UNRELEASED LIVE CONCERTS DUE FROM JOHNNY WINTER, HOT TUNA, POCO AND JOHN DENVER

Collectors’ Choice Music, the label that’s come to be known for compelling and often unexpected CD reissues, has announced the launch of Collectors’ Choice Music Live, a new label devoted to releasing great live performances, most of which have never previously been commercially available.

The series will launch April 20 with the release of four CDs: Johnny Winter And’s Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70; Poco’s Live at Columbia Studios, Hollywood 9/30/71; Hot Tuna’s Live at the New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA September 1969; and John Denver’s Live at Cedar Rapids, 12/10/87.

According to Collectors’ Choice Music GM Gordon Anderson, “After some 15 years of reissuing albums and compiling artists, we’re convinced that some of the biggest remaining veins of gold in the vaults are the live shows that a lot of labels recorded of their artists in their prime, particularly those who made their reputation with improvisational prowess and/or ever-changing set lists. These first four releases on our new Collectors’ Choice Music Live label certainly fit that description.”

Johnny Winter And Live at the Fillmore East 10/3/70: To commemorate the release of his Johnny Winter And album, Texas blues guitarist/singer Johnny Winter played some shows at New York’s Fillmore East, some of which were compiled on 1971′s Live Johnny Winter And, a classic live album of the era to which this release makes a nice bookend. He had just formed a new band consisting of former member of the McCoys (“Hang on Sloopy”) including Rick Derringer on guitar, bassist Randy Jo Hobbs, and drummer Randy Zehringer. Although the McCoys were none too familiar with Winter’s work, they proved quick studies and entered the studio to make the album Johnny Winter And within three weeks. The New York Times reviewed the Fillmore show, citing “a considerable improvement over Winter’s previous band. Winter and [Derringer] played solos back at each other, simultaneously and in alternation.” The live album contains the Winter hit “Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo” and his take on Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61″ alongside blues classics “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” “It’s My Own Fault” and “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.”

Poco Live at Columbia Studios, Hollywood, 9/30/71: In the fall of ’71, Poco was arguably the most popular of the first generation country-rock bands. By then, their album Deliverin’ had cracked the Top 30 and Poco thanked its label, Epic Records, with a private showcase at the CBS Records’ Hollywood studio. “We just set up as we would have for a small club,” recalls frontman Richie Furay, whose bandmates included guitarist/singer Paul Cotton (from the Illinois Speed Press), bassist Tim Schmidt (later of the Eagles), pedal steel player Rusty Young and drummer/vocalist George Grantham. By this time, Poco was evolving from country-rock towards an edgier rock sound. Says Furay, “Though we were innovators of the L.A. ‘country-rock’ sound, we weren’t going top be pigeonholed into being a one-sound band.” The 14 songs they performed for label employees that day were a solid cross-section of tunes that had appeared on its first four albums including the medley “Hard Luck Child/Child’s Claim to Fame/Pickin’ Up the Pieces,” plus “I Guess You Made It,” “A Man Like Me,” “Ol’ Forgiver,” “Heart That Music,” “Hurry Up,” “You Are the One” and more, an hour of music in all.

Hot Tuna: Live at the New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA September 1969: Hot Tuna was, of course, the blues band-within-a-band side project of Jefferson Airplane’s Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady that outlasted the parent band and continues to this day. Interestingly, the duo’s first commercial album, which made it to #30 on the Billboard pop album chart, was recorded live at Berkeley’s New Orleans House, but a lot more material was taped than was released. Much of it is issued for the first time on this 68-minute CD, which consists entirely of previously unreleased recordings. Explaining why they recorded their debut album was recorded live, Kaukoken says, “We tend to go places . . . and you lose a bit of that when you work in the studio. And it was cheaper too!” Of the 13 songs on this CD, six — “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” “Winin’ Boy Blues,” “Uncle Sam Blues,” “I Know You Rider,” “Don’t You Leave Me Here” and “How Long Blues” — were included on the first Hot Tuna album, though the versions here are selected from different performances than the ones used on that LP. Other songs include Blind Boy Fuller’s “Keep On Truckin’,” Rev. Gary Davis’ “Keep Our Lamps Trimmed and Burning” and “Candy Man,” and Blind Blake’s “That’ll Never Happen No More.”

John Denver: Live at Cedar Rapids, December 10, 1987: What is the sound of an audience eating out of the palm of a performer’s hand? Utter silence. And that’s what was heard during the two-hour-plus Iowa concert that comprises this two-CD set. By 1987, Denver’s days as a Top 40 hitmaker were a decade in the past, but he remained a solid concert draw as a beloved, thoroughly American artist with a permanent place in the history of pop. It says much about Denver’s songwriting that, with the exception of half a dozen songs on which he’s accompanied by string quartet, he delivers two hours of solo music just his voice and 12-string guitar. The hits are here but so are new songs, some early-repertoire nuggets and a well-chosen cover or two. Included are “Farewell Andromeda (Welcome to My Morning,” “Take Me Home Country Roads,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Annie’s Song,” “Love Is the Master,” “Mother Nature’s Son,” “Blow Up Your TV (Spanish Pipe Dream),” “Shanghai Breezes,” “Ohio” and more.

Source: conqueroo

JOHN DENVER ‘AROUND THE WORLD LIVE’ DVD

On 12 October 2009, Eagle Rock Entertainment release the John Denver five-disc DVD set “Around The World Live” [Cat No EREDV757]. This superb set features all of John Denver’s best loved songs and biggest hits including: “Rocky Mountain High”, “Annie’s Song”, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, “Leaving On A Jet Plane”, “Thank God I’m A Country Boy”, “Calypso”, “Matthew”, “Sunshine On My Shoulders”, “Eagle And The Hawk”, “Fly Away”, “How Can I Leave You Again”, “Farwell Andromeda” and many more. Clocking in with nearly ten hours of entertainment this is simply essential for all Denver fans [See over for the full tracklisting].

