Here is the info file from Dime.
8 DISCS – NEARLY 10 HOURS OF MUSIC – 80 TRACKS… CULLING THE BEST FROM 8 YEARS OF DONNA THE BUFFALO…
Donna the Buffalo setlists: www.donnabase.com
Donna the Buffalo lyrics: http://donnabase.com/Lyrics/
More info about the songs (author, first time played, number of times played, etc.), see the Excel file at http://www.haveyouherd.com/DTBsongbase/
This project has been eating up my hard disc for ages… Basically, ever since I finished my first compilation (referred to here as Dwight’s Pix Vol. I) back in January or February of 2003, I’ve been collecting tracks for the next volume. Four years later plus, here it is: My picks of the best of Donna the Buffalo — through 2004. (2005 and beyond will have to wait for the next project.) The earliest track here is"I Wish You Love" (1996/11/29/) and the latest is "Killing a Man" (2004/12/31/).
I haven’t revisited Vol. I at all — so if you have that three-disc set, you’re set. Which points to one limitation of the collection: There are a few (though not many) of the picks on Vol. I that I do believe have been eclipsed by better versions since, but I decided to leave well enough alone. Together, Vol. I (discs 1-3) + Vol. II (discs 4-7) contain my picks for the best rendition of 76 Donna the Buffalo tunes — with no repeats.
The Encore disc (disc 8) contains monster versions of 4 tunes — these are the only repeated songs in the entire collection. Vol. II was much more difficult because my collection has grown, along with the band’s tour history. Whereas with Vol. I I was really able to thoroughly check out every version of the included tunes that I had in my collection, and felt confident that I really had picked what I thought was the best rendition available to me, the same cannot be said with Vol. II. That being said, I have declared "enough!" and moved this project to production: Perfection is the enemy of the good. I hope that what you have here is at least good.
The most difficult tunes to decide on the best version of "Life’s a Ride" and "Arrows Pointing Sideways". Two of my favorite songs, but it seems like every live version falls short of the song’s potential, in one way or another, upon careful listening. "Arrows" was driving me absolutely crazy til I pulled out the Salt Lake City show from the fall ’03 tour — I’d listened to over 25 versions, many of them numerous times before deciding on that one. It’s a gem :)
SONG SELECTION
If you compare songlists you’ll see a huge difference here vis-Ö-vis Tom Clausen’s 6-CD "rarities" compilation. There are a ton of tunes in Tom’s collection that are missing here. There are a lot of "Top 40"tunes in my collection missing on Tom’s, obviously. For my collection, I had no particular criteria in mind while making my selections other than getting the tunes I like, and the best versions of those tunes. All things being equal (which rarely happens, actually), I opted for better sound quality versions over poorer sound quality versions. In a few cases, I opted for the shorter of two renditions, in order to fit more songs in the collection. I’d planned all along for Vol. II to be 3 discs, just as Vol. I was. "Ha!" No way in hell. After considerable blood, sweat and tears I was looking at an overall 6-CD collection that did NOT include "Push Comes to Shove", "Story of the Ages", "Arrows Pointing Sideways", or "Faith to Believe" — among others. There was no way to squeeze any of those in, so I had to make room for more. Thus was Disc 7 born. Then I figured, as long as there are 7, there may as well be 8 — and that gave me the scope to include those lengthy, unforgettable moments, the 20-minute (more or less) epics. As it is, there are a still a bunch of crucial items in the repertoire that you won"t hear here " "Current Theme" perhaps topping the list, but there are many others.
"BEST VENUES"
I was intrigued by the venues that showed up in my list. Although I in fact made a conscious effort to try spread the wealth around and include as many gems from odd shows as I could, despite those efforts I ended up with nearly a quarter of the selections being from Suwannee MusicPark: 13 from Magnoliafest and 5 from Suwannee Springfest (the breakdown by stage: 11 Main Stage (Amphitheater) and 7 Dance Stage). Trust me– not once did I consciously choose one version over another because it was from Suwannee. Au contraire! In one case, for example, I finally after much gnashing of teeth decided to go with a Magfest "Story of the Ages" rather than an awesome rendition from Maxi’s Family Cinema, Titusville, FL due to the relatively poor sound quality of the Titusville show. I think the Suwannee renditions self-select themselves due to the combination of that wonderful vibe, gorgeous sound quality at the main stage, and the fact that the band generally just kicks ass down there. Another quarter of my choices come from the two NY festivals: 17 from Grassroots and 3 from GBH. The other half are pretty well scattered, though the 6 selections from Gail & John’s Zydeco Pub (a.k.a. State Theater, Falls Church VA) no doubt indicts me for an extreme backyard bias" Don’t for a minute think this isn’t an entirely subjective process.
