If you know me, you know I’m a huge Matt Nathanson fan and I collect everything he does on Vinyl and CD…even the CD Promotional singles. I’ve posted a lot of the ones I have in my collection on the site already. But now, I finally found the most elusive single for me and the last one out there that I know about or even Discogs documents. It is the Promotional CD single for his classic song “Headphones”. It might be my favorite Matt Nathanson song of all time.
The song features singer LOLO and is off Matt’s album ‘Show Me Your Fangs’ released in 2014. It is one of his best albums as well, so check it out as well. The CD promo was sent out to radio stations across the country sometime in 2014 and “Headphones” is the only song on the disc. I’m not saying this promo single is rare, but there is only 1 person on Discogs that states they have it in their collection (and that person might be me) and one has never been sold on Discogs. I bought mine off eBay while scrolling early one morning. I couldn’t believe my luck.
The song “Headphones” for me is about putting on my headphones, listening to music and escaping. When you listen to music, it can take all your cares in the world and throw them out the window. With music, you can feel invincible (as the song states). The song is everything I feel about music and how important it is in my life. Heck, I even started a blog where all I talk about is music. I have only known this song for 3 years now, but it is the soundtrack to my feelings on music.
Over the last 6 months, I have found a ton of bootlegs and for me that is great as I love getting this tidbits of history from a band especially since the band haven’t released it. There was a stretch of a few months where I found three Whitesnake bootlegs and this is the last of those that I found. This one is from the tour for ‘Saints And Sinners’ which ran from 1982-1983. And the band is listed as David Coverdale, Cozy Powell, Jon Lord, Micky Moody, Mel Galley and Colin Hodgkinson. This particular show is said to be Newscastle City Hall in England and recorded on December 14th, 1982. It is a 3 LP set and is the whole show and was released in Japan. No OBI so don’t get excited, this is a bootleg.
I’ve read there is some debate if this show is from Newcastle. All the dialogue between the songs has been cut so no city is mentioned. The setlist is similar to a show from Japan and being released in Japan has some to believe that is where the show is. That show is February 22, 1983 from Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. I honestly couldn’t tell you one way or the other. The sound isn’t bad, a little hollow at times, needs more deep end. You can hear everyone pretty good. The sound is consisten throughout the show so I am sure it is a soundboard. They must have the crowd mic’d up as you can hear them pretty good. Most audience recordings aren’t consistent.
But what I can tell you is that they set this bootleg up to look like a promo. It has tour dates listed on the back for some UK shows. If that wasn’t enough look at the labels and you will see is “Not For Sale” listed on each label. And what you will also notice is at the top of the label it says “Cozy Powell Band”. Man, that would piss off David I am sure. At least it does say Whitesnake in that really cool logo across the center of the label. You gotta love bootlegs.!
LP 1:
The album opens with “The Shadow of the Blues”…wait…what happened to the “Walking In…”. Oh well, bootlegs for you. For a blues song, this one is really rocking and the band is kicking ass and taking names. The song is sped up but not as fast as “Rough And Ready” where David is singing so fast, I can’t really understand everything he is saying. Jon Lord’s hammond is on fire as he destroys it on the solo. Then Micky comes shredding in with a wicked solo. A great 1-2 punch. According to the label, “Ready An’ Ready” is up next, but we know it is really “Ready An’ Willing”. It kicks with David asking if they are “ready and willing” over and over and then bam…they go in to the song. They slowed the tempo down a little for this to a more normal pace. The song has a great groove to it, David sounds great and more great guitar playing. Always a wonderful live song choice.
And flipping over to Side 2 we get “Don’t Break My Heart Again”. We get some opening drum beats by Cozy, some hand clapping from the audience and some Lord organ. This is a pretty radio friendly sounding track. The crowd gets in to it and sings along at the break with more hand clapping. Then we get an early recording of “Here I Go Again”. And you know it is early because it still says “Hobo” instead of “Drifter”. It has more Lord organ and only David on vocals opening. Nice and quiet before the full band kicks in and it starts to rock out. But not as much as the 1987 version does. But that is a few more years down the road.
