please consign this info-sheet with the shared music - thanks !


5 CHINESE BROTHERS
- April 22, 1995 -
Cafe Cobra, Solingen, Germany
** SOUNDBOARD DAT-master, MWM 0170 **
>> THE BAND meets GRAM PARSONS, THE BYRDS and travel south to Louisiana -
the best kept American secret ! AWESOME SOUNDING (deafmusic) ! << w/ samples



One of America's greatest bands.
EVER !
Sadly America never knew it!

- a fan on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGbFMYj0FOw



I grew up with this incredible band. Nobody else knows/knew them, at least here in Germany.
Even their records had been beyond reach, they had no distribution over here, unavailable
at record shops - just sparsely by local mailorders, direct via their "1-800-PRIME CD INC."
company in New York (pre-internet shops!), or at their extremely rare European concerts...

They started during the mid-80ies in New York, and it took them nearly a decade to release
their first album - a KILLER-CD without a weak song - and throughout my childhood i was
"tortured" with this album (and later the two follow-ups). Whenever dad was down or weak,
he retired with a few of his "desert-island recordings", usually including minimum this
first 5CBs album. Remember that his broad smile always came back after the first few notes...

Just found this "like chalk and cheese" statement in the net:

"I've been listening to a 5CBs album off and on for 15 years...
and every year 'my dad's face' makes just a little bit more sense!"

Never seen them live in concert, sadly this band is gone, frustrated they quitted in 1999, more
than a decade ago - but their music (and a couple videoclips) survived. At least at our home,
and in a house in this "city of blades", somewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia. My uncle Frizze
and my dad had been, seemingly, their BIGGEST FANS in Germany, and presumptively worldwide...


Therefore i think 5CBs are truly America's best kept secret, and
NOW it's the time to show the world what they've all missed...


This is their FIRST EVER concert in Germany, BIG THANKS to deafmusic !



AND IF YOU'RE INTERESTED TO READ MORE ABOUT THEM, DOWN
THERE YOU'LL FIND A DAMN LOT TO READ (FROM LEO'S VAULTS).





5 CHINESE BROTHERS (the artists)
Cafe Cobra (the venue)
Solingen (the city)
Germany (the country)

April 22, 1995 (the date)


Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the
northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area,
and with a 2005 population of 162,685 is the second largest city in the
Bergisches Land. It is a member of the regional authority of the Rhineland.

Solingen is called the "City of Blades", since it has long been renowned for
the manufacturing of fine swords, knives, scissors and razors made by famous
firms such as DOVO Solingen, Wüsthof, J. A. Henckels, Boker, and numerous
other manufacturers. Wilkinson is also based here.

In Medieval times, the swordsmiths of Solingen coined the town's image, which
is preserved to this date. Some 90% of German knives are produced in Solingen.




as far as we know NONE of this recording was used commercially...



the complete concert:

CD 1 (74:21.04)

first set:
1-01. Alone Together 3:54.64
1-02. All I Need 3:44.12
1-03. My Dad's Face 4:16.29
1-04. The Race Is On 4:21.23
1-05. Williamsburg 4:13.60
1-06. Claudine 3:33.71
1-07. If I Could, I Would 5:16.31
1-08. Baltimore Meltzer 3:57.56
1-09. She's A Waitress (And I'm In Love) 4:33.58
1-10. These Dreams 3:59.64
1-11. Jack Worships Janey 5:37.11
1-12. Paul Cezanne 3:36.54
1-13. ...merchandise informations... 1:32.36
1-14. If I Ain't Falling 3:50.01

second set:
1-15. ...tuning, intro & a request we wouldn't normally play... 1:29.57
1-16. Leaving On A Jet Plane 4:04.54
1-17. A Lot Of Nights 3:45.71
1-18. The Avalanche Song 4:19.65
1-19. Don't Regret 4:12.12

CD 2 (73:54.26)