The Excel file has the songlist sorted by venue and by date.
BEST YEARS
The breakdown by year is as follows: 1996 (2), 1997 (5), 1998 (1), 1999 (5), 2000 (5), 2001 (17), 2002 (17), 2003 (20), and 2004 (7). As I said earlier, 2005 ushered in a new era for the band: That will have to wait for Volume III.
COVER TUNES
It turns out, with no preconceived notion one way or the other, that 13 of the 76 tunes are cover songs: 8 zydeco (several by Keith Frank tunes, but also songs by Carlton Frank, Clifton Chenier, Step Rideau, Wilson Chavis, Jr., and John Delafose), 2 Dylan, 1 Jenny Stearns, 1 John Anderson, and 1 Kye Fleming – Mike Reid tune. I wouldn"t have guessed so many, but I did make sure to get a good sprinkling of zydeco tunes in Vol. II, after having only a couple of them in Vol. I.
Dwight’s Pix ~ Donna the Buffalo
8 CDs ~ 8 years ~ 80 tunes ~ 10 hours of music
There’s such a variety of ways to package and store CDs " and particularly with an 8-CD set like this, it’s impossible to anticipate everyone’s labeling needs. I’ve included labels for 2 x 4-CD cases. For those who just want a list or want to make their own case labels, here are the songlists:
Disc.Track TITLE ~ SHOW ~ VENUE
Volume I " Disc 1
1.01 In This Life 2001/4/14/ ~ Water Street Music Hall Rochester, NY
1.02 Ancient Arms ~ 2001/7/22/ ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
1.03 Funky Side ~ 2001/7/22/ ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
1.04 Tides of Time ~ 2001/7/22/ ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
1.05 40 Days & 40 Nights ~ 2001/12/15/ ~ State Theatre Ithaca, NY
1.06 These Are Strange Days ~ 2001/12/15/ ~ State Theatre Ithaca, NY
1.07 Ones You Love, The ~ 1999/12/04 ~ Milestone’s Rochester, NY
1.08 Mystic Water ~ 2002/11/09 ~ Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI
1.09 There Must Be ~ 2002/10/19/ ~ Magnolia Festival (Dance Stage), Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
1.10 Let Love Move Me ~ 2002/11/15/ ~ State Theatre Falls Church, VAVolume I " Disc 2
2.01 Conscious Evolution ~ 12/15/01 ~ State Theatre Ithaca, NY
2.02 Movin’ On ~ 12/4/99 ~ Milestone’s Rochester, NY
2.03 Living in Babylon ~ 4/14/01 ~ Water Street Music Hall Rochester, NY
2.04 Come to Life ~ 7/21/01 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
2.05 When Love Comes Around ~ 12/15/01 ~ State Theatre Ithaca, NY
2.06 Me & Depression ~ 12/4/99 ~ Milestone’s Rochester, NY
2.07 Sailing ~ 1/16/03 ~ Town Plaza Cozumel, MX
2.08 Hot Tamale Baby (w/Preston Frank) ~ 1/16/03 ~ Town Plaza Cozumel, MX
2.09 Revelation Two-Step ~ 4/14/01 ~ Water Street Music Hall Rochester, NY
2.10 Seems to Want to Hurt This Time ~ 7/22/01 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
2.11 Kitchen banter ~ 7/22/01 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
2.12 It Will Be Right ~ 7/22/01 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
2.13 Yonder ~ 7/19/01 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
2.14 No Place Like the Right Time ~ 11/15/02 ~ State Theatre Falls Church, VAVolume I " Disc 3
3.01 If You Only Could ~ 10/19/02 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
3.02 Way Back When ~ 11/15/02 ~ State Theatre Falls Church, VA
3.03 Standing Room Only ~ 7/22/01 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
3.04 Family Picture ~ 12/7/02 ~ Water Street Music Hall Rochester, NY
3.05 Each & Every Direction ~ 10/19/02 ~ Magnolia Festival (Dance Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
3.06 Love and Gasoline ~ 11/15/02 ~ State Theatre Falls Church, VA
3.07 Positive Friction ~ 10/19/02 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
3.08 Oh, Ma ~ 4/5/02 ~ The Middle East Cambridge, MA
3.09 Your Way Home (w/ Chris Thile, Darol Angor, Pete Wernick) ~ 4/30/00 ~ Merle Fest North Wilkesboro, NCVolume II " Disc 1
4.01 Hit the Groove ~ 10/22/00 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
