New Eddie Hinton Live CD: bootleggers really are heroes of culture

 

[review by Bill Glahn]

Eddie Hinton and The Nighthawks: Rose’s Cantina Atlanta ’79 (Echoes ECHOCD2070)

Venue: as stated but specific date unknown

Sound Quality: Very good soundboard with some distortion on the vocals in some places. (8 out of 10) The cover claims to be a WLIR broadcast. I don’t believe it. You shouldn’t either.

Cover: Attractive 8-page booklet and tray card with lengthy but not entirely accurate liner notes.

Tracklist: My Lover’s Prayer/ 634-57-89/ Get Off In It/ True Fine Mama/ Brand New Man/ A Change Is Gonna Come/ Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (start)/ Announcement/ Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay (finish)/ Shout Bamalama/ Crawling King Snake/ Can’t Turn You Loose

Comments: Because of the low cost of producing CDs versus the high price of vinyl, most of the vinyl producers are sticking to more popular classic rock artists (with some exceptions, of course). For collectors of lesser-known artists, the real boon is in compact discs. Attracted by higher profit margins and lower entry costs, CD producers in Europe have been mining their collections and the Internet for radio broadcasts that comply with the loophole for broadcasts that exists there now. This has made for some surprising releases. Certainly, during the ‘70s, live radio broadcasts were at their peak, sometimes syndicated nationally, sometimes only locally.

 

Although this release claims to be one of those, it is not. WLIR is a station in Long Island (NY) noted for having up and coming artists perform live broadcasts from Roslyn, NY, usually from a club called My Father’s Place. They did not broadcast club shows from Atlanta. To put it politely, Echoes is fudging.

In fact, what appears as “Radio Announcement” on track 8 is actually a pathetic attempt to simulate one, (in a British accent no less) by telling “listeners” in mid song that it’s time to flip their tape for the continuation of the show. There is no station ID given. I suppose we should believe that members of the WLIR audience only recorded on 60 minute tapes (sarcasm intended). So what you end up with is less than a minute of “Sitting On The Dock of the Bay” interrupted with an anonymous voice, and then the conclusion – not the two versions one would expect to hear going by the tray card track listing. It’s amateur hour in unauthorized CD land. I can appreciate not wanting to exclude the song (great performance) but the disc would be better served by doing a fade in for the second part, since it is the bulk of the song anyway.

So what do we have?

It sounds like a soundboard tape recorded a little hot and a couple of generations removed from the master. Still not bad – a very enjoyable CD. The amazing thing about this CD is that it got made at all. Much to the delight of fans of the “swamper” sound that emanated from 2 studios in Muscle Shoals, AL., Hinton was an instrumental part of the studio musicians that contributed to that area’s reputation and a supremely talented soul singer in his own right.

Eddie Hinton made 4 albums during his lifetime, all excellent. One posthumous release,  came from unfinished recordings from his first album sessions (Very Extremely Dangerous, Capricorn Records) and late period sessions (90s) which were completed and assembled  with the aid of the very same Muscle Shoals musicians that Hinton had spent anonymously backing those great soul performers that traveled south to Alabama to record with the fabled Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and The Swampers – artists like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Arthur Conley, The Staple Singers, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding and many others. If you’ve never heard of Eddie Hinton, you’ve heard his guitar playing and song writing.

In more recent years, Hinton’s specter has been raised by The Drive-By Truckers on a song about his life (“Sandwiches on the Road,” 1998 Gangstabilly album), a documentary (Dangerous Highway narrated by Robert Cray, 2008) and a 2009 series of Hinton songs released on singles (Shake It Records). The DBTs contributed “Where’s Eddie” b/w “Everybody Needs Love,” a tune which they continue to perform live and can be found on the Go-Go Boots album in addition to the Shake It Records single. That Hinton never received such accolades during his lifetime is a story all too familiar in the world of music – mental illness, self-medication with drugs and alcohol, periods of homelessness, the resulting volatile nature that left him estranged from some of the musicians he shared the studio with. None of those musicians, however, would deny his enormous talent and vocal abilities – perhaps the best white r&b vocalist that ever lived.

Rose’s Cantina finds Hinton during a relative period of calm in his life. Not that Hinton was ever a “calm” vocalist – he was a soul shouter in the best tradition and equally as adept at ballads. On this performance he is backed by Washington D.C.’s Nighthawks, one of the finer retro revivalists of the period, whom Hinton had worked with in the past. It follows the release of his first album, the set list including three songs from Very Extremely Dangerous mixed with some of the Muscle Shoals classics he had played on. The band is in fine form and Hinton still possesses that wonderful voice – the thing that most deteriorated during his demise. He wouldn’t record again for 8 years, Capricorn suffering a decline in chart dominance with disco and punk replacing southern rock as the genre de jour for the mass music audience. By his second album, 1988’s Letters From Mississippi, there was noticeable deterioration in his vocal ability from hard living. But his talents for singing and writing were still superb on those late period albums and they should find homes in any comprehensive collection of soul music.

While editorializing about the first Beatles bootlegs on CD years ago, the New York Times called bootleggers “heroes of culture.” As long as previously unavailable recordings of this importance continue to be issued, that accolade will remain true. It’s the first live recording of Hinton in my collection. In a just world, it won’t be the last. Kudos, Echoes Records!

Grade: B (an A- if not for the fake radio announcement)

Bonus view: Listen up y'all!

Repertoire has a winner with historic Yardbirds recordings!

 THE YARDBIRDS

Live In France

(Repertoire Records U.K.)

VENUE: Palais des Sports, June 20th, 1965; Music Hall De France, June 27th, 1966; Grand Spectacle de Jeunes, April 30th, 1967; Bouton Rouge TV show studio, March 9th, 1968. 

SOUND QUALITY: Damn good mono recordings, really, considering the 50+ year vintage of these performances. While there’s a little distortion here and there, the odd drop-out, and some echo, overall the CD provides an enjoyable listening experience with clear vocals and separation of instruments. Kudos to ‘Eroc the Engineer’, whoever that is, for a fine job in digitally remastering these performances for release.  

COVER: Gatefold digipak with plastic tray; perfunctory photoshopped front cover photo with track listing and a smaller live concert photo on the back. Impressive 16pp booklet with plenty of rare color photos and informative liner notes, including quotes from original band members Paul Samwell-Smith and Jim McCarty, written by noted British music historian and critic Chris Welch.

