Ticket stub for Legion of Mary, April 5, 1975, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ - 11:30 PM late show NB misspelling of "Capital". Image courtesy of gdsets.com
Very listenable audience tape with everything present. Nice show - I like everything here, even "Sitting In Limbo", which I don't always love. "Wicked Messenger" - my goodness, what a great cover. Great energy throughout, including for the public debut of Fats Domino's "All By Myself", which might think would require the boogie-woogie piano, but does just fine here with the organ.
LEGION OF MARY
Capitol Theatre
326 Monroe Street
Passaic, NJ 07055
April 5, 1975 (Saturday) - Late Show
aud shnid-147761
--late show (8 tracks, 93:49)--
t01. /Let It Rock [12:30] [0:09] %
t02. /You Can Leave Your Hat On [14:56] [0:03] %
t03. /All By Myself [6:50] [0:12] %
t04. /Last Train From Poor Valley [8:20] [0:07] %
t05. Boogie On Reggae Woman [15:50] [0:08] %
t06. /Sitting In Limbo [15:12] [0:14]
t07. /Wicked Messenger [7:12] [0:07]
t08. Talkin' 'Bout You [11:44] [0:16]
! ACT1: Legion Of Mary:
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.
JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! historic: For the two shows, LOM gets $10,000 guarantee, plus 60% over $25,000. This show 3,201 sellout for gross of $19,125.75. For the night the band earned $16,708.
! R: seeder notes: The following changes have been made to the original files from ID-147646: - Tape speed adjustments - Aligned channels & merged to mono - Small edits around crowd noise, song transitions, & tape pauses - SRC to 16bit/44.1kHz. Most songs cut-in slightly. Thanks to everyone at LL for making this available!
! P: t01 LIR in the 6 range Garcia's guitar work is fantastic. Some years later, listening again, I still hear it. Yeah!!!! Check out the peak at 6:29. Again, ca. 6:55.
! P: t03 ABM great energy
! song: All By Myself (t03): This is understood to be the debut of this song in the Garciaverse, and it pops! It seems like such a piano song, but the organ does just fine.
! P: t05 BORW also raging. Great energy!
! R: t05 BORW cut at 10:46
! P: t06 SIL played at a langorous pace, Tutt singing harmonies. Gorgeous run early 5 gets a cheer. This is beautiful stuff.
! P: t07 Wicked Messenger my goodness do I love this. The tone and glassine picking late 4 over 5 just about kill me - daggers.
! P: t08 TBY hear Jerry come in 6:35 with great energy!
My goodness, I don't really follow what all comes online --or maybe it's new, so effectively I do-- but there is some 1980 and 1982 JGB (and snippets of 4/10/82 Garcia solo acoustic) online at concertvault.com. I need to investigate some of this more.
--(9 tracks, 85:20)--
l-t01. band introduction (1) [0:26]
l-t02. Harder They Come [15:21] % -16:53
l-t03. Favela [10:15] %
l-t04. /Let It Rock [#8:29] %
l-t05. //My Problems Got Problems [#10:37] [0:02] %
l-t06. //He Ain't Give You None [#11:24] [0:05]
l-t07. La-La [13:50] ->
l-t08. People Make the World Go 'Round [3:58] [0:02] %
l-t09. //How Sweet It Is [#9:11#] [0:07]
! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.
JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! R: field recording gear: 2x AKG d190e > Sony TC-152sd
! R: field recording media: Ampex 90min High Frequency Cassette)
! R: transfer: playback on a Nakamichi CR-3A > Lucid AD9624 24-bit A/D converter (44.1kHz) > DAT (Sony R500) > CD. Extraction via EAC, re-tracking via WavMerge and CD Wave, and .shn encoding via mkwACT.
! l-t01 (1) John Scher: "OK, here we go. On saxophone, Martin Fierro. The drummer is Paul Humphries [sic], on bass John Kahn, on keyboards Merl Saunders, on guitar Jerry Garcia. Please welcome [inaudible]."
! P: l-t02 HTC Paul Humphrey is incredible! The vibe of this HTC is fantastically warm, up through 10, come to verse 11:15 and that was a really nice passage. This might have gone a time or two around longer than it needed to, but still in 14 there's lots of really good energy and playing.
! P: l-t03 Favela starts off really hot. Garcia takes a real nice turn 4ff while the band absolutely cooks. This is great stuff. Merl nice turn 7. Things get a little loose 8:45, maybe Martin's fault, not sure, but they right the ship for a bit. Looking ahead, I see the track only times to 10:15 - looks like they're gonna bail out. But here at 9:36 it's still cooking along nicely, down to a tight close - all right, then.
! R: l-t04 Let it Rock cuts in;
! P: l-t04 LIR in the first minute, now continuing 1:14 is playing some great decaying stuff, very country for awhile there. The band is not entirely together at all times.
! R: l-t05 Problems Got Problems cuts in;
! P: l-t05 MPGP in 2 Jerry is playing some very nice bluesy stuff. This band isn't always together, but this is a case where it just sounds wonderful. Jerry's guitar playing is unrushed, expressive, exploratory, soft edges around deep grooves. Merl's long swirls runs in 8 are excellent. He sounds great this night, moaning and growling about how his problems got problems.
! R: l-t06 HAGYN cuts in;
! P: l-t06 HAGYN more really nice playing by Garcia in the 8-minute mark of this song. He sounds great.
I'll tag this "VN" in the title, for viewing notes. B&W Monarch Entertainment video from the Cap in Passaic. Not even a crusty aud in circulation, and low-gen video of the complete show drops from the sky, 38 years later. Wow.
Viewing notes below. One of the most interesting things for me is to have some Archimedean leverage on who sings the harmony vocals on the various songs. The higher male parts are Tutt, the baritone is Keith.
Garcia is unbelievably bouncy and animated. There's a lot of great stuff. "Moonlight Mile" is sublime, though imperfect. "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home" could use a little boost out of the gate, but it has some really interesting spaces, including a quite explicit "Fire On The Mountain" theme, as was common during this era.
Great to be able to see this. Astonishing, in fact. Check it out.
Jerry Garcia Band
Capitol Theatre
326 Monroe Street
Passaic, NJ 07055
April 2, 1976 (Friday) – 11 PM (late show)
113 minute low-gen B&W video
introduction (1) 0:28
Sugaree :29-10:06 -11:20
Catfish John 11:21-20:03 –22:30