Album #5: The Beach Boys - Mike, Brian, Carl, Denny, & Al (Live at Nassau Coliseum May 14th, 1979)

    A lot of these first post are ones I have had from 2025, but this is one I made the art for today! I am very proud of it, I think it looks like a magazine cover or something similar.

    This is the first of MANY Beach Boys posts! I've heard this concert was recorded and put together to release as a live record, which explains how seamless it is, creating a perfect 1 record project. I don't know who decided to or why the decided to shelve it, but my best guess is that it might have been seen as potentially competing with a reissue, best of, or something like that.

    This concert was recorded at the Nassau Coliseum in New York, and older bootlegs advertised it as having all 5 Beach Boys. It has them, and they all sing lead, but I think Bruce should be considered a "core" member, especially since he is here, and sings lead on In My Room. But since he isn't in the photo, I kept the 5 members as the name.

    If you are interested in the band, this is a great concert of old hits, plus a few oddities, such as Shortenin' Bread and Roller Skating Child. Mike doesn't sound very happy to introduce either. Out of the (admittedly few) 1979 concerts I've heard of theirs, this is the definitive.

1. intro

2. California Girls

3. Sloop John B.

4. Darlin'

5. talk

6. Shortenin' Bread

7. Do it Again

8. Little Deuce Coupe

9. talk

10. Roller Skating Child

11. talk

12. Peggy Sue

13. talk

14. In My Room

15. God Only Knows

16. You Are So Beautiful

17. talk

18. Good Vibrations

19. Barbara Ann

20. Fun, Fun, Fun

Download link: Google Drive

Merry Christmas! Here is a brand new original: Me & My Old Man

     Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! I would like to share a song I've been working on for a bit, and is finally done. Usually I get a draft of a song all done in one day, but this was a longer, week long effort. It revolves around Christmas, so I wanted to share it before it's too late.

    I wrote this after the shooting in Australia, on the first day of Hanukkah. Every part of that is a tragedy, and what lingered with me the most was how it was a father and son who did it. This song is written from the perspective of the son, and it explores their relationship, and how their love and hate are not separated. I also wanted to write from the perspective of an unforgivable character, I think it is so interesting to experience art that makes you stand face to face with a human being you would never wish to. Here are the lyrics:

Me & My Old Man: Words and music by Liam MacCarrick

I remember that day like a fable

I said the Christmas prayer at our table

My father tried to clean up dinner

He went to the kitchen but I beat him there

We got to speak of the other folk

And how we're not like them all in bulk

I hoped they love the way it's all ran

So in truth it's me and my old man

Mm, me and my old man

Just me and my old man

Well that was twenty years ago

Money's gotten tight and the truck is slow

Daddy tells me it's all their fault

The ones who don't let Christmas be taught

I know what must be done for my God

To kill those with my faith in their jaw

I know a place where these demons run amok

We speak the gospel and load my father's truck 

Mm, me and my old man

Just me and my old man

I shot down a good number of them

You should have seen them on the run

Except for a man who charged my hideaway

I don't know why he let me get away

I tried to run into my father's arms

Till his rifle poked me like a horn

He said, "Son, don't let your mind go roam,

I led you here and I'll lead you home"

Mm, me and my old man

Just me and my old man

The police had us all surrounded

And I couldn't count all who were dead

Daddy said, "Son, our work is done

For a little while we had us some fun"

I said "keep down" and then I stood up

And I let those blue boys shoot me down

I hope their souls go to hell and be damned

And in heaven it's me and my old man 

Mm, me and my old man

Just me and my old man

Link to listen

Link to download

Album #4: Bruce Springsteen - The Stone Pony Anthology

    Bruce Springsteen is famous for his love of his roots, and he is true to that! He pays respect to Asbury Park and his Jersey history every chance he gets. One example is through his long history performing at Asbury's bar The Stone Pony. (In fact, he even wrote the forward for the new book on the bar!) Even as I was creating this in the end of 2025 he showed up for a surprise appearance there.

    On the internet archive there is a user by the name of lilbud who posts unbelievable amounts of Bruce tapes. The last tape he posted from The Stone Pony was from Dec 17, and I assume there will be MANY more recordings. But I thought there was more than enough to create an anthology of Bruce's history with the bar. The issue wasn't finding tapes, but cutting down the recordings into a single 2 CD set. I took from 19 different dates, because the 2 dozen others were not of usable quality.

    In these 19, there was one that stood out. His warmup he played for the Born in the U.S.A. tour, which was not only a complete concert, but was recorded in great quality, AND included all the hits off that landmark album! I included it in full as a bonus, because the whole concert deserves to stand alone. I used 3 tracks from it on the Anthology.

`    EVEN WITH the 20 track album and an entire concert as a bonus, there still were too many great tapes to use, so there are 16 bonus tracks. The first is the only recording from 1976, which is even referenced in the main Anthology. I would have included it but it's sound quality made it only hinder the set.

