Saturday, January 9, 2021

Led Zeppelin - 1970 - Royal Albert Hall The Initial Tapes

Led Zeppelin
January 9, 1970
Royal Albert Hall
London, UK

Royal Albert Hall The Initial Tapes
The Godfatherecords ‎– G.R. 286/287

101. We're Gonna Groove
102. I Can't Quit You Baby
103. Dazed And Confused
104. Heartbreaker
105. White Summer / Black Mountain Side
106. What Is And Should Never Be
107. Moby Dick

201. How Many More Times Medley
202. Whole Lotta Love
203. Communication Breakdown (Longer Version)
204. C'mon Everybody
205. Something Else
206. Bring It On Home
207. Long Tall Sally Medley
208. Communication Breakdown (Shorter Version)


Led Zeppelin’s January 9th, 1970 appearance at the Royal Albert Hall is one of their most important gigs in their career. This was their first high profile concert in London after Led Zeppelin II displaced The Beatles’ Abbey Road from the number one position in the charts and drew much attention. The band also understood its significance by professionally filming and recording with the intention of releasing it as a film later in the year. That plan was scrapped and the footage wouldn’t be officially issued for another thirty-three years. The soundtrack for a video and a radio broadcast are sources for all of the older releases including the very first on vinyl found in Strange Tales From The Road and The Final Option on RSR International. On CD the original Tarantura issued both sources on Jimmy’s Birthday Party – The Royal Dragon (Tarantura RAH 1/2 / – / 1995).

Later a much clearer soundboard tape surfaced with “How Many More Times” and the encores that sounded fantastic and was issued on Royal Albert Hall (Red Robin), but running much too slow. This tape was subsequently used on Historical Birthday (Shout To the Top STTP-034), Strange Tales From the Road (STFTR 001-008). A nice sounding edit of the two sources was released on Royal Albert Hall 1970(Celebration SOBO-015), running at the correct speed and coming with a VHS cassette with a high generation copy of the then existing footage. A bulk of this show was finally released by the band in 2003 on the DVD (minus “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” “Long Tall Sally,” and with “Heartbreaker” and “Thank You” only in fragments). Several years afterwards Empress Valley issued the four-disc Live At Royal Albert Hall(EVSD-421/422/423/424) with an edit of the DVD audio with the radio broadcast on the first two discs and the DVD audio alone on the second two. The virtue of this set is the debut of the solo in “Heartbreaker.” However, this set has been described as “a mess” with numerous problems. 

Royal Albert Hall: The Initial Tapes on Godfather is similar to the second two discs of the Empress Valley set by presenting the soundboard with the edit in “How Many More Times.” The sound on Godfather is excellent sounding, very powerful, and sounds better than many official releases and is a significant upgrade over EV. The gain has been increased over the Empress Valley which also raises the level of noise in the quieter passages in the early part of disc one. This is only really apparent in Robert Plant’s introduction to “Heartbreaker” though and isn’t an issue.

Zeppelin played at the Royal Albert Hall six months before on June 29th, 1969 for the “Pop Proms,” supported by The Liverpool Scene and Bloodwyn Pig. This was the third show of a short eight date tour of the UK with only Bristol and this show having documents available. A review of this show in the New Musical Express states: “It isn’t hard to understand the substantial appeal of Led Zeppelin. Their current two-hour plus act is a blitzkrieg of musically-perfected hard rock that combines heavy dramatics with lashings of sex into a formula that can’t fail to move the senses and limbs. At the pace they’ve been setting on their current seven-town British tour there are few groups who could live with them on stage. I spoke to Jimmy Page after the show and he confessed that the whole band had suffered extreme nerves beforehand, mainly because people like John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had requested tickets. ‘But it was just like it was at the Albert Hall in the summer,’ said Jimmy, ‘with everyone dancing around the stage. It was a great feeling. What could be better than having everyone clapping and shouting along? It’s indescribable; but it just makes you feel that everything is worthwhile.” (“Zeppelin Put the Excitement Back Into Pop” N. Logan).

The show begins with the new cover arrangement of “We’re Gonna Groove” which segues perfectly into “I Can’t Quit You.” Both of these were used on Coda. The former was treated to a new spaced out guitar solo recorded specifically for the final Zeppelin album, but this is the unedited, aggressive arrangement used to open the show in early 1970 before disappearing forever. “Dazed And Confused” follows and this sixteen-minute version keep the intensity level up. Plant includes a reference to “Cocaine Blues” arranged by Rev. Gary Davis, “Hey mama, won’t you come here quick / This old cocaine is makin’ me sick.”

Afterwards Plant says, “this is the second time we’ve been here and I think we had more nerves the second time than the first. I know I did. But anyway we got over that with Birmingham Town Hall a couple of days ago where it was quite disastrous. The people hadn’t seen anything like it before. That was the attendants first assignment. Who filled their trousers?” The recording is cut after the solo but Page includes Bouree. “White Summer” follows and is a twelve minute masterpiece and this is one of tightest versions on tape. Listening to the track is mesmerizing and it is easy to get lost in the eastern atmosphere of the music. It is such a contrast to everything else played and Page comes across as a true virtuoso.

“How Many More Times” lasts twenty minutes even with the band introduction edited out. Plant get into Neil Young’s “Down By The River” as well as the “The Hunter,” “Boogie Chillun,” “Move On Down The Line,” “Leave My Woman Alone,” and “The Lemon Song.” The band are so focused that they don’t want to stop playing the song and even Page mentions this in the NME article when he says, “‘We’d actually finished ‘How Many More Times’ and were going into the ‘Lemon Song,’ but the audience was still clapping so we just went into another riff and carried on for a further ten minutes.'”

The long encore section follows and there are some issues regarding the proper placement of “Bring It On Home” in dispute. The Concert Filelists “Bring It On Home” as the first encore followed by “Whole Lotta Love,” “Thank You,” “Communication Breakdown,” “C’Mon Everybody,” “Something Else,” and “Long Tall Sally” and Empress Valley follow this sequence. (This list is also odd since “Thank You” was played early in the set the previous night and wouldn’t be an encore until the following year). The official Led Zeppelin website claims that “Bring It On Home” was played fourth after “Whole Lotta Love,” “Communication Breakdown,” and “Thank You.” The official DVD places it as the final encore after “Something Else” and Godfather uses this set list as a guide. All but Empress Valley and Godfather are titles released before the official dvd release of this show. Overall given the packaging, availability and sound quality, Godfather produced the definitive version of this classic show and is essential to have. 

Friday, January 8, 2021

Led Zeppelin - 1970 - Out Of Bristol Tale

Led Zeppelin
January 8th, 1970
Colston Hall
Bristol, England


Out Of Bristol Tale / TCOLZ

101. We’re Gonna Groove
102. I Can’t Quit You
103. Dazed And Confused
104. Heartbreaker
105. White Summer/Black Mountain Side
106. Since I’ve Been Loving You
107. organ solo
108. Thank You,
109. Moby Dick

201. How Many More Times
202. Whole Lotta Love
203. Communication Breakdown


At the beginning of the new decade Led Zeppelin scheduled a seven date tour of the UK beginning on January 7th in Birmingham. The pinnacle of the tour rested on the January 9th show at the Royal Albert Hall in London which was professionally filmed and recorded and has since seen official release. The only other show that exists on tape is the previous evening in Bristol on January 8th. It was pressed on silver previously on Bristol Stomp utilizing a very high generation copy that ran too fast. Recently TCOLZ issued Out Of The Bristol Tale with a tape much closer to the master. It runs at the correct speed and, even tough the sound quality is still poor to fair, is much more clear than Bristol Stomp and is actually enjoyable on some levels. It preserves most of the show except for the drum solo “Moby Dick” which exists only as a two minute long fragment.

Led Zeppelin played three times in Bristol during their career. The first was very early on October 26th, 1968 at the Boxing Club followed by an appearance the following summer at the Colston Hall. January 8th is their final show in the city and began an hour late. The tape begins with their brand new opening number, an energetic cover of Ben E. King’s “We’re Gonna Groove.” It would serve as the opening number for the first couple months before being replaced by “Immigrant Song.” “We’re Gonna Groove” segues effortlessly into “I Can’t Quit You.”

“We have to apologize for the hour delay, and also we played last, and we’d like to apologize. And we’d like to do something we did last time off the first album” Plant says before “Dazed And Confused.” Someone shouts out a song request and Plant replies, “hang about.” They play a sixteen minute version straight with no lyrical insertions as they would the following night. Afterwards, as Page tunes Plant tries to tell a joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto but forgets how it goes and promises to remember it “sometime when we tune up again.” “Heartbreaker was one of the first songs from Led Zeppelin II introduced to the stage and at this point still heavily resembles the studio recording. By the spring time the introduction and solo would be expanded.