TRACKLIST: 

1. For Your Love • 2. I Wish You Would (both 1965) • 3. Train Kept A-Rollin’ • 4. Shapes of Things • 5. Over, Under, Sideways, Down (all 1966) • 6. Shapes of Things • 7. Train Kept A-Rollin’ • 8. You’re A Better Man Than I • 9. Heart Full of Soul • 10. My Baby • 11. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) • 12. Over, Under, Sideways, Down (all 1967) • 13. Train Kept A-Rollin’ • 14. Dazed and Confused • 15. Goodnight Sweet Josephine (all 1968) 

COMMENTS: Although they enjoyed only modest chart success in the U.K. and, belatedly, in the U.S. the Yardbirds were often overshadowed at the time by fellow British Invaders like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Formed in London in 1963, the original band line-up included singer Keith Relf, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, and drummer Jim McCarty. The teen-aged Top Topham was the band’s original lead guitarist but, being too young to tour, he was replaced by the up-and-coming talent Eric Clapton. This was the line-up that recorded the ‘Birds initial single releases, with Clapton leaving in 1965 after the release of “For Your Love” to pursue a ‘purer’ blues sound with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

Clapton was involved in the recording of the band’s 1964 debut, Five Live Yardbirds and, after his departure, he was replaced by an equally-talented guitar-slinger in Jeff Beck, fresh from British R&B band the Tridents. Beck would hang around for a little over a year, recruiting his friend Jimmy Page – then an in-demand session player – to join the band and eventually take his place as the band’s lead guitarist. The latest Yardbirds release by U.K. label Repertoire Records, Live In France, documents several appearances by the blues-rockers on French TV and radio in their post-Clapton era. The CD is a great representation of the band circa 1965-68 with solid performances, and serves to compliment numerous BBC radio/TV and British concerts previously released by Repertoire.  

Two tracks circa June 1965 come from a concert at the Palais des Sport where the band opened for the Beatles and feature “For Your Love” and “I Wish You Would.” The former was actually the band’s third single and their first U.K. Top Ten hit (#3), the latter song was their 1964 debut single. Both performances are lively, energetic, and sound much better than they have any right to (antiquated recording technology and all that). Derived from a French radio broadcast on Europe 1, this line-up of the band included Beck, but it’s frontman Keith Relf that shines with spirited vocal performances and raging harp-play.

Jump forward a year to 1966 and the ‘Birds dropped by the studio on June 27th, 1966 to record songs for the French TV show Music Hall De France. With Beck still in tow and Page replacing Samwell-Smith on bass, the band knocks out three rave-ups on film to be broadcast weeks later. The sound is a slight bit hollower here than on the previously-mentioned radio broadcast, the performances likely derived from the old film reels. The band kicks out the jams, though, beginning with the old blues chestnut “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” which offers plenty of McCarty’s enthusiastic timekeeping, blasts of hurricane-force harmonica, and subtle guitarplay between Beck and Dreja. 

“Shapes of Things” was another Top Ten U.K. hit (#3) for the band, and the audience raucously applauds the song which features Relf’s strong vocals, subtle fretwork, and some explosive mortar-fire drumbeats hovering atop Page’s understated bass lines. “Over, Under, Sideways, Down,” with its familiar Beck circular guitar riff, was another bona fide U.K. hit and here the band revs up the engine and hot rods through the song in slightly more than two minutes, leaving a stunned audience in its wake.

An April 1967 appearance at the Grande Spectacle de Jeunes near Paris comprises the heart of Live In France. Representing nearly half of the CD’s 15 songs, the liner notes are a little oblique about the source of these seven recordings. The Yardbirds played on Saturday afternoon on a bill that included American R&B great Percy Sledge and a number of unnamed French singers. The concert was evidently filmed (a couple of director’s names are mentioned in the album’s credits) but no info is offered about potential TV broadcast. There are a few video clips of these performances readily available online, however.   

The band stomps and hammers these seven performances with their usual aplomb. Beck is gone at this point, rhythm guitarist Dreja moved over to bass, and Page is the band’s lone six-stringer. There’s some duplication in songs from previous shows, with energetic performances of “Shapes of Things,” “Over, Under, Sideways, Down,” and “Train Kept A-Rollin’” (which features even more maniac harmonica riffing by Relf than the ’66 take!) before we get to the meat of the meal. “You’re A Better Man Than I,” the B-side to the band’s “Shapes of Things” 45rpm flapjack, is musically complex with subtle rhythmic patterns, Relf’s vocal gymnastics, and elegant shading by Page (along with a wiry mid-song solo that presages Zeppelins to come…). 

The band immediately rips into “Heart Full of Soul,” riding on the back of Page’s monster riff. The song was two-years-old by this time, a former Top Ten U.K. hit (#2), but the band sounds as enthusiastic in its performance here as they did when the song was riding high. Switching gears, Relf turns on his love light with a soulful reading of the R&B gem “My Baby” before tackling Bob Dylan’s “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine).” Lots of singers have taken on the Dylan songbook, but by quickening the pace and interjecting even raspier harmonica blasts than the original, with the band providing a warm rhythmic soundtrack beneath Relf’s voice, the Yardbirds makes the song their own. 

Sound quality for these 1967 tracks is good, impressive really, with slight distortion at times and an overall buzzy brightness, with Relf’s voice riding high in the mix. The last three songs here date from March 1968, filmed for the French TV show Baton Rouge and the studio sound is astounding. “Train Kept A-Rollin’” makes its third appearance on Live In France, and it’s just as rollicking and ramshackle here as previous, the band coming dangerously close to jumping off the tracks with unrelenting rhythms and steely harmonica reminiscent of Deford Bailey (look him up). Adapted and/or inspired from American singer/songwriter Jake Holmes’ acoustic song “I’m Confused” (or so the lawsuit claimed), “Dazed and Confused” makes one of its earliest appearances here, Page first taking bow to guitar in the creation of haunting, otherworldly sounds. 

