Voicemail for the request line is:  646-504-6144    **It has recently changed**

Ten Years After – 1970.03.21 – Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA [SBD]

Ten Years After are an English blues rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Their musical style consisted of blues rock, and hard rock.   The band’s core formed in late 1960 as Ivan Jay and the Jaycats.   After several years of local success in the Nottingham/Mansfield area, known since 1962 as the Jaybirds and later as Ivan Jay and the Jaymen, Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons founded Ten Years After.   The group was the first act booked by the soon-to-be Chrysalis Agency. It secured a residency at the Marquee, and was invited to play at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967. That performance led to a contract with Deram, a subsidiary of Decca, and was the first band Deram signed without a hit single.  In October 1967 they released the self-titled debut album, Ten Years After .  In 1970, Ten Years After released Love Like a Man, the group’s only hit in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #10. It was the first record issued with a different playing speed on each side: a three-minute edit at 45rpm, and a nearly eight-minute live version at 33rpm.  This song was on the band’s fifth album, Cricklewood Green.  This concert is about a month before the 21 April 1970 release of that album.

Black Oak Arkansas – 1978.12.31 – Indianapolis, IN [SBD]

Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band’s hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas.  The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970s with ten charting albums released in that decade.  Their style is punctuated by multiple guitar players and the raspy voice and on-stage antics of vocalist Jim “Dandy” Mangrum.  Black Oak Arkansas, originally named The Knowbody Else, was formed in 1963 by some high school friends living in the area around Black Oak, Arkansas.  After the band’s first PA system was stolen from Monette High School, The group then cleaned out an old galvanized grain bin on the edge of town and began blasting out ear-piercing sounds that echoed their special blend of music that came from rock, gospel, country and blues.  After several trips to Los Angeles, California, in 1970, the band was signed by Atco Records (whose parent label was Atlantic Records) and rechristened Black Oak Arkansas. Their self-titled debut album Black Oak Arkansas was released in 1971, and is generally regarded by fans as the band’s best.  The band signed a contract with MCA and promptly released X-Rated (their 9th album) in 1975, which marked the beginning of Black Oak Arkansas‘ decline. Following continued diminishing returns of the band’s record sales, Mangrum dropped “Arkansas” from the group’s name, and they signed with Capricorn and released two albums that didn’t fare well in 77 and 78.  In 1978, guitarist Shawn Lane joined the band at age 14 and toured with the band for four years.  Those years were considered by fans to be the best, and this gig takes place then.

Frank Zappa – 1980.05.24 – Sportpaleis Ahoy, Rotterdam, 24 May 1980 [SBD]

Frank Vincent Zappa  was an American musician, songwriter, composer, guitarist, record producer, actor and filmmaker.  In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed rock, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. During Zappa’s lifetime (unfortunately, he passed away 4 December 1993), he was a highly productive and prolific artist, earning widespread acclaim from critics and fellow musicians. He had some commercial success, particularly in Europe, and worked as an independent artist for most of his career. He remains a major influence on musicians and composers.  His honors include an induction into the 1995 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the 1997 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 71 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and in 2011 at number 22 on its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.  This soundboard catches him at the Sportpaleis Ahoy in Rotterdam during his 1980 World Tour, and most definitely catches Zappa in his element.