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.

It's been a while since I last posted some Tom Waits live. Last time it was a Troubadour gig in Hollywood from 1975. Fast-forward twenty-four years to a concert at The Cirkus in Stockholm Sweden, recorded July 13-14, 1999 featuring Waits in fine form - a little more rasp, a little more experimental, but the same Tom Waits.

And when you're well on your way to becoming an American institution, that's a good thing. Waits is consistent, and he's a consistent painter of earthy portraits of life on life's terms with all the pungent, heady aromas that make them interesting, engaging and very real all at the same time. And in a world of faux sentimentality and manufactured angst, that's an imperative.

And the audience at The Cirkus in Stockholm seemed to think so too as the reception was warm and aware.

So if you've been missing out on your Tom Waits fix of late, here's a little something to remind you of just how good it can get.

Here's what's on the player:

1. Shore Leave
2. Pony
3. Filipino Box Spring Hog
4. Come On Up To The House
5. House Where Nobody Lives
6. Singapore
7. The Heart Of Saturday Night
8. Goin' out west
9. I can't wait to get off work
10. Picture in a frame
11. Who are you
12. Heartattack & Vine
13. Time

Enjoy, and keep the weekend real.

(Gustavo takes Sweden and they love it)

Today's mid-week concert comes from Sveriges Radio in Sweden, recorded this past week (June 3), it features the Gothenberg Symphony Orchestra led by Principle guest Conductor Gustavo Dudamel in a program of Stenhammer and Shostakovich. First off, the Stenhammer Serenade for Strings. And then followed by an overwhelming reading of the Shostakovitch 5th Symphony.

The concert is around 90 minutes, so I split it up - the first part (up there) is the Stenhammer (a really nice performance of a not-too-familiar work) and the second part (down there) is the Shostakovich.

Dudamel has become an overnight sensation and its easy to understand why. He has a habit of bringing out the best in an orchestra and his sheer love of the music is infectious to even the most stoic music listener.

If you aren't familiar, now's your chance. Since it's a live concert from Sweden, the announcements are in Swedish but there's not a lot of them.

A radio session from Stockholm tonight. Most Likely one of the last for The Spencer Davis Group before the departure of Steve Winwood for Traffic.

Recorded for Sveriges Radio in February 1967, this session features two of the memorable hits by Spencer Davis, recorded live.

Here's the rundown for this short, but completely wonderful set:

Spencer Davis Group
Radiohuset, Stockholm, Sweden
February 1967

01. When I Come Home [2:40]
02. I''m a Man [3:31]
03. Gimme Some Lovin' [4:10]

History even comes in the form of music, especially this one.

News for this May 25th in 1942 was hopeful and cautious. Reports from Moscow told of the Russian Army regaining Kharkov after fierce fighting and that advances were being made along the Eastern Front.

From Australia it was reported Allied Bombers struck at Japanese airfields in Rabaul, New Guinea with the loss of one U.S. bomber and extensive damage to Japanese planes stuck on the ground. Also from Australia came news of a substitute being devised for gasoline by way of burning coal. Sounded messy, but according to reports, it worked in a pinch.

From London came news of RAF Bombers heading off to Cologne for a significant raid on that German city. There was also news of the Labour Party holding a conference that weekend, discussing stepped up Government aid in the war effort.

From Stockholm came reports that the Finnish Front was wavering, even though it had gotten back all the territory it had lost to Russia in the 1939 war. News that some 20,000 Finnish refugee Children were heading to Sweden amid reports of widespread starvation.

On Capitol Hill - reports of attempts to come up with a solution to the gasoline shortage by way of substitutes. It seemed the Australian coal-burning solution was being considered. Also being discussed was the possibility of extending the draft to include 18 and 19-year olds. And some circles were claiming the Allies would achieve Air Superiority in the war sometime in 1943. Some even went as far to say victory could be achieved by then. Although some were skeptical, saying 1944 was a more realistic estimate.

In any event, the war dragged on as reported by NBC News Of The World for May 25, 1942.

Taking it down several notches and heading into Electronic territory with Carbon Based Lifeforms, an Electronic duo from Sweden consisting of Johannes Hedberg and Danel Segerstad.

Tonight it's a track off their fourth album, Twentythree, which came out in 2011. The album, and their others are available, as well as a lot of other Electronic/experimenta/Ambientl gems via Ultimae Records, and it would be a great idea to check out their website to see what else they have.