2-01. My Friend 4:59.25
2-02. Amazing Delores 4:44.30
2-03. Like A Mole In The Ground 6:41.71
2-04. Pit Stop 4:12.45
2-05. Nothing But Time 4:16.28
2-06. You Are Where You Want to Be 3:48.60
2-07. Okie From Muskogee 3:38.02
2-08. -> Fraulein -> Muskogee, Oklahoma (reprise) 2:15.35
2-09. Maybellene % 5:16.02

encore 1:
2-10. ...danke schoen...about heroes... 0:43.42
2-11. Sin City 4:34.06
2-12. I Saw The Light 3:51.47

encore 2:
2-13. ...thank you...any requests? 1:23.17
2-14. Sweet Home Alabama 5:21.05
2-15. ...about shy guys...collecting requests...tuning... 2:28.46
2-16. The Wreck of Old 97 4:31.14

encore 3:
2-17. ...punish me some more... 0:47.60
2-18. She Thinks I Still Care 4:27.00
2-19. -> Hands On The Wheel 5:53.16


total: 74:21.04 + 73:54.26 = 148:15.30 minutes



notes:

% - the title is often misspelled as "Maybelline", even on some of Berry's own compilation CDs...


musicians:

Tom Meltzer - guitars, mandolin, lead & backing vocals
Stephen B. Antonakos - lead guitar, lead & backing vocals
Paul Foglino - bass, banjo, vocals
Neil Thomas - keyboards, accordion, vocals
Charlie Shaw - drums, percussion




lineage:

recorded by deafmusic, soundboard to DAT


the recording:

Soundboard > Analog Cable > Tascam DA-30MkII (16 bit, SP 48 kHz) >
> DAT (Maxell HS-4/90s, Helical-Scan 4mm Data Cartridge, 90 meter tape)


the transfer:

DAT (master) > Tascam DA-20 II, digital S/P-DIF out > Oehlbach Hyper Profi Opto Set (optical fibre, TOS-Link) >
> Behringer SRC-2496 Ultramatch Pro
(Ultra-high-resolution 24-Bit/96 kHz A/D & D/A and Sample Rate Converter & Dropouts-/Jitter Remover) >
> 16 bit, SP 48 kHz converted to 16 bit, SP 44,1 kHz > > Oehlbach Hyper Profi Opto Set (optical fibre, TOS-Link) >
> Terratec Aureon 7.1 PCI - Dolby Digital Live Soundcard with C-Media CMI8768 Soundprocessor Chip, digital S/P-DIF in >
> Motherboard with AMD Multicore Processor, Serial ATA Interface > CD Wave (recording) >
> Harddisc Western Digital with Thermaltake HD Cooler (EVER had a HardDisc burnout ??) >
> lonetaper's secret box of miracles # > CD Wave (tracking) > Traders Little Helper (SB aligned/level 6) > FLAC > DIME


# Fully edited version of this show by MWM 2010

NO EQ'ing was used here, and none of those compressors, Sonic Maximizer
or other psychoacoustic processors - why ruin a true deafmusic masterpiece ?

it sounds completely the way it was distinguishable that night in this venue.

Dad accentuated just all the applause and spoken passages inbetween the songs,
averagely +6,0 dB, reduced some of the instrumental plug ins and smoothed out
some harsh passages - just a touch - to help balance it overall a bit better,
for HIS ears...and as he's really old enough, i still trust him completely...

the only further addition to the RAW files was a short fade-in and, at the end,
a fade-out - in the audience applause, so truly NO MUSIC was harmed or lost.
finally there are a few small dropouts repaired - for your listenng pleasure....




this upload here comes directly from the "Men With Microphones" archives.
VERY SPECIAL THANKS to TAUBMUSIK and everyone involved @ Cobra.

Leo once wrote:
VERY SPECIAL THANKS, from the bottom of my heart, to my longtime
friend & fellow DIMEr deafmusic for opening his incredible archive.
Parts of the "Deafmusic Collection" are also in the "MWM"-vaults, as we
did not only trade with each other for 30+ years, we also viewed and
recorded a bunch of shows together, as friends, music fans and concert
promoters, usually with a bunch of Tascams and Sony's in a row...