LP 2:
First David introduces some new band members with Cozy Powell on drums and Colin Hodgkinson on bass. Now it is time for some David Cock Rock with “Love Hunter”. You’ve got Micky on slide guitar and the song is still a lot of fun even with its inappropriate lyrics. During the middle of the song it breaks in to a Micky Moody guitar solo and a Colin bass solo mixed in. In the middle of the solo, with Micky and Colin go at it, we suddenly get a honky tonk jam and it is either Mel or Colin on vocal. Then with an awkward cut, it is back to some Micky slide guitar with a big dramatic finish before we rock out with the ending of “Love Hunter”.
Flipping it over it we get David introducing another new member with Mel Galley then we get the older version of “Crying in the Rain”. A great opening set of guitar work and then David comes in and he sounds great. This is a killer, rocking track and this older version has a little more groove and not as heavy, but oh, it is as good. The guitar solo in this is extended and ripping, a song in and of itself, but still with the “Crying” groove. David does give each member a chance to shine at these shows. He’s a good boss…when he’s not firing the whole band over and over. You go to an early Snake show and you aren’t getting the songs as they are on the album, no sire. You get so much more. At the end, they go quietly in to a small piece of the Deep Purple track “Soldier of Fortune”. Then another cut and then it is all Jon Lord as he gets his turn in the spotlight…hell to the yeah!
LP 3:
Why not start LP 3 with yet another solo and this time around it is Cozy Powell on drums. He is a beast. He even does part of 633 Squadron, Over the Top and 1812 Overture during his solo. It is not your typical drum solo and that is a welcoming fresh thing to hear. When it ends they go in to classic Whitesnake mode with the bluesy “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City”. It is slows things down, the crowd claps along and the boys just get down and dirty with this one. Always a treat when they pull this one out.
Flipping to the final side, Side 6, they start off with an fan favorite called “Fool For Your Loving”, but this is not the Slip of the Tongue version. They speed things back up like they are in a major hurry. The later version isn’t much different. A little slower and more dramatic. And that is how they end the show, but we still have encore. And first up is “Thank You Blues” which is a little message for the audience. And yes, it is very bluesy. Then they go in to the fun, crazy “Wine, Women And Song”. It is a foot stomping boogie woogie good time. And of course, Jon Lord kicks ass on this one too! This is a great encore song that is nothing but fun. The final track is “We Wish You Well” and David softly sings the crowd out of the evening. This sounds like a recording thought and not a live performance. This was probably being played as the fans exited the arena. Kiss does that kind of stuff too.
And that is it. A 3 LP live set from Whitesnake. The sound isn’t bad. It is consistent throughout and you can hear the crowd which makes for a great live show. David sounds really good and the new band, at the time, was another fine set of musicians. It didn’t bother me that a lot of the dialogue was cut out as it meant it was basically song after song. There are a lot of great solos and jamming moments. And by spreading out the album over 3 LPs, the songs weren’t compressed and helped the sound quality. Overall a really good bootleg. My Overall Score is a 4.0 out of 5.0 Stars as it did need a little more punch in the sound, but what you get is still awesome.
In my quest for 7″ singles with Picture Sleeves, I found another great 80’s single and this one is for Poison. The song is a cover of Loggins & Messina’s “Your Mama Don’t Dance” and was released as a single for Poison on February 1, 1989. The song reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went Gold which the Loggins & Messina version also went Gold while their version went to #4. So, not too different from one another. The song can be found on Poison’s second album, ‘Open Up and Say…Ahh!’
My version of the single is the U.S. promo as it says “Not for Sale” on the 7″ single label. There is no B-Side as “Your Mama Don’t Dance” is on both sides of the single. If you were to find the actual single for the song, the B-Side would be “Tearin’ Down the Walls” also from the ‘Open Up and Say…Ahh!’ album.
The song is about the generational gap between kids and parents. The parents don’t agree with that rock & roll and all the degenerative behavior. It is based off what happened during the ’50’s and ’60’s with the onslaught of that new fangled thing called Rock & Roll. The lyrics are cliched with all stereotypes from that era. It was also based a little on what Jim Messina went through with his mom and step-father.