4.02 Life’s a Ride ~ 9/8/03 ~ The Music Box Omaha, NE
4.03 Rocking Horse ~ 7/5/03 ~ Great Blue Heron Festival Sherman, NY
4.04 Part-time Lover ~ 7/5/03 ~ Great Blue Heron Festival Sherman, NY
4.05 Do It for Love ~ 7/20/97 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
4.06 River of Gold ~ 10/16/99 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
4.07 Arrows Pointing Sideways ~ 9/13/03 ~ Zephyr Club, Salt Lake City UT
4.08 Mississippi ~ 3/21/03 ~ Suwannee Springfest (Dance Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
4.09 Love Is the Only Thing ~ 3/21/03 ~ Suwannee Springfest (Dance Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
4.10 Brother of Mine ~ 3/28/98 ~ Suwannee Springfest (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
4.11 In Another World ~ 9/18/04 ~ Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC
4.12 Revolution ~ 9/18/04 ~ Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NCVolume II " Disc 2
5.01 Off to Dreamland ~ 7/19/97 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
5.02 We love it down here banter ~ 10/18/03 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
5.03 Rock of Ages ~ 10/18/03 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
5.04 Looking for a Place to Be ~ 9/13/02 ~ Nelson Ledges Quarry Park Garrettsville, OH
5.05 You’re Breakin’ My Heart ~ 10/19/03 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
5.06 Killing a Man ~ 12/31/04 ~ The Coliseum St. Petersburg, FL
5.07 Hollywood Dream ~ 7/19/97 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
5.08 Times Are Bad ~ 10/28/00 ~ Forward Hall Erie, PA
5.09 Riddle of the Universe ~ 10/28/00 ~ Forward Hall Erie, PA
5.10 Se§or ~ 7/19/03 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NYVolume II " Disc 3
6.01 Biggie K is a Superstar ~ 7/8/01 ~ Great Blue Heron Festival Sherman, NY
6.02 All the Time ~ 12/13/97 ~ Key West Ithaca, NY
6.03 America ~ 4/19/03 ~ State Theatre Falls Church, VA
6.04 Life is Strange ~ 3/21/03 ~ Suwannee Springfest (Dance Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
6.05 Visitor ~ 10/17/99 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
6.06 Mr. King ~ 7/20/97 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
6.07 Spinning World ~ 6/14/02 ~ Brew Glass Festival Terra Alta, WV
6.08 This Goes ~ 10/18/03 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
6.09 Tee Black>Do My Thing ~ 7/19/03 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
6.10 The Call ~ 10/8/04 ~ Shakori Hills Grass Roots Festival Silk Hope, NCVolume II " Disc 4
7.01 I Wish You Love ~ 11/29/96 ~ Reg Lenna Civic Center Jamestown, NY
7.02 Seminole Wind ~ 12/12/96 ~ Captured Live Durham, NC
7.03 No Need to Worry/Three Little Birds (w/Keith Frank) ~ 7/25/04 ~ Grass Roots Festival Trumansburg, NY
7.04 Front Porch ~ 10/28/00 ~ Forward Hall Erie, PA
7.05 West Virginia Rastafari ~ 5/21/04 ~ Nelson Ledges Quarry Park Garrettsville, OH
7.06 Went Down to the River ~ 10/19/03 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
7.07 Walk on Water ~ 12/5/02 ~ Pearl Street Northampton, MA
7.08 Story of the Ages ~ 10/19/02 ~ Magnolia Festival (Dance Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
7.09 Faith to Believe ~ 12/5/02 ~ Pearl Street Northampton, MA
7.10 There You Are ~ 3/24/03 ~ Club Down Under, Florida State University Tallahassee, FL
7.11 If There’s Love Here ~ 1/3/03 ~ Freebird Cafe Jacksonville Beach, FL
7.12 Push Comes to Shove ~ 3/21/03 ~ Suwannee Springfest (Dance Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FLVolume II " Disc 5 (Encore)
8.01 Me & Depression ~ 11/9/2001 ~ The Tralf Buffalo, NY
8.02 Conscious Evolution ~ 5/22/2004 ~ Nelson Ledges Quarry Park Garrettsville, OH
8.03 Mystic Water ~ 11/15/2002 ~ State Theatre Falls Church, VA
8.04 Let Love Move Me ~ 10/19/2003 ~ Magnolia Festival (Main Stage) Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL