Past guest and Friend of FOON, Stacie Collins has just launched a 40-day indiegogo campaign to fund a brand new live CD/DVD.  Filmed in the UK during their recent “3 Chords & a Cloud of Dust Tour”, the new DVD will feature a slew of Stacie barnburners, a brand new tune and a handful of the band’s favorite cover songs.

If you’ve never seen Stacie, Al, Brad and Jason live you are missing an incredible night of live rock, blues and country.  This CD/DVD combo will be the perfect antidote to tide you over until the band hits your neck of the woods.

Head over to their Indiegogo Page by clicking the link or photo above and grab some of the goodies available when you contribute to the project!

Just in time for the 90’s loving music fan on your Christmas list, EMI has issued a mega-sized super duper deluxe version of The Smashing Pumpkins’ 4th release Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.  Here at FOON we are cranky old bastards and a good portion of the releases we snag these days seem to be deluxe/super-special/tarted up editions of old albums and CD’s we already own.  If you’ve ever tried to sell the wife on yet another edition of an old Deep Purple or Motorhead album, “But honey, it has an extra 7 seconds of studio chatter at the beginning of tracks 3 and 5!”, then welcome to the club.  

This reissue comes in various formats for pockets of any depth.  You’ve got the standard 2CD remaster, the 4LP vinyl version and the over the top Deluxe Box Set that contains 5 discs, 1 DVD and all kinds of extra goodies, booklets and toys.  Ever wanted to act out the cover art while listing to Mellon Collie…?  The deluxe version comes with its very own Decoupage kit.

What the FOON verdict?  Casual fans, stick with your current version.  If you have a Billy Corgan crazy significant other at home then you might want to look at the super sized versions.  The deluxe set features the remastered album plus 64 bonus tracks of previously unreleased material that ranges from rough demos to alternate versions of tracks.  If you can’t justify the $135 price tag, you can also get the digital version containing the 92 tracks from the 5 disc set for a more reasonable $36.  You lose the DVD and all the goodies but odds are you would watch the DVD once or twice, thumb through the liner notes on the first play through and then file it all away.  We say go with the digital version and put your kids to work making your own Decoupage mellons and collies.

Season 3 of The FOON Podcast will be starting very soon!

Until then do yourself a favor, get in the holiday spirit and check out American Dog’s new Xmas CD, featuring photography and liner notes from FOON’s very own Rob Kern!

We’ve got a stack of new CD’s, DVD’s and other goodies to review starting next week.  Plus a FOON holiday shopping guide, more concert reviews and tons more special guests.  We may even have a bit of a yuletide treat in the form of a very special episode coming your way!

ORDER VIVA NASHVEGAS! HERE

It will come as no surprise to long time Friends of FOON that we are Dan Baird & Homemade Sin fans.  We’ve had both Dan Baird and Warner E. Hodges as guests on The FOON Podcast and Warner made a recent return visit as a guest on our sister show FOON - Special Music Unit.  Warner talked with us about the new DVD Viva Nashvegas! and the events that lead to its release.  For the full story, give Episode 68 a listen; in a nutshell, a border scam of epic proportions nearly derailed the tour and set the band back a staggering amount of money.  The end result being a DVD release that gives the fans a chance to help out the band and own a copy of a rare stateside DB & HMS live show.

Last spring the band did a short run of US shows (shame on you if they came close and you didn’t go, your Rock N Roll card is hereby revoked) and as luck would have it, Rutledge soundman Frank Sass had the cameras running to capture the show.  A cabling snafu caused the loss of the color feed, leaving us with a stark black and white document of the show.  If you are looking for a shiny multi-camera color hi-definition show, this isn’t it, and quite frankly I’m okay with that.  The band’s previous DVD/CD combo Live At Sweden Rock Festival gave us that.  If you don’t have that release, shame on you because it’s now sold out (consider that Rock card doubly revoked).  Viva Nashvegas is a three camera black and white show with minimal editing.  Warner told us it looks like they are playing on the Ed Sullivan Show; it reminds me of the old T.A.M.I. Show concert footage.  No need for a high-end Blu-ray player; the standard definition and black and white give this a fun 60’s vibe. 

No mugging or playing to the cameras here, what you have is a great documenting of one of the best live bands in rock and roll playing to a crowd in a packed, hot venue.  The band wasn’t even aware that cameras were rolling, there were no prior plans to film or record this show, just a bizarre series of events that lead to its release.  What the video lacks in visual quality is made up in spades by a great mix and a smokin’ performance.  Dan, Warner, Keith and Mauro hit all points of Dan’s career and even sneak a few covers in just for fun.  High points include “Two For Tuesday” with a great “Proud Mary” break and a grab-you-by-the-throat version of “Younger Face.”

Verdict: Don’t worry about the video quality; this show’s a keeper.  Buy it now and play it loud.