After the “White Summer / Black Mountain Side” interlude they get play the brand new song “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” It is assumed it was premiered the previous evening in Birmingham but Bristol is the first hint of what would be a staple for almost every Led Zeppelin show for the rest of the decade. It would be officially recorded several months after this. The musical arrangement is pretty close to what would appear on Led Zeppelin III. The vocal melody is slightly different and the lyrics contains several differences beginning with the opening line: “Working from seven to eleven every day / you make my life a drag / things happen that way.” The guitar solo doesn’t contain the high pitched histrionics as later versions however. 

They follow with “Thank You” which is, according to Plant, “also the second time we’ve tried it.” John Paul Jones plays a very short organ introduction that would be greatly expanded both in length and weirdness as the year moves on.

After “Moby Dick” Plant finally remembers the joke he’s been trying to tell. “There was the Lone Ranger and Tonto. And Tonto turned into a door and the Lone Ranger shot his knob off!” The show is concluded with a seventeen minute version of “How Many More Times” which includes a long medley including “The Hunter,” “Boogie Chillun’,” “Move On Down The Line” and “Hideaway” among others. The encores are “Whole Lotta Love” and a riotous version of “Communication Breakdown” (with a quick reference to “Good Times / Bad Times”) which simply brings down the house (judging by the audience’s reaction). TCOLZ use their expected very tasteful packaging and art layout and Out Of Bristol Tale is a great release of a show that is now easier to enjoy. 

The Diamond Five featuring Greetje Kauffeld - 1973 - Back Together

The Diamond Five featuring Greetje Kauffeld
1973
Back Together


01. Sneezy 7:33
02. Meditation 5:31
03. Because 7:35
04. Jam-Bazz 6:00
05. I Fall In Love Too Easily 4:21
06. Day By Day 6:75
07. The Beat Goes On 4:40

Bass – Jacques Schols
Drums – John Engels
Piano, Electric Piano – Cees Slinger
Tenor Saxophone – Harry Verbeke
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Cees Smal
Vocals – Greetje Kauffeld (tracks: A2, B2, B4)




Music was Greetje Kauffeld's most loyal company in the last years. She listened to the radio or played Doris Day and Frank Sinatra records all day long. "That's how I learned to sing," she says. "By singing along with them."

Sinatra and Day were good teachers. From the latter, Kauffeld took over the ability to approach, endear or move the listener very closely. She learned to phrase from The Voice. She was so occupied with it that she had mastered English pronunciation before she graduated from elementary school. Texts got meaning for her and it has always remained that way. At the age of thirteen, Greetje Kauffeld sang on the radio for the first time, in the youth program Minjon with the Zeeland group Raindrops.

On February 1, 1957, she became the regular singer of THE SKYMASTERS and started her professional career, which quickly took on an international character. This was thanks to her participation in the Festival de Canzone in Venice.

The Dutch team with Mieke Telkamp, ​​Christine Spierenburg, Willy Alberti, Johnny Jordaan, Greetje Kauffeld and the orchestra "De Zaaiers" conducted by. Jos Cleber won the first prize; The Golden Gondola. Following this performance by Greetje, the well-known German orchestra leader invited her for a guest performance with his RIAS Big Band in Berlin.

Other musicians with whom she made recordings for German radio television and record studios were Toots Thielemans, Caterina Valente, Paul Kuhn, Kurt Edelhagen, Sven Asmussen, Erwin Lehn, Horst Jankowski and Udo Jürgens.

In 1968 she wanted to broaden her horizon and took the big step to the United States of America. She has worked in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and, along with jazz stars such as Ray Brown, Herb Ellis and Oscar Castro-Neves, was seen coast to coast on Joey Bishop's television shows

Back in the Netherlands, in 1969, Greetje Kauffeld married producer Joop de Roo, who further stimulated her development towards the more jazzy repertoire. Through him she became acquainted with greats like Stan Getz, Phil Woods, Thad Jones and Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen who contributed to her 1981 CD "Some other Spring".

Before that she had already made records with Jerry van Rooijen / Rob Pronk (And let the Music play) and with a combo under her own name (He was a king uncrowned - a tribute to Clifford Brown)

Until the early 80s, Greetje Kauffeld worked due to family circumstances - in 1970 and 1972 daughter Nathalie and son Mark were born respectively - exclusively in the studios of radio, television and record industry.

In 1986 Kauffeld formed a special trio, consisting only of voice, guitar (Peter Nieuwerf) and saxophone (Ruud Brink, later Jan Menu). Both this daring formation and the actual musical result show her idiosyncrasy, her guts and her justified self-confidence.

On the CDs "The Song is You" and "On my Way to You" (with lyrics exclusively by Alan and Marilyn Bergman) you can hear how her strong empathy for the songs is tested to the limit and successfully. "Every song is a story to me," she says herself. "I experience the text that I sing, I crawl into it as an actor steps into his role" This powerful identification with the lyrics that she interprets is characteristic of her work. The resulting declamation, timing and phrasing create an intimate bond with the listener and create an alternating atmosphere of intense emotion, compelling melancholy and relativizing cheerfulness.

It is worth mentioning the realization of two special CDs "European Windows" from 1992 and "The Real Thing" from 1994. For the first CD Greetje Kauffeld expanded her trio with bassist Ruud Ouwehand and drummer Hans Dekker and she chose a repertoire of exclusively European composers. from Kurt Weill, Michel Legrand and Charlie Chaplin to Paul McCartney and John Lennon. On "The Real Thing", with violinist Armando and guitarist Maarten van der Grinten, she sings duets with Humphrey Campbell.

On the occasion of her 40th vocalist anniversary, there was a gala concert with the Metropole Orchestra conducted by Jerry van Rooijen in the Vredenburg Music Center in Utrecht.

CDs were released with Jiggs Whigham's RIAS Big Band and the Metropole Orchestra, with guest soloists Stan Getz and Thad Jones.

Greetje Kauffeld received the BIRD Award from the North Sea Jazz Festival, where she has performed twenty times since 1982, and she received a royal award: Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

In the years that followed, Greetje Kauffeld became an even more in-demand singer at home and abroad, so that she had to end her teaching positions at the Conservatories in Zwolle and Hilversum, only since 2002 she has been available again as a guest teacher at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

A highlight of the new millennium was the tour "The Award Winners" she made with Willem Nijholt and Johan Plomp's The small Big Band, in which award-winning American, French, German and Dutch songs were played and sung.

Concert Poster 2004In March and April 2003 she toured Germany with Paul Kuhn & The Best, a theater program around his 75th birthday.

In 2004 she went on tour again with the program "Lieder, swing und alte schlager - Bekannt durch Film, Funk, Fernsehen" with Bibi Johns, Alice & Ellen Kessler, Chis Howland & Die Götz Alsmann Band.

The SuperAudio CD My shining Hour: Greetje Kauffeld salutes the Centenary of Harold Arlen with The Paul Kuhn Quintet can be regarded as a new jewel in the crown of one of the Netherlands' most internationally renowned singers.

In Germany at the end of 2006, publishing house MaveriX Verlag will publish a robust autobiography by and about Greetje Kauffeld: "Was für Tage ....." written in collaboration with journalist Ingo Schiweck from Düsseldorf.

The Diamond Five - 1964 - Brilliant!

The Diamond Five
1964
Brilliant!



01. Johnny's Birthday 6:32
02. Ruined Girl 5:50
03. Lutuli 8:30
04. Lining Up 6:15
05. New Born 6:45
06. Monosyl 6:15

Bass – Jacques Schols
Drums – John Engels
Piano, Leader – Cees Slinger
Tenor Saxophone – Harry Verbeke
Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Valve Trombone – Cees Smal

Recorded in Hilversum 12 and 30 of May 1964.


Why some artists achieve the recognition they deserve while other equally talented ones don't depends on many things. But one thing is clear, that obscurity does not always mean lack of talent. Regardless, it is always a pleasure to discover little known but immensely gifted musicians and it is really a great pleasure to hear the reissue of The Diamond Five's Brilliant!.

The Diamond Five, a Dutch quintet led by pianist Cees Slinger, was founded in 1959 and lasted until 1965. They were based at the Sheherazade Club in Amsterdam and were quite popular, playing all over Holland and accompanying expatriate American musicians on their visits to Amsterdam. However, when the club closed its doors due to a shift in popular interest from jazz to rock music, the quintet disbanded. This 1964 recording is their only session available on CD. The music is hard bop on the surface, but is neither formulaic nor a copy of the genres imported from the U.S.

The musicians are quite unique in their style. Slinger plays sparse notes on his solos, utilizing well-placed pauses in the music to create melodic hard bop with hints of more forward-looking styles. The other outstanding soloist is tenor saxophonist Harry Verbeke, whose solos (in contrast to that of the leader) are filled with a multitude of notes played in the modal vein. The others are also quite stellar, the bass and the drums providing a loose bluesy support and horn man Cees Smal adding something unique with the sounds of his different horns, switching between valve trombone, cornet and trumpet.