Clocking in at five-minutes-plus, “Dazed and Confused” is probably as heavy as the Yardbirds ever got, and if McCarty isn’t quite the skin-shredder than John Bonham was, it’s still an impressively progressive musical performance for 1968 (and it foreshadows much of Zep’s swingin’ ‘70s…). The set closes out with a wildly contrasting “Goodnight Sweet Josephine” which, curiously was the band’s final U.S. single release. Engaging and lively, musically, with skronky guitar licks and heavy drumbeats and cymbal-bashing, the song plays like a mix of British dancehall and (futuristic) hard rock. Needless to say, it went over stateside like a lead…well, it peaked at #127 on the U.S. charts and pretty much stamped “paid” to the band’s career, the Yardbirds splintering into different bands by the end of the year.

As talented as they were, the Yardbirds may have remained an obscure rock ‘n’ roll footnote if not for the monster commercial success enjoyed by Page’s Led Zeppelin (a/k/a ‘The New Yardbirds’), which caused many a 1970s-era teenager to search for old Yardbirds sides. I’d wager that more Yardbirds albums were released stateside in the 1970s than during the previous decade, and the band’s status as rock ‘n’ roll innovators has only grown in the decades since. In the new millennium, the band has become a veritable cottage industry with a wealth of live recordings and compilation LPs of various quality released. Live In France is one of the better late-model Yardbirds releases, featuring decent sound and a slate of dynamic live performances that display the full range of the band’s enormous talents and groundbreaking sound. Grade: A (Rev. Keith A. Gordon) 

Bonus views:

Tom Stevens on bootlegs (October 1999 issue of Live! Music Review) R.I.P., Brother

 

Bootlegs

By Tom Stevens

Bootlegs. I love ‘em. It’s August of 1971 again, I’m 14, at a music camp at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. I’m walking hand in hand into a record store near the campus with Laura Berry, a beautiful, frizzy light brown-haired violinist from Fort Wayne I’d just met. On a wire rack to the right of the counter was a rack of bootlegs. James Taylor, Cat Stevens. Yeesh, I thought, folk’s sure getting popular. I wound up purchasing a Jimi Hendrix record and leaving, no doubt to engage in more pleasures of the 14-year-old flesh with my new sweetie Laura.

Hearing the same records over and over got boring. The thought of hearing my faves in the raw was a welcome promise when I first read about the existence of bootleg LPs in Hit Parader magazine. It was about how pissed Led Zeppelin (or their manager) was over their bootlegs.

Later when I was in a band that a lot of people came to see play, I found myself bootlegged. Strange. When you’re listening to other people’ performances on a bootleg, you expect them not to be up to professional standards, which is exactly what intrigued me. Slickness is falsehood, guts are everything.

The buzz I got listening to The Beatles “Kum Back” or the Stones “Live-r Than You’ll Ever Be” was indescribable. Now, while listening to an audience tape of me, I was reminded of the first time I heard a tape of myself talking into a tape recorder at a young age. Like meeting a new person, or in this case, a new band.

I personally allow taping at all my gigs. The last big venue I played there was a sign saying “no taping/no photography” like it was a proprietary thing. Who knows how many brilliant, earthshaking performances have been lost forever over the centuries due to that mindset. Speaking of proprietary, a big moralistic complaint about bootlegs is that the artist sees no money from it. Wrong, bucko.

Canadian radio plays (and subsequent royalty checks) from my unreleased song “Silence” made me release it legitimately on Points Revisited. Through the miracle of bootlegging (or in this case, tape trading) some radio station in Canada was playing my song, and reporting it to MI, who in turn was sending me checks. Go figure.

As I write, The Long Ryders were just honored by their second bootleg and first boot CD. This was taken from a Bottom Line in New York FM broadcast from 1987, at the start of my last tour with them. I thought it was a terrific piece, better than the live BBC disc that was taken from the UK leg of that fateful tour.

The Long Ryders, despite being praised in the press, have up to now never been a cash cow for anyone, so I knew immediately that whoever it was that put out that disc did not consider the profit motive (or lack thereof) but rather, took the risk on sheer love of the music. All I can say is, thanks.

[2021 editor's note: Tom Stevens passed away today. It was completely unexpected as Tom had been active just a day before in a bootleg forum. The CD he refers to in this article was called The End of the Trail (Massive Attack Discs) and it became useful when the Long Ryders released the same show officially years later. From Sid Griffin's website: "A great bootleg CD taken from an FM broadcast of the show at the Bottom Line in New York City on 7th May 1987. This is the very same release as the new official Long Ryders album Three Minute Warnings: The Long Ryders Live In New York City on Prima Records (SID015). However Three Minute Warnings has much, much better sound as it is from the original master tapes. Interestingly enough those original master tapes ran out with some ninety seconds left in the concert so the tail end of 10-5-60 on Three Minute Warnings is actually a digital edit from The End Of The Trail bootleg!]

Happy trails, Tom. It was great to know you.

Back Pages: Vital Statistics (November 1996) Bootleg releases by AC/DC, Prince, Family & more

[About 80% of the content of Live! Music Review was feature articles with extensive reviews on current releases. However, in the golden age of bootleg CDs, in which most manufacturers sent us sample copies, along with other previously overlooked items found in the bins of retail vendors, there was always an overflow for a 48-page publication. We tried hard to give reviews to everything that passed through our hands and thus started a column named Vital Statistics – a roundup of CDs that weren’t included in feature articles. Filling out the final 20% of content, this column provided sound quality ratings, track lists, and micro-reviews, helping to fulfill one of our objectives – a comprehensive buyer’s guide for bootlegs. Now available on the Internet for the first time.]

AC/DC: From Bars to Stars (Kobra KRCR 03)

Sources: 1-2 first AC/DC with Dale Evans on lead vocals (1974), 3-5 Marc Bolan TV Show, London, UK (8/28/76), 6-10 London, UK (March 1977), 11-15 Paris, France (12/9/79)

Sound Quality: very good to excellent broadcast and studio recordings (8-9)

Cover: Simple one piece insert and tray card

Tracklist: Can I Sit Next To You, Girl/ Rockin’ In the Parlor/ Live Wire/ Can I Sit Next To You, Girl/ Jailbreak/ Let There Be Rock/ Problem Child/ Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To Be/ Bad Boy Boogie/ Rocker/ Sin City/ Walk All Over You/ Girl Got Rhythm/ T.N.T./ Let There Be Rock

Comments: No upgrades here. The Bolan TV show material is comparatively hard vto find but the remainder of what is her has seen far too many bootleg releases already.

