Show 195 - Elton John - Live At Hammersmith Odeon London - 24 Dec 1974

 

 

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A quick request. If you plan on downloading this and putting it on your own YouTube channel or bootleg page - I don't mind. But a credit to this website where you found it and a link back to this page would be really appreciated. It helps me gauge which artists are popular - ie more chance of other restorations coming. Don't just steal it, cut out the intro and outro and take the credit. Thanks.

The Show
A full show recorded and broadcast at the time on FM radio and TV - however, it seems some was broadcast on FM radio in stereo and some was on TV, in mono. Somewhere along the line, somebody put the whole show together from the FM and TV recordings, so hats off to them for that. I was asked by a client to restore some Elton John live recordings, including this one. This was the last of several nights Elton played at the Hammersmith Odeon that week. Listen out for Rod Stewart, who makes an appearance for White Christmas, at the end of the show. And enjoy the band, they are phenomenally good.

What Was Done
I found a couple of spots in the show where the original recording levels were too high and distortion was introduced so I've done what I could to reduce the effect of that. There were some dropouts which I fixed. Also some clicks here and there throughout the recording were removed. Some high pitched FM interference whistling at 1 point was taken out, and an odd rumble noise at 1 point. 

Once that was done, the recording was then split up again to allow stereo and mono parts of the gig to be treated separately. I got to work with EQ and the usual studio toys to bring some clarity to the sound mix. The TV mono parts were processed separately to blend better with the stereo parts, and then once everything was merged back together. the complete recording was mastered to make it clearer and more powerful. It sounds like a really great recording now and hopefully is the best version of this gig yet.

The All Important Download Link

You can now download or stream this repaired, restored and remastered version of this show as one 320kbps MP3 file exclusively for FREE by clicking right HERE.

Setlist
Skyline Pigeon
I Need You To Turn To
Border Song
Take Me To The Pilot
Country Comfort
Holiday Inn
High Flying Bird
Burn Down The Mission
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
Candle In the Wind
Grimsby
Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Daniel
Grey Seal
Bennie and the Jets
Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds
I Saw Her Standing There
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me
Honky Cat
Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
Crocodile Rock
The Bitch is Back
Your Song
White Christmas

Supporting The Site

If you want to support the work I do on these recordings, and the site, and (if you wish to) obtain separate, fully tagged 320kbps MP3s of this restoration for less than the price of a coffee in return, or lossless FLACs or even a lossless copy on CDRs, head on over to the Rewards For Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs. There is no obligation to do so of course - you can take the file on this page absolutely for free - but every single donation does go towards this site and domain/storage costs, and helps the site stay open, and helps me do more shows. Either way, enjoy the show.

Subscribe And Share

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And if you like this recording, please spread the news and share the page link to anyone you think might be interested - Facebook fan groups, web forums, Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram are a great way of spreading the word - that way, I always find out which bands are popular and can do more shows by them in the future. So please tell ya mates about the site and this page! Many thanks.

Show 144 - Roxy Music - Live In Paris, 27 Nov 1974

A bit of a gem, this one. I acquired (can't remember where, now) a first generation digital copy taken from the original master tape. Credit for that transfer from tape 100% goes to the now seemingly long defunct "Hal's Progressive Rock Blog" online who apparently was given access to the tape some years ago - it was being thrown out by the radio station that recorded and broadcast it!

The original recording is mono, so I've not only done some work on that but also created (and worked on separately) a new pseudo stereo master which does sound really good, I think.

I had to do a fair bit of work fixing a few clicks and tape dropouts which were quite fiddly, before creating the stereo version. Then the fixed mono and stereo files were separately EQed to bring out the best in this recording.

You can safely download all of this improved recording either in mono or stereo at the links below, all as as one 320 kbps MP3 file - no pop ups or adverts getting in the way.

Restored Mono Version

Restored Pseudo Stereo Version

Or, if you would like to support the site with a small donation towards storage subscription and internet costs, in return you can have the remastered show as separate, properly tagged MP3s or even lossless files in FLAC format; head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can do this.

Either way - enjoy the show!