Two highlights are "Lutuli, by composer Ruud Bos and the final track "Monosyl, composed by Smal. This is a beautiful record and a timely reissue, with crystal clear sound from an extremely talented but sorely under-recognized European group that yet again underscores the universality of jazz.

The Diamond Five - 1963 - Montmartre Blues

The Diamond Five
1963
Montmartre Blues




01. The Beauty Of The Ball
02. Fair Weather
03. Alexander's Ragtime Band
04. Montmartre Blues
05. Parlez Moi De Velours
06. Bobby Tale
07. Jubilation
08. Royal Dream
09. Oleo
10. Sister Sadie

Bass – Jacques Schols
Drums – John Engels Jr.
Piano – Cees Slinger
Tenor Saxophone – Harry Verbeke
Trumpet, Trombone – Cees Smal


Cees Slinger (1929 -2007) was the founder and leader of the hard bop combo "The Diamond Five" featuring the trumpeter and trombonist Cees Smal (1927 - 2001), the tenor saxophonist Harry Verbeke (1922-2004), bassist Jacques Schols, and drummer John Engels, playing at the Jazz Club "Sheherazade" in Amsterdam. Before the foundation some of the musicians already played as the "The Diamonds" at the "Jig Rhythm Club" in Haarlem, with Verbeke, Smal and the initial bassist Dick van der Capellen. To avoid confusion with the singing group "The Blue Diamonds", they changed their name to "The Diamond Five". From October 1958 to April 1962 the band played at the "Sheherazade", that they had also taken over. Van der Capellen took no part in the takeover, as he had previously survived a car accident and was replaced by Schols. In 1962 the musicians sold their club and went on tour, because the music taste changed to Beatlemania. Although Cees Slinger took a job in the steel industry he kept playing. Together with Jacques and John he made two LPs with Ben Webster. In 1973 the LP "Back Together", featuring Greetje Kauffeld, came out. In 1974 he quit the job and became again a full-time jazz musician. The quintet jammed with many American jazz artists like Stan Getz, Phil Woods, Quincy Jones and Don Byas after their official appearances and even played at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1963. Between 1959 and 1962, several already documented vinyl EPs were released on labels such as Fontana or Omega and were summarized for the 1978 compilation album "Amsterdam Blues". In 1964 they recorded the LP "Brilliant", which was later reissued on Fontana.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Dick van der Capellen Trio - 1967 - The Present Is Past

Dick van der Capellen Trio
1967
The Present Is Past


01. Woiczischke
02. M.L.U.
03. The Present is Past
04. Der alte Fritz

Dick van der Capellen, bass
Martin Van Duynhoven, percussion
Chris Hinze, piano, flute, alto flute, piccolo flute
Theo Loevendie, bass clarinet (2)
Erik Van Lier, bass trombone (2)

Recorded April 25, 1967 in Soest, Netherland.


Finally a CD reissue of what were undoubtedly the first truly original Dutch jazz works -- the legendary Boy Edgar's Big Band's Now's the Time from 1965 and Finch's Eye from 1966. These two albums gave Netherlands jazz the boost it so sorely needed to emanate from underneath the American shadow and forge a jazz identity of its own. With his influences ranging from Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Stan Kenton and the classical musician of Jean Sibelius, composer, arranger, and medical doctor Boy Edgar created a band comprised of all the elements of the Dutch jazz world in the early '60s. That included equal parts older players who were still reading swing charts from the '30s, bebop connoisseurs from the '40s, hard bop and cool jazzers from the '50s, and a host of young lions who had heard the large group "free jazz" works of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Now's the Time showcases them all together playing tasteful, innovative charts with lush harmonies and killer soprano solos from Piet Nordjik, a young player who has never gotten his due as a stylist on the instrument though he truly deserves to be widely recognized for his bluesed-out wailing found here. He is the only player featured as a soloist on all six of the former album's selections -- and in a saxophone section of seven horns, no less. Now's the Time has stood the test of it well, sounding fresh, even, and wonderfully arranged 36 years after its first appearance. There is a weakness in the trumpet section, as the fire of the rest of the band leaves them in the shadows most of the time, but compared to everything else that's here -- swing, hard bop, free jazz, Ellington, modal music, and so on -- it's easy to forgive. Standout cuts are Parker's title track, Coltrane's "Blues Minor," with its velvety smooth and dark textures, and a positively wild reading of "Blue Monk," with horns blaring all over the piano lines and loving every minute of it. Finally there is Theo Loevendie's "Return," a true composition of the new Dutch jazz with its outlandish counterpoint and stacked harmonies all strung together in a mass of elegant yet emotional sonic pathos. Finch's Eye fares less well for its time because it was simply trying too hard to be of of its time, as well as taking into consideration many of the changes in pop and jazz. Still, there is the debut appearance of Willem Breuker and his melding of his composition "28" with Edgar's "21" for "2128," making for his first appearance as a soloist in any context, and the stock-in-trademark humor was there right at the beginning. Listen to him bend those fifths during his solo and you'll swear you are listening to a Raymond Scott arrangement. Finally, Loevendie's title track, the first formally "new" or "free" Dutch jazz, showcases Breuker blowing in the breaks as the band swirls around him in an oddly dissonant tone poem. In all, a revelatory reissue, giving listeners a picture of how the Dutch gained their strong, individual identity as a jazz region; these two LPs were no doubt the inspiration for many Netherlands musicians to come.

Boy's Big Band - 1966 - Finch Eye

Boy's Big Band
1966
Finch Eye



01. Black Sea 4:50
02. Plain Blues 7:15
03. 2128 6:05
04. I Remember Vienna 9:20
05. Finch Eye 9:35

Alto, Baritone, Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet – Herman Schoonderwalt
Alto, Tenor & Soprano Saxophone – Piet Noordijk,
Alto & Soprano Saxophone – Theo Loevendie
Alto Saxophone – Tinus Bruyn
Baritone & Tenor Saxophone – Joop Mastenbroek
Baritone Saxophone – Leo Gerritsen
Baritone & Tenor Saxophone – Toon Van Vliet
Bass – Dick Van Der Capellen
Bass – Jacques Schols
Drums – John Engels
Flugelhorn, Trombone – Cees Smal
Flute – Chris Hinze
Mellophone – Wim Kat
Piano – Cees Slinger
Tenor Saxophone – Harry Verbeke
Trombone – Eric van Lier
Trombone – Marcel Thielemans
Trombone – Rudy Bosch
Trumpet – Ado Broodboom
Trumpet – Jan Van Hest
Trumpet – Jan Vleeschouwer
Trumpet – Wim Kat
Trumpet – Wim Kuylenburg

Recorded September 7 and 8, 1966 in Amsterdam


Finally a CD reissue of what were undoubtedly the first truly original Dutch jazz works -- the legendary Boy Edgar's Big Band's Now's the Time from 1965 and Finch's Eye from 1966. These two albums gave Netherlands jazz the boost it so sorely needed to emanate from underneath the American shadow and forge a jazz identity of its own. With his influences ranging from Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Stan Kenton and the classical musician of Jean Sibelius, composer, arranger, and medical doctor Boy Edgar created a band comprised of all the elements of the Dutch jazz world in the early '60s. That included equal parts older players who were still reading swing charts from the '30s, bebop connoisseurs from the '40s, hard bop and cool jazzers from the '50s, and a host of young lions who had heard the large group "free jazz" works of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Now's the Time showcases them all together playing tasteful, innovative charts with lush harmonies and killer soprano solos from Piet Nordjik, a young player who has never gotten his due as a stylist on the instrument though he truly deserves to be widely recognized for his bluesed-out wailing found here. He is the only player featured as a soloist on all six of the former album's selections -- and in a saxophone section of seven horns, no less. Now's the Time has stood the test of it well, sounding fresh, even, and wonderfully arranged 36 years after its first appearance. There is a weakness in the trumpet section, as the fire of the rest of the band leaves them in the shadows most of the time, but compared to everything else that's here -- swing, hard bop, free jazz, Ellington, modal music, and so on -- it's easy to forgive. Standout cuts are Parker's title track, Coltrane's "Blues Minor," with its velvety smooth and dark textures, and a positively wild reading of "Blue Monk," with horns blaring all over the piano lines and loving every minute of it. Finally there is Theo Loevendie's "Return," a true composition of the new Dutch jazz with its outlandish counterpoint and stacked harmonies all strung together in a mass of elegant yet emotional sonic pathos. Finch's Eye fares less well for its time because it was simply trying too hard to be of of its time, as well as taking into consideration many of the changes in pop and jazz. Still, there is the debut appearance of Willem Breuker and his melding of his composition "28" with Edgar's "21" for "2128," making for his first appearance as a soloist in any context, and the stock-in-trademark humor was there right at the beginning. Listen to him bend those fifths during his solo and you'll swear you are listening to a Raymond Scott arrangement. Finally, Loevendie's title track, the first formally "new" or "free" Dutch jazz, showcases Breuker blowing in the breaks as the band swirls around him in an oddly dissonant tone poem. In all, a revelatory reissue, giving listeners a picture of how the Dutch gained their strong, individual identity as a jazz region; these two LPs were no doubt the inspiration for many Netherlands musicians to come.

