(Audience FLAC)
Black Sabbath
Long Beach Arena
Long Beach, CA
September 7, 1975
Mike Millard Master Cassettes via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 36
1644 Edition
Recording Gear: AKG 451E Microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder
Transfer: Mike Millard Master Cassettes (TDK KR90) > Nakamichi RX-505 (azimuth adjustment; Dolby On) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC
01 Killing Yourself To Live
02 Hole In The Sky
03 Snowblind
04 Symptom Of The Universe
05 War Pigs
06 Megalomania
07 Sabbra Cadabra Jam >
08 Sometimes I'm Happy Jam
09 Supernaut
10 Iron Man >
11 Orchid >
12 Rock 'N' Roll Doctor Jam
13 Black Sabbath
14 Spiral Architect
15 Embryo >
16 Children Of The Grave
17 Paranoid
Black Sabbath, Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA, September 7, 1975
Our journey through the Millard catalog continues with Mikeís master cassettes of Black Sabbath at the Long Beach Arena, on tour in support of Sabotage. We believe this recording to be wholly uncirculated, perhaps due in part to the ìPoorî rating Mike assigned this work on his tape list.
How anyone would judge this recording as poor is beyond me. While Iím no expert in Sabbath, I find it hard to believe there are many if any recordings from this tour as good as Mikeís capture, which I donít hesitate to call excellent. So why did Mike rate it Poor?
If thereís a pattern to his negative ratings, they are often applied to shows where he is extremely close to the stage, picking up more on-stage monitors than PA, which can sometimes result in an unbalanced, unsually guitar-heavy recording (stay tuned in the coming weeks for Fleetwood Mac 1980 which is almost all Lindsey Buckingham).
The Sabbath show has some of that, with Tommy Iommiís guitar way up front, but thereís something to be said for it. Afterall, his tone IS Sabbathís sonic signature along with Ozzyís voice. As the recording starts, Mike takes a few minutes to settle into optimal position, but once he does he stays pretty locked in which, judging by the firecrackers, took some doing in a presumably rowdy crowd.
With mastering work, weíve attempted to bring the rest of the band into better balance and pull Ozzyís vocals forward. The result is to our ears an impressive capture of the sultans of sludge thatís sure to please the discriminating Sabbath collector. Samples provided.
The setlist doesnít spend too much time on the new album, dipping in for three songs, ìHole In The Sky,î ìSymptom Of The Universeî and ìMegalomania.î The rest plays out as is a greatest hits of sorts, with fine versions of ìSnowblind,î ìParanoid,î ìIron Manî and ìChildren Of The Grave.î
Hereís what Jim R recalled about the Sabbath show:
Mike and I attended the Black Sabbath concert on Sept 7, 1975 at the Long Beach Arena. We sat in the 3rd row, dead center at the front of our sweet spot for sound quality.
The wheelchair era was fully established by this point in 1975. I pushed Mike into the building and helped him to his seat next to me. It was also was an extremely active concert year: Mike and I attended and recorded many shows including Jethro Tull, Faces, Zeppelin, Yes, Pink Floyd, The Stones, Clapton, Elton John and The Allman Brothers.
The Sabbath concert was sandwiched three weeks after Eric Clapton (Vol. 33) and three weeks before Elton John San Diego (Vol. 28).
Mike was not that into Sabbath, but he agreed to record it as a favor to me. I was the bigger fan. In fact, my first concert ever in 1972 was Sabbath with Yes as the opening act. What a bill. My favorite member of the band was Geezer Butler, the wild bass player.
The show was typical Sabbath. A mix of old and new tunes. Ozzy shouted multiple "We Love You" and "Get Higher" exclamations. Geezer was his energetic self. Iommi was steady on lead guitar. Bill Ward hammered away on the drums.
On this tour the band did a lot more jamming than previous ones, especially compared to the first time I saw them in 1972, where each song played live sounded pretty much like the album.
I hope you enjoy the show. Included are a handful of pictures I took. Cheers to Mike.
###
JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R and Barry G to release Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself. Weíve written before about the care and creative Mike applied to his cassette labeling and this Sabbath show is a particularly fine example, with the bandís logo in red letters on a blue background on the tape spine and the black and red S emblazoned on the main panel. Someday weíll publish a coffee-table book so you can see them as the works of art that they are.
We canít thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept these precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would be nearly as compelling without Jimís memories and photos. His Sabbath images are particularly good.
As always, post-production was done by mjk5510, our partner and friend. Thanks as well to Goody for giving the pitch his thumbs up.
Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento