Graham Central Station
"Can You Handle This?" bootleg
FM/SBD recording
** mp3 samples provided (as always) in the Comments section**
TheCommish notes: Time to bust out da funk (again)! This one was shared back in June 2007 by Kanzan and fell of the tracker in May 2008 (due to "exceeding inactivity")...but not before it was snatched 149 times. Unfortunately, tracks 10-15 were removed in order to meet DIME's requirements (i.e., HBO broadcast material is not allowed), but what's here still runs almost 60 minutes.
I did not alter any of the FLAC files I downloaded from Kanzan. The only change is the inclusion of this revised/updated text file and a fingerprints (.ffp) file. If you have this show already, please consider seeding for others. My thanks again goes to Kanzan for sharing this back in 2007.
About the SNACK benefit--from Bill Graham Presents (per http://www.bgp.com/history.html)
"1975
San Francisco's Board of Education drastically cuts athletics programs. BGP responds by producing the SNACK benefit at Kezar Stadium (Students Need Athletics Culture and Kicks). Bill presents a check for $170,000 to the school district."
Setlist:
01. Intro
02. The Jam
03. Feel the Need
04. We've Been Waiting
05. Release Yourself
06. Can You Handle It
07. People
08. It Ain't No Fun to Me
09. It's Alright/Release Yourself (Reprise)
10. It Ain't No Fun to Me [Removed]
11. Everyday People [Removed]
12. Hot Fun in the Summertime [Removed]
13. Dance to the Music [Removed]
14. Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf) [Removed]
15. I Want to Take You Higher [Removed]
16. Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf)
17. I Want to Take You Higher
Tracks 1-9: Kezar Stadium, SNACK Benefit, San Francisco, CA March 23, 1975
Tracks 10-15: Sinbad: Nothin' but the Funk, HBO, 1997
Tracks 16-17: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction 1997
-From the original silver disc bootleg release "Graham Central Station - Can You Handle This?" on the Big Fro label (BF-012) > EAC > FLAC 8
Here's a review of the SNACK benefit show (source: http://www.grayarea.com/audios7.htm):
Graham Central Station @ SNACK Benefit Concert 3/23/75 Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (60 minutes) While tapes are available of everyone else who appeared at this concert (Santana, Neil, Band, Dylan, etc.), this tape is fairly obscure. After creating some fine bass riffs, including the brilliant "Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf," Larry Graham left Sly Stone to form his own band. I haven't heard anything about this group other than they fizzled out before too long. This is a rocking gig, even if the similarities between Graham's band and contemporaries Bootsy's Rubberband are uncanny. The bass spurts of funk filth for sure, but Bootsy sounds a little dirtier.
Assuming the role of conductor, Larry and company call out "all aboard" for the Central Station and the band dives into a soul number during which other singers join in, to help round the sound. While Sly's influence is unmistakable and the band sounds a lot like Bootsy's Rubberband, the timing (early 1975)leads one to wonder if these players were all sort of checking out each others' acts and simultaneously teaching and learning. For instance, the "Release Yourself" refrain sounds familiar and much like the riff for P-Funk's "Bop Gun," while another riff is almost identical to Frederick Knight's 1972 single "I've Been Lonely For So Long." Neat, huh? Scratching riffs, even at times for the whole song, was hardly new in 1975 (although no one wonders if it was nearly as common as it has become), and to take Graham Central Station to task is unfair, especially given the overall looseness they are cultivating here. Sly Stone wasn't doing too much himself at the time (lost at the "gram-Central Station?") and Graham Central could certainly get the party groove underway. Following the funk, one song boogies into the next and the band doesn't quit. Those funked-out bass and guitar splotches ooze out sporadically and "People" finds the band in full swing.
Larry Graham implores the crowd to "get on up and release yourselves" during one jammed-out piece which is unfortunately cut, but continues on the other side. The last song sounds like a finale and it seems unlikely the band would have played longer than an hour.
The concert was of course broadcast, so the recording is very good, but not perfect presumably due to the lack of available dubs of this show. The recording sounds rather compressed and dubbed at at least one point with Dolby noise reduction or something. It runs for almost an hour and is certainly worth seeking out if funk or musical fun appeal to you. (Eric Twight)
Originally uploaded on DIME by Kanzan
June 2007;
Re-posted on DIME by TheCommish
March 2009