Mp3s: Stratford Projects live in Somerville
Posted on April 14, 2008 at 1:26 pm | 2 Comments
A few weeks back, the on stage debut of Stratford Projects happened at Somerville’s Abbey Lounge, and if I was in the audience instead of behind the drum kit, I’d have doubled the crowd. Ok, so that’s a slight exaggeration… but that’s what we get for a first-ever show near midnight on a Tuesday. It really wasn’t about who was there (or, rather, who wasn’t) to see us, though, but more about getting our feet wet as an under-rehearsed five-piece. Despite the count-on-one-hand crowd, a good time was had, and we pulled it off. Enough to maybe schedule a second show, despite our collectively busy personal lives.
I wasn’t going to share my recording of this one, but a request-via-comment and a couple emails were enough to overcome the aversion of self-indulgence, or at least the potential fear of embarrassment (like I said, first show ever). So here it is: The songs of Michael Barrett (and a couple covers) as performed by Mike on guitar/vocals, Anna Jaysane-Darr on keys, Neil Cleary on guitar/backing vocals, Adam Boc on bass/backing vocals, and yours truly on drums.
The setlist includes songs pulled from Mike’s Planting Seeds solo album, “Couches and Carpet” (“Beach Song“, “Chill Out“), a couple from his first band Guppyboy (“New Orleans“, “Overflow“), ones he wrote with his Essex Green pals in The Sixth Great Lake (“Everything Is White“, “27 Forever“, “Cannon Beach“), and a song from Essex Green guitarist Jeff Baron’s never-released solo record (“The Ravenswood“).
Live at The Abbey Lounge
in Somerville, MA
on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
01. Cannon Beach
02. Grand Canyon (Magnetic Fields)
03. Chill Out
04. The Ravenswood
05. Beach Song
06. Everything Is White
07. 27 Forever
08. New Orleans
09. Overflow
10. Trains Across The Sea (Silver Jews)
Some Stratford Projects-related links…
The Stratford Projects site, home of all things Mike Barrett, the “Couches and Carpet” album info page, the Sixth Great Lake site, an archive of Guppyboy, the Eef site (the band Mike and I used to play in together), Neil Cleary‘s site, and the home of Jumprope, Adam Boc’s old band (which was also on the Planting Seeds label). Additional Audio: Download some unreleased Michael Barrett solo Mp3s, a whole bunch of Sixth Great Lake songs, a few Essex Green Mp3s, and some vintage live Essex Green (on WFMU in 2000) as well. Photos: My few Flickr-hosted shots from the show (with an assist from a friend of Mike’s who took a couple) are here. As always, stream any and all ‘Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.
the fine print… If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the ‘nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
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October 23rd, 2024 @ 6:19 am
Do you still have these mp3s? I’m looking for the version of “Overflow” from that night. Thanks! – A long time fan 🙂
October 23rd, 2024 @ 9:46 am
Found ’em. 🙂
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4idbpbd5d9useyccxbw7l/2008-03-25-StratfordProjects-SomervilleMA.zip