I like to find Promo CDs. I’m not sure why as usually there is nothing new on them, but I think it is for the fact the cover is usually not the same as the album and it is a cool piece that was used to promote the upcoming albums and/or songs. So, when I saw this I had to have it. It is a Promotional CD for the upcoming Soto album in 2009 of ‘Beautiful Mess’. The top corner of the sleeve says it is from Promotional Use Only and This CD Cannot be Sold…well…it was…to me!
The CD contains two songs from the album, “21st Century” and “Gin & Tonic Sky”. Not only that, it has the two promotional videos that were shot for those songs as well. If you have the 2 CD version of the album, like I do, you already have these videos, but if you don’t, then this is cool to have as well. Let’s talk through the two songs.
The album kick off with “21st Century” which is a rocking, guitar driven track, however, Jeff’s vocals are more funky and there are modern electronic elements as well. The chorus though is as catchy as you’d expect as he knows how to have a little hook to make you sing along. It isn’t a typical Soto sound as that album saw Jeff stretch his wings a little and try other things. The song is a little left of center and yet it works and is a great start to the album with its high energy and all around fun sound. Sometimes its okay to try new things.
We are here with yet another Jeff Scott Soto release and this one is quite unique. It is called ‘B-Sides’ and consists of unreleased tracks, bonus tracks, duets as well as songs used for Tribute albums. It shows as it is an official release from Frontiers Records, but it is very cheap looking. The CDs themselves do say these are “Not For Sale, For Promo Use Only”, but they seem like bootlegs. However, discogs has them on their site and they do not list it as ‘Unofficial’ so everything actually leads me to believe this is a real Frontiers Records release. And yet, the mix of it is not that great as the volume between songs has not been equalized as some songs are louder than others. I don’t know what to think, but I have a copy and I am pretty stoked about it. I am curious as to why the reason behind this product though, so if anyone knows, please let me know in the comments below.
The main reason I’m stoked is that it saves me a ton of money from going and buying all the albums that these songs are on. Most are on an album from another artist that Jeff appears on or Tribute albums where this is probably the only song I would want any way. To have them all in one compilation I would say is big win. One thing that sort of stinks about this is the liner notes on the CD booklet. As you can see from a picture further down the post, there is a fantastic Track List of CD 2 and where the songs originated from, but the left side of the picture does not have the track list for CD 1 and where the songs originated. That is actually a misprint because I have seen pictures of the inner sleeve that have the CD 1 track list breakdown. If the list is there or not, this is still a pretty cool piece in the Soto collection.
The first song was a cassette only bonus track from Jeff’s first band, Panther. “Set Me Free” one of my favorite songs on that album. Soto attacks it with a deeper tone and yet still soars with some high notes. The drumming on it is immense with some great fills. The guitar solo is typical for the time to see how fast he can go, but its great. It definitely takes me back to the 80’s with this one. The next three tracks,”Act of Sympathy”, “Highway to Nowhere” and “Mental Ward” were demos from Jeff’s work with is buddy Gary Schutt on his album ‘Sentimetal’ that Jeff sang lead on. “Act” is pure metal, heavy, dark and Jeff sounds great but a lot of echo…again, this is a demo so not fully polished. Same with “Highway” except it is a little more speed metal, some kickass double bass drum, a real killer track. “Mental Ward” comes off feeling like a leftover track from Jeff’s worker with Biker Mice From Mars soundtrack. It has that same campy, cartoony feel to it.
The final of the four Promotional Items I had for ‘Crazy World’ is the amazing ballad “Send Me An Angel”. It was released as a single on September 17th, 1991 and it did really great going to Top 10 in 7 countries, Top 30 in 3 more and #44 on the US charts. The song was written by Rudolf Schenker and Klaus Meine one of the few songs on the album to be written by two people as most of the others were more a team effort.
My copy is the U.S. promotional copy and it was really, really basic. It was a CD case with no cover and no backing, only the CD. Can’t get more cheap than that. And since there was no artwork, here is what the cover to the 7″ Single looked like.
