Thursday, December 11, 2014

New Barbarians/The Rolling Stones- "Blind Date" Tribute to Ian McLagan and Bobby Keys


Last week, within a day of each other, rock lost two great sidemen, though not household names they were integral members of some of the greatest rock bands of our generation.

Ian McLagan was a founding member of the Small Faces and Faces and extensively joined The Rolling Stones both on tour and on record. He also lent his keyboard talents on sessions with Dylan, Westerberg, Springsteen, Browne and many others and he was a member of Billy Bragg's band, The Blokes. I own Ian's debut solo album, the excellent album, Troublemaker (1979) that I bought in the early 80's and featured appearances from Ron Wood, Keith Richards, Stanley Clarke and Bobby Keys, all of whom formed the New Barbarians. McLagan also played on Ron Wood's solo albums.

Bobby Keys was a much in-demand sideman who played with a who's who of classic rock. He famously played saxophone on John Lennon's, Whatever Gets You Through The Night and also worked with Harrison, Clapton, The Who and others, but he's best known for his work with the Stones. Since 1969, he was the main saxophone player in the band both on tour (most) and in the studio. His friendship with Keith Richards led to his association to fellow Stone, Ron Wood as he played on three of his solo albums and was also a member of the New Barbarians.

Both Ian McLagan and Bobby Keys crossed paths in Ron's project, The New Barbarians who toured the US and Canada in 1979. The New Barbarians debuted supporting the Stones for a pair of charity concerts in support of the CNIB. The concert was the result of fulfilling one of the plea conditions for Keith Richard's sentence for heroin possession. The concert took place at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium (near Toronto) on April 22, 1979. The New Barbarians played an opening set, followed by Keith and Mick performing Prodigal Son and then they were joined by the rest of The Rolling Stones.

This recording is an audience recording that was ripped from the vinyl version of the "bootleg", Blind Date. A more well-known version of the same show (Blind Date Revisited) is soundboard sourced, but having listened to both versions, I prefer this version. It's richer sounding and has more atmosphere as the soundboard version sounds more trebly and distorted sounding. The performances from both bands are loose and ragged with some bum notes and sloppy musicianship, but the show is fun and the band seems to having a blast...and besides the New Barbarians are introduced by the great John Belushi!
Enjoy!


NEW BARBARIANS / THE ROLLING STONES
"BLIND DATE" (vinyl rip)
"Canadian National Institute For The Blind Benefit Concerts"
Civic Auditorium
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
April 22nd 1979 (2nd show)

Disc 1 
NEW BARBARIANS:
A01 . Intro
A02. Sweet Little Rock'n Roller
A03. F.U.C. Her
A04. Breathe On Me
A05. Infekshun
B01. I Can Feel The Fire
B02. Am I Grooving You
B03. Seven Days
B04. Before They Make Me Run
THE ROLLING STONES (Mick and Keith)
B05. Prodigal Son

Disc 2 
THE ROLLING STONES (cont.)
C01. Let It Rock
C02. Respectable
C03. Starfucker
C04. Beast Of Burden
C05. Just My Imagination
D01. When The Whip Comes Down
D02. Shattered
D03. Miss You
D04. Jumpin' Jack Flash

* NOTE: I downloaded this show from Dime a while back, so this is not my rip or upload. Sorry for the weird track listing. The A,B,C,D reflect the 4 sides of the double LP and the song tracks. The enclosed notes differ, but that's how the file was written. There's some sweet scans of the covers enclosed.

NEW BARBARIANS:

Ronnie Wood    guitar, vocals, harmonica, pedal steel
Keith Richards    guitar, vocals
Ian McLagan    piano, organ, back vocals
Stanley Clarke    bass
Bobby Keys    saxophone
Joseph ‘Ziggy’ Modeliste   drums


THE ROLLING STONES:

Mick Jagger    vocals, guitar
Keith Richards    guitar, back vocals
Bill Wyman    bass
Charlie Watts    drums
Ronnie Wood    guitar, back vocals
Ian McLagan    piano
Stanley Clarke    bass (on the last 1 and a half song of the show)


NEW BARBARIANS- 1979-04-22 Blind Date FLAC. rar (disc 1)
THE ROLLING STONES- 1979-04-22 Blind Date FLAC. rar (disc 2)

2 comments:

Rev.LouCifer said...

Whenever I stumble across some Keef outside of his day job, its a good day. Not that his day gig is , well, it's better than mine that's for sure. I have known some troubled teen dogs in my day, but you are at the top of the pack my friend, and I mean that in only the best way. Excellently curated little space you have created here over the past, hell into your 19th year year now which takes a serious love of music, but a bit of ocd drive as well, another thing that gets a bad rap, but you seem to channel it well. So, to you I say,
KUDOS TdIT! from Thee Most High, Thee Rev Lou Cifer.

binky said...

Thanks Rev for the kind words! I still have that serious love of music, thanks for reading!

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