AC/DC: Thunderball Boogie (Kobra KRCD 08/9)

Venue: Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA (2/5/96); disc 2, tracks 9-14 Paris, France (3/28/91)

Sound Quality: good audience recordings, (6) and (7) respectively

Cover: 4 panel insert and tray card in slimline jewel case

Tracklist: (disc 1) Intro> Back In Black/ Shot Down In Flames/ Thunderstruck/ Girls Got Rhythm/ Cover You In Oil/ Shoot To Thrill/ Boogie Man/ Hard As A Rock/ Hell’s Bells/ Down Payment Blues/ The Jack/ Ballbreaker/ Rock ‘n’ Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution (disc 2) Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap/ You Shook Me All Night Long/ Whole Lotta Rosie/ T.N.T./ Let There Be Rock/ Hail Caesar/ Highway To Hell/ For Those About To Rock/ Fire Your Guns/ Sin City/ Heatseeker/ Who Made Who/ That’s The Way I Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll/ Money Talks

Comments: Angus Young, the eternal brat of hard rock, continues to amaze. But this band hasn’t had a good live singer since Bon Scott. Here is ample evidence that Brian Johnson’s voice continues to deteriorate. I don’t know how their records sound so good when Johnson can only reach less than half his notes  and sounds as if his throat will explode from infection on every live CD I've heard of the post-Scott era. [2021 editor’s note: Brian Johnson “retired” mid-tour in 2016 stating hearing problems, but some speculated that it was actually throat damage due to years of singing above his natural register. After a four year hiatus, he returned in 2020 for the group’s Power Up album.]

Bon Jovi: Hidden Treasures (Oxygen OXY 048)

Source: 1-2 Sippery When Wet Outtakes; 3-6 Slippery When Wet demos; 8-16 New Jersey demos; 17 Keep The Faith demo

Sound Quality: Excellent studio tracks (9-10)

Cover: attractive 8-page inset and tray card

Tracklist: Borderline/ Edge Of A Broken Heart/ Too Much, Too Soon/ Game Of The Heart/ Lonely Is The Night/ Deep Cuts The Night/ Love Is Way/ Let’s Make It Baby/ Judgement Day/ River Of Love/ Now And Forever/ Growing Up The Hard Way/ Does Anybody Really Fall In Love Anymore/ Rosie/ Backdoor To Heavem/ Love Hurts/ Starting All Over

Comments: These sessions have made the rounds numerous times. This is as good as any of the other releases.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: The Funeral Tour (Rarities & Few RFCD 1189)

Venue: stated only as “live 1986.”

Sound Quality: Excellent soundboard recording (10)

Cover: 4 panel inset and tray card

Tracklist: I’m Gonna Kill That Woman (Double Trouble)/ Your Funeral, My Trial/ She Fell Away/ Long Time Man/ All Tomorrow’s Parties/ Sad Waters/ The Singer/ By The Time I Get Ton Phoenix/ Stranger Than Kindness/ The Carnival Is Over

Comments: Pretension from the dark side. Decidedly non-commercial!

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: More Pricks Than Kicks (Pil 08)

Source: See Track listing

Sound Quality: Excellent, mostly from official sources. The Boys Next Door recording is an unmixed soundboard that has received prior bootleg releases in the same quality.

Cover: 4 panel insert and tray card. All source information is printed inside but not on the back cover.

Tracklist: Helpless (Neil Young The Bridge tribute LP)/ Rye Whiskey (Reflex magazine flexi-disc)/ I Put A Spell On Yoy/ (NME Dept. of Enjoyment cassette)/ Tower Of Songs (unedited version from I’m Your Fan Leonard Cohen tribute album)/ 500 Miles/ Sunny (FM broadcast)/ Blitzkreig Bop/ I Put A Spell On You/ Commando/ These Boots Are Made For Walking (Boys Next Door, Swinburne College, Melbourne, Australia 1977)

Comments: Far more enjoyable than The Funeral Tour. But Nick Cave’s music is not for enjoyment, is it?

Family: Play House (Gold Standard GS 96002)

Venue: Playhouse Theatre, London, UK 12/16/71

Sound Quality: excellent stereotaken from BBC transcription disc. Some light vinyl crackle.

Cover: One piece insert and tray card

Tracklist: Good News, Bad News/ Spanish Tide/ Part Of The Load/ Drowned In Wine/ Holding The Compass/ Between Blue And Me/ Children/ In My Own Time/ Take Your Partners/ The Weaver’s Answer

Comments: Family is introduced by John Peel as “one of England’s best bands.” He’s absolutely right, but Family never really gained more than a cult following in the United States, and a very small cult at that. That makes this a surprising, but welcome, release. As with most fan-generated bootlegs, this one is certainly a worthy affair. Perhaps a slightly cleaner copy of the transcription disc used as the source would have been welcome, but overall quality is still a notch above an off-air master cassette. Very dynamic. Very cool!

Kiss: Kill Or Cure (Party Line PLCD 024/25)

Venue: Osaka, Japan 4/18/88

Sound Quality: Good to very good audience recording (6)

Cover: Attractive period photo of Paul Stanley on the front and group photo on back of traditional “fat-boy” double jewel case.

Tracklist: (disc 1) Love Gun/ Cold Gin/ Bang Bang You/ Calling Dr. Love/ Fits Like A Glove/ Crazy Crazy Nights/ guitar solo/ No, No, No/ Reason To Live/ Heaven’s On Fire (disc 2) drum solo/ War Machine/ Tears Are Falling/ I Love It Loud/ Lick It Up/ Black Diamond/ I Was Made For Loving You/ Shout It Out Loud/ Strutter/ Rock & Roll All Night/ Detroit Rock City

Comments: This isn’t a great recording but it certainly is more welcome than another version of the Tokyo broadcast which has already seen far too many bootleg releases. Hard-core fans will welcome this release for the rarity of the source tape. But if you want perfect sounding discs, this one isn’t for you.

Greg Lake: Moore Attack (no label)

Venue: Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK 12/31/81

Sound Quality: Clean broadcast

Cover: Not much to it – very basic

Tracklist: Intro/ Fanfare For The Common Man/ Welcome Back My Friends/ Nuclear Attack/ The Lie/ Retribution Drive/ Lucky Man/ I Love You Too Much/ 21st Century Schizoid Man/ In The Court Of The Crimson King

Comments: The official release of this King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast makes this bootleg useless.

