2 Meter Sessions is an independent music show in the Netherlands that started in 1987, & have recorded more than 1,800 live sessions for national radio, television, & streaming platforms.
This JOKONKY collection of “2 Meter Sessies” starts off with Luka Bloom’s inspired reinterpretation of LL Cool J’s I Need Love, & Jellyfish covering Badfingers’ No Matter What. Artists sometimes choosing to include a cover version doesn’t make the show another Live Lounge.
Artists also perform their own music “live in an intimate setting, resulting in unique, pure versions of their songs. The sessions are defined by their authentic atmosphere and focus on musical quality, without any frills.”
That’s the case here with selected tracks by Del Amitri, Neil Finn, The Jayhawks, Supergrass, INXS. Aerosmith, John Hiatt, Calexico, Toad The Wet Sprocket, & The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent.
The recording locations vary from professional recording studios to improvised mobile set-ups at festivals, & their archive is vast. A select number of their sessions are now being released on vinyl. But the ones collected here are from a number of sources.
Downloaders are asked to share THEIR FAVORITE program (current or past) that focuses on live performances by their guests.
ReplyDeleteI’m fond of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, but you may be more of an aficionado of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, or Seattle’s KEXP community radio station (which will be featured in a future post!) I suppose Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert could even be included.
Here’s the link:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/cw34dUGz
I like all of the above (NPR, KCRW, KEXP) as well as WFMU, Audiotree and Daytrotter. Australia's Triple J "Live at the Wireless" is often good, especially their program "Like A Version" which features unlikely cover songs. And THAT reminds me of the AV Club's Undercover series.
DeleteThere's a ton of live WFMU sessions at the Free Music Archive. You can search by specific programs (e.g., Cherry Blossom Clinic or Three Chord Monte), or you can search this list of artists (which is not exclusive to WFMU): https://freemusicarchive.org/music/
First of all, let us stand still, and pause a moment. The MTV Unplugged series happened after The 2 Meter Sessions started. And Jan Douwe Kroeske presents and Neil Finn of Crowded House played on May 19 1987 the first of what would thereafter be The 2 Meter Sessions.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is Later with Jools Holland.
all of your suggestions (esp KCRW; hi, Arianna!) and a fond shout out to Jules Shear for starting off MTV on such a charming, positive live note before it all went to "reality"
ReplyDeleteMy favorite radio show was on Sunday's on Radio K (the ultimate evolution of music IMO) after Harry Shearer called UNIVERSAL BUZZ RADIO out of NYC I believe and I had taped Ween, Soul Coughing and Cardigans from the early days of it and have posted some of these. Thanks for this Stinky looking forward to one of my favorite tunes as a youth from the radio, "My Mama Told Me Not To Come" with WoW Tom Jones among others like WoW again J.J. Cale. At any rate my office manager friend Johnny just said to us "WoW I'm getting old. Toys In The Attic just turned 50 years old" and hell, I'm only 56 Seems like I was older than 6 when it came out--wasn't that the MTV one or maybe the earlier one my bro had on vinyl not a fan so don't know???? Very perplexed by this. Oh well, great work again youse guys!!!! Oh yeah, have now procured all 7 of the Bomp! cassettes (another great one from NYC--reminds me got to post some Clem Burke next week) so expect a repost and add on rip when my PC gets one of those rare size sound cards for my mini-box if they can find one (first gen after big box original in around 2004 I think).
ReplyDeleteThanks Stinky, I used to be a big fan of the 2 Meter Sessions, having most of the officially released CDs and even posted about it on another blog.
ReplyDeleteIn general I like most programs which feature live music, but Tiny Desk really stands out imo. I don't recall having seen any Tiny Desk CDs, unlike KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic of which I have a few. Another cool one was Sessions At West 54th. Later with Jools Holland is also pretty good.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I can always count on Viacom--and I'll keep an eye out for your Clem Burke post. RIP! Anonymous, those early years of MTV were something special. It was the perfect way to fill a few minutes before everyone had the internet in their pockets. I searched for the pre-2 Meter Session appearance by Neil Finn, Richard, but came up empty. WFMU and "Like A Version" are great, Jon--as are Sessions at West 54th, Koen.
ReplyDeleteHere's my own 2 Meter Sessions post from 3 years ago, links are still working: https://majorshole.blogspot.com/2022/12/plug-it-in-or-plug-it-out.html
ReplyDeleteRockpalast !
ReplyDeleteBecause there are 1,800 sessions to choose from, Koen, it's worth noting that there are only four artists in common across the 3 CDs, and only one recording is repeated. So visitors to Jokonky don't have to choose between our comps.
ReplyDelete