Scorpions end ‘Crazy World with a ballad and we end our promo run with the same ballad. And I think it is one of their best ballads ever. “Send Me An Angel” sees Klaus give his best vocal performance as he conveys both a melancholy vibe yet there is still a shimmering light of hope. There is such a pure and honest feel to his vocals which is why I think it connects with me so much. The keyboards add to the sadness and they are handled by Jim Vallance who actually co-wrote 7 of the tracks on the album as well, but not this one.
We are now on the third promotional item I have for the Scorpions album ‘Crazy World’. This time around we have the Promotional CD Single for the song “Don’t Believe Her”. It was released as a single in December 1990 and was written by Herman Rarebell, Klaus Meine, Jim Vallance and Rudolf Schenker. The song went to #13 in the U.S. on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and it did go to #77 on the UK Singles Chart. A little better than the first single on the album as that only charted in the U.S.
My copy is the US Promotional Copy of the Single on CD. There was no cover for it, it only showed the CD, but it did have a back cover. It also has the now infamous words “For Promotional Use Only…Not For Sale” on the back cover and at the bottom of the CD. I do like that the CD is a picture disc considering we had no cover for it.
We are now to the 2nd of the 4 Promo pieces I have in my Scorpions Collection from the album ‘Crazy World’. The song this time is the opening album track, “Tease Me Please Me”. It was released in November 1990 and was written by Klaus Meine, Mathias Jabs, Herman Rarebell and Jim Vallance. It did go to #8 on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Track Chart, but didn’t chart anywhere else.
My version is the U.S. edition and it is a cheap little cardboard box with a sliding CD sleeve out the side of the packaging. At the bottom of the CD, it does say those famous words…”For Promotional Use Only…Not For Sale”. Oh, I love those words.
In my further quest for owning all Matt Nathanson items listed on Discogs, I found another gem. This Promo CD is for the song “Suspended” off his 2003 album and major label debut called ‘Beneath these Fireworks’. The song didn’t chart, no surprise as he’s never been a big radio hits guy (even though his stuff is better than radio). The album didn’t do well either and shortly after releasing his first major label debut on Universal, Universal dropped him. Such is the story of so many artists and bands.
The song was written by Matt Nathanson, Mark Weinberg and Eric Bazillion who you know as a founding member of the band The Hooters. The song is about being in a relationship that might not be the best relationship, but man, the sex is so good you are willing to accept anything to stay in it. You suspend belief and think that is all is great just to stay for sex despite how lost and miserable you might be. Better for some human contact than nothing at all. Now, that is one way to look at it, the other is that he is fully committed and in love, but she’s not quite there. The line, “When you pretend that I’m all that you waited for”, shows that he knows she’s not in to it anymore, just pretending. But he’s okay…he loves her and wants to stay and be together.
If you remember the ‘American Pie’ films, you know how raunchy they were and a song that was linked to the film as sort of a theme song was the song “Laid” by the band James. The song was written by Tim Booth, Larry Gott and Jim Glennie, however, never appeared in the movies only in the first two films movie trailers. It wasn’t until the 2003 film, ‘American Pie: The Wedding’, that it appeared, but it wasn’t the James version of the song. Instead it was a cover by Matt Nathanson. I guess James wanted too much money for it and the film could only afford a cover version of that. And why not Matt as he has the chops to do a faithful rendition of the song.
The song is just as raunchy as the movies, but Matt stays true to the James version and really delivers a stellar performance. This is probably the first time I ever heard anything by Matt and now 20 years later, I am still collecting his stuff and a massive fan. And in my hunts for Matt Nathanson product, I found a Promo CD from Europe for the song and only that song. My copy was bought from Austria thanks to Discogs. There is another version out there that is the US Promo and it has the Soundtrack album cover as the cover of the Promo (and yes, I am on the hunt for it and will get it soon and when I do, I’ll update this post to show it). You can get the song on the ‘American Pie: The Wedding’ Soundtrack, but I don’t think it is on any studio album from Matt so you either get the promo or the movie soundtrack.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 