Blues Traveler

Blues Traveler side projects

High Plains Drifter

John Popper

John Popper & Friends

John Popper & the Duskray Troubadours

John Popper Band

John Popper Project

Trick Or Treat

Blues Traveler
October 14th, 1988
Lizmar Lounge, New York, NY

Master:
SBD>Cass(x)
Taper unknown, tape copied by Sean Giblin for John White

Conversion:
Denon DR-M44HX>Tascam DA-20>Egosys U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.5b1
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

CD 1 [37:42.47] (minutes:seconds.frames)
01. Wouldn't It Make You Mad [04:47.02]
02. Crash Burn>              [04:00.27]
03. Gotta Get Mean>          [03:40.43]
04. Gloria*                  [08:32.03]
05. Sweet Home Chicago#      [04:30.73]
06. Bob Bass Jam             [01:51.53]
07. Severe Infatuation       [05:08.52]
08. And So It Goes>          [04:11.41]
09. Sweet Talking Hippie$    [00:59.53]

* with Chris Barron on vocals
# with Joan Osborne on vocals
$ instrumental intro only as set outro

Notes:
- Thanks to John White for loaning me his copy of the tape.
- Recording, while decent generationwise, is heavily saturated and
  difficult to listen to. Even so, this is the earliest known Blues
  Traveler recording by six months - though it is occasionally labeled
  10-14-1989 instead of 1988 - and is more interesting from a 
  historical standpoint than a musical one.
- 7-second dropout in "Crash Burn" at 0:10.
- Tape stop after "Gloria" and again after "Severe Infatuation".

Blues Traveler
November 5th, 1988
Cathedral Cafe, New York, NY

Master:
Nakamichi CM300's>D6
by Michael Gould

Conversion:
Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58
Both channels had noise reduction ~8kHz and 200% amplification.
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

CD 1 [76:03.39] (minutes:seconds.frames)
01. But Anyway                   [06:43.08]
02. Closing Down The Park*/      [07:40.50]
03. Weird Chick                  [04:31.62]
04. Sweet Talking Hippie         [08:36.35]
05. Should I Stay Or Should I Go [07:20.72]
06. Gloria*                      [12:28.21]
07. E: Spanish Jam#/             [16:28.08]
08.    Bad To The Bone#          [12:14.08]

* with Chris Barron on vocals
# with The Hour (opening band) and Matt ? on saxophone, possibly Joan
  Osborne on vocals and Roger Fox on flute

Notes:
- Skip/blip at 1:48 of track 4. Tape stopped occasionally between songs 
  but no other music is missing. Tape flips marked with slashes.
- Rough patch from 5:41-5:43 of track 5.

Notes from Michael:
- Nak 300's>D6C, Master (XLII-S), no NR
  It was just a cafe.  No stage or nuthin.'  The Hour did a set,
  followed by Blues Traveler.  Then The Hour came back out and jammed
  with BT for a Spanish Jam and Bad To The Bone.  If I'm not mistaken,
  this was in the afternoon.  I remember it being daytime and I remember
  the bands talking about what they were going to do later.

Blues Traveler
November 7th, 1988
Nightingale Bar, New York, NY

Master:
Nakamichi CM300's>Sony D6
by Michael Gould

Conversion:
Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

Disc 1

01 Should I Stay Or Should I Go? 09:36.30
02 Mother Funker                 09:31.30
03 Gloria*                       09:02.11
04 Johnny B. Goode               04:56.11
05 But Anyway#                   06:38.20
06 Closing Down The Park#        10:40.55
07 Weird Chick#                  05:41.18
08 Sweet Talking Hippie>#        10:13.25
09 Miss You>#                    04:01.57
10 Sweet Talking Hippie#         02:27.29

Disc 1 Total: 72:48.61


Disc 2

01 Crash Burn>#                  04:36.45
02 Wouldn't It Make You Mad#     05:04.49
03 Glory, Glory                  11:56.56
04 Cleopatra's Cat>*             06:17.49
05 Come Together#                07:41.32
06 Out Of My Hands#              06:58.59
07 Corn Mash Blues#              04:14.37
08 New York City#                06:09.36
09 And So It Goes>#              06:32.38
10 Gotta Get Mean#               03:47.14
11 Slow Change                   09:09.15

Disc 2 Total: 72:28.55




* with Chris Barron on vocals
# with Roger Fox on flute

Notes from Michael:
- Nak 300's>D6C, 1st gen, 2 channel mono, no NR
  I caught The Hour at Kenny's Castaways in the Village.  Then I headed
  over to Nightingales (2nd Ave. @ 13th Street) to catch BT.  This place
  was just a bar.  The band set up in front of a mirror, parallel with
  the bar and there was about 8 feet between the band and the bar to
  dance if one chose to do so (though I don't think there was ever more
  than 4 or 5 people dancing, with me being one of them of course).  I
  came in during their first set and taped as much as I could.  The band
  played at ear damaging levels.  After one song I remember John saying
  to Chan, "why don't we turn down some?" and they lowered the volume a
  little.  Then they played a 2nd set.

