Tonight There's Going to Be a Clambake

Yesterday my copy of Superchunk's "Clambake Vol. 3" in the mail. The Clambake series, FYI, is a set of official bootlegs released by the band. Vol. 1 is a collection of various acoustic performances. Vol. 2 is pretty bizarre. It's a live soundtrack they performed at the San Francisco International Film Festival for an old Japanese silent film "A Page of Madness." It's really interesting, but very difficult to listen to. Vol. 3 is a performance at Merge Record's 10th birthday party in 1999. I've seen Superchunk live once back in 1998 and I remember it as being just a crazy, sweaty pop-punk show. They had so much energy and just bounced off the walls. This latest Clambake really captures what I remember. I really love the versions of "Watery Hands," "Slack Motherfucker," and especially the closer "Precision Auto."

By the way, Volumes 2 & 3 are available here. Vol. 1 I didn't have a chance to get before it went out of print. I ended up paying $35 for it on eBay. It's worth it, but I'm a huge Superchunk fan. If you don't know Superchunk, you should probably not start with a Clambake. A nice introduction would be something like last year's "Cup of Sand." It's only a b-sides collection, but they aren't throwaways. Plus it's 2-discs for only $15. Can't beat that!