Maria McKee - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, University of Manchester Students' Union, Manchester UK 1991

Maria McKee - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, University of Manchester Students' Union, Manchester, Britain, 3-23-1991

Paul says : Generally speaking, I'm focusing only on posting BBC albums from musical acts where I've already posted at least some BBC albums from them already. But I'm making an exception here since I just put this together and it feels like a very long time since I've posted any music from the great Maria McKee. Besides, I have posted a BBC album by her 1980s band Lone Justice.

A live album has been released called "Live at the BBC." It is made up of selections from two BBC concerts she did, one in 1991 and the other in 1993. I thought that was all there was available, but I recently found a pretty good audience bootleg of the 1991 concert. So I used all the recordings from the official album that I could, since those have better sound quality. Then I filled in the missing songs from the audience boot. (In case you're curious, the songs from the live album are tracks 1, 2, 3, 9, 12, 13, and 17. Together, they make up about 30 minutes of this album.)

To improve the audience boot-sourced songs, I ran them through the MVSEP audio editing program, and removed all of the crowd noise, except for a little at the starts of songs and the usual cheering at the ends of songs. So basically I got rid of all the ambient noise during songs. That helped some, but still, the songs from the official live album sound better. Also, I think the person who taped this had the unfortunate habit of turning the recording off as soon as each song ended. I'm guessing this from the way the cheering sometimes got suddenly cut off, as well as the lack of any banter between songs, except for once near the end. So that's not ideal, but at least we got this much.

My favorite era of McKee's music was early in her solo career, when she was more steeped in roots music, like soul and country. So this is prime McKee for me. 

This album is an hour and 14 minutes long. 

01 I've Forgotten What It Was in You [That Put the Need in Me] (Maria McKee)
02 Am I the Only One [Who's Ever Felt This Way] (Maria McKee)
03 Shelter (Maria McKee)
04 A Real Life Story (Maria McKee)
05 Panic Beach (Maria McKee)
06 Wheels (Maria McKee)
07 Hold Me (Maria McKee)
08 This Property Is Condemned (Maria McKee)
09 Show Me Heaven (Maria McKee)
10 Breathe (Maria McKee)
11 Break It Up (Maria McKee)
12 I Found Love (Maria McKee)
13 A Good Heart (Maria McKee)
14 This World Is Not My Home (Maria McKee)
15 Sweet Sweet Baby [I'm Falling] (Maria McKee)
16 Ways to Be Wicked (Maria McKee)
17 Drinkin' in My Sunday Dress (Maria McKee)
18 Nobody's Child (Maria McKee)
19 talk (Maria McKee)
20 I've Got a Feeling (Maria McKee)