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Years ago, back in the days of vinyl, I had a copy of Rat Tracks, an 12 inch EP imported from Canada. The choice of tracks always seemed odd to me until I acquired the Columbia 1992 CD release of Mondo Bongo. Anyhow...
The stand out track for me was the live version of Nothing Happened Today. I always wondered where it was recorded. I thought I had me answer when all the albums were remastered in more recent years because I saw that TFAOS features a bonus track 'Nothing Happened Today (Live in Cardiff)' and assumed the two tracks are the same.
However, I listened to the Cardiff track today and immediately realised it was a different version. So I am back to my original question:
Does anyone know where the live version of 'Nothing Happened Today' that appeared on the Rat Tracks EP was recorded?
To help identify the track, I can tell you that a line changed (the one just before the classic, "This is the date' line") where Geldof sings, "tomorrow's Saturday" (and I *think* the preceding line is "today is Thursday", which of course makes no logical sense). This also makes me wonder if these lines were often changed in live performances, possibly to coincide with the day of the performance! :)
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I was in Cardiff last week (visiting Companies House) and nothing much happened ;)
Afraid can't help with this. One would wonder why the record company didn't state where the Rat Tracks ep Nothing Happened was recorded.
From my research the Rat Tracks was released in Canada by Vertigo records in 1981 11. Presumably the 11 means November but maybe not.
Not sure why Whitehall 1212 was on it - for me it is one of the bands weakest tracks-but interestingly it may be the Rats only instrumental number.
If one wants to go down the bootleg route there are loads of different live versions of Nothing Happened Today, a lot of them seem to have been recorded in the US from 1979 -1981. Check your local bootlegger for details.
Must be able to narrow this down to a few possibilities.
If the song was first played live say mid 79 at earliest, and pressing is sometime prior to Nov 81 (let's say October at latest), and based on theory above that the 'today' called out was the day it was performed, how many say Thursday performances were there in the period? Rats site has a fairly decent list of tours etc.
All we then need to do is listen very carefully to audience accents.....job done
Alternatively someone who knows could just tell us.
Must be able to narrow this down to a few possibilities.
If the song was first played live say mid 79 at earliest, and pressing is sometime prior to Nov 81 (let's say October at latest), and based on theory above that the 'today' called out was the day it was performed, how many say Thursday performances were there in the period? Rats site has a fairly decent list of tours etc.
All we then need to do is listen very carefully to audience accents.....job done
Alternatively someone who knows could just tell us.
You could listen to all the available bootlegs from the period to find an exact match.
But that would be going down the path of no return......
Rat Tracks was released in Canada... Not sure why Whitehall 1212 was on it
The story goes that all the tracks recorded for in the Mondo Bongo sessions (original name for the album was 'Bongo Crazy', incidentally) were made available to the North American record label to basically "take their pick" of the tracks they wanted (I get the impression the band were more involved for the UK/Ireland selection). They didn't pick Whitehall 1212 (among others) hence why it appeared on Rat Tracks US.
I'm not sure why we didn't get an equivalent release over here but at least we got the US-album-only 'Real Different' (Elvis Costello inspired, nice track) appeared as a B-side and personally it turned out that I could live without 'Don't Talk To Me' (Geldof's Buddy Holly impression always makes me cringe).
It is live from Singapore.It is available as a extra single with A Storm Breaks (Instrumental) on the b-side.It was released as a double pack with Charmed Lives(Mercury 1062) back in 1982.
I collect Boomtown Rats/Bob Geldof vinyl and cds.I have this record in my collection.If you need to know about any rare stuff please let me know and I will try to help.
Sorry to throw a spanner in the works Derek and Jamieuka but.....
The Rats played the Goodwin Park Hotel in Singapore in early/mid February 1982 and released a live version of Nothing Happened Today from Singapore on a Charmed Lives four track single in early 1982. I presume the version from Singapore was recorded at the Goodwin Park Hotel in Feb 1982.