Setlist
Out of the Blue
A Song For Europe
Three and Nine
If It Takes All Night
In Every Dream Home A Heartache
If There is Something
All I Want Is You

Show 108 - Sparks - Live at The Record Plant Hollywood - September 1974

A first showing for Sparks on Live and Loud! and hopefully not the last. A great set from a publicity appearance at The Record Plant in front of a select audience - the first of two sets I think.

The original recording was also available once as a bootleg entitled One and a Half-Nelson and was basically clean, if a bit thin and rather hissy. So I cleaned up the hiss - leaving a little in, to avoid that suffocating "everything sounds underwater" quality so many recordings have get when hiss has been removed badly. After that, it was out with a 30 band graphic EQ to tighten up the bass and drums and take away a bit of harshness which was noticeable on the vocals and Ron's piano, and to reshape the sound a bit to make it clearer.

Fairly subtle changes which will really be heard if you listen on good 'phones or speakers. If you've never heard the original bootleg, well you're in for a treat! A short set but with plenty of chatting from Russell in between songs. All in all, its a great record of Sparks not long after they hit the bigtime in 1974. Mainly songs from Kimono My House but two tracks also from Propaganda (which was released a month or 2 later) make an appearance too.

The show is available to download here as 1 MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate tagged MP3s, or even lossless files in FLAC format, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs.

Setlist
Hasta Manana Monsieur    
Something For The Girl With Everything    
Talent Is An Asset    
Thanks God It’s Not Christmas    
B.C.    
Here In Heaven    
This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us    
Amateur Hour

Radio Prog 2: Kraftwerk: HR1 Frankfurt Radio Concert 25 January 1974

Live and Loud! Radio is an occasional series of free downloads, starting January 2017. Radio sessions that never got an official release, sympathetically repaired and remastered and then released onto the internet.

No theme tune, no intro from me - just the original session, repaired and remastered and available in a downloadable zip file.

Live and Loud! Radio Prog 2: Kraftwerk: HR1 Frankfurt Radio Concert, 25 January 1974

Tracklisting
Introduction
Klingklang
Ruckzuck
Radio Announcer
Atem

Tongebirge
Tanzmusik
Radio Announcer 
Kohoutek/Kometenmelodie I & II

This is a concert specifically created for radio - Kraftwerk were top of a bill featuring 3 acts - more information is available in the download.

The zip file contains the show and a text file with more information about the original concert and a translation of the German radio announcer. You can get it by clicking here.

The original recording has a basic mix with each instrument in a particular place in the stereo image - electronic percussion was bizarrely over on the extreme left, so I've reshaped the stereo image and moved the percussion slightly just to take away the unpleasant effect of having the percussion overload the left hand side too much. I then used 30 band EQ to enhance bass and upper frequencies, creating more "space" in the tracks between the instruments and bringing out detail which you can't hear on the original (to those interested, a screenshot of the EQ is in the zip too).

If you know anyone who wants a copy of these tracks, I'd rather you redirect anyone to this page for a copy but if you do redistribute please use the original zip with the tracks and info file! Thank you. :)

Show 7: David Bowie - Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, USA, 5 September 1974

I was really pleased to find this one - from the later, second leg of the the 1974 tour, an alternative gig to the gigs in Philadelphia which formed the official release David Live! with some different band members. Its a full soundboard recording - and of course, a complete live record of one gig, not a composite. It  responded pretty well to some tarting up!

I'm happy to say the remaster I did was downloaded nearly 2000 times in the time it was up, so thanks to all who grabbed it and spread the word. However, the link to this show has now been removed.

Why? Well, it was released officially for the first time in 2017 for Record Store Day - and Tony Visconti himself remastered from the original tapes - while my remaster was a big improvement on the existing bootlegs, the gig will never sound better than with TV remastering it. And in keeping with my own thoughts on this - once the whole recording is released officially it comes off the archive. More info on the official release here.

EDIT May 2017: The vinyl reissue is now being made available on CD too! Great news. Check it out here


Setlist
1984
Rebel Rebel
Moonage Daydream
Sweet Thing
Changes
Suffragette City
Aladdin Sane (1913-1938-197?)
All the Young Dudes
Cracked Actor
Rock 'n' Roll With Me
Knock on Wood
It's Gonna Be Me
Space Oddity
Diamond Dogs
Big Brother
Time
The Jean Genie
Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
John, I'm Only Dancing