And if there's some interest, maybe there is MORE TO COME...
it just depends on YOUR demeanor, and lotta useful comments ;-)




A short biography by Chip Renner:
============================
The Five Chinese Brothers are not Chinese or brothers.
What they are is a New York-based five-piece band that
plays a combination of folk, rock, and country.


5 Chinese Brothers began life as The Special Guests, a collection of college buddies
dedicated to playing great bar band music. At first an all-cover band, the Special Guests
morphed into an originals band that blended 12-bar rock, R&B, and country. Numerous
personnel changes eventually suggested a name change was in order. The band was The Bugs
for one gig, then received a cease-and-desist order from The Bugs of San Francisco.
A drunken pow-wow resulted in the unfortunate selection of the name 5 Chinese Brothers,
evoking scowls from Chinese audience members and from those expecting an REM cover band.
Nonetheless the band persisted through 4 albums and numerous tours that took it to
34 states, 5 foreign nations, and several expulsions from Canada. 5 Chinese Brothers
threw in the towel in early 1999 but they'd be willing to play a reunion show just
for you, if the price was right...


"Would probably have earned a smile from Gram Parsons, the great 'granddaddy
of country rock' or made him cry, depending on the tune."
- Option

"beloved roots institution"
- TimeOut NY

"They're city slickers with a country heart, and they outshine most of what
comes out of Nashville without even trying."
- Washington Post

"'She's a Waitress (and I'm in Love)' by Five Chinese Brothers offers a
tuneful match of craft, cleverness and charm."
- Rolling Stone

"5 Chinese Brothers are poised on the edge of stardom, ready to take the
plunge with their incredible new album, Singer, Songwriter, Beggarman, Thief,
an incredible disc of country/pop that is powered by amiable tunes and lyrics
that are always poetic, often clever and occasionally wise."
- New York Post

"Think Squeeze or Crowded House, only louder, looser, bluesier, more American."
- New Yorker

"might just be my personal Favorite Band of the Moment. [Their songs] defy most
attempts to conveniently pigeonhole them. Funny but not jokey, smart but not academic,
country but not very western, the Brothers' oeuvre blends witty, sharp songwriting
with able, rootsy musicianship (lots of twangy guitars and accordions) to tell
hilarious and heartfelt tales."
- Baltimore City Paper

"Stone Soup is chock full of great songs, stories, and melodies that are memorable
and truly American."
- Relix

"Great singer-songwriter rock'n'roll. They team exceptionally strong melodies
with intelligent, occasionally rollicking lyrics. Superbly crafted compositions
work in mysterious ways."
- Sing Out!

"Stone Soup showcases a new maturity and a willingness to tackle themes as somber
as faith, trust, and loneliness without losing a sense of scale or a sense of humor.
Sweet, smart, and engaging."
- New Country

"a wickedly funny and talented group, one of the leading bands on New York's
burgeoning country music scene. A delightfully off-beat and original blend of
rock, folk, old-time mountain music and traditional country spiced with knowing,
frequently demented, lyrical playfulness."
- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"endlessly amusing"
- Esquire


About 5 Chinese Brothers

Five Chinese Brothers have some major-league fans. That's why their first album,
Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief, received glowing reviews in CMJ, Entertainment Weekly,
Billboard, Stereo Review, CD Review, and Esquire. That's why their second album, Stone Soup,
rode the Gavin Americana chart for more than three months, spending six weeks in the top ten.
And that's why they were invited to appear on VH-1's Country Countdown with Travis Tritt
and NPR's World Cafe.

Five Chinese Brothers incorporate the best of all types of roots music. That's why they are
welcome at rock clubs, listening rooms, coffee houses, and outdoor festivals. That's why such
diverse publications as Dirty Linen (folk), New Country (country), and Option (alternative) have
recommended them. That's why critics have recognized in their music the influences of Gram Parsons,
John Prine, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams Sr., the Band, Woody Guthrie, and Tom Petty.