Boy's Big Band - 1965 - Now's The Time

Boy's Big Band
1965
Now's The Time




01. Now's The Time 7:28
02. Solitude 6:29
03. Competitive Challenge 8:49
04. Blues Minor 6:31
05. Blue Monk 7:05
06. Return 4:26

Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet – Herman Schoonderwalt
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Piet Noordijk
Alto Saxophone – Tinus Bruyn
Baritone Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Joop Mastenbroek
Baritone Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Toon Van Vliet
Bass – Jacques Schols
Bass Trombone – Eric Van Lier
Drums – John Engels
Mellophone, Trumpet – Wim Kat
Piano – Cees Slinger
Soprano Saxophone Theo Loevendie
Tenor Saxophone – Harry Verbeke
Trombone – Marcel Thielemans
Trombone – Rudy Bosch
Trumpet – Ado Broodboom
Trumpet – Jan Van Hest
Trumpet – Jan Vleeschouwer, Wim Kat,
Trumpet – Wim Kuylenburg
Valve Trombone – Cees Smal

Directed by George Willem Fred Edgar
Recorded in Amsterdam, on 19-20 October 1965




Boy Edgar, pseudonyms of George Willem Fred Edgar (Amsterdam, 31 March 1915 – Aldaar, 8 April 1980), was a Dutch jazzconductor, pianist and Trumpeter. He was also a member of the resistance who saved Jewish children during WW2 and was promoted as a doctor after the war on an investigation into multiple sclerosis.
Boy Edgar grew up in Amsterdam as the son of a merchant in Indian products. His father was of Armenian descent and his mother was Indian. Initially, the Edgar family was doing well. During his childhood, Boy Edgar was able to visit the Dutch East Indies several times. However, during the economic crisis in the 1930s, the Edgar family's company went bankrupt. His father died in 1935 and left the family in poverty.
Boy Edgar first came into contact with jazz in high school. Despite the fact that he had not received any musical training, Edgar succeeded in teaching himself arrangements and how to play the piano and the trumpet. In 1932 he started his medical training at the University of Amsterdam. He performed a lot to pay for his studies. In 1935 Boy Edgar recorded a number of songs in the GTB studio in The Hague, including "In the mood for love". In 1936 he won a prize for amateur soloists in Brussels and a year later he became a member of the Hague ensemble The Moochers. In 1939 he became leader of this ensemble, which he remained until the German occupier banned jazz music.
During the war he married Mimosa Frenk (1942-9-30), the Jewish daughter of Eli Frenk and Agnes Bushnach, and together they participated in the underground resistance to save Jewish children from deportation. During the war he did his medical exam. Edgar also composed music for orchestras that were allowed to perform.
Edgar was briefly imprisoned after the Second World War because he refused to go to the Dutch East Indies as a soldier. The first years after the war he continued to act as a pianist in various European countries.
In 1950, Edgar obtained his PhD with a thesis on processes in the nervous system of multiple sclerosis, a disease that his wife was already suffering from at that time. To fully focus on his scientific career and the care of his wife, Edgar stopped making music for some time. His wife died on 3 December 1958. On the fifth of Juli, 1960, he remarried Ida Jannie Lengtat.
In late 1960 Boy Edgar performed again for the first time. Initially this was a one-off, but the reactions were so enthusiastic that the VARA decided to broadcast a monthly concert by Edgar and his Boy's Big Band. During this period, Edgar was the director of the neuropathology laboratory Meer en Bosch in Heemstede.
Edgar made several full-length records during this period, won an Edison and regularly performed with international stars on radio and television. In 1964 he received the Wessel Ilcken Prize. The pinnacle of his artistic career was in the mid-60s, when Boy's Big Band recorded the LPs Now's the time (1965) and Finch Eye (1966). In October 1966 Edgar left for the United States to teach at a number of universities and conduct further research. He stayed in the United States for three years and returned in 1969.
Back in the Netherlands he became a doctor in Duivendrecht and the Bijlmermeer, but Edgar could no longer properly combine his work as a doctor and jazz. His Band, which had already fallen apart during his absence, was finally dissolved in 1971.
At the end of 1979 he quit his job as a general practitioner. A short time later he died at the age of 65. As a tribute, the Wessel Ilcken Prize, which he had won in 1964, was renamed to the VPRO/Boy Edgar Award in 1980; since 1992 it has been called the VPRO/Boy Edgar Award. This prize can be considered as the most important in the Dutch jazz world.
In 2018, Boy Edgar was posthumously awarded by Yad Vashem for his help to Jews during the Second World War.

Led Zeppelin - 1973 - Oxford 1973

Led Zeppelin
January 7, 1973
New Theatre
Oxford

Oxford 1973 / TDOLZ
Soundboard

101. Rock And Roll
102. Over The Hills And Far Away
103. Black Dog
104. Misty Mountain Hop
105. Since I've Been Loving You
106. Dancing Days
107. Bron-yr-Aur Stomp
108. The Song Remains The Same
109. The Rain Song

201. Dazed And Confused
202. Stairway To Heaven
203. Whole Lotta Love


“Oxford 1973” is a soundboard tape source with interesting and compelling results. The drums, keyboards and vocals are generally at the forefront. “Rock And Roll” has a bouncy and new-wave beat with Bonham establishing pace from the onset. “Over The Hills And Far Away” features Plant off key with his voice breaking up and with Bonham on fire up front in the mix which serves to highlight his frenzied instrumentation for a change. The track offers quite a different intoxicating ending. Plant’s voice breaks up some more on “Black Dog” but we find him trying to compensate while knowing full well of his vocal range limitations tonight. This is further evident in “Misty Mountain Hop” where Plant’s unusual delivery comes across as narrative in style. The track has a swing-like ending. It’s refreshing to hear “Since I’ve Been Loving You” with the keyboards, vocals and drums up front in the mix even as the track is lead by guitar. “Dancing Days” has swagger right from the start. Plant’s resilient delivery is filled with Bonham’s chops trying to fill the void of Plant’s vocal limitations making this song all the more danceable.

There was a nice measured pacing between tracks for the most part. Plant stated next: “This is a number that used to feature Mr. Bonham on vocals. It’s quite a spot in the night actually. But, I’m afraid that the sweet wine has got the best of his voice so it’s a two man vocal now. It’s about…It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s really about a dog who refused to be bathed, washed and brushed and spends alot of his time doing nothing. Sounds reasonable,…”Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”…You can even be of assistance with the mix”. It’s given a rowdy delivery with the lone guitar now right up front in the mix by default. It was great to hear the fanatical drum beat up front leading the unrelenting charge for “The Song Remains The Same”. It was also very interesting to hear Bonham swinging and catapulting into gear joining Page’s signature and all too familiar lead guitar. The shimmering mellotrone in crystal clear clarity was startling and soothing paired with the guitar on “Stairway To Heaven’. Plant was unable to hold the high registers. He introduced “Whole Lotta Love” by stating: “This last number is for our road managers that didn’t get arrested in Sheffield last night”. Plant couldn’t sing this number in proper key as his voice kept breaking up and the track cuts abruptly at 3:58.

Total disc time was 94:05 which falls quite short by Zeppelin standards. However, I found this performance overall to be very enjoyable and unique in its own right due to the unusual mix. There are reviewers who have come forward to state that this release has the guitar buried and that it is a bit bottom heavy. I think what we have here is more of an even-handed performance especially with the guitar a bit buried. I did not find the recording to be bottom heavy at all. The band sounds more balanced and Plant, ironically, sounds better not pushing the envelope. This release comes with the highest of recommendations given the clarity of the soundboard source and the extraordinary sounding performance of the band.