The Canadian version was released in 1981on a ep called Rat Tracks so it could not be the same version of the song.
Unless the Rats played Singapore sometime before Feb 1982 and recorded a different version of Nothing Happened and put in out on Rat Tracks in Canada which seems unlikely.... we are talking about a different venue for the recording.
I found the Singapore date and venue from the Rats Known Dates blog.
Sorry to throw a spanner in the works Derek and Jamieuka but..... I found the Singapore date and venue from the Rats Known Dates blog.
Thanks Noel. In fact, great minds think alike. This afternoon it struck me that Rat Tracks was from the Mondo Bongo era and the Rats didn't go swanning off to South East Asia until a little later (I recall a ITLG era Smash Hits interview where Geldof blames their downfall on this rather self-indulgent tour, ..."and muggins here got hammered...") So, like you, I checked the database of known concerts and sure enough the dates don't fit. Also, "Goodwin Park Hotel" doesn't seem to fit because the track has always sounded to me to be in a stadium or at least have a large audience.
I'm not certain if in the old days recording a gig was a big deal requiring lots of sophisticated equipment unlike nowadays.
Wonder was there any proper recordings recorded for, say, the BBC between Spring 1979 and Summer 1981 which might match.What I'm trying to say is that some effort must have gone into the recording rather than it being a rough bootleg.
Sometimes live recordings are doctored to give the impression of a huge or very enthusiastic crowd- that's easy enough to do- so just guessing from the audience sound effects or acoustic feel of the recording may be misleading.
As I've said before there are loads of bootleg recording of Nothing Happened Today from that period. Perhaps Simon or Garry from the Rats might know?
Done a bit of further research and I think Derek is right.
Such was my denial of owning Charmed Lives (even close friends and family aren't aware) I had, I'm ashamed to say, overlooked the fact I even own the Singapore version.
To cut a long story short, I played that and the Rat Tracks back to back and I'm 99% certain they are identical. Both are 3.49 duration, both have Bob's anecdotal shouts in the same place, both get the days bit (tomorrow's Saturday) 'wrong' in the same way - all seems too coincidental. Can't tell the difference (these days).....
So it would seem that either it wasn't the same Singapore date in 82, the tour date is listed incorrecly, or the Rat Tracks EP came out later than Nov 81. Pretty sure I picked up my copy when I was in Canada in '83 so can't help on release date.
-- Edited by suss on Sunday 20th of February 2011 10:47:02 AM
Done a bit of further research and I think Derek is right.
Such was my denial of owning Charmed Lives (even close friends and family aren't aware) I had, I'm ashamed to say, overlooked the fact I even own the Singapore version.
To cut a long story short, I played that and the Rat Tracks back to back and I'm 99% certain they are identical. Both are 3.49 duration, both have Bob's anecdotal shouts in the same place, both get the days bit (tomorrow's Saturday) 'wrong' in the same way - all seems too coincidental. Can't tell the difference (these days).....
So it would seem that either it wasn't the same Singapore date in 82, the tour date is listed incorrecly, or the Rat Tracks EP came out later than Nov 81. Pretty sure I picked up my copy when I was in Canada in '83 so can't help on release date.
-- Edited by suss on Sunday 20th of February 2011 10:47:02 AM
It is possible that the Rats played in Singapore before February 1982 as they toured the Far East and Australia in both 1979 and 1981. The known tour dates leaves intriguing gaps which would put the band in that region at different times prior to Feb 1982.
If you say the two tracks are a 99% match by the criteria you have used then it seems indisputable both are the same recording. Rat Tracks was from the Mondo Bongo period and was released in 1981 as all the songs are from said album and all the record collecting websites give 1981 as the release date.
My current guess then is that it was recorded in Singapore but not in February 1982 but at a earlier date between Spring 1979 and Summer 1981.
All this has made me spend time brushing up on the geography of South East Asia seeing where exactly Singapore is. It like being back at school.....
