the singer: not the song - alex chilton live in bremen (1988-02-07) & hamburg (1988-02-02)

those who only know the letter do not even know the letter and are doomed to repeat history right here: alex chilton was a punk before you was a punk and he shipwrecked and broke down where others did not even dare to accept the challenge.

down in the deep black holes of my tape collection i unearthed the tapes of two live concerts that LX executed in germany way back in february 1988. the alex chilton trio hit the stages in hamburg and bremen and the first generation of northwestgerman psychpunks all went to see their swan singing. LX (singing of course and playing his guitar) was backed by ron easley on bass and vocals and doug garrison on drums (both played with panther burns and the hellcats and both have left only very few traces on the www). you will get to hear the complete bremen concert plus five tracks they only played in hamburg plus the hamburg version of the letter. 70 minutes of dry dense instant noise. so geil!
thanks go out and again to the lolly pope for digitizing these recordings quota: "alex chilton, the hamlet - without the prince - of rock 'n' roll, always had a nose for trouble and a fine hand in killing his own career whenever fame and fortune threatened to raise their ugly heads. but in 1988, armed with a new record contract and the album „high priest“ under his belt, he kicked his own ass and gave it another serious try. he toured europe, where he enjoyed considerable cult status since the days of big star, but somehow these gigs were poorly attended, and tales of drunkenness and cruelty didn't help the matter much. in early feburary he was upnorth germany, and both northern federal state radio stations - radio bremen and ndr hamburg - recorded and broadcasted the gigs at „modernes“ and „markthallen“ respectively. we decided to put together a program of all the songs he played, but to avoid doubling, we took the bremen concert, where he was in a much lighter and brighter mood, and add the extra tracks from hamburg after the first rendition of „the letter“. (listen to alex' intro to the second, and you'll know what i mean.) but anyway he was cool, calm and collected on both occasions and, with the help of two comrades in arms from memphis, he layed down sharp and honest performances a far cry from charming, but pretty scruffy and untogether stuff like „live in london“. it's a shame they all die like flies on schubert these days, but i guess he'll team up with pete quaife up there, who passed away last week. where have all the good times gone..."

here we go:

01 bangkok
02 make a little love (holiday akopoff)
03 dalai lama
04 no sex
05 thing for you
06 b.a.b.y. (porter/hayes)
07 rock hard
08 lost my job
09 volare (migillaci/modungo)
10 little g.t.o. (john wilkin) >>> (ronny & the daytonas)
11 the letter (wayne thompson)
12 come by here (alvis armstrong)
13 take it off (eve darby)
14 tee ni nee ni noo (slim harpo)
(01-14: bremen 1988-02-07)
15 the new girl in school (wilson/christian/norman) >>> (jan & dean)
16 rockin' daddy (sonny fisher)
17 the train kept a-rollin' (tiny bradshaw) >>> (johnny burnette, yardbirds etc.)
18 sick and tired (kenner/bartholomew) >>> (fats domino, searchers etc.)
19 with a girl like you (reg presley) >>> (troggs)
20 the letter (fade out)
(15-20: hamburg 1988-02-02)

the alex chilton trio live in nw-germany 1988
(mp3 / 320 kbps / 160 mb / direct download)

to listen to the concert before you download:
please change to the german version of this song....