Moody Blues: Question (Joker Productions JOK-029-A)

Venue: Says Hollywood, CA 1986

Sound Quality: excellent broadcast recording

Cover: Psychedelic question mark

Tracklist: Lovely To See You/ Tuesday Afternoon/ Bless The Wings/ Lean On MeTonight/ Say It With Love/ I’m Just A Singer/ Nights In White Satin/ Legend Of A Mind/ Question/ Ride My Seesaw

Comments: As Moody Blues concerts become more of a “hits on parade” affair, it becomes harder to tell one tour from another. But the inclusion of such songs as “Say It With Love,” and “Lean On Me Tonight” would indicate that this is much later than the 1986 date stated on the cover. Joker Productions re well known for supplying ficticious dates. They are now out of business and any remaining copies of this were probably seized in a raid several years ago. It’s a solid recording for those interested in tracking down a copy regardless of the bogus venue information.

Alanis Morissette: The Queen Of Intimidation (Moonraker 152)

Sound Quality: Outstanding audience recording. The Grammy Awards recording is from an excellent broadcast source.

Source: The Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, Germany, plus a bonus track from the 1996 Grammy Awards

Cover: Attractive 8 panel fold-out with lots of pix

Tracklist: The Feeling Begins/ All I Really Want/ Right Through You/ Right Through You/ You’re Not The Doctor/ Hand In My Pocket/ Mary Jane/ Head Over Feet/ The King Of Intimidation/ Forgiven/ Perfect/ Can’t Not/ You Oughta Know/ Wake Up/ You Oughta Know

Comments: The only thing that sets this recording apart from a radio broadcast is the amount of room ambiance. If this is not a broadcast recording, the taper had excellent position, avoiding crowd noise. Or perhaps the crown was extremely polite.

P.I.L.: Rotten To The Core (Big Music BIG 054)

Venue: Helsinki, Finland 1992

Sound Quality: Excellent soundboard. Some hiss. (9)

Cover: 8-page fold-out insert, ½ of which is the KTS catalog

Tracklist: This Is Not A Love Song/ Criminal/ Love Hope/ Think Tank/ Rules and Regulations/ Acid Drops/ Cruel/ Don’t Ask Me/ Body/ Disappointed

Comments: Candy when compared to the Sex Pistols. Space cake when compared to the Sex Pistols reunion.

Prince: Dance To The Beat (Moonraker 132)

Venue: First Avenue Club, Mpls., MN 3/8/82

Sound Quality: very good audience recording with noticeable hiss

Cover: Very attractive 8-page fold-out

Tracklist: Bambi/ All The Critics Love U In New York/ When You Were Mine/ Sexy Dancer/ Still Waiting/ Head/ Sexuality/ Dance 2 The Beat/ The Stick/ Party Up

Comments: This was one of the first Prince concerts ever to see release on a bootleg compact disc (This Is A Dance). It features a very heavy performance and has been remastered for this release. However, the sound quality of the o0riginal tape was never that great and there are other CDs I would rather see back in print on Moonraker’s Classic Prince series.

Prince: 4 Those Of You On Valium (Moonraker 136)

Venue: First Avenue Club, Mpls, MN 3/21/87

Sound Quality: excellent soundboard

Cover: Attractive 8-page insert and tray card

Tracklist: Intro/ Housequake/ Girls and Boys/ Slow Love/ Hot Thing/ Now’s The Time/ Sheila E drum solo/ Strange Relationship/ Forever In My Life/ Kiss/ It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

Comments: Part of Moonraker’s Classic Prince series, this release is a remastered version of the already excellent Housequake CD. The sound quality is noticeably softer and there’s more thump to the bass, making this worthy of attention, even if you have the original.

Prince: Live (Moonraker 133/34)

Venue: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY 3/30/85

Sound Quality: Excellent stereo broadcast

Cover: Beautiful 12 page insert featuring many stills from the video

Tracklist: (disc 1) Let’s Go Crazy/ Delirious/ 1999/ Little Red Corvette/ Take Me With U/ Do Me, Baby/ Irresistible Bitch/ Possessed/ How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore/ Let’s Pretend We’re Married/ International Lover/ God (disc 2) Computer Blue/ Darling Nikki/ The Beauriful Ones/ When Doves Cry/ I Would Die 4 U/ Baby, I’m A Star/ Purple Rain

Comments: This is probably the most common of Prince’a broadcast recordings, being easily available on video in high quality as well as countless bootlegs including Flesh For Fantasy (Great Dane). Despite the fact that Great Dane is now out of business, Flesh For Fantasy and other versions still show up in dealer’s stocks. This doesn’t add any noticeable improvement in quality,so there is really very little to offer unless you’re trying to assemble a complete collection of the Moonraker Classic Prince series.

Prince: Something Paisley (Moonraker 129)

Source: Paisley Park Studios 12/6/90

Sound Quality: excellent soundboard recording

Cover: 8 page booklet and tray card

Tracklist: Something Funky/ Let’s Go Crazy/ Horny Pony/ Money Don’t Matter 2 Night/ Diamonds And Pearls/ Cream/ Willing And Able/ Live 4 Love/ Daddy Pop/ The Flow/ Do Me, Baby/ Something Funky/ Let’s Go Crazy/ Horny Pony

Comments: This one isn’t part of Moonraker’s Classic Prince series, as it features material available to collectors for the first time. That makes it no less a classic, though. This is great stuff! It is a snapshot of an artist at work, a great look at how Prince develops a masterful performance before actually taking the stage. The first 11 tracks were apparently recorded early in the sessions with Prince singing out instructions to the band while the songs are in progress. The final 3 tracks are more polished versions, obviously recorded after all the kinks had been worked out. Happy with the band’s progress, Prince announces that it is time for a break after the final track. There’s a lot going on in the grooves here. “Something Funky” proves to be The New Power Generation’s take on Sly & The Family Stone’s “Dance To The Music” while James brown riffs abound through much of the disc.