Disc 1: 1977-86

1. You Mean So Much to Me 4/17/77

2. Farther Up the Road 9/4/77

3. Twist and Shout 7/25/82

4. Having a Party 8/15/82

5. Lucille 5/19/84

6. Dancing in the Dark 6/8/84

7. Born in the U.S.A. 6/8/84

8. Born to Run 6/8/84

9. 3M Speech 1/19/86

10. My Hometown 1/19/86

Disc 2: 1987-05

1. Money (That's What I Want) 8/2/87

2. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide 8/9/87

3. Lean on Me 6/9/89

4. Glory Days 6/9/89

5. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) 7/23/89

6. Under the Boardwalk 7/23/89

7. Jersey Girl 7/16/94

8. Brown Eyed Girl 10/17/95

9. I Don't Want to Go Home 4/10/05

10. Seaside Bar Song 4/10/05

Download Link: Google Drive

Album #3: Bob Dylan - Live 2025: Under the Red Sky

    What a fun year to be a Bob Dylan fan! Following his live concerts was by far one of my personal highlights to my year when it comes to modern developments in music (not to shade any of the talented artists who put out lots of beautiful music this year, like Ichiko Aoba's Luminescent Creatures!) I even got to see him for the first time on the Jersey Shore, which was during the "hoodie" era of this year. Despite the lack of stimulating visuals, the concert was far from boring, and the music stood well enough on it's own. Someone taped and put that concert out on the forums of https://expectingrain.com/ 

    Recording wise, there are SO MANY concert tapes of this year on websites like the Trader's Den and https://www.flaggingdown.com, including multiple COMPLETE SOUNDBOARDS, which haven't been found for Bobby since one in 2009. 

    And not to mention Farm Aid 40! Bob did a wonderful job, as well as the rest of the artists who performed. Bob's played only 60s songs, except for his new cover of Bo Diddley's I Can Tell, which I have been obsessed with. Neil Young's set with his new band really stuck out to me as well, with it's 6 political songs, 5 heavy, and then closing with Old Man.

    With all this, I decided to try and compile my own record of recordings of 2025.

A photo I took at the PNC Arts Center, 9/13/25

1. Gotta Serve Somebody - Jones Beach, NY 8/1/25

    He also opened many sets of the Outlaw Tour with Masters of War, which was a fantastic opening, but this new version of this track is a MAJOR highlight of this album, especially comparing it to earlier versions, such as the live 2023 version from the A Thousand Highways album.

2. I Can Tell - Farm Aid 40 9/20/25

    A Bo Diddley cover, and another personal highlight. 

3. Forgetful Heart - Mansfield, MA 9/7/25

4. Axe and the Wind - Noblesville, IN 9/18/25

    Cover of George "Wild Child" Butler. I included every cover I could find from this year.

5. Under The Red Sky - Noblesville, IN 9/18/25

6. I'll Make It All Up To You - Jones Beach, NY 8/1/25

    Cover of Jerry Lee Lewis

7. All Along the Watchtower - Farm Aid 40 9/20/25

8. Love Sick - Jones Beach, NY 8/1/25

9. Share Your Love With Me - Jones Beach, NY 8/1/25

    Cover of Bobby "Blue" Bland

10. Blind Willie McTell - Jones Beach, NY 8/1/25

11. Searching For A Soldier's Grave - Jones Beach, NY 8/1/25

    Cover of Hank Williams

12.  Rainy Night In Soho - Dublin 11/25/25

    Cover of The Progues. Bob played this as his closer in Dublin, which was the last concert of the year. It was the only time it was played on this leg of the tour, playing it before in the Spring.

13. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Farm Aid 40 9/20/25

Download Link: Google Drive

Concerts used: Jones Beach, Farm Aid 40, Mansfield, Noblesville, Dublin

Album #2: Baker Knight And The Knightmares

    The "Appears On" tab on Spotify is a strange but extremely useful feature, and it has showed me some crazy collaborations or works I wouldn't have known about otherwise. 

    I saw under Lee Mallory was a Nuggets compilation called Hallucinations, because it has That's the Way it's Gonna Be. For $5 on iTunes, I thought it'd be a neat album to check out, going individually artist by artist. I never got past the first song, because it was so amazing I couldn't be less interested in who was after it. Recently, after writing that line, I have!

    Hallucinations was a 45 put out in 1967 by Baker Knight and The Knightmares. And what a song! The psychedelic lyrics are perfect for a song about a breakup. I don't think sadness is the best emotion to capture in a breakup song, but more the haziness and weird confusing mess that is happening in your brain and also around it, which is perfectly executed in this song.

