Hey, everybody.  It’s Saturday; we’re still sweating toxins out of our bodies from Friday.  We have new stuff to share with you, but lack the requisite energy to write anything coherent.  As such, we’d like to throw three live tracks from the vault at you.  Sit back, turn it up and relax.  That’s what we’re doing.

Our fondness for The Black Angels is well-documented.  The gritty sludge of Passover and its follow-up Directions to See a Ghost are consistently in our ipod rotations.  The pulsating energy of this version of “Young Men Dead” combined with the slightly rawer, angrier vocals are awesome.  The breakdown in the middle is pretty sweet as well.  Run for the hills, pick up steam and let’s go.

“Young Men Dead” – The Black Angels – 6/11/2008 – Seattle, WA

We really don’t have to write anything about Mission of Burma at this point, do we?  We’ll keep the verbosity out and let you enjoy the bruising live version of the song that put them on the map.  I’m not judging you, I’m judging me.

“Academy Fight Song” – Mission of Burma – 1/20/2008 – Allston, MA

You know Billy Bragg, probably, from his collaborations with Wilco.  I prefer to think of him as a rabble-rousing radical leftist.  That’s just me.  This isn’t the greatest recording ever, but it still seethes with resentment (and there’s some great sing along, which always makes me remember why I love live music).  The accented babbling at the end is also classic.  Just because you’re going forwards, doesn’t mean I’m going backwards.

“To Have and Have Not” – Billy Bragg – 7/27/2004 – Pilton, England