I have been watching the RDAD documentary over and over and I cannot believe Jimmy Iovine would not put that amazing song on Long After Dark.I agree with Tom about how it should have gone on the album and I have a feeling that it would have been a big hit.
I am just grateful it was released on the CD that was included in the box set.
I was just wondering if anyone else here would have thought it would be a hit and that it did hurt the album by not including it?

I think its stronger than a lot of the material on "Long After Dark" but then again I'm not a big LAD fan myself.

There is actually another equally as good song that Iovine vetoed off LAD called "Turning Point". This is available on the "Playback" box set along with in my opinion an even better version of "Keeping Me Alive" from the same session that the take on the RDAD came from.

Hmmm - I like Keeping Me Alive better than Turning point, and while I LOVE LAD, I don't think this should have gone on. That album is too "heavy" for this to have fit. Mind you, if they'd replaced two LAD tracks with Turning Point and Keeping Me Alive maybe it would have been fixed, but I think that this song belonged on AN album, just maybe not this one.

Oh, and for the record - I like the RDAD version better than the Playback version

I just spent the last half hour trying to find the song again on the RDAD documentary because I was going to post and ask if anyone had a copy of the it, not realizing it was on the box set CD and Playback (mostly 'cause I didn't know the name until I replayed RDAD). I think it's a very strong song and it will be interesting to compare the two versions. It has a Wilbury's feel to me.

Lets hope this song is played live this tour !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG2zRPG8JoI =)

wow I feel so stupid now that I didn't even check the box set cd for it, I was gonna ask if it was released, anywho I love that song and feel it did hurt Long After Dark.

I definitely would shit my pants and die happy if this was played live on tour lol.

A great song.

Way too good a song not to have been included on one of TPATH's mainstream albums. It may not be a good fit for Long After Dark however.

quote:

Originally posted by indian who shot out the lights:
Way too good a song not to have been included on one of TPATH's mainstream albums. It may not be a good fit for Long After Dark however.

Ditto and ditto. It's a terrific song, IMO, and probably has escaped the notice of far too many people by being merely one of the "odds and ends" from Playback. But I also think it wouldn't have fit with LAD, and that Jimmy Iovine was right not to want it included on that album. One of the things I love about the LAD album (and in my case it's one of my favorites) is that the songs do fit pretty well together there. Even though I do find "Between Two Worlds" to be a weak track for that album (hard to believe that they were going to give the album that title), and I thought the music for "The Same Old You" could have been better (I love the lyrics though). Putting "Keeping Me Alive" - as awesome as it is - on the LAD album would have been a bit like putting The Beatles "I've Just Seen a Face" on their Sgt. Pepper album.

Now I do think that "Keeping Me Alive" would have fit on the Hard Promises album. Also would have fit on the original concept for Southern Accents (along with songs like Trailer, Turning Point, etc.); would have fit on Full Moon Fever, would have fit on "Wildflowers" or "She's The One".

As far as being played live, I think this was played a few times at the Fillmore 1997 concerts, possibly some other times? But it's never been a regular song on any tour, not even close to that. Which of course is a major shame, but that's also true of so many other great TP/TPATH songs that rarely/never seem to get played live. Maybe TP feels they'd need Phil Jones or another percussionist for the song. (So get Phil Jones! Am I a greedy fan or what?).

Speaking of songs that didn't fit the album, apparently a similar decision was made with regard to "Casa Dega". That's also a great song, and I recall reading an article that was written well before the release of the "Damn The Torpedoes" album, where they mentioned a couple of the songs to be included - I think the two songs mentioned were "Refugee" and "Casa Dega". Of course by the time the album was released, Casa Dega didn't make it, probably because it didn't fit the overall concept at that point. Now how "Louisiana Rain" made it, I don't know - maybe TP pushed hard for that one. I love the song, and at this point I love how it ends the album, but when I first heard it I didn't think it fit with the rest of the songs (and I still don't think it does, but I like it as is anyway). Funny thing though, even back in early 1980, when TPATH was rocking the world hard with the DTT songs, they also included for a few shows the song "Stories We Could Tell". So even back then they had the "acoustic" or "country" side to the band. Maybe by trying to make the albums more "themed", Iovine wasn't capturing all of the band's music.

Still, I love what Iovine did for the HB's albums and songs (including apparently, finishing "Rebels" for the band). I kind of wonder why Iovine stopped producing, because he was terrific, IMO. Maybe people thought his work was "too late 70's/early 80's" and that the music had moved on from there, but I've been impressed not only with his work on TPATH's songs/albums, but also his work on Graham Parker's "The Up Escalator" (which is the only GP album that I really love), the Patti Smith/Springsteen song "Because The Night", etc. A little digression there! At any rate - "Keeping Me Alive", great song, good call CC!

By the way, "Stories We Could Tell" from the Oxford 1980 concert. Doesn't really fit with the "rock" songs, but it's great anyway, IMO.

(Unfortunately the sound on this version has a lot of static/crackling and is way out of synch with the picture, but you get the idea. A live version of this song is also on the Pack Up the Plantation CD).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPoFJo0NhMU&feature=related

And if you turn up the volume loud, you can hear a funny moment after TP introduces the song by saying something like "We've never done this song before" and then has an awkward pause with an "and, uh...". Stan helps out with the awkward pause by jumping in and saying "...probably never do it again!". Too funny! Those guys have had some very humorous, unscripted moments on stage.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mystery Man,

I think its a great song and should have been included

This message has been edited. Last edited by: free fallin 45,

GREAT song!

It should have been on Long After Dark.

It's also not at youtube anymore "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by WMG."