During the past several years, Five Chinese Brothers have toured extensively, visiting Europe
and the West Coast and playing frequently in the Northeast and South. They have appeared at the
Midtown Music Festival (Atlanta). Summer Lights (Nashville), the Riverbend Festival (Chattanooga),
City Stages (Birmingham), and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, among others.

After recording two singles on Brooklyn's Diesel Only label and several tracks for Fast Folk
Music Magazine, Five Chinese Brothers released Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief on the PRIME CD
label in January of 1994. In July of 1995, they followed it with Stone Soup.
The band takes it's name from a children's book.

http://www.fiftyfiftymusic.com/5cb.html


"My" 5 CBs:

Remember the parcel i got from old buddy "deaf". Included a handwritten letter (yes, true, that
was damn long ago...15+ years...) and a CD, on the cover a half broken house. 5 Chinese Brothers,
and you've read the joke quite often now, none of them from China or otherwise related. Also the
album title "Singer Songwriter Beggarman Thief" was interesting, so i stuffed it in a player...
and was ADDICTED at the very first note. This seemed to be THE recording "The Band" had never
released in their later years. Intelligent, sometimes saucy lyrics, with a music to plunge in,
dozens (together with their following records...) of outstanding catchy tunes, call it earworms.
This CD NEVER left the player (we had to buy a new one...for all the "other" music...), it's one
of the few all-time-favorites, my very own "inside" sunshine - come rain or shine "outside"...

In a fair-minded world they would have had big success, playing the big venues, getting real rich.
But to be true, i never wanted to share them and their music with the masses, i can live with
them as "insider's tip". A band that was too good for the world, writing a "silly" song about 'Paul
Cezanne', the father of Cubism, and 'My Friend', a homage for one of their big idols, Neil Young.

For me, the 5CBs are "New York's" Continental Drifters, with a similar story - a band full of extremly
creative musicians, with tons of fantastic songs - always handsome, always polite to their devoted fan -
but nearly nobody knows/knew them. The only difference is them beautiful Drifter's girls - but i'm a
damn male chauvi - and asking my wife would give you completely a different picture, concerning 5CBs ;-)

The one sad thing is that they've quitted so "young", and we're all hoping for a reunion.
"Horslips" (another of my fave bands) waited 24 years for a reunification, so there's really
substantiated hope for some more 5 Chinese Brothers live and on the road in the year 2023...

The question doesn't arise, why i love my buddy "deaf" that much (and you know, i'm strictly
hetero...), but if - then for introducing me to 5CBs, and this incredible concert here, that
he promoted, mixed & recorded back in the days, not just for me - for you, for eternity...!

HOPE YOU LIKE THEIR MUSIC AS MUCH AS WE ALL DO...

- Leo Lonetaper



Singer, Songwriter, Beggerman, Thief 1994 1-800-Prime PCD 002
Review by Richard Meyer

After some remixing of their indie cassette and the addition of a few tracks, 5 Chinese Brothers
have released their first album after ten years of the New York scene. Tom Meltzer and Paul Foglino
handle the writing separately, though their styles complement each other so well you'd think they
were a team. These songs have open-hearted humor and the performances are tight but animated with
a very live feeling. This is a great record that captures the fun of the band live but with the
precision of a studio. Not a bad cut on this record - it's a MUST HAVE !


Stone Soup 1995 CD 1-800-Prime 15
Review by Richard Meyer

This, the second 5 Chinese Brothers CD, doesn't have quite the irrepressible drive and bite of
their first disc, but this one is still so good that it's not a fair comparision. The standout
song is "Mole in the Ground." Tom Meltzer's elastic voice adds the right amount of energy and
edge to The 5CBs sound. Like Singer-Songwriter-Beggarman Thief, you ought to play this until
it is part of you.


