Here are some great rare tracks by Mike Viola and the Candy Butchers extracted from three radio broadcasts, one from WERS in Boston and two from WFUV in New York. The sessions span 2004 through 2008 and sound very good to me. Mike plays solo, in a duet with Kelly Jones and with a full band.These tracks span his career, from the Blue Thumb album through Lurch, with one track not available anywhere else. He performs his own version of "Beautiful Ride" from Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story (Viola and Dan Bern wrote the music for John C. Reilly to sing in this 2007 mocumentary). Also of note is a band version of "Hair of a Dog", a great track that was only released as a solo acoustic version on "Just Before Dark".
- Canned Hunt (Solo Guitar)
- Girly Worm (Duet with Kelly Jones)
- Not So Bad at All (Band Version)
- Beautiful Ride (Solo Guitar)
- Sparkle (Solo Piano)
- Let's Have a Baby (Band Version)
- I'm Not Over You (Solo Guitar)
- What to Do with Michael (Solo Piano)
- Hair of a Dog (Band Version)
- A Way to Say Goodbye (Duet with Kelly Jones)
A huge thanks to Yoshi who had the foresight to archive these broadcasts and was nice enough to send them along to me. Really enjoying them. They're holding me over until Mike rereleases Hang On Mike on vinyl....looking forward to the bonus tracks coming with that release.
Let me know if anyone has any additional radio session from Mike.
12 comments:
I would also highly recommend Kelly Jones "She-bang!" album if you don't already have it (Mike produced it).
Hey, just letting you know that the "band version" of "What To Do With Michael" and "Hang On Mike" are totally clips of the CD audio, not live performances. listen to it again, I think you'll agree. Whatever radio station that had Mike perform must have played some CD cuts in between live performances, and the guy who recorded the audio and sent it to you must have mistaken it for a live performance, but it definitely isn't. And also, that's Kelly Jones singing with Mike on "A Way To Say Goodbye."
Thanks for pointing that out. I listened and think you are right. I'll pull those two out of a subsequent version. Guess I got tricked by the different equalization on the broadcast. The guy who sent it to me was kind enough to send the whole broadcasts. I was the one who extracted individual tracks. My mistake.....anyway thanks again!
Thanks a lot, Haper and Yoshi!
Cheers from fervorous brazilian Viola fans!
Great Haper! Hope his new releases (Victor and Hang on Mike on vinyl) will surface soon.
http://powerpopsquare.blogspot.com/
Hang on Mike vinyl is excellent! Bought it right from Mike himself after the NYC Joe's Pub show with Adam Schlesinger a few months ago. He only had a few copies and I was lucky to snag one. Great material/some funny studio outtakes. Also, not sure if you've heard these 2 song on Mike's EMI profile? "Happiest Day" and "Unbroken."
http://www.emimusicpub.com/songwriters/usa/mike-viola/index.php
Hey Josh. Thanks for the links to the EMI page. Had not heard "Happiest Day"and "Unbroken" and needless to say they're great tracks. Really jealous about the new vinyl "Hang on Mike" version you picked up. Looking forward to buying my own copy when Mike starts selling it on his site. Would you mind uploading the track listing? I'm really curious. Thanks again.
Here's the track listing for the "Hang On Mike" Vinyl bonus material...
Hang On Mike (home demo #1)
Stoned Momey #2 (279 jam)
Not So Bad (home demo #1)
Sparkle (home demo)
Feel Good (home demo WIP)
Hang On Mike (Garfield version)
Another Hole For My Face (studio outtake version #2)
Fading Out (studio outtake version)
Evil Night (studio jamming joking)
Cold As Ice (studio jamming)
The Best Of Bish (home demo)
Another Hole For My Face (studio outtake version #1)
Let's Have a Baby (writing in progress #1)
Stoned Momey #1 (acoustic jam)
Water By The Bed (studio outtake)
Tubular Casio Bells snip
Tommorrow's Another Day (home demo)
Superkid (home demo)
Stoned Momey #5 (Big Fat Maria)
Stoned Momey #3 (Van Halen shit)
Hit The Stage (home demo)
Hunker Down (writing work tape)
Hurts Like Hell (original Nice To Know You)
Hang On Mike (home demo #2)
You Got High, Where Was I?
What To Do With Michael (studio demo)
Hurts Like Hell (home demo)
The "Hang On Mike" vinyl is still not available at Mike's site :-/
Hope there will still be a release. I'm very interested in these demos...
Good news for anyone without a copy! Just got this email from MV mailing list...
"Hang On Mike on vinyl with 27 bonus tracks (mp3s) Will ship in time for Christmas (domestic). They are super deluxe editions... just gorgeous... the artist who did the CD artwork did the vinyl GATEFOLD edition... and it's remastered for vinyl. Sounds incredible. AND... there are 27 crazy bonus tracks. Songs in progress. Songs that didn't make the cut. Songs half finished. Weirdo studio Candy Butchers jamming."
@ josh: just bought it :-) One question: is the album also included in the mp3 download or just the demos?
Does anybody have an mp3 of the Mike Viola song "Won't last long" from the radio podcast Time Machine.
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