    Baker Knight was a songwriter and musician who had a long and interesting career, who had songs sung by everyone from Elvis Presley, to Dean Martin, The West Coast Experimental Pop Band, and even Paul McCartney on his Run Devil Run album! I would love to explore his songwriting and solo work on a later date, but this post is just for his band The Knightmares. They put out 3 Doo-Wop singles from 1956-57, with none doing well. Then, in 1967, they come back with Hallucinations. It's flip side I Feel Sick About the Whole Thing isn't even similar to it, sounding like the older work. I do enjoy that song as well.

    I created a compilation of all this band created, and I also designed the album artwork for it, which I am pretty proud of! It all can be downloaded in the link at the bottom. The tracklist is:

Tracks 1-2 are their debut 1956 single. I am not sure which is the A Side and which is the flip.

1 - Bop Boogie to the Blues

2 - Little Heart

Tracks 3-4 are his second 1956 single, banned off the radio for being a non-disclosed Cadillac ad.

3 - I Want My Cadillac Back

4 - I Cried

Tracks 5-6 are his last Doo-Wop single, in 1957.

5 - Love-A, Love-A, Love-A

6 - High School Days

This last single was put out 10 years later in 1967, COMPLETELY different from the early stuff

7 - Hallucinations

8 - I Feel Sick About the Whole Thing

Download Link: Google Drive Zip

(PS the zip has My Mind Goes High by M.C. 2, which is from an acetate on Discogs. I assume that it was to promote the Nuggets compilation cause that's also on there. But the zip incorrectly addresses it to Baker Knight! DO NOT BELIEVE IT)

Album #1: John Sebastian - And How Have You Been, Woodstock?

    John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful had a beautiful career as a songwriter with and later without the band. In his song Nashville Cats, the sings these lines:

"Yeah, there's thirteen hundred and fifty-two

Guitar cases in Nashville

And any one that unpacks his guitar could play

Twice as better than I will 

[Verse 2]

Yeah, I was just thirteen, you might say I was a

Musical proverbial knee-high

When I heard a couple new-sounding tunes on the tubes

And they blasted me sky-high

And the record man said every one is a Yellow Sun

Record from Nashville

And up North there ain't nobody buys them

And I said, 'But I will'"

    On social media there is a desire between people to call out others as being Cringe. Whether it's a person expressing themselves in an uncommon way, enjoying a work of art that is considered to be cringe, or even being late to a trend or joke that was just not considered to be. In response to this culture, many people internally feel an anxiety to avoid this label, and to avoid what actions and interests would cause others to give them it. Many other people, and many jokes, use irony as their shield. Yes, they are saying everything that someone who is Cringe would say, but they are in on it, they aren't like those people. As if that is such a horrible fate. Another aspect of it is about being nonchalant, and hiding passion and interest and emotion in order to look cooler.While the term Cringe being used in this way is very modern, I don't believe that this is a new feeling, and this conflict between who someone is and how they are perceived has always existed. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice explores this just through the lens of the British upper-class of the time. It definitely existed when John Sebastian wrote Nashville Cats.

    Taylor Swift puts her albums and songwriting into perfectly split eras, each with a unique aesthetic. A new fan can jump in to her story and only need to understand what's happening in this era to GET her. Every era, she becomes a new, easily sorted, and easily consumable product. But what is John Sebastian's aesthetic? What does he do to turn himself into a product? 

    Many artists have written about their love of some kind of music, and many use it as an example to embody the work they love. The Beatles tried to do what Bob Dylan did on Rubber Soul, and Zimmerman himself tried to do what Woody Guthrie did in his early work. While Nashville Cats is played in a country style, the lyrics are still from John's perspective as an outsider. Nobody buys these records there, but he will.

    Surrounded by a desire to fit into societal norms, being cool, and being a marketable aesthetic, John Sebastian is a dork. He's chalant, and he's lame, and that's why he's such a beautiful figure in the history of contemporary music.

    This is the complete recording of him at Woodstock. I decided to name it after the first line he sings, and every gift on stage is taken from that song. The story of how he was at Woodstock to watch but flew into do an impromptu set on an airplane and given a guitar by Tim Hardin has been told many times and I wouldn't do as good of a job, so if you want the story of the concert itself, this is a good article on both it and his career.

    The download is of an album of the concert, but there is also a video on YouTube of the entire concert.

Download Link: Google Drive
 

Quick Intro

     Hi, readers! My name is Liam, and I was gonna write a cool intro, but that's all still a work in progress, and I wanted to get one out very quickly because I have a few things I'm excited to share NOW!

    This blog is named after Curt Boettcher, because it will have a special focus on his work, in The Millennium, California Music, and everything else. I am far from an expert, but I am a big fan and I want to try and learn and share as much as I can.

    But really quick about me: I am a Junior in high school and I love all things that have to do with music, specifically stuff from the 60s, and I want to use this blog to share lots of original projects I have created regarding these artists, like for example my project compiling Ronettes tracks to make a second album. I have a lot in the works, and I will have two things up when this is posted, so check it out!