Let's Kill Saturday Night 1997 CD 1-800-Prime 34
Review by Bob Gottlieb

Modern-sounding folk/country-rock with strong, solid tunes from these five young men (really only
four, since Pete DeMeo, the drummer, is not active all the time), who now reside in the city of
New York. I guess I'd better continue blowing their cover here, Actually, they are neither Chinese,
nor brothers — they are named after a favorite children's book. The title song, which also opens
the album, sets the tone with its worldly country/folk sensibility, but it isn't country, nor is
it folk, and it has just enough rock to keep moving. A good comparison might be the Byrds'
Sweetheart of the Rodeo or Gram Parsons updated to fit comfortably into the present.
This group also wrote all the songs on this disc, except for the title cut.


A Window Shopper's Christmas 1997 CD 1-800-Prime 35
Review by William Ruhlmann

This is not your typical Christmas album. 5 Chinese Brothers adopt a variety of generic folk, country,
and rock & roll song styles and then write new, gently comic, Christmas-themed lyrics over them.
For example, "Dept. Store Santa Claus Strike" borrows the talking-blues folk song structure most
familiar from Woody Guthrie's "Pretty Boy Floyd" for a tale of Santa's management-labor dispute,
while "The Fruitcake Song" borrows the shave-and-a-haircut rhythm of "Bo Diddley" to discuss the
persistence of that most inedible of Christmas foods, and "Missing Miss December" is a rock & roll
tune about a centerfold. The result is a likable collection that will serve as a change of pace
from those Bing Crosby and Mannheim Steamroller records during the holiday season.




*************************************************************************************
More brilliant "deafmusic" recordings out of this collection:

Torrent #300920 DESERT STORM III - the rehearsals
Torrent #300400 ACCEPT
Torrent #299194 U.D.O.
Torrent #298543 HAZELDINE wsg. LAZY SUNDAY DREAM aka "LazyDine"
Torrent #298508 DICK DALE
Torrent #290313 LAZY SUNDAY DREAM wsg. HAZELDINE aka "LazyDine"
Torrent #289937 RAY WYLIE HUBBARD wsg. Slaid Cleaves & Carrie Newcomer
Torrent #289832 CARRIE NEWCOMER
Torrent #289679 SLAID CLEAVES wsg. Carrie Newcomer
Torrent #274054 RANDY HANSEN & Band
etc.pp.

And please check also all our other uploads...BUT: BEWARE - LOTS OF TEXT TO READ !
*************************************************************************************




MY DAD USUALLY SAYS: A GOOD BREEDING SEEMS HARD TO FIND IN CYBERWORLD, NOWADAYS !

please be friendly & polite to me, and i'll be the same to you...twice-pledged !

BUT IF YOU'LL TAKE ME FOR A RIDE, I'LL COME TO YOUR HOME AND THE FUN IS OVER...DEFINITELY !
AND I'M ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED BY MY FRIENDS & BROTHERS - FRANCONIA'S TOUGHEST BIKERGANG
"DARK BECKSTEIN SKULLS" - A SUBDIVISION OF THE AWESOMELY "CROSSED BONES" FROM SOLINGEN.


Dime allows alternative versions, I don't own the music, so I can't stop you, but
the correct thing to do amongst tapers/editors is TO ASK FIRST...(C. by scdegraaf)

I SIMPLY CAN'T TAKE A JOKE - CONCERNING BAD MANNERS AND UNGRATEFULNESS ! pythonmonty.
====================================================================================


open recorded and carefully stored over the years by my dear uncle in crime (all thanks go to him...),
mastered by Leo, transferred & finally uploaded by pythonmonty on Dime, May 01, 2010. This is "MWM 00170"


please consign this info-sheet with the shared music - thanks !
Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show:

5ChineseBrothers1995-04-22SolingenGermany1.jpg
5ChineseBrothers1995-04-22SolingenGermany2.jpg
5ChineseBrothers1995-04-22SolingenGermany3.jpg