The problems associated with early live recordings of bands, particularly Rock bands, of the 60's, had mostly to do with the limitations of technology brought on by PA systems just not being able to handle the level of sound. It was very rare for an engineer at the time to actually record a band performance because, again, the limitations of technology and portable equipment were in their infancy. So a lot of early performance recordings were done by people in the audience, using battery powered reel-to-reel machines that were small enough to carry around on your shoulder, a microphone stuck in front of a stage speaker and hoping for the best because you couldn't hear anything once the band got started. And that's how the Bootleg industry was born.

Or, the local radio outlet would send a recording team and a truck loaded with equipment parked outside the venue and sometimes their own Sound system, and a decent recording was made and everybody was happy. Sometimes the band would release that live performance as an album and then the record company was happy. As time went on the technology evolved and companies such as the forward thinking Tychobrahe pioneered concert sound and the world was happy.

This weekend's Backstage is a performance that was recorded by one of those radio outlets. Sveriges Radio, the network in Sweden, sent a team to record the newly formed Traffic, who were performing in Stockholm in September of 1967.

Here is what you'll be hearing:

Traffic - Stockholm - Sept 12, 1967
Sveriges Radio

1. Giving To You
2. Smiling Phases
3. Coloured Rain
4. Hole In My Shoe
5. Feelin' Alright
6. Paper Sun
7. Dear Mr. Fantasy

Line up: Steve Winwood Dave Mason Chris Wood Jim Capaldi

Traffic during their exciting, formative period. Around the time their first album was released.

The sound is surprisingly good but a little quiet in places (particularly during announcements). But for a historic document, a wonderful glimpse into a band that went on to become a legend in Rock, whose music is still enjoyed and discovered by new fans, this is quite amazing.

Enjoy.

Thanks to a faithful and growing following, the legacy of Arthur Lee & Love is alive and well. One of the pivotal West Coast bands in the mid-1960's Love, like so many artists at the time, weren't quite understood by the mainstream and were, for a period, considered something of one-hit wonders and purveyors of Garage Rock, with the unofficial anthem 7&7 Is. But their turning point came with the release of Forever Changes, an album that has been ranked alongside The Beach Boys Pet Sounds as one of the biggest influences on the West Coast Sound and one of the best albums ever made.

Tonight it's the haunting and poignant Andmoreagain.

Hasn't aged a bit.

I think, for a lot of people, Sparks is one of those "guilty pleasure" bands. You like them a lot, you've always liked them a lot, but you don't really know why.

Catchy, hook-laden, quirky, theatrical - a lot of words you could use to describe the music of the Mael Brothers. In a perpetual state of reinvention is another description. Having gone through the slog of establishing themselves from the late 60's to the early 70's, they became massive in Europe, briefly settling in London, where they signed with Island Records and their fortunes promptly changed with the release ofKimono My House. The album that took what was often described as a "band with an acquired taste" into a Powerpop Tour de Force in 1974, and established them as a band to be reckoned with for the rest of the decade.

Tonight it's Something For The Girl With Everything from their follow-up album Propaganda. Not a terribly familiar track if you don't own the album, but certainly one that shows them off nicely.

If you don't already know Sparks, here's a chance to get acquainted with some Rock history.