There For Her
05 Man Enough
06 A Long Way Down
07 She's a Girl and I'm a Man

Black Sessions #39
Studio 106 
Paris, France
Nov. 9, 1993

FM recording (sound quality: VG+)

01 So You'd Like to Save the World
02 Unhappy Song
03 A Long Way Down
04 Undressed
05 Wild Mushrooms
06 Forest Fire
07 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
08 Can't Get Arrested
09 Sold
10 No Blue Skies
11 "Same Old Song" (title uncertain)*
12 Mystic Lady

*Mr. Cole himself could not recall song no. 11 when asked about it many years later. (As far as I can tell, it's not a cover.) If anyone can positively identify it, please leave a message.

   

Anyone out there have LC's 1995 Black Session to share?
If so, please get in touch.

FLAC

MP3@320

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - FM Broadcasts 1984 + 1985

Barrowland Ballroom 
Glasgow, Scotland 
Sept. 9, 1985
   
FM recording (sound quality: VG++)
  

01 Rich

02 Patience

03 Why I Love Country Music

04 Sweetness

05 Brand New Friend

06 Grace

07 Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?

08 Four Flights Up

09 Rattlesnakes

10 Speedboat

11 2CV

12 Forest Fire

13 Perfect Skin

14 Perfect Skin (outro)

Le Palace

Paris, France

Dec. 4, 1984

    

FM recording (sound quality: VG++)

      

01 Rattlesnakes
02 Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken? 

03 Glory (Tom Verlaine cover)
04 Andy's Babies
05 Charlotte Street
06 Patience
07 Speedboat
08 Beautiful City
09 Perfect Skin
10 Forest Fire
11 Glory (Reprise)

musicians:
Blair Cowan - keyboard, accordion
Lawrence Donegan - bass
Stephen Irvine - drums
Neil Clark - guitars
Lloyd Cole - vocals, guitars

ROB SEZ: Call it "coronavirus nostalgia" if you like, but lately I've had a hankering for classic artists from ages past. This extraordinary band is among them, with Glasgow & Paris being the perfect gig locations to satisfy my nostalgia. I've posted other Lloyd Cole & The Commotions ROIOs here in the past, but not these. HUGE THANKS to the original tapers as well as BBGrant for sharing the 1985 recording and to HARMONIZER09/ APOPTYGMA for sharing the Paris recording. Avid LC fans will appreciate the appearance of the rarely-played "Beautiful City" (a Rattlesnakes-era outtake) in the 1984 set. Look for another Lloyd Cole share next week — without The Commotions.

FLAC

  

MP3@320

Lloyd Cole - Madrid, Spain 1990 (FM) + bonus

LOSSLESS RE-POST

Madrid, Spain

March 21, 1990
  
plus bonus radio session

   

FM capture (sound quality VG+; a radio broadcast from Spain, there were issues with chatty DJs talking too much. This explains the multiple fade-ins and fade-outs and, unfortunately, the less-than-complete songs. After a lot of editing work, only a few brief DJ voiceovers remain.)

  

Portrait of the artist as a 1990s hipster: Lloyd Cole.
In the 21st century, he continues to make music worth hearing.

01 Big Snake

Too cool for school: Lloyd Cole
photo by Francine Winham

02 No Blue Skies

03 What Do You Know About Love?

04 Downtown

05 Mr. Malcontent

06 Don't Look Back

07 Mainstream

08 Why I Love Country Music

09 Brand New Friend

10 I Hate to See You Baby 
     Doing That Stuff*

11 Sweetheart

12 Little Sister (Elvis cover)

13 A Gift (Lou Reed cover)

14 band intros

15 Jennifer She Said

16 She Belongs to Me (Dylan cover)

17 Four Flights Up

18 Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?

    

19 Honest I Do (Jimmy Reed)

20 She Belongs to Me

21 A Gift

    *In track 10, there's a jump cut at 0:14

Tracks 19-21 = Radio Clyde live session with Billy Sloan, Glasgow, Scotland in 1990 (LC with Robert Quine).

    
FLAC
  

MP3@320
   

BIG-TIME THANKS to the tapers and to LC himself for sharing these.

Musicians:

Lloyd Cole – acoustic guitar, vocals

Robert Quine – lead guitar

Matthew Sweet – rhythm guitar, vocals

Blair Cowan - keyboards

Dan McCarroll – drums

David Ball - bass

A NEW STUDIO ALBUM IS COMING JULY 2019

Lloyd's official web site says Guesswork is coming July 26.
The album features frequent collaborator Fred Maher
and former Commotions cohorts Neil Clark & Blair Cowan.
A UK tour begins in October. 