  After the 2nd  set Chris Barron began a solo set.  I let my tape deck
  run and split with the band.  Someone's girlfriend (I'm pretty sure it
  was John's) had an apartment around the corner and we walked up 4
  flights of stairs or so to party there for a while.  When we got back
  to the bar my equipment was still there, though the tape had run out. 
  The band got behind Chris and started to play Cleopatra's Cat with
  him.  This was followed by the rest of Blues Traveler's 3rd  set.  At
  some point I discovered that only


Blues Traveler
December 1st, 1988
Speakeasy, New York, NY

Master:
Nakamichi CM300's>D6
by Michael Gould

Conversion:
Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

Disc 1 [52:49.24] (minutes:seconds.frames)
01. But Anyway                    [05:31.29]
02. Weird Chick                   [04:45.39]
03. Out Of My Hands>*             [05:09.42]
04. Should I Stay Or Should I Go# [07:03.26]
05. Sweet Talking Hippie>*        [06:29.52]
06. Miss You>*                    [03:37.06]
07. Sweet Talking Hippie*         [03:28.12]
08. Gloria*#                      [09:33.61]
09. Mother Funker*                [07:10.57]

Disc 2 [63:33.53]
01. Cleopatra's Cat>#             [02:28.11]
02. Trust In Trust>               [04:19.38]
03. Bad To The Bone*              [08:53.10]
04. E: Self-Indulgent Jam         [21:58.18]
05.    Spanish Jam                [25:54.51]

* with Roger Fox on flute
# with Chris Barron on vocals
Last two jams were with everyone - Blues Traveler, The Hour, Chris
Barron, Roger Fox, sax player.

Notes:
- Tape flip at 5:53 of track 4, cuts off completely around 7 minutes.
- Intro to Sweet Talking Hippie has 8-second dropout. Jump at 1:45, 
  another one at 4:28.

Notes from Michael:
- Nak 300's>D6C, Master (XLII-S), no NR

Blues Traveler
December 15th, 1988
Cafe Poppolini, New York, NY

Master:
Nakamichi CM300's>Marantz PMD 430
by Michael Gould

Conversion:
Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

CD 1 [78:11.50] (minutes:seconds.frames)
01. But Anyway                    [08:18.22]
02. Closing Down The Park         [08:00.35]
03. Out Of My Hands>*             [04:23.69]
04. Should I Stay Or Should I Go* [09:06.03]
05. Rock Me Baby                  [04:57.30]
06. Sweet Talking Hippie          [09:14.65]
07. Trust In Trust>               [03:34.55]
08. Slow Change                   [10:34.28]
09. Mother Funker#                [07:03.27]
10. E: Jam$                       [07:23.21]
11.    Johnny B. Goode$           [05:34.70]

* with Roger Fox on flute
# with Chris Theberge on percussion
$ with The Hour

Notes:
- Dropouts in Johnny B. Goode from 3:33 to 3:40 and again from
  3:50-3:54.
- Blues Traveler opened for The Hour and played the first six tracks.
  The Hour played a set, Blues Traveler came back on and played at least
  the last five tunes. It is likely they played more; Trust In Trust
  fades in and a three-song set/encore is fairly unlikely. Unfortunately, 
  that's all that was recorded.

Notes from Michael:
- Nak 300's>D6C or Marantz PMD 430 (probably the latter), Master
  (XLII-S), no NR
  In late 1988 I was gearing up for my first trip to see the Dead in CA
  for the New Year's run.  I'm liking this whole go to a show, tape it
  and listen to it back home thing.  What to do, what to do...got it,
  I'll buy a new deck so I can make even better tapes of the dead in
  Oakland!  I'm already spending so much on the trip, it only makes
  sense. So I upgrade my deck to a Marantz PMD 430.  I'm pretty sure
  12/15 was the first time I used it.

  I got there early.  Was all set up and ready to go so I just hung out
  at the bar with Chan and Matt Turk (the lead guitarist & vocalist for
  The Hour).  I recall they were both rather proud to be drinking beer
  at the bar which was quite an accomplishment what with being underage
  and all - oh, the naughty thrills we had back in the day.  I was
  somewhat surprised to learn that Chan was younger than me.  I thought
  he was a little older.  It was either at this show or the next that I
  gave John copies of some of the tapes I had made over the last couple
  months.  It was probably only one or two.  He gave me the Let's Travel
  audio cassette in trade.