Somewhere In Russia is an ethereal and rich soundscape that lends itself very nicely to zoning out and meditating.

So, for the next 8 or so minutes . . . . .

Les Fantomes were France's answer to Britain's Shadows or America's Ventures, with a liberal sprinkling of Sweden's Jorgen "Apache" Ingmann for good measure. They were, between the years 1961 and 1964, the biggest thing to hit the French charts in a long time and were the epitome of Twang Francaise.

Although they made no dent here or in the UK, they released a string of ep's and albums before their eventual breakup. Tonight it's a track off an ep culled from their "Big Sound Guitars" album for Disques Vogue in Paris. Cafard isn't high voltage and doesn't move along at a quasi-frantic surf pace. It's a slow, broody number recorded in 1962 right around their peak in popularity.

For all intents and purposes, the popular success of Les Fantomes spawned a whole genre of French Twang instrumental bands, before jamming on the brakes and facing the British Invasion and re-invention.

Twangy guitars were big stuff in Europe, and everywhere else it seemed in the early 60's.

A taste of Scandinavian Psychedelia tonight. I know; not the first area of the world to roll off your mind as a hot bed of Pink with Purple Flashes, but yes, there was a fair bit of aural exploration going on, even in the land of the Midnight Sun.

Blond were probably the most notable of that wing of the genre. First off, they morphed from one of the more popular Swedish Beat groups of the early-mid sixties (Tages) and second, they tried to make a dent in the English speaking market with their debut album Lilac Years, with the hopes of taking their message at least to the UK. The album was released very briefly in the U.S. by Fontana with a nondescript cover and just the words Blond across the top. But sadly, it didn't happen and Blond more or less faded from sight around the end of 1970. But in 1969 there were hopes, and tonight's track I Pick Up The Bus, is one of the many shining examples of a band that has only been re-discovered by way of reissue in Europe in recent years.

One of many-many bands that crowded the Record Store aisles for attention. Thank god for the vault rats who spend hours and weeks combing through dusty tapes and lost sessions. Otherwise we'd probably never know what we were missing or forgot about the first time around.

Washington and Scandal. The two just go hand in hand, and on May 23rd in 1976 yet another scandal broke. This time via the House Administration Committee, Wayne Hays and his Secretary Elizabeth Ray. It seems the story broke on this particular morning in the Washington Post with tales of favors and lip-locks and steamy innuendos all aimed at the Congressman from Ohio with promises of more to come and careers tearfully dismantled. Oh, the seats of power.

But in other news, the Presidential Primary season for 1976 was heating up with Ford and Reagan engaging in a horse race - the prize projected to be California some days away and the campaign in overdrive with barbs traded and Reagan's infamous quote with regards to President Ford as "the man with prematurely orange hair" sending waves of chuckles throughout the Press Corps. Politics. Meanwhile, relations between the U.S. and Sweden warmed considerably as Henry Kissinger went on a fence-mending trip to see Olaf Palme and clean up some wreckage Nixon left behind. They shook hands and threatened to hug. Fighting continued in Beirut with the PLO actively engaged and the French Peacekeeping overtures actively rejected. The fabled Supersonic Transport (SST) was scheduled to make it's first appearance on U.S. shores after months of wrangling - but flights were restricted to Washington D.C. only. And U.S. Steel threatened to pull up stakes and head to Texas from it's former base in Pittsburgh because . . .well, they were polluting too much and Pennsylvania was getting tired of it and U.S. Steel just hated the idea of regulations.

All in a day, this May 24th 1976 via The CBS World News Roundup.

Another gear switch this week - over to Sweden for some dyed-in-the-wool Sunshine Indie Pop. Acid House Kings have been around since 1991, but have undergone direction and personnel changes and the result is a very infectious concoction of breezy, well crafted tunes and Indie quirkiness.

Tonight's track comes from their just released album, Music Sounds Better With You. Would You Say Stop is the 7" picked from the album as the first single.

Since it's Spring and April and the weather has turned warm (at least in Los Angeles), an ode to the endless summer is probably in order right about now. And Acid House Kings are filling the bill quite nicely.

Check out their website (they're also on Facebook ) and their label and maybe you'll be persuaded into downloading their new album.