Today's North Pole nugget is a vintage seasonal performance from one of the kings of rock and roll, the one and only Elton John.

December 23, 1973 finds the Elton John Band on the BBC live from London during a five-night run at the Hammersmith Odeon in support of its new double-album release, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Released in October, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road held down the number one spot on the Billboard album chart for eight weeks and became the best-selling album in John’s catalog, eventually moving 31 million copies worldwide.

Nine of the album’s seventeen songs are here along with most of the remainder of the original Elton John’s Greatest Hits album (“Your Song,” “Daniel,” “Honky Cat,” and “Rocket Man”) and a few early career surprises (“Elderberry Wine” and “Hercules”).

The transformation of Elton John from an up and coming rock star to an international superstar was underway, while the emphasis on rock would prove to be short-lived.

Three years later in 1976 following the release of Caribou, Captain Fantastic, and Rock of the Westies, he closed the door on his rock and roll period with the release of Here and There, a live album featuring a side from London and a side from New York.  The record was later expanded for release on CD.

Whether it’s for you or someone on your gift list, be sure to secure this classic Christmas concert and get your holidays rockin’ 70s style.  The feathered outfit is optional.

Santa and the Stereo Dictator wish everyone in ATV land a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Here’s hoping that on Christmas morning, your boots are filled with a few surprises.

Elton John Setlist

Disc One

complete zipped download

Radio Intro

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

Candle in the Wind

Hercules

Rocket Man

Bennie and the Jets

Daniel

This Song Has No Title

Honky Cat

Disc Two

complete zipped download

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

The Ballad of Danny Bailey

Elderberry Wine

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I've Seen That Movie Too

All the Young Girls Love Alice

Band Intros

Crocodile Rock

Your Song

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Today’s installment of the 12 Boots of Christmas features a pair, as in two, well-worn but still shiny boots from the 1980s.

Boot # 10 is another Santa selected holiday treat of the international variety. Roll out your passport as we head to the Dominion Theatre in London for a December 16, 1981 BBC radio show with the Pretenders.

The band packs 13 songs into a 55 minute broadcast in support of its new release, Pretenders II.

Busting out of the gate with a double play of “The Wait” and “The Adultress,” the show is a great snapshot of the group at its peak.

Seven songs from the new album are here including the hit “Message of Love,” Chrissie Hynde’s beautiful interpretation of Ray Davies’ “I Go To Sleep,” and the all-out assault of “Bad Boys Get Spanked.”

Six months after this gig on June 16, 1982, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott would die of a drug overdose, setting into motion the eventual dismantling of this once-great band.

Be sure to bring the melodious tones of the Pretenders to your next holiday soiree  as a gift to the musically unwashed among us. Marvel as you watch their eyes light up with glee as they experience the silky-soft vocals, the rollicking rhythm section and the jingle jangle guitars.

Stay tuned for part two of today’s bonus boot bonanza.  It’s a present well worth waiting for.

Pretenders Setlist

complete zipped download

The Wait

The Adultress

Message of Love

Louie Louie

English Roses

Stop Your Sobbing

Kid

I Go To Sleep

Day After Day

Bad Boys Get Spanked

Up the Neck

Brass in Pocket

Mystery Achievement

Today we’re checking out an artist truly deserving of being called a legend, Johnny Cash. Hell, he was a legend after only about 10 years in the business, still a legend before Nashville shunned him in the 80s, a legend recreated in 1994 with the help of Rick Rubin, and finally a legend in death. That’s one legendary career.

This performance is from June 1994 at the annual Glastonbury Festival, a name familiar to all bootleg collectors since about a billion boots sprang from BBC broadcasts over the years straight from Worthy Farm.

Johnny’s career had just been revived thanks to the release of American Recordings, a collection of stark songs which featured Johnny and his acoustic guitar and a welcome dose of hands-off production by Def Jam founder Rick Rubin.

Never before had anyone just let Cash turn it loose with a guitar and that voice. It was a stroke of genius that brought him new found fame, fans and respect.

Now on to the show…

“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”

Kicking it off with the best outlaw song ever written, “Folsom Prison Blues,” Johnny brings it strong right away leaving no doubt that at 62 years old, he was still the baddest man in town.

“Get Rhythm,” a true rockabilly classic from 1956 follows and gives the band, which features the master of rockabilly shuffle, drummer W.S. Holland, guitarist supreme Bob Wootton, and Nashville fixture Dave Roe on bass, a chance to really lock in.

The hits keep comin’ with “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down,” the CMA Song of the Year in 1970 written by Kris Kristofferson. It sounds great here and still evokes the emerging sense of versatility that Johnny was searching for in 1970 and displaying at the Festival.

“Ring of Fire,” the song that would define Johnny’s love for June Carter, jumps up quickly and, despite the absence of the mariachi horns, reminds us how powerful a song can be in less than three minutes.

“Thank you. I love you people.”

Speaking of short songs, Cash brings out another one of his brief but poignant tales of love, “I Guess Things Happen That Way.” Ever the picture of conflicted emotion, this song says a lot in a little bit of time and keeps the easy confident feel of the older material flowing.

“I really looked forward to coming to Glastonbury. I never expected such a reception and I really appreciate it a lot.”

The crowd is thrilled to be in Johnny’s presence and grows more so as the show continues. If only the dork with the whistle would give it a rest once in awhile…

Next up is the portion of the show where Cash debuts four new songs for the audience. He sounds reinforced by the crowd but also tentative in bringing them forward. The American Recordings album represented a big change aimed at a new audience. Good or bad, this gig would go a long way in telling the story of the new Johnny Cash.

From the open of “Delia’s Gone,” and through “The Beast in Me,” "Let the Train Blow the Whistle,” and “Bird on a Wire,” his voice wavers a bit but he’s in control of the material and is well-received.

Hurdle cleared, it’s back to old business.

“Big River” comes barreling in followed by the arrival of June Carter - “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout…”and the great duet “Jackson.”

“Orange Blossom Special” and “A Boy Named Sue” close out the broadcast with authority and leave me wanting more and that’s the mark of a good show.

Considering that this comes from a radio broadcast laid to tape, the quality is very good. It does suffer from arbitrary edits but none of the content is cut aside from station IDs.

The broadcast runs 44 minutes without commercials.

complete zipped download

Check out these cover versions of songs appearing on this bootleg:

Reverend Horton Heat - “Get Rhythm” from Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash 2002

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” from Love Their Country 2006

Social Distortion – “Ring of Fire” from Social Distortion 1990

Nick Lowe – “The Beast In Me’ from The Impossible Bird 1994

Leonard Cohen – “Bird On a Wire” from Songs From a Room 1989

Joshua James – “A Boy Named Sue” from Tanked Up and Derailed 1999
**Written by Shel Silverstein

For Johnny live on DVD from this era, consider the following.