Pink Floyd - 1969 - Live In Amsterdam 1969

Pink Floyd
September 17, 1969
Concertgebouw
Amsterdam
Live In Amsterdam 1969 - Top Gear

Part I - The Man

01. Introduction 1:00
02. Daybreak 8:11
03. Work 3:53
04. Teatime 3:34
05. Afternoon 5:13
06. Doing It 4:03
07. Sleep 4:37
08. Nightmare 9:14
09. Daybreak (Part Two) 1:21

Part II - The Journey
01. The Beginning 4:55
02. Beset By The Creatures Of The Deep 6:27
03. The Narrow Way 5:13
04. The Pink Jungle 4:48
05. The Labyrinths Of Auximenes 6:39
06. Behold The Temple Of Light 5:31
07. The End Of The Beginning 6:54

This is the complete soundboard source as recorded by Hilversum 3 Radio and is the "raw" source HRV used for their remaster
Several concert recordings exist of The Man and The Journey and many people probably possess cd's of these pieces without realizing it. The Man and The Journey were two parts of “More Furious Madness From The Massed Gadgets of Auximines” and consisted of several well-known Floyd tunes linked into a concept piece as follows:

MORE FURIOUS MADNESS FROM THE MASSED GADGETS OF AUXIMENIES

PART ONE: THE MAN (representing a day in the life of a man)

Daybreak (“Grantchester Meadows”)
Work (Sawing, Hammering in a I fashion)
[the band was served afternoon tea on stage at this point]
Afternoon (“Biding My Time”)
Doing It (instrumental) (“Grand Vizier’s Garden Party, pt. 3”)
Sleep
Nightmare (“Cymbaline”)
Daybreak (reprise)

PART TWO: THE JOURNEY

The Beginning (“Green is the Colour”)
Beset By Creatures of the Deep (“Careful with that Axe, Eugene”)
The Narrow Way (“The Narrow Way, pt. 3”)
The Pink Jungle (“Pow R Toc H”)
The Labyrinths of Auximines (“Moonhead”)
Behold the Temple of Light
The End of the Beginning (“Saucerful of Secrets” — final part)

The complete piece lasted about 70 minutes.




Do any recordings exist ?

Officially, no. However, the following shows are known to be recorded and are circulating on tape:

14 April 69: Royal Festival Hall, London (I think the original performance. A tape of this show exists but is very very rare. Easily identifiable because it has IO as an encore. A lot of people still list the 26jun69 show as this show).
22 June 69: Free Trade hall, Manchester. Has Set the Controls as an encore, tape contains lots of cuts
26 June 69: Royal Albert Hall, London. a.k.a. The Final Lunacy. Brass and Choir on the closing section of a Journey. Two different recordings of this show are available.
8th August 69: Plumpton Festival The Journey only — Roger introduces it as “the second half of… a kind of concept thing… we did around the country a bit earlier this year.”
17 September 69: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Recorded and broadcasted by Dutch radio, and the source of many cd's. Recently the (almost) complete concert was rebroadcasted and treed on Echoes. This is the version to hunt for. The broadcast only misses the non-musical parts (Work, the bird noises in daybreak, etc.) and is in soundboard quality. This show had no encore. Behold the Temple Of Light lacks keyboards, because Rick Wright left his usual spot and ran to the big pipe organ of the Concertgebouw and plays that during the ‘The End of the Beginning’ section.

“Biding My Time”
There has been some debate as to who actually plays the trumpet during Biding My Time. Conrado Daws and Karl Magnacca settled this by providing the following information:

Rick Wright did, at least during live performances. We have a picture of him playing it in a “The Man”/”The Journey”-era concert, and, during the trumpet portion of the song, you can hear Roger-esque ass but no keyboard.

“So who or what is Auximines/Auximenes?”
No one knows. Dave Gilmour said in an interview that it might have been someone from Greek mythology, but he didn’t know for sure.
There is a Belgian (mining) company called Auximines.
It begs belief that the Floyd have released loads of inferior demo versions of tracks from The Wall but this remains unreleased and extremely hard to obtain, unless you want to remortgage your house to pay for it! The concepts are simply excellent, with The Man representing 24 hours in somebody's life, including Work (where I believe members even sawed up pieces of wood on stage) to Teatime (literally a tea-break in the middle of the gig) to Doing It (a drum solo with a recording of what sounds like John Lennon speaking) and the return of a ticking clock and birdsong following the eerie 'Nightmare' conclusion to Cymbaline.
Yes, you are going to hear live versions of some of the More tracks incorporated into the concepts, but they are simply amazing to hear in this format. My only criticism is the split second pauses between the tracks which slightly interrupt the continuity
The Journey includes the often bootlegged Behold the Temple of Light which uses 4 chords from the transition between parts 2 and 3 of Ummagumma's The Narrow Way to dramatic effect with huge percussive gong sounds.
Gilmour's vocal on The Narrow Way is a little wafty, but the rousing finale (actually the conclusion to A Saucerful of Secrets) may even rival the blistering live version on Ummagumma. The atmosphere from the audience is captured here too and adds to the charm of this recording IMO. There are even a few chuckles when tea is served.
It's such a shame that fans are virtually criminalised for listening to music they clearly want to hear, so come on guys, let's have a mainstream release, or do we forever have to scrabble about on YouTube to hear gems like this live set, Vegetable Man, Scream thy last Scream, Embryo, King Bee, Lucy Leave. . . I could go on!

Note, some versions omit Teatime and most of the Work section. Personally I feel that these non-musical tracks are essential to the concept.
In 1969 Pink Floyd were touring a show they called The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes. They would do 2 suites of songs, "The Man" and "The Journey", which varied somewhat from night to night. Later that year some of these songs turned up on More and Ummagumma, but here they are still carrying working titles which are different. Puzzlingly, for this show even the older songs were given different names; programmes from the tour list the titles seen here.
This 17 Sept Amsterdam show was broadcast by Dutch FM radio, and has very good stereo sound (by bootleg standards). It has been re-issued/re-packaged a great many times under different titles, so it can be tricky to avoid duplicates if you're collecting other '69 Floyd shows.

The re-named songs are:

"Daybreak" = Grantchester Meadows
"Work" = Biding My Time
"Doing It" = a bit of Grand Vizier's Garden Party
"Sleep" = Quicksilver
"Nightmare" = Cymbaline
"The Beginning" = Green is the Colour
"Beset by Creatures of the Deep" = Careful With That Axe Eugene
"The Pink Jungle" = Pow R. Toc H.
"The End of the Beginning" = the 'Celestial Voices' finale of Saucerful of Secrets

The songs all segue together, meaning there is little crowd noise. A radio host talks over the music a couple of times, sounding like he's covering a Dutch golf tourney, but this is a minor complaint.
What makes this recording so special is that the song versions here are often quite different and better than the studio ones. Often stunningly so! The instrumentals like "...Auximenes" and "Behold..." are unique to this tour and alone are worth getting hold of this recording for. Others, particularly "Teatime/Afternoon", were simply effects meant to showcase the quadraphonic PA system the band was using in live venues at the time. Fun if you happened to be in attendance, but merely a footnote for us now. "Work" (Biding My Time) was also unique to this tour until a studio version was finally issued on 1971's Relics compilation. The version of "Pow R. Toc H" (called The Pink Jungle here) will really amaze you if you've only heard the '67 official one.

A word about Dave Gilmour's shockingly off-key vocals here and there: Since his problem seems to be a unique to this show, perhaps the venue lacked proper stage monitors - still a common issue in 1969. Without stage monitors at a rock show, singers cannot hear themselves, with predictably dire vocal results. It seems likely that's what happened here. Still, Gilmour's issue in no way reduces the overall value of this unique recording.

I've been a casual Floyd fan for over 35 years, and this year marks the first time I've heard this amazing show. Pink Floyd were at their best during 1968-72, and this show is truly a highlight of that period.

Pink Floyd - 1969 - Plumpton 1969

Pink Floyd
1969-08-08
9th National Jazz & Blues Festival
Plumpton


Plumpton 1969/Sigma 233

01. Introduction
02. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
03. Cymbaline "The Journey" Suite
04. The Beginning
05. Beset By Creatures Of The Deep
06. The Narrow Way
07. The Pink Jungle
08. The Labyrinths Of Auximines
09. Behind The Temple Of Light
10. The End Of The Beginning
11. Interstellar Overdrive



There are two known recordings for the Plumpton gig, the first referred to as recorder 1 was recorded by Anders V and is an incomplete audience source clocking in at 36 minutes. It is very clear and detailed with just a small amount of tape hiss, easily falling into the very good plus range. However, due to it being an open air gig, the sound is thin yet the instruments and vocals are nicely balanced and features the first part of the performance, from the introduction through The Narrow Way. The second source is again an audience recording taped by Nick Ralph, an early Floyd enthusiast who also recorded the Southampton 1969 and Royal Albert Hall 1969 shows. His recording captures the complete show in very good sound quality, it is again clear and detailed although sometimes is hard to initially hear as it has more hiss than source 1. It also has a better frequency range, much fuller sounding with quite nice bottom end and very much compliments the first tape. The first source is used through the 4:52 mark of The Narrow Way, the remainder comes from recorder 2, the transitions of tape sources is excellent and while you can clearly here the differences in recordings it does not hamper ones enjoyment of the performance.