John Denver is one of the most successful and best loved recording artists of the 20th century. His easy going manner, fine voice, superb songwriting and dedication to environmental issues all combined to build a huge global fanbase that has continued to grow since his untimely death in a plane crash in 1997. This superb 5 disc set is the definitive John Denver DVD release. There are three complete live performances with full band from Australia in 1977, Japan in 1981 and England in 1986. These are complemented by a solo acoustic performance from Japan in 1984 and his performances at Farm Aid from 1985, 1987 & 1990. The final disc has two hour long documentaries made by John Denver, his 1990 Earth Day programme about environmental issues and his 1972 show about the Bighorn sheep of his beloved Rocky Mountains.

John Denver has sold in excess of 40 million records worldwide and won two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, three American Music Awards, two Country Music Association Awards and was named Poet Laureate of Colorado as well as being inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Boasting deluxe packaging in a fold out digipack within a slipcase and containing a booklet lavishly illustrated with John Denver memorabilia this is a real treat for Denver fans.

TRACKLISTING – JOHN DENVER – AROUND THE WORLD LIVE

Disc One – Thank God I’m A Country Boy – Live In Australia 1977
1. Farewell Andromeda
2. Spirit
3. Fly Away
4. Looking For Space
5. Come And Let Me Look In Your Eyes
6. Baby You Look Good To Me Tonight
7. Druthers
8. I’d Rather Be A Cowboy
9. How Can I Leave You Again
10. Singing Skies And Dancing Waters
11. Love Is Everywhere
12. Pickin’ The Sun Down (Blue Grass & High Sierra)
13. I Want To Live
14. Rocky Mountain High
15. Follow Me
16. Moreton Bay
17. To The Wild Country
18. Grandma’s Feather Bed
19. Back Home Again
20. Matthew
21. Thank God I’m A Country Boy
22. Take Me Home, Country Roads
23. Annie’s Song
24. Eagle And The Hawk
25. Calypso
26. Sunshine On My Shoulders
27. Leaving On A Jet Plane

Bonus Tracks:
1. It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie
2. Thirsty Boots
3. Boy From The Country
4. Like To Deal With The Ladies
5. When I’m 64

Total Running Time: 136 minutes

Disc Two – Rocky Mountain High – Live In Japan 1981
1. Starwood In Aspen
2. Take Me Home, Country Roads
3. Follow Me
4. I’d Rather Be A Cowboy
5. Leaving On A Jet Plane
6. Goodbye Again
7. Rocky Mountain Suite
8. Matthew
9. Fly Away
10. Dancing With The Mountains
11. Back Home Again
12. Thank God I’m A Country Boy
13. Sleepin’ Alone
14. Rocky Mountain High
15. Eagle And The Hawk
16. Annie’s Song
17. Calypso
18. Sunshine On My Shoulders

Bonus Tracks:
1. Mother Nature’s Son
2. How Mountain Girls Can Love
3. Sweet Surrender
4. Johnny B. Goode
5. Memphis
6. Lil Suzie
7. Boy From the Country

Total Running Time: 99 minutes

Disc Three – Country Roads – Live In England 1986
1. Farewell Andromeda
2. Take Me Home, Country Roads
3. Grandma’s Feather Bed
4. Back Home Again
5. Matthew
6. Dreamland Express
7. The Harder They Fall
8. I Can’t Escape
9. Flying For Me
10. What Are We Making Weapons For
11. Sunshine On My Shoulders
12. Eagle And The Hawk
13. Wild Montana Skies
14. Relatively Speaking
15. I’d Rather Be A Cowboy
16. How Can I Leave You Again
17. I’m Sorry
18. Shanghai Breezes
19. Fly Away
20. My Sweet Lady
21. Heart To Heart
22. Rocky Mountain High
23. Annie’s Song
24. Calypso
25. Peace (poem)
26. It’s About Time
27. Perhaps Love

Bonus Tracks:
1. Boy From The Country
2. Claudette
3. Don’t Close Your Eyes Tonight
4. I Remember You
5. Sweet Surrender

Total Running Time: 142 minutes

Disc Four – Solo Acoustic Show – Live In Japan 1984 / Farm Aid
1. Rocky Mountain High
2. Sunshine On My Shoulders
3. Leaving On A Jet Plane
4. Goodbye Again
5. Follow Me
6. Matthew
7. Grandma’s Feather Bed
8. I Want To Live
9. Rhymes & Reasons
10. Eagle And The Hawk
11. The Gold And Beyond
12. Take Me Home, Country Roads
13. Biwako Shuko No Uta
14. Seasons Of The Heart
15. Annie’s Song
16. Calypso
17. It’s About Time
Farm Aid 1985:
1. Take Me Home, Country Roads
2. Back Home Again
3. Thank God I’m A Country Boy
Farm Aid 1987:
1. Take Me Home Country Roads
2. Matthew
3. What Are We Making Weapons For
Farm Aid 1990:
1. Rocky Mountain High
2. Matthew

Total Running Time: 99 minutes

Disc Five – Documentaries
1. The Bighorn (1972)
2. Earth Day Documentary (1990)

Total Running Time: 116 minutes

Buy your copy here if you live in Europe.
Buy your copy here if you live in the USA.