Blues Traveler
"Dropping Some NYC" demo tape
December 26th, 1988

Analog to digital conversion:
Demo cassette>Onkyo TA-6711>D8
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

SHNs were made:
Egosys Waveterminal U2A>SoundEdit 16 [boost levels]>WAV>SHN

Disc one:
1. Trust in Trust
2. Outta My Hands
3. Dropping Some NYC (w/Chris Barron & Scott Patterson)
4. 100 Years (w/Roger Fox)
5. Crash Burn
6. Weird Chick
7. Should I Stay or Should I Go?
8. Sweet Talking Hippie


Blues Traveler
1988 Demo
"Lets Travel"

Source: Unknown
Notes:
 -But anyway starts off late
 -Mother funker cut at end

"I acquired the tape in late 89-90 most 
probably from someone at either the Wetlands 
Preserve in NYC or Nightengales also in NYC."

1. But Anyway
2. Shotgun Shell
3. Slow Change
4. Black Cat Rap
5. Gotta Get Mean
6. Corn Mash Blues
7. Alone
8. Mother Funker



Blues Traveler
"Let's Travel" demo, 1988
Recorded at Skylab Studios, Englishtown, NJ

Master:
Original demo tape>DAT
by Ken Brownstein, original tape provided by Hisham ElShakhs

Conversion:
Tascam DA-20>Egosys U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.4d24
by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]

CD 1 [48:49.74]
01. Gotta Get Mean  [04:05.33]
02. Corn Mash Blues [03:44.27]
03. Alone           [07:28.12]
04. Mother Funker   [07:18.55]
05. But Anyway      [05:12.41]
06. Shotgun Shell   [06:14.32]
07. Slow Change     [07:54.57]
08. Black Cat Jam   [06:51.42]

Notes:
- Left-channel weirdness at 3:33-3:36 of t05, small dropout at 5:04.

This is not the band's earliest demo but it was their most popular
and widespread back before the days of CD and lossless trading.
Recorded sometime in mid-1988, it's believed to be only the second
demo recording featuring the original band lineup of John (billed
simply as "Popper" in the liner notes), Brendan, Chan and Bobby.
This marks the only known studio recordings of "Corn Mash Blues",
"Mother Funker", and "Black Cat Jam".

A SHN copy of this demo circulated as early as 2000, but the tracks
were out of order (side B went before side A), the first track cut in,
and the last track cut out. Several years later, an auction popped up
on eBay with an old classmate selling this demo and the 1985 "Blues In
My Soul"; after bidding against each other for a few days, Ken and I
decided to declare a truce and split the goods but make copies for
each other. We won, he chose the "Let's Travel" demo, and copied it to
DAT soon after...upon which I promptly forgot about it. Until now.

Thanks to Hisham for being willing to part with a high-school memory,
and to Ken for helping me blow an embarrassing sum of money on two
decrepit cassettes whose combined age exceeds my own...


SHNID	Artist	Date	Venue	City	State
30558	Blues Traveler	1988-10-14	Lizmar Lounge	New York	NY
Master: SBD>Cass(x) Taper unknown, tape copied by Sean Giblin for John White Conversion: Denon DR-M44HX>Tascam DA-20>Egosys U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.5b1 by Dave Mallick [greenone@bluestraveler.net]
82026	Blues Traveler	1988-11-05	Cathedral Cafe	New York	NY
Master: Nakamichi CM300's>Sony D6 by Michael Gould Conversion: Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58 by Dave Mallick
82025	Blues Traveler	1988-11-07	Nightingale Lounge	New York	NY
Master: Nakamichi CM300's>Sony D6 by Michael Gould Conversion: Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58 by Dave Mallick
82027	Blues Traveler	1988-12-01	Speakeasy	New York	NY
Master: Nakamichi CM300's>Sony D6 by Michael Gould Conversion: Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58 by Dave Mallick
82028	Blues Traveler	1988-12-15	CafÃ© Poppolini	New York	NY
Master: Nakamichi CM300's>Sony D6 by Michael Gould Conversion: Onkyo TA-6711>Tascam DA-20>U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.58 by Dave Mallick
5576	Blues Traveler	1988-12-26	LoHo Studios (Dropping Some NYC demo)	New York	NY
Demo cassette>Onkyo TA-6711>D8 Egosys Waveterminal U2A>SoundEdit 16 [boost levels]>WAV>SHN
2441	Blues Traveler	1988-??-??	Skylab Studios (Let's Travel demo)	Englishtown	NJ
Source: Unknown Notes: -But anyway starts off late -Mother funker cut at end "I acquired the tape in late 89-90 most probably from someone at either the Wetlands Preserve in NYC or Nightengales also in NYC."
28802	Blues Traveler	1988-??-??	Skylab Studios (Let's Travel demo)	Englishtown	NJ
Master: Original demo tape>DAT by Ken Brownstein, original tape provided by Hisham ElShakhs Conversion: Tascam DA-20>Egosys U2A>Sound Studio 2.1.1b3>AIFF>xACT 1.4d24 by Dave Mallick

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