Prince: Into The Vault (Oxygen OXY 080)

Source: see track listing

Sound Quality: Excellent studio quality

Cover: Typically professional job from Oxygen

Tracklist: Mad (1995 unreleased track from soundtrack of From Dusk ‘Til Dawn)/ Superhero (Prince version of a song given to Earth, Wind & Fire)/ Funky Design (unreleased)/ Stray Of The World (Come outtake)/ Don’t Talk To Strangers/ Be My Mirror/ I’ll Do Anything/ Deuce & Equator/ Black MF In The House (NPG unreleased tracks)/ This Groove (unreleased)/ Kamusutra/ Overture I/ Overture II/ Overture III (Kamusutra opera written by Prince for his wedding day)

Comments: Best available quality of these studio outtakes

Rolling Stones: Metamorphosis (CR 0462)

Source: Official albums

Sound Quality: Excellent studio recordings

Cover: Styled after official release

Tracklist: Out Of Time/ If You Let Me/ Each And Every Day Of The Year/ Heart Of Stone/ I’d Much Rather Be With The Boys/ Sleepy City/ We’re Wasting Time/ Try A Little Harder/ Don’t Know Why/ Don’t Lie To Me/ Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind/ Jivin' Sister Fanny/ Downtown Suzy/ Family/ Memo From Turner/ I’m Going Down/ Everybody Needs Somebody To Love/ Down Home Girl/ You Can’t Catch Me/ Time Is On My Side/ What A Shame/ Grown Up Wrong/ Down The Road A Piece/ Under The Boardwalk/ I Can’t Be Satisfied/ Pain In My Heart

Comments: This is a pirate of material from the Metamorphosis and Stones No. 2 albums, which haven’t yet seen an official CD release. The Metamorphosis album was the prize given to Allen Klein when The Stones sued him to get out of their management contract. Although mostly throwaways, the album also contains some real jewels like “Memo From Turner,” The Stones version of the song from the Performance soundtrack which features one of Jagger’s most intriguing lyrics and potent vocal performances. Also included is Jivin’ Sister Fanny,” a Chuck Berry-styled rockerthat was picked up by Izzy Stradlin and the Juju Hounds for their live set. “family” is notable for its morbid tale of incest.

With the recent release (finally) of Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus there is some hope that this album and other material under Klein’s control may see official releases on CD. This pirate was either mastered from a reel-to-reel or expertly declicked. The sound quality is fine without containing any (vinyl) surface noise. There is another version available but that one sounds horrible. That one also features the original album artwork. The way ton tell the difference is that this one states “includes 10 bonus tracks” on the front cover, while the inferior states “plus 8 more tracks.”

Bruce Springsteen: Austin 1975 (Whoopy Cat WCP-0009)

Venue: Austin Coliseum (now known as Palmer Auditorium), Austin, TX 9/12/75

Sound Quality: Excellent soundboard recording (8-9)

Cover: Period photos and short liner notes in slimline double jewel case

Tracklist: (disc 1) Incident On 57th Street/ Tenth Avenue Freezeout/ Spirit In The Night/ It’s Gonna Work Out Fine/ Growin’ Up/ Saint In The City/ E Street Shuffle/ She’s The One/ Born To Run (disc 2) Thunder Road/ Kitty’s Back/ Jungleland/ Rosalita/ Sandy/ Quarter To Three/ Twist & Shout/ Save The Last Dance For Me

Comments: Sprngsteen at his most reflective – lots of storytelling about his youth. The following night’s performance (Houston 9/13/75) is also available from a soundboard source. The tape source for this has substantially more hiss than the Houston show, but it’s only noticeable during the quiet passages.

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Three Bar Blues (Rupert 9687)

Venue: 1-11 Loreley Festival, Germany; 12-13 Los Angeles 1984

Sound Quality: Excellent broadcast recordings

Cover: 4 panel insert and tray card

Tracklist: Scuttle Buttin’/ Testify/ Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)/ The Things I Used To Do/ Honey Bee/ Love Struck Baby/ Cold Shot/ Couldn’t Stand The Weather/ Tin Pan Alley/ Pride and Joy/ Texas Flood/ Schoolgirl/ Mary Had A Little Lanb

Comments: Stevie Ray on the verge of superstardom! A classic example of moving from the clubs to the festivals, this broadcast recording has seen several previous releases. 

Whitesnake: Unwhited (Direct Box dbx 1-2)

Venue: Tokyo, Japan 1994

Sound Quality Good audience recording (6) In some places the audience drowns out the band.

Cover: As with most Japanese releases, this comes in a “fat-boy” double jewel case with no booklet. The pictures are current for the show contained on the discs.

Tracklist: (disc 1) Shake My Tree (recorded version played over P.A.)/ Bad Boys/ Slide It In/ Love Ain’t No Stranger/ Judgement Day/ Is This Love> Soldier Of Fortune/ Don’t Leave Me This Way/ Oil (disc 2) Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City/ Mistreated/ Don’t Break My Heart Again> Slow & Easy/ Lovehunter> Fool For Your Loving/ Here I Go Again/ Give Me All Your Love/ Still Of The Night/ We Wish You Well (recorded version played over P.A.)

Comments: Don’t adjust your volume until after “Shake My Tree.” It’s a recorded version played over the P.A. at low volume. When the band kicks in with “Bad Boys” it is MUCH louder.

After parting ways with Jimmy Page, Coverdale put together another version of Whitesnake and headed back to Japan the following year. This performance is one of the worst from Coverdale – his voice wretched and hoarse, perhaps the result of too much touring in too little time. There’s no evidence on this show of the voice that once recorded Stormbringer for Deep Purple of even the Coverdale-Page album.

[all reviews by Bill Glahn]

 

The Kinks Live On Vinyl: Live In San Francisco 1969 (hold your enthusiasm)

 

The Kinks: Live In San Francisco 1969 (London Calling LCLP C5055)

Venue: The Fillmore Aud., November 29, 1969

Sound Quality: weak and annoying. NOT the KSAN broadcast it claims to be. (Was KSAN even broadcasting concerts in 1969?)

Cover-packaging: hand #d edition of 500 on 180g green vinyl with glossy jacket and a color insert inside containing an interview with Ray Davies from 1969. By far, the most redeeming thing about an otherwise abysmal release.