The only release of the Plumpton concert to date is an old Highland title The Journey Through The Past (Highland-HL195) that uses recorder 1 and adds A Saucerful Of Secrets from the Pepperland 1970 concert. I was curious how these would compare so I pulled out my copy of the Highland release. It actually holds up well, this new Sigma version is not as loud and has just a bit more hiss, it also has a warmer feel and better frequency range making it much easier on the ears, the Highland sound almost brittle in comparison. It should also be noted that a two source composite was done by the Yeeshkul community, that is not the source for this release but a CD-R version of that set was offered as “bonus” for this set by some distributors. I snagged some info from that torrent I thought gave some insightful information on the event itself:

One of 42 acts scheduled, the Floyd were booked to appear at 10.25 p.m. for an hour on Friday 8 August, following UFO club friends and rivals Soft Machine and closing the first night of the three-day festival. Future collaborators Ron Geesin and Roy Harper appeared on the other two days, along with major groups such as The Who.

The festival comperes, one of whom can be heard at the start of recorder 1, at the end of The Journey on this recording and after the encore, were John C Gee (Marquee Club) and Colin Caldwell (Marquee Studios).

Including a nice Ummagumma style sleeve photo, the event programme noted in the style of the time that Pink Floyd’s “music is so highly personal many a pagan has been converted to their musical conceptions.” For their “unique, avant garde” contribution to proceedings records show that the band were paid £600.

Because of power problems affecting the preceding bands, some accounts suggest the Floyd played their set in the early hours of Saturday morning when, it’s commonly reported, a good part of the audience had gone to sleep. It’s possible therefore that we should therefore really be referring to the date of this tape as 9 August 1969. International Times 63 records the start time differently, however, suggesting the “the Floyd finally appeared at 11, very cool and unconcerned by it all.”

IT went on to say that “their sound was as nicely balanced as it’s ever been outdoors but there was a controlling restraint that went through the first part of their set which was unfortunate under the circumstances, as already there were hang-ups with the last train.”

The recording features the intro “…welcome to the Pink Floyd” to a nice round of applause, one that is equal to Roger’s introduction of “This is a song called Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”. The song continues to evolve just three months after the live recordings that would be featured on Ummagumma, there is a very nice improvisation section just before the second set of lyrics that sounds a bit like the Storm Section of A Saucerful Of Secrets. Richard tests the seabirds sound effects during the tune ups, Roger introduces the next song as “This is a much newer song, its called Cymbaline”, written for the recently released More soundtrack, the song was also part of “The Man” segment where it was entitled Nightmare/ Daybreak, this version is nice and melancholy and sans footsteps section.

“Some of you may have seen we did a kind of concert thing around the country a bit earlier this year, and this, which is what we’re gonna do now ’til we finish, is the second half of that concert. It’s called The Journey”. The piece begins with the paring of Green Is The Colour into Careful With That Axe, Eugene aka The Beginning and Beset By Creatures Of The Deep. Rogers’s screams during Beset drown out Gilmour’s leads and while the beginning is rather up tempo once the violence subsides they get into some really ambient playing that surely will be expanded upon in the coming years.

One of my favorite pieces of the studio side of Ummagumma is David Gilmour’s The Narrow Way, dramatic and very haunting and one pretty heavy as well, I love the live versions from The Journey as well as the BBC Sessions. The Pink Jungle is a very cool take on Pow R Toc H, very interesting hearing Roger’s vocals, part owl part Eugene. The Pink Jungle, The Labyrinths Of Auximines is a variation of A Saucerful Of Secrets with some wonderful bubbling sounds inter spaced over the top and really is a musical description the songs title, or vice versa. This leads into the footsteps and doors soundscape that would feature heavy in future versions of Cymbaline and become a highlight of future live performances.

Behold The Temple Of Light is a rather monotone instrumental piece that is not really interesting but a variation of a small piece of The Narrow Way, The End Of The Beginning is the Celestial Voices from A Saucerful Of Secrets and a stunning ending to an avant garde music piece, it is easy to see why this stayed in the live repertoire versus The Man, it is a more coherent music piece and very enjoyable. The encore is a superb version of Interstellar Overdrive, Roger plays some very aggressive bass runs leading into a Gilmour and Wright trading what can only be described to as “notes” and the song, the recording is cut at the 10:50 mark just as the band were getting into the coda, strange as their is a bit of audience noise cheering afterwards.

The packaging is typical for Sigma, bright hot pink coloured cover adorned with live shots of the group, ticket stub, and a couple different posters. First off this is an excellent sounding document of a superb mid 1969 performance by Pink Floyd as complete as we will ever get. Secondly it’s about time. The 1967-1969 years of Pink Floyd have largely been ignored by Sigma, sadly as this period is very interesting and very transitional, one can only hope they will look deeper into the well and give us more.

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Pink Floyd ‎- 1969 - The Man And The Journey: Legendary London 1969 Performances

Pink Floyd
1969
The Man And The Journey: Legendary London 1969 Performances


Eat A Peach! ‎– EAT 74/75/76/77

April 14th, 1969
Royal Festival Hall
Southbank, London

Afternoon Rehearsal
101. Biding My Time
102. The Beginning / Beset By Creatures Of The Deep
103. Variation On Theme Of Nightmare
104. Sleep
105. Organ Exercises (The End Of The Beginning)

The Man
106. Daybreak (Part 1)
107. Work
108. Doing It!
109. Afternoon
110. Sleep
111. Nightmare
112. Daybreak (Part 2)

The. Journey
201. The Beginning
202. Beset By Creatures Of The Deep
203. The Narrow Way (Part 3)
204. The Pink Jungle
205. The Labyrinths Of Auximenes
206. Behold The Temple Of Light
207. The End Of The Beginning

Encore
208. Interstellar Overdrive

Bonus Track
209. Nightmare / Daybreak (Part 2)

June 26th, 1969
Royal Albert Hall
Kensington, London

The Man
301. Afternoon
302. Doing It!
303. Sleep
304. Nightmare
305. Daybreak (Part 2)

The Journey
401. The Beginning
402. Beset By Creatures Of The Deep
403. The Narrow Way (Part 3)
404. The Pink Jungle
405. The Labyrinths Of Auximenes
406. Behold The Temple Of Light
407. The End Of The Beginning

Encore
408. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun



In early 1969 there started to be a major shift in the Pink Floyd’s live performances, gone were the psychedelic free from dance raves, now the band was starting to be embraced by a more intellectual crowd, one that would want to quietly listen to the music and the band’s ability to not only recreate the music on their records, but expand upon it, yes it was the early days of what would become Progressive rock. So instead of investing is lighting and projectors, the band would Cutie their wages by investing in their sound system, the early culmination of the investment was certainly the Azimuth Coordinator, a 360 degree surround sound system. To showcase the new direction, the group would take existing material and present it in a way that would also include a bit of their theatrical influences also, the music would form two long form pieces of music, the individual songs would become movements of the main themes. These early explorations were given names, the first half would be referred to as “The Man” with a running theme of a persons routine in a daily time span. The second half would be called “The Journey”, a theme that could be more open to interpretation of an inner mind to possibly a theological journey. This early experiment would be the group’s first sojourn into a conceptual piece of music and be the foundation for much of the output of the following decade.

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London, England – April 14, 1969

Billed as “The Massed Gadgets Of Auximenes – More Furious Madness From Pink Floyd”, the London debut of The Man And The Journey would be performed at the 2,500 seat Royal Festival Hall, quite a feet considering the group was banned from the venue a couple years prior. With the revolutionary sound system still in its early stages, the aftermath of the performance left the group a bit disappointed and while press reviews were mainly positive, most thought of it as a good rehearsal. What the performance did was to give confidence to the group and to promoters that they were a group worth promoting, and certainly the group could stay the course of musical vision.

There are two tape sources for this performance, the first is from Anthony Stern, who was asked to film the entire performance yet did not go through the correct channels and was only able to film the groups rehearsals the day of the event. The 25 minute documentary is the source of the first part of this set. The recording is excellent, clear and detailed yet very fragmentary. You do hear some snippets of dialog and you can get the sense that Roger Waters is certainly the one in charge and giving much direction. It should be noted that the video does circulate in trading circles and is a fascinating piece of Celluloid Pink Floyd history.

The second recording is an audience source of the complete concert. It is a fair to good yet distant recording, the press on this title claim it is from a new tape transfer. This concert was previously circulated on two main titles, first is The Massed Gadgets Of Auximenes (Highland HL 282) a title that has eluded me for some time, so my only previous copy of this show was on CD-R as The Massed Gadgets Of Auximenes (Harvested CDR 009). When compared to the Harvested release this new release has a layer of hiss not found on the Harvested title, it is most notable at the beginning of the concert, Daybreak (part 1) is Grantchester Meadows and is performed acoustically making it difficult to hear and enjoy the song. Much of this early performance of The Man is improvised instrumental pieces, save for Daybreak and Sleep and at times can be a challenging listening experience, yet once one finds a quiet time, for me at night when the bustle of the day is over, I found myself picking up detail I did not hear during the day.

