AH! Bliss...  Addicts live for releases like this, tracks from a couple of tapes that have circulated on n^th generation tapes for years, cleaned up and edited into something listenable.  'Live at the Long Branch Saloon' was released in 1992 by the French Fan Club label, but two slightly different versions have come out since.  Before your head starts spinning, there's a cross reference chart below to make things easy for the obsessive amongst you.
The first ten tracks were recorded in April 72 or sometime in '73 (they played there in August '73) at the Long Branch Saloon, Berkeley California and includes the bands cover of the then unreleased Velvet Underground track "Foggy Notion" that fits their style perfectly.  Next up is the astonishing "A Plea..." from a 1973 gig in Cambridge that packs a punch missing from the studio version.  The final five tracks are from a gig at Harvard University in 1971 or 72 and feature John Felice on second guitar and an emotional reading of "Don't Let Our Youth...".   Felice's prescence doesn't change the bands sound noticeably, but freed Jonathan from some of his guitar duties.

I haven't seen this in the shops for ages - I think Fan Club went bust a couple of years ago. This release includes the lyrics in the booklet, not always transcribed correctly and tending to miss out Jonathan's wilder improvised bits.

This was an official release of material that had circulated on bootlegs for years. Ernie Brooks sleeve note is entertaining, if a little too deprecating:

While it may have seemed to the band that it was about to fall apart, most of it rocks, if in a slightly unstable way.  Some final words from Ernie Brooks sleeve note:

'Precise Modern Lovers Order'

This is the American counterpart to 'Longbranch' released in 1994 on Rounder, Jonathan's label at the time, so he must have approved.  The packaging is improved, with some tasty live shots of the band playing on Cambridge Common, and it sounds a little better too.  There are track list differences: it loses "Wake Up Sleepyheads" and adds "Walk Up The Street" and "Fly Into The Mystery" from the Harvard gig.
The title comes from the inter-song banter in which Jonathan calls for 'precise Modern Lovers order' as the band struggle to keep it together.  The Rounder records site has tracks to download so you can try before you buy.

'Live at the Longbranch and more'

Released in 1998 on Last Call records (run, I think, by the people behind New Rose).  The latest issue loses "Womanhood" and "Dignified And Old" from the Longbranch tape and the Harvard "Mixer", but adds four more Harvard tracks "Walk Up The Street", "Modern World" "Old World" and a creditable cover of ? And The Mysterions "96 Tears".  There's no lyrics on the insert this time and the packaging is a bit flimsy, but it does feature the only color photo of the band I've seen.
This was released on double 220g vinyl in a gatefold sleeve in a limited edition of 1000 by Munster Records in Spain (cat no MR157).


Trying to work out what's on what and where it's from is a headache, made worse by the fact that the Harvard versions of 'I'm Straight' and 'The Mixer' from the 'Precise..' CD are different to the ones on the 'Longbranch..' CD, as the band played two sets. Other tracks from the Harvard show circulate on tape, including some otherwise unavailable tracks which were presumably excluded because they couldn't be adequately cleaned up.
These tracks include: 'Cambridge Clown', 'Such Loneliness, 'Womanhood' and 'Dignified and Old'.   More info to come when I've had time to cross reference it all...