Tracklist: (side 1) Till The End of the Day/ Last of the Steam Powered Trains/ You’re Lookin’ Fine/ Mr. Churchill Says/ Big Sky/ You Really Got Me (side 2) Love Me Till the Sun Shines/ Brainwashed> Milk Cow Blues> Tired of Waiting> Brainwashed/ Louie, Louie/ Victoria/ A Well Respected Man

Comments: After a 4 year ban on The Kinks by the American Federation of Musicians, ostensibly because of rowdy behavior on their 1965 tour, The Kinks returned in 1969 with a dwindling audience and as a transformed band. Gone were the raucous 2-3 minute singles that were their greatest successes up until that point. The Kinks were now a more cerebral band performing well crafted songs with inspiring melodies. They were on a creative streak that ran four albums (Face to Face thru Arthur), all released during their 4 year banishment from the U.S. How would the Americans react?

Quite well, thank you. While a few old rockers remained in the set list, the bulk of it was made up of U.S. non-hits, all worthy of airplay, but which The Kinks received virtually none on these shores. Nonetheless, Arthur was gaining traction on the album charts, fueled by the new FM “free-form” stations. The AFM took note, and permits were granted for American shows. 

The shows from 1969 contain some of the most diverse setlists of the band’s career, with not only a new album to promote, but a degree of catch up to be done as well. And the track list on this album is one that would cause even the most casual of Kinks fan to salivate. And FM radio quality as well? This has got to be the holy grail, right?

Not so fast.

The first disappointment is that this is not the FM broadcast promised on the cover. It’s the same old reel-to-reel audience recording that hard-core Kinks fans have circulated for years. That might make for a pretty good bootleg in and of itself, as the recording was very good for the era, with clear vocals and a full-bodied representation of the Kinks in concert. A little boomy perhaps, and the propensity of the taper to pause the recording between songs (common for the time). Not so fast, again.

What London Calling has used as their tape source is a high generation tape with warble and volume fluctuations reminiscent of a high speed cassette dub. The “gaps” in between songs have been removed to make it more fluid, but so has the entire bottom end of the sound spectrum, resulting in something that resembles hearing this already flawed source sounding as if it was being played through a 1960’s portable transistor radio. 

In conclusion, this is something for completists and color vinyl fetishists only. The hard-core Kinks fan (raising my hand) will have to have it, if for no other reason than as a reminder to dig out that old tape sitting in a box and transferring it to a CD-R for some listening pleasure (done). All others should avoid it like the plague. 

Grade: C (upgraded a whole letter due to the setlist and the graphics)

[Review by Bill Glahn]

Something a little better from a day earlier: 

The Bath Festival 1969-70 on CD: Not the release you hoped for

 

"You can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse." (Scottish proverb)

"The ol’ Reverend has been listening to live records for 50 years, and been collecting bootlegs for roughly 45 years and yet my ears have never been as insulted as they were by this collection." (Keith A. Gordon)

VARIOUS ARTISTS

The Best of the Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music ’69-70

(Gonzo Multimedia U.K.)

VENUE: The Bath Festival of Blues, held June 28th, 1969 at The Pavilion in Bath, England. The Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music, held June 27th-29th, 1970 in Shepton Mallet, England. 

SOUND QUALITY: Shabby audience recordings you would scrape off your shoes at the dog park. In a word, awful. In other words: abominable, appalling, atrocious, disgusting, distressing, ghastly, grungy, hideous, horrible, offensive, repulsive, ugly, and unpleasant. (Thanx to Thesaurus.com for the synonyms.)  

COVER: Three-CD set packaged in mondo-sized jewel case with minimal front and rear tray cards. Performing bands are listed on the front along with poorly-reproduced poster artwork; track listing is on the back; and the set includes a nifty 16pp color booklet with rare photos and reasonably informative liner notes.

TRACKLIST: 

DISC 1: 1. Ten Years After “I Woke Up This Morning” • 2. Ten Years After “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” • 3. Blodwyn Pig “Aint Ya Comin’ Home” • 4. Blodwyn Pig “Cats Squirrel” • 5. Taste “Same Old Story” • 6. Colosseum “Walking In the Park” • 7. Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac “Blues Jam” • 8. Fleetwood Mac “So Many Natural Ways” • 9. Fleetwood Mac “Red Hot Mama” • 10. The Nice “Karelia Suite” • 11. The Nice “She Belongs To Me”

DISC 2: 1. Donovan “Mellow Yellow” • 2. Steppenwolf “Sookie Sookie” • 3. Steppenwolf “Born To Be Wild” • 4. Johnny Winter “Guess I’ll Go Away” • 5. Johnny Winter “Johnny B. Goode” • 6. Johnny Winter “Have You Ever Been Mistreated” • 7. The Byrds “Rock n Roll Star” • 8. The Byrds “Bugler” • 9. The Byrds “Black Mountain Rag” • 10. The Byrds “Mr. Tambourine Man” • 11. The Byrds “Pretty Boy Floyd” • 12 The Byrds “Antique Sandy” • 13. The Byrds “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” • 14. The Byrds “Baby Do You Want Me To Do”

DISC 3: 1. John Mayall “It Might As Well Be Raining” • 2. John Mayall “Crazy Woman” • 3. Canned Heat “Reefer Blues” • 4. Canned Heat “Something’s Gotta Go” • 5. Mothers of Invention “Mom and Dad” • 6. Country Joe McDonald “Silver and Gold” • 7. Country Joe McDonald “Martha Lorraine” • 8. Country Joe McDonald “Fixin’ To Die Rag” • 9. Santana “Black Magic Woman” • 10. Santana “Incident at Neshabar” • 11. It’s A Beautiful Day “White Bird”

COMMENTS: British concert promoter Freddy Bannister and his wife Wendy made their reputation with shows they held at The Pavilion, a venue in Bath, England roughly 100 miles west of London. Beginning in 1963, the Bannisters promoted successful concerts by artists like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Ike and Tina Turner, among others. So, when they were approached by the local Bath Festival Society – which held a small annual event – to put something together “for the kids,” they hit up their Rolodex and booked the Bath Festival of Blues. 

The line-up for the June 28th, 1969 Bath Festival of Blues included Led Zeppelin (who were paid an astounding £200 for their performance), John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, The Nice, Chicken Shack, Taste (with Rory Gallagher), Colosseum, Blodwyn Pig, Ten Years After, and headliners Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. The one-day event was a resounding success; planning for 5,000 attendees, the power-packed musical line-up attracted nearly 30,000 fans, so the Bannnisters saw the need to expand the event the following year. 