The second half performance of The Journey is much more concise as it contains more structured pieces of music. The early pairing of Green Is The Colour > Careful With That Axe Eugene aka The Beginning > Beset By Creatures Of The Deep is nice, the early versions of Eugene / Beset have a fast pace to them quite different than the versions that will evolve over the next few years. The Pink Jungle sounds very interesting, like a bubbling soundscape and one of the few themes to have carried over from the Syd era of the Floyd. The group get a nice ovation after The Journey is complete, some punter screams out “Interstellar Overdrive”, his cries will be rewarded as that is the nights encore after which another loud ovation and in true Floyd fashion the last thing you here on the tape is a “Wow”, very fitting. There is a bonus track, Nightmare / Daybreak in much better quality, the source is again from the Anthony Stern tape and even though he was not allowed to film the band he did anyway and this is all that exists of the evening performance as he was discovered and promptly kicked out!

Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, England – June 26, 1969

After the London premier at the Royal Festival Hall in April, the Floyd would play various gigs around the UK, a few were recorded for their next record, the half live half studio Ummagumma plus some sporadic festival appearances. The group would return to London to play the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in June 1969, a concert billed as “The Final Lunacy”. For the occasion they would be joined by the brass section of the Royal Philharmonic and The Ladies Of The Ealing Central Amateur Choir for the ending of The Journey. There is one tape source for this concert, sadly incomplete missing Daybreak (part 1), and Work. The audience recording is a solid good just a bit distant with very little hiss and was recorded by a chap named Bernard, who captured the event nicely. The best that circulates is a 1st Gen, and this version found on this new release sounds like that version of the tape.

Being more clear and detailed than the April performance, the band’s playing during this concert is also more confident and have played it several times, there is a level of comfort as well. Sleep is a variation of Quicksilver from the More soundtrack, the breathing over the lush soundscape is particularly enjoyable, Nightmare is not an instrumental piece as found on the earlier performance but is now Cymbaline, again from More with an intense middle section.

The End Of The Beginning aka Celestial Voices from A Saucerful Of Secrets is very long, Richard Wright starts on the Halls massive pipe organ sounding quite majestic, the Philharmonic Brass comes in a bit awkwardly but get it together quickly but when the women’s Choir comes in it is really very nice, they add a spiritually epic feel to the piece. One listen and you can almost here the origins of Atom Heart Mother, I am sure this had a major influence on the band. An excellent version of Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun finishes off the evenings festivities and reportedly a Pink smoke bomb was let off, infuriating the Hall management who reportedly banned the Floyd! An excellent end to a piece of Pink Floyd history.

The packaging for this title is incredible, the typical mini LP sleeve with four mini sleeves for each CD, the pictures on each tie in with each other, the 8 page booklet is adorned with Relics style illustrations as well as liner notes from The Lazy Goalkeeper, it also includes a breakdown of each piece of both suites. The CD’s also have pictures on them, of 60’s era Marvel Comics mixed in with The Man And Journey graphics. For Floyd collectors, like myself, this release is like a wet dream. Excellent packaging and very relevant material that fills a gap in my collection as I have precious few documents from 1969, perhaps other labels should take notice of a release like this. So far I am blown away by the Eat A Peach Floyd titles and cannot wait to see what they do next.

Pink Floyd - 1967 - Copenhagen 1967 3rd Night

Pink Floyd
1967-09-13
The Star Club
Copenhagen, Denmark
..

Copenhagen 1967 3rd Night / Sigma 241

01 Reaction In G
02 Arnold Layne
03 One In A Million
04 Matilda Mother
05 Scream Thy Last Scream
06 Astronomy Domine




Copenhagen 1967 is the second circulating audience recording of Pink Floyd and one of just three amateur recordings from the Syd Barrett period. Audience recordings from this period for most bands, not just the Floyd, are of average quality for two reasons. First off, concert sound systems were not that advanced and secondly, recording equipment was limited, the fact that there are early recordings at all is something to be applauded. This new release from Sigma explores one of these early audience recordings from the Barrett days, a recording that has been in circulation for some time and is really getting an upgrade thanks to the Yeeshkul group, whose goal to preserve the live history of Pink Floyd provides source material for many of the bootleg titles on the market.

First off lets get some history on the recording itself. It was made by a local musician Casrsten V who recorded on an unknown recording device. His master tape was copied by a fellow Michael K on reel to reel. Martin Balsam made a cassette copy of this reel and came into circulation by the famous Pink Floyd collector Rolf Ossenburg, the Martin B tape would thus be a third generation from the master and considered the best that circulates. Like many recordings, there are several versions of the tape and the Master audio technician Jimfisheye was provided the Martin B tape and another that is only referred to as Low Gen for use on this project. Both recordings had slightly different sound characteristics, so both were used, one in one channel, one in the other. While both recordings are mono it gives an almost stereo effect to the sound, add some mastering into the project and JFE was able to get, in most opinion, the best sounding version of this tape in circulation.

There have been other releases of this show on bootleg, Star Club Psycho (Black Panther BPCD 032), Stone Rust (Oil Well RSC 107), and the copy I have had in my collection for years, Stoned Alone (Night Tripper AST-552). These old silver titles are all quite old by now, for years one of the most popular versions of this recording circulated in fan sites as What Syd Wants (Harvested HRV CDR 032). Just for old times sake I’ll compare this new Sigma to Stoned Alone. Wow, no comparison, this new title is stunning. The sound is much cleaner, less muddled and has wonderful instrument separation, a major upgrade, so much that you don’t need to try hard to discern what is going on. As most know Syd’s vocals are extremely low in the mix, no fault of the recording, more to the fact that the onstage vocal PA was not loud enough to compete with the instrumental power of Pink Floyd. There is the occasion sound fluctuation and just a very small amount of tape hiss as one would expect. Having never ventured passed Stoned Alone I am blown away by the sound on this title and can now not only enjoy this recording, but can also listen and take in this historic performance.

The recording begins with Reaction In G, guitar, bass, and drums are all audible, it is difficult to pick out Richard Wright until the three minute area you can begin to pick up his organ. The playing is quite furious, Syd is playing very well and delivers some really great lead type runs, these are being accentuated by Roger’s wonderful bass lines. Syd’s vocals can be heard rather nicely during Arnold Layne, so much that I did not have an issue making out the lyrics, Richard Wright plays a nice yet short organ lead on the song as well.

One In A Million features vocals by Roger, the count in to the song is clear and the song is quite heavy and pondering. He would later use a variation of this for the song Corpral Clegg on the A Saucerful Of Secrets album. Matilda Mother features Richard Wright’s organ very clear in the mix and leads the band, Syd and Roger seem to pick up the pace pushing the song and making for some really nice improvisation. Scream Thy Last Scream was one of the aborted Syd songs that was played at all three known live Syd recordings, very heavy sounding with the band hammering the audience’s ears, the then unknown song gets mild applause. The last song of the set is Astronomy Domine, it is what I would call a standard version capping off a very good performance that shows how good the Syd Barrett Pink Floyd were as a live act.

The packaging is typical Sigma, live and posed shots of the band that are coloured to give a psychedelic light show effect. First off this is a very short disc, Sigma have elected not to include any filler, after listening to the 36 minutes of music in this quality, what could they have put on here to follow this? All marks go to Jimfisheye for his incredible work on this project. Let’s hope Sigma decides to delve into the Floyd recordings from the late 60’s more as the 67-69 years have largely been ignored by the label. Until then, for the Pink Floyd collector this is an essential title to own.

Pink Floyd - 1967 - Happening At The Golden Circle

Pink Floyd
1967
Happening At The Golden Circle 


(Godfather Records GR 704)

September 10, 1967
Gyllene Cirkeln
Stockholm, Sweden

01. Announcement
02. Mathilda Mother
03. Pow R. Toc H.
04. Scream Thy Last Scream
05. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
06. See Emily Play
07. Interstellar Overdrive

Bonus Tracks:

December 6, 1969
Afan Lido Sports Centre
Port Talbot, UK

08. Interstellar Overdrive
09. Green Is The Color
10. Careful,With That Axe, Eugene
11. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun



Pink Floyd’s debut LP Piper At The Gates Of Dawn was released in early September, 1967. It was met with very positive reviews in the press with writers pointing out how it captured their style of psychedelic rock. They followed with a short tour of Scandinavia, their first visit to the US and a lengthy UK tour with Jimi Hendrix. 

Happening At The Golden Circle documents the September 10th show at the Golden Circle in Stockholm. The second night in Scandinavia (following a show in Arhus, Denmark), Pink Floyd played on a bill with two other band before a small audience of about 300 people. 

