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JASON AND THE SCORCHERS
New York 1984 [no label, 1CD]
Live at the Irving Plaza, New York, NY; March 8, 1984. Very good FM broadcast.
There was a time in the ’80s when cowpunk could have been a contender, with bands such as The Beat Farmers, Blood On The Saddle, Green On Red, The Gun Club, Rank And File, The Rave-Ups, Tex And The Horseheads and Wall Of Voodoo and Violent Femmes. Among them were Jason And The Scorchers, where they “blazed a trail for the cowpunk and alt-country movements that followed in their wake.” They really made the mark with their searing version of Dylan’s Absolutely Sweet Marie.
Jon Parales, The New York Times:
In true honky-tonk style, Jason and the Scorchers stomped and twanged and yodeled through its set Thursday at Irving Plaza. The four-man band from Nashville harnesses the best parts of country tradition - its directness, its irreverence and its casual delivery - to the untrammeled drive of rock.
For Jason Ringenberg, the band’s singer and main songwriter, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead take their place as influences alongside Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell. As Mr Ringenberg sings intelligent new twists on time-honored country subjects - highways, farming, cheating and sin - he stretches and rushes his words with assured unpredictability. The band also plays souped-up versions of older songs, updating Hank Williams’s ”Lost Highway,” for instance, with a squealing feedback guitar solo.
Mr Ringenberg, whose rhine-stone cowboy hat doubles as a harmonica holder, doesn’t let his lyrics make the band pompous. Warner Hodges does leaps and splits during his guitar solos, and the bassist Jeff Johnson is always in motion. The set was gleefully, explosively danceable.
Thanks to the person who shared this on the net in 2006.
Uploader’s notes:
I received this tape in a trade over 20 years ago, but unfortunately I do not know the lineage. Based on the sound quality and the timing of when I got my copy, I would say that there are very few tape generations between the master and this copy. The sound is very nice, with all of the instruments and vocals clear in the mix.
The band is on fire for this one. The sound almost resembles the Ramones due to the fast tempo of the songs and the way they rarely stop between tunes (15 songs in 41 minutes!). This captures them during a time when they leaned more towards the punk side of cowpunk. It’s classic stuff.
Picture by Slick Lawson, posted at jasonandthescorchers.com - Thanks!
Lineage:
FM > ? > Cassette > CDR > dBpowerAMP > WAV > FLAC Frontend > Flac
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (224 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
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Track 01. I Can’t Help Myself 3:00 (5.0MB)
Track 02. Are You Ready For The Country 2:11 (3.7MB)
Track 03. White Lies 3:19 (5.6MB)
Track 04. Lost Highway 1:49 (3.1MB)
Track 05. Last Time Around 3:00 (5.0MB)
Track 06. Shop It Around 2:44 (4.6MB)
Track 07. I Really Don’t Want To Know 4:41 (7.9MB)
Track 08. Hot Nights In Georgia 2:38 (4.4MB)
Track 09. Help There’s A Fire 1:59 (3.3MB)
Track 10. Honky Tonk Blues 2:29 (4.2MB)
Track 11. Absolutely Sweet Marie 2:51 (4.8MB)
Track 12. Harvest Moon 3:16 (5.5MB)
Track 13. If Money Talks 3:05 (5.2MB)
Track 14. Change The Tune 2:25 (4.1MB)
Track 15. The Race Is On 2:00 (3.4MB)
42 mins
Line up :
Jason Rigenberg - vocals/guitar/harmonica
Warner Hodges - guitars/vocals
Jeff Johnson - bass/vocals
Perry Baggs - drums/vocals
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