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(Audience FLAC)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Boston Music Hall
Boston, MA
October 29, 1974
Steve Hopkins master via JEMS
40th Anniversary 16/44.1 Edition
Taping Gear: AKG 707E mics > Sony TC-152SD, FOB, microphones hand-held
2014 JEMS Transfer: SH master cassettes > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96) capture > iZotope RX3 > iZotope Ozone 5 via Peak 6 (pitch correction) > Peak Pro XT (volume smoothing / edit / indexed) > 24/96 > 16/44.1 > xACT 2.21 > FLAC
CD1
01 Incident on 57th Street
02 Spirit in the Night
03 Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street
04 The E Street Shuffle > Havin' a Party
05 Cupid
06 Saint in the City
07 Jungleland
CD2
01 She's the One
02 Kitty's Back
03 New York City Serenade
04 Rosalita
05 Sandy
06 A Love So Fine
JEMS is pleased to once again partner with taper Steve Hopkins to present fresh and (hopefully) definitive transfers of his outstanding master recordings. Hopkins taped Springsteen nine times between 1974 and 1977, and this is the ninth and final release in our series revisiting his seminal work. What a place to end.
The Suki Lahav-era of the E Street Band is one of its most enchanting, as her violin playing added poignant texture and musical depth to songs like "Incident on 57th Street" and "Jungleland." The period also served as the prelude to Springsteen's third album and this show offers wonderful, embryonic versions of "She's the One" (including some lyrics that would later appear in "Backstreets") and the aforementioned "Jungleland."
Late 1974-early 1975 is also a transition phase from the jazzier explorations of the second album to the mini rock operas found on Born to Run. The former gets its due this night, as the band flexes its muscles on "Kitty's Back" and an epic "New York City Serenade," blissfully complete here in all its 21-plus-minutes glory. That performance alone is worth the price of admission/download.
The definitive recording from Suki's tenure is without a doubt the WMMR-broadcasted Main Point February 5, 1975 performance. For my money, Hopkins' pull from October 29, 1974 is a close second. The new line-up with Max and Roy and Suki's addition are still fresh, and every song and arrangement feels alive in the moment. It is a magical performance and a must for anyone interested in this chapter in the band's history.
It also doesn't hurt that Hopkins did such a remarkable job capturing the show. This was one of a few times he recorded using two AKG mics, which proved unwieldy. Given his location so close to the front, with sound reaching the mics both from the PA and the band's gear on stage, the stereo image shifts noticeably as the mics move in several spots on the tape. You'll recognize those as passages where the sound gets thinner/narrower or fatter/wider (the first minute of “Cupid” is a good example), but they don't materially detract from the overall recording.
Otherwise the band is right there, up close. JEMS did a little work to tame and shape the bass, which was way up on the master tape (a recurring theme of late). Circulating versions of this recording also seem to suffer from some wow and flutter, and even with the fluctuations noted above, we think this transfer smoothes out most of those previous issues, resulting in a more consistent and balanced final product. Samples provided.
Additional Notes:
Dr. John opened the show
Hopkins recorded from the second row of the center orchestra section on the floor
This was Suki Lahav’s eleventh performance with the E Street Band
One of four known performances of Sam Cooke’s “Cupid”
The Boston College student newspaper review of the show refers to the piano player as “Roy Bippy”
This was the first of ten Springsteen performances at the Music Hall 1974-78
Steve first torrented this show from his master cassettes eight years ago, but that lineage went from cassette to DAT to CD-R then ripped back into FLAC. This is the first time Steve's master tapes have been digitized directly.
Thanks one more time to Steve Hopkins for allowing JEMS to present his outstanding audience recordings in a fresh light. He was was not only in the right place at the right time to capture these early performances, but he was the right man for the job, too. Thanks also to mjk5510 who once again steps up in service of the community to take this project over the finish line.
01 She's the One
02 Kitty's Back
03 New York City Serenade
04 Rosalita
05 Sandy
06 A Love So Fine
JEMS is pleased to once again partner with taper Steve Hopkins to present fresh and (hopefully) definitive transfers of his outstanding master recordings. Hopkins taped Springsteen nine times between 1974 and 1977, and this is the ninth and final release in our series revisiting his seminal work. What a place to end.
The Suki Lahav-era of the E Street Band is one of its most enchanting, as her violin playing added poignant texture and musical depth to songs like "Incident on 57th Street" and "Jungleland." The period also served as the prelude to Springsteen's third album and this show offers wonderful, embryonic versions of "She's the One" (including some lyrics that would later appear in "Backstreets") and the aforementioned "Jungleland."
Late 1974-early 1975 is also a transition phase from the jazzier explorations of the second album to the mini rock operas found on Born to Run. The former gets its due this night, as the band flexes its muscles on "Kitty's Back" and an epic "New York City Serenade," blissfully complete here in all its 21-plus-minutes glory. That performance alone is worth the price of admission/download.
The definitive recording from Suki's tenure is without a doubt the WMMR-broadcasted Main Point February 5, 1975 performance. For my money, Hopkins' pull from October 29, 1974 is a close second. The new line-up with Max and Roy and Suki's addition are still fresh, and every song and arrangement feels alive in the moment. It is a magical performance and a must for anyone interested in this chapter in the band's history.
It also doesn't hurt that Hopkins did such a remarkable job capturing the show. This was one of a few times he recorded using two AKG mics, which proved unwieldy. Given his location so close to the front, with sound reaching the mics both from the PA and the band's gear on stage, the stereo image shifts noticeably as the mics move in several spots on the tape. You'll recognize those as passages where the sound gets thinner/narrower or fatter/wider (the first minute of “Cupid” is a good example), but they don't materially detract from the overall recording.
Otherwise the band is right there, up close. JEMS did a little work to tame and shape the bass, which was way up on the master tape (a recurring theme of late). Circulating versions of this recording also seem to suffer from some wow and flutter, and even with the fluctuations noted above, we think this transfer smoothes out most of those previous issues, resulting in a more consistent and balanced final product. Samples provided.
Additional Notes:
Dr. John opened the show
Hopkins recorded from the second row of the center orchestra section on the floor
This was Suki Lahav’s eleventh performance with the E Street Band
One of four known performances of Sam Cooke’s “Cupid”
The Boston College student newspaper review of the show refers to the piano player as “Roy Bippy”
This was the first of ten Springsteen performances at the Music Hall 1974-78
Steve first torrented this show from his master cassettes eight years ago, but that lineage went from cassette to DAT to CD-R then ripped back into FLAC. This is the first time Steve's master tapes have been digitized directly.
Thanks one more time to Steve Hopkins for allowing JEMS to present his outstanding audience recordings in a fresh light. He was was not only in the right place at the right time to capture these early performances, but he was the right man for the job, too. Thanks also to mjk5510 who once again steps up in service of the community to take this project over the finish line.
this's it...many regards...
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