Learn more about the music of Lloyd Cole at 
his official site and/or AllMusic
         

Lloyd Cole & band - Glasgow, SCT 2014

Lloyd Cole & The Leopards 
Celtic Connections 2014
Glasgow, Scotland
Jan. 29, 2014

audience recording (sound quality: VG+)

SAMPLE: "Women's Studies" (live 2014)


01 intro

LC wows the Glasgow crowd in 2014; below, with backing band.
(above photo by JayJay Robertson, below by Iain Reid)

02 Rattlesnakes
03 Weeping Wine
04 Sweetheart
05 Opposites Day 
06 That's Alright
07 Perfect Blue
08 Another Lover
09 Blue Like Mars
10 Period Piece
11 Brand New Friend
12 Women's Studies
13 Perfect Skin
14 Myrtle and Rose
15 My Alibi
16 Tried to Rock
17 What's Wrong With 
     This Picture? 
18 Lost Weekend
19 Missing
20 No Blue Skies
21 Jennifer She Said
22 band introductions
23 Like Lovers Do
24 Forest Fire

ROB SEZ: "Underrated" doesn't begin to capture the popular perception of Lloyd Cole's music in the 2000s and 2010s. More like "not rated at all." I won't blather on about how unjust this is, given the incredible quality of Cole's music after dissolving the Commotions in the 1980s. If they're none the wiser, lovers of great rock & pop really are missing out. Standards, Cole's most recent studio recording, is nothing short of brilliant. If you haven't explored his music in a decade or two, I recommend placing Lloyd Cole on your list of musicians to reconsider in 2018. Here's a nicely-recorded "hometown" show in Glasgow, backed by The Leopards. BIG-TIME THANKS to the taper and sharer, and to jonder for setting me straight. Please enjoy.

MP3@320

FLAC

Learn more about the music of Lloyd Cole 
at the artist's official site and/or AllMusic

Lloyd Cole & Commotions - Live 1984-'85

The Paradiso

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

December 6, 1984

FM broadcast (sound quality: Ex-; transfer from master tape)

LC & THE COMMOTIONS: on the set of the 'Rattlesnakes' video shoot

LLOYD COLE has new photos at his revamped web site

01 Perfect Skin
02 Down On Mission Street

03 Charlotte Street

04 Are You Ready to 

     Be Heartbroken?

05 Four Flights Up

06 Rattlesnakes

07 Perfect Blue

08 Speedboat

BIG-TIME THANKS to frankvink for recording & sharing this one. Thanks also to the Live Bootleg Concerts blog, my source for the fine set below. Visit LBC for more quality ROIOs.

Hammersmith Odeon
London, UK
Sept. 1, 1985

FM broadcast (sound quality: VG++) 

Before the wheels came off: Lloyd Cole & Co., in happier times

01 Charlotte Street
02 Down On
     Mission Street
03 Why I Love 
     Country Music 

04 Rattlesnake

05 Minor Character
06 Brand New 
     Friend
07 Grace
08 Four Flights Up
09 Are You Ready

     to Be Heart-
     broken?

10 Speedboat
11 2CV
12 Forest Fire
13 Pretty Gone
14 Perfect Skin

MP3@320

errata: title for track 13 needs to be corrected in the file tag

ROB SEZ: With the snazzy new Lloyd Cole & The Commotions boxed set just out, I thought it'd be a good time to dust off some vintage LC & Cs shows. These guys weren't exactly the most consistent live act, but the two sets I'm sharing are exceptional performance-wise, and both sound great.
  

The boxed set contains all 3 original LPs remastered, plus 2 bonus discs, a DVD, glossy hard-bound book and postcard/poster set. Here's a previously unreleased outtake, "Everyone's Complaining":
 

 

Lloyd Cole - London 1991 + bonus 1987 show

Lloyd Cole is back with a smashing new album, Standards. 
Here are two archival live shows. Rob says Lloyd’s da man!

Hammersmith Odeon

London

Oct. 26, 1991

FM capture (sound quality Ex-) 

01 Rattlesnakes

02 Charlotte Street

03 Mr. Malcontent

04 Weeping Wine

05 From the Hip

06 Patience

07 Butterfly

08 There for Her

09 Man Enough

10 A Long Way Down

11 She's A Girl and I'm A Man

12 Pay for It

13 Perfect Blue

Musicians (presumed lineup):

Lloyd Cole - vocals, acoustic guitar

Robert Quine - lead guitar

Jack Johnson - guitars

Blair Cowan - keyboards

David Ball - bass

Dan McCarroll – drums

Royal Concert Hall

Nottingham, UK

Nov. 13, 1987

BBC Radio One broadcast with Johnny Walker

FM capture (sound quality Ex-; excellent sound marred only by a half-second cut just before start of each track)

01 My Bag

02 29

03 Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?

04 Jennifer She Said

05 Patience

06 Perfect Blue

07 Hey Rusty

08 Mr. Malcontent

09 Perfect Skin

(complete broadcast, which did not include complete concert)

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions:

Neil Clark – guitar

Lloyd Cole - vocals, guitar

Blair Cowan – keyboards

Lawrence Donegan – bass

Stephen Irvine – drums

MP3@320  (second show = MP3@256)

LC: sharp-dressed man in Chinatown.

Lloyd Cole's new album is Standards.
A gutsy title, yes. But it's merited.

 


BUY Standards directly from Lloyd Cole. Or, if you must, you can give Amazon more of your money.

Learn more about the music of Lloyd Cole at the artist's official site and/or AllMusic