Floyd’s set was recorded by Anders Lind, one of the key figures in the Swedish progressive music scene. He used professional microphones on a Revox tape recorder which resulted in a very clear and enjoyable tape of the entire hour long set. It isn’t the only audience tape from 1967 in circulation (a tape from the September 13th show at the Star Club in Copenhagen also exists), but this is the best sounding.

It is good enough to draw some interest from EMI, who have approached Lind for the tape for possible inclusion on an expanded edition of Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn in 2011. 

To celebrate its finding, The Golden Circle hosted an event in May 2011 to play the tape before an audience. With Pink Floyd being represented by dummies, they sought to reproduce that evening forty years ago. Even though the hosts begged attendees to not tape the show for fear that EMI will not use it, several people taped it onto DAT anyway. 

The tape begins with the announcer introducing the band. An opening eight minute instrumental, titled either “Before Or Since” (since Roger Waters remarks on the tape that it’s not something heard before or since), or perhaps “Reaction In G,” is unfortunately edited out of the performance. 

Poor PAs are a characteristic of this tour. They complained about it in the press, and is very noticeable on this tape. The vocals are very low to being non-existent. Much of the show sounds like long improvisations, especially in the first two numbers “Mathilde Mother” and “Pow R Toc H.” 

“Scream Thy Last Scream” is Barrett’s latest single, a follow up to “See Emily Play,” and is his personal highlight in the set. The middle section has hard and abrasive riffs reminiscent of punk. It reaches an intense climax before coming to an end. 

Roger Waters’ “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” follows. His vocals can be heard quite clearly. It’s a quick tempo performance but it still gives a glimpse into their “space rock” phase yet to come, a structured psychedelic masterpiece. 

“See Emily Play” is the nicest surprise. Although there are several TV performances, this is the first recording of the song in front of a live audience in a concert setting. The vocals are very low but the instruments are clear. The sped-up piano in the studio recording is replaced by a stomping riff used to mark time. It is a tricky song to play live and there are some rough parts, but Barrett’s slide guitar is very interesting. 

The set closes with a nine minute “Interstellar Overdrive.” It sounds very aggressive with a brilliant improvisation in the middle. 

Godfather include the AFAN Festival fragment from 1969 as filler. This appearance in Wales occurs soon after Ummagumma was released and is their final live performance in the sixties. 

It is an audience recording taped close to the stage. Making its silver disc debut, it’s not a bad recording, but it is very short. “Interstellar Overdrive” is the first track on the tape and is much advanced compared to early versions. It is very dramatic with Nick Mason’s syncopated jungle rhythms punctuating Waters’ thumping bass and Wright’s swirling keyboards. It’s a brilliant performance which is unfortunately cut after twelve minutes.

“Green Is The Colour” segues with a particularly brutal “Careful With That Axe, Eugene.” The tape ends with a long and spacy version of “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun.” 

Happening At The Golden Circle is packaged in a trifold gatefold sleeve with many photographs of the May 2011 event reproduced inside. Its release probably means EMI won’t use the tape for their expanded edition of Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. It’s a silly threat really since the opening jam still hasn’t been heard. Hopefully the record label is merely bluffing and we’ll soon hear the complete set.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Led Zeppelin - 1969 - Live At Whisky A Go-Go!!! (EVSD)

Led Zeppelin
January 5, 1969
Whiskey A Go-Go
Los Angeles, CA


Live At Whisky A Go-Go!!! / EVSD

01. As long as i have you
02. I can't quit you
03. The train kept a rollin'
04. Babe im gonna leave you
05. Dazed and confused
06. Killing floor
07. For your love



The group is billed with Alice Cooper as opening act, which lists them as: "Led Zeppelin featuring Jimmy Page, formerly of the Yardbirds". Upon their arrival to California, Page suffers from a fever and is forced to eliminate the 2nd set from these series of shows.

RODNEY BINGENHEIMER: " I was at the Whisky A Go Go and it was Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin and I emceed the show; I introduced them. I remember afterwards backstage at the Whisky Jimmy had a really bad case of flu and he was practically turning green."

ALICE COOPER: "We did a show with Led Zeppelin at the Whisky A Go Go which holds maybe 300 people and nobody had heard of either one of us, we were just local bands as far as LA went. It was really a fun night. They all had the flu, so everyone was throwing up backstage. But the fact that Jimmy Page was in The Yardbirds was a big deal for us, and I’d just met Robert Plant and these guys. They were great, we really got along, but we had to flip a coin to see who was going to go on first. Nobody had any say over it because we were both unheard of, so we kind of condescended and said, 'No we’ll open for you guys because Jimmy Page was in The Yardbirds'."


At one time Empress Valley, known for packaging, remastering and finding new sources, were at the cutting edge for Led Zeppelin releases. Their most notable releases have been the 1975 soundboards. But since the release of the Nassau Coliseum 1975 show, they have been focusing not upon new releases as much as repacking and reissuing their back catalogue. Deep Throat, Royal Albert Hall and Orlando Magic are a few reissues and their latest are Maple Leaf Gardens and Firecrackers Explosions. 


Live At Whisky A Go-Go!!! is perhaps Empress Valley’s most impressive release. Coming out late in 2006, it was a tremendously exciting release at the time and there were rumors that the taper had reel to reels for all of the Whisky shows and that Empress Valley would follow with the other nights. Nothing has surfaced in the intervening years however. 

Empress Valley first released the Whisky tape on both a DVDA and audio disc, but lately they have reissued the audio disc alone in a cheaply packaged, moderately affordable edition. This is good news since the original title is sold out and good news to those who are not wholly impressed with the DVDA format to begin with. The sound quality of the reissue is identical to the older one. And in the spirit of recycling past efforts, at the time my review of the show stated

Led Zeppelin played their first concerts in Los Angeles right after New Years’ Day in 1969 with four nights at the trendy Whisky A Go-Go on Sunset Strip. They shared the bill with Alice Cooper and took turns on succeeding nights as to who would be the headliner. Unlike the San Francisco shows, Zeppelin played one long set instead of two shorter ones. Rumors have circulated for many years that these shows were taped by a member of the audience and stories circulated in 2003 around the one who taped The Yardbirds’ final run of shows at the Shrine Auditorium in March, 1968 but those stories turned out to be false.

On Live At Whisky A Go-Go!!!, Empress Valley have finally found and released one of the tapes from this legendary run of shows. This tape of the final of four nights is a very good complete audience recording taped on reel-to-reel very close to the stage. The audience sounds very small (less than one hundred) and are very quiet and attentive with no obstructions what so ever. Of the 1969 audience recordings in existence this is among the better. Page’s guitar dominates in the mix with the vocals pushed back and there are trace amounts of hiss in quieter passages. Further, there is residue from an earlier recording on the tape that bleeds through in the early parts of the show.

It is imperfect but still a wonderful recording capturing Zeppelin at such an early stage. Jimmy Page mentioned that he had the flu this week and received medication from a physician so he can play and the performance is mind-boggling considering the conditions. The tape begins with some tuning and Plant’s sound check before he says “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Can everybody hear me? This is the last night from Led Zeppelin”. The set begins with the “As Long As I Have You” medley. It was usually played in the middle of the set although it served as the opener for the May 27th Boston show (and also its final recorded appearance).

This version is eleven minutes long and Plant sings Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” over the band playing “Fresh Garbage”. After the “Hush Little Baby” section Jones tries to lead the band into Ray Charles’ “Hit The Road Jack” but the band don’t follow and end the piece as usual. “I Can’t Quit You” is played second as usual and at the song’s conclusion Plant says, “we’ll do things in a different order. We want to get people to rock and roll…This is called ‘Train'” before “Train Kept A Rollin'”. This is followed by the earliest live version of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” which Plant introduces by saying, “It is traditional. You can hear this on the fantastic album coming out on the fifteenth, Herman’s Hermits Live At The Whisky A Go-Go”.

“Dazed & Confused” is introduced as another song from the album coming out and is very close to the studio version including the crescendo at the end. Plant begins the following number by saying, “if anybody was here last night…you know how we were saying we were getting over the flu…well we’ve all got it back again. We’re pleased to be here. We’ll carry on with a thing from Muddy Waters. We got it together anyway, by Howlin’ Wolf. This is a thing called ‘Killing Floor’ and I think that just about sums it up.” This version is very short, contains Page playing some very fast scales and omits Plant’s “squeeze my lemon ’till the juice runs down my leg” part. 

“For Your Love” is the final song of the set and is introduced as something written by Keith Relf and was a number one hit for The Yardbirds. “Does anybody remember Keith Relf?…This is written by the bloke who wrote their numbers.” The only other recorded live version is from the Fillmore West five days after this in a fair to good recording, so it is a tremendous blessing to have a version so well recorded. It sounds very similar to the San Francisco version with psychedelic feedback and ending with a very long scream by Plant. There is a small cut around 4:17 omitting a bit of the guitar solo but is otherwise complete and ends with Plant saying good night.