Moving to a larger location (The Royal Bath and West Showground down the road from Bath in Shepton Mallet), the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music grew to three days in June 1970 and featured headliners Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin (whose star had risen over the ensuing year; they asked for, and were paid £20,00 for their performance), as well as a slate of (mostly West Coast) American artists like Canned Heat, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, the Byrds, Santana, Steppenwolf, the Mothers of Invention, Country Joe McDonald, It’s A Beautiful Day, Maynard Ferguson (?!), and the Flock. A handful of homegrown U.K. artists also appeared, including Donovan, Fairport Convention, Keef Hartley, and John Mayall. The Moody Blues were booked but never performed. 

The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music drew in excess of 150,000 fans, an unexpected surge in numbers that created more than a few logistical problems for the promoters. The picturesque country lanes in Somerset county (population around 385k at the time) weren’t built for this sort of rock ‘n’ roll onslaught and, as concert-goers began to abandon their cars streetside, the bands’ equipment trucks were delayed, which in turn held up the show (and forced Donovan to perform a lengthy acoustic set). Bad weather (Surprise! It rained in England in June!) further complicated matters. Some of the Bannister’s security people also ran off with a large chunk of the gate receipts, which is probably why the promoters never attempted to book a third festival.

Still, The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music offered concert-goers a number of innovations such as a state-of-the-art PA system; video projections of performing bands on screens beside the stage; and on-site tents for people to sleep in as well as larger tents which played movies like King Kong through the night. The Bannisters contracted with film companies Gentle Ghost and Paradise Films to document the festival on film and videotape, but the B&W footage was lost for years and is reportedly of poor quality. Different people have scraps of video from the festival, but as nobody can agree on who owns the copyright, it’s unlikely that any film of the festival will ever be released.

As such, I was happy to find that Gonzo Multimedia was releasing The Best of the Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music ’69-70, a three-disc set comprised of performances from the 1969 and 1970 festivals. The U.K. label specializes in “eclectic and unique” releases (according to their website), including a lot of rare live shows. They deem themselves a “label for connoisseurs,” but they really should be ashamed for releasing this mess. It has long been rumored that high-quality soundboard recordings of the festival exist but, folks, this ain’t them. To put it in a jargon more familiar to our British readers, the sound on these discs is ‘shite’.

The first disc is comprised of performances from the 1969 festival and, truthfully, I’d rather have a root canal from the homeless guy that lives under a bridge on the edge of town than to listen to these performances again. This is the worst sort of “audience” recording…the taper(s) was miles away from the stage, the bands all sound like they’re playing at the bottom of a deep pit, there’s constant crowd chatter and ambient noise, and the overall sludgelike sonics of each plodding performance blend together into a droning, migraine-inducing morass. Ten Years After, Blodwyn Pig, Taste, Colosseum, Fleetwood Mac, and The Nice have all been done a severe disservice by these recordings, and decent live albums can be found for many of these bands.

Discs two and three offer performances from the 1970 event, and they sound only slightly better than the abysmal first disc, more like somebody sharply poking their thumbs in your ears than an icepick colliding with your eardrum. Donovan’s single song (“Mellow Yellow”) is slightly brighter-sounding than anything that came before, and represents a small part of his two-hour performance to a largely bored audience waiting to ‘rawk’! Performances by Steppenwolf and Johnny Winter more closely resemble the horrible listening experience of disc one, and while Winter’s guitar cuts through the haze somewhat, overall you’d get the same effect by pouring thick, gooey mud straight into your ear canals with a funnel. Only the Byrds’ six-song set resembles anything close to a respectable recording, with discernable vocals and instrumentation so, by comparison, they sound almost tolerable.

With promising performances by John Mayall, Canned Heat, the Mothers of Invention, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, and It’s A Beautiful Day, the third disc is full of disappointment. The unhappy sonic sludge, wind noise, and audio artifacts of the second disc also infects these performances – the distortion dominating the Mothers’ single song is matched only by a maddening warble, which sounds like the tape reel is about to leap off the recorder to its death beneath the feet of thousands of fans. Suicide would be too good for this recording of It’s A Beautiful Day’s otherwise ethereal “White Bird,” which is plagued by a screechy yet horribly muted sound that is the audio equivalent of sticking your head in cardboard box and hitting it with a hammer. Are any of these artist’s performances ‘good’? Who can tell, really? 

The 1970 festival is notorious for its promiscuity, with literally dozens of audience tapes floating around the trade-o-sphere. The Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd sets have been released frequently as vinyl and CD bootlegs through the years, and the festival itself was released as a three-disc set by the U.K. label Grow Music in 2004. Featuring expanded performances by the Mothers, Santana, and Steppenwolf as well as songs by Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jefferson Airplane, the Grow CD release presumably features the same shitty audience recordings as this Gonzo set. Gonzo seems to have sourced these performances from a number of different tapers, and my guess is that they didn’t want to cough up the cash necessary to license the readily-available Zep and Floyd performances.

Interestingly, according to the U.K. Festivals Archive website, at least three distinctive tapers have been identified as recording portions of the festival. One guy used a Phillips reel-to-reel deck but couldn’t make copies of his tapes for years as the odd speed of his recorder could only be duplicated by special equipment, so his recordings didn’t begin circulating until the late ‘90s. Still, he reportedly captured decent-sounding performances by Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane. A second taper caught approximately half of Donovan’s two-hour set (the only known recording) and Zeppelin’s entire two-hour set as well as scraps of other performances. Whomever recorded the Byrds’ set was doing yeoman’s work as it’s the only (relatively) bright spot in an otherwise dismal listening experience.

With the full authorization of the Bannister estate, Gonzo has gone all out in offering a limited edition 50th anniversary deluxe box set with the three CDs, reproductions of the festival programs and tickets, concert posters, and a 16pp booklet with text originally written by Freddy Bannister priced at $96 U.S. The ‘plain jane’ three-disc set that I pre-ordered back in November cost $24 plus shipping from the U.K. But, believe me gentle readers, you don’t want to spend a penny to hear these recordings. The ol’ Reverend has been listening to live records for 50 years, and been collecting bootlegs for roughly 45 years and yet my ears have never been as insulted as they were by this collection. Save your money and invest in the new Jason Ringenberg album instead. You’ll thank me in the end. (Rev. Keith A. Gordon)   

For a fascinating history of the Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music, check out the U.K. Festivals Archive website: http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/bA1.html

"Bonus" listening: