Here is a re-post by request for dotlane, who was nice enough to inform me that Track 15 (which was previously listed as "Unknown Title") is a cover version of X's "White Girl". I made the change to the file name for Track 15 and updated the setlist below.

Thanks again goes out to harwilmer for allowing me to help share this early-era Scruffy show from his collection. The crowd noise can be somewhat loud (and annoying) in spots, but since I absolutely love this band, that's a small price to pay for a live recording of this band that was in its infancy back in 1984.




Scruffy The Cat
The Rat
Boston, MA (USA)
Dec. 1, 1984

Audience recording


** mp3 samples (as always) included in the Comments section


A while back on a previous Scruffy The Cat show's board, fellow DIME member harwilmer commented that he thought he had a couple of old Scruffy shows kicking around somewhere on cassette and that if anyone was interested in digitizing and uploading them for him, he'd gladly mail out his cassette(s).

Well, I took him up on his offer...


Setlist:

01. My Fate Was Sealed With A Kiss (very end of song only)
02. The Ghost Song
03. Tiger, Tiger
04. Mr. Alcohol
05. Little Mister Blues (a/k/a I Wish The Blues Had Never Been Invented)
06. Well Alright <--Buddy Holly cover
07. Tell Me Why
08. Every Time
09. Muskrat <--Everly Brothers cover
10. Upside Down
11. Momma Killed Hate
12. Come Back Mary
13. Swearin' Off The Women And Swearin' On The Booze
14. Oldest Fire In The World
15. White Girl (fades out at end) - thanks to dotlane for the song title!

Some of the song titles (#4, #7, #8, and #13) are guesses--if any are in need of correction, please let me know. The problem is that not one of these five tracks appears on an official Scruffy release--so either they're Scruffy songs that went unreleased or else they've covers that I don't know. I have no idea for track 15.

Track 5 was introduced by Charlie as "Little Mister Blues" when the band appeared live on WERS-FM on May 20, 1984 so I'm using that as the "official" title although it's also been called "I Wish The Blues Had Never Been Invented".

Lineage:
Cassette (from harwilmer) > CD recorder > CDR > AudioCrusher > WAV file >
processing (see note below) > CD Wave > WAV files > FLAC Frontend > FLAC

Processing note: The volume level was very low when I first transferred the cassete to CDR via my CD recorder, so I increased the volume of the entire show by 10 dB with Nero's wave editor. I also did some "gentle" EQ work with Nero's wave editor in order to "brighten" the sound quality a little bit. Overall, I was very pleased with the results, especially considering the cassette's nearly 24 years old!


Here's harwilmer's notes on the show:
"I have found 1 tape so far: Dec 1, 1984--they were at the Rat in Boston opening for Los Lobos (I have that set too.) My girlfriend and I had scammed our way onto the guest list because "we were checking out Scruffy" to potentially book them at our college pub. Mostly, we wanted to get into Los Lobos for free. But, this was no dis' to Scruffy; we were all ready to book them already, as we had seen them before. Hopefully, I can find the pub show too (at Brandeis University)."

Let's hope!

If you decide to download this show, won't you please consider posting a comment on the show's board? It only takes a moment, and believe me, it takes A LOT longer to prepare/upload a show for others to enjoy than it does to download and run.

And won't you please consider thanking harwilmer for recording and sharing this previously-uncirculated Scruffy The Cat show? I definitely appreciate his generosity.


For anyone interested, my man Bruce is the webmaster for the "unofficial" Scruffy The Cat" website. You can find it here:

http://tinybum.com

Bruce has a few good Scruffy shows (available in mp3 format) in the mp3 section of the site. Check it out if you're pining for more live Scruffy!


Generously recorded & donated by harwilmer
and uploaded on DIME by TheCommish
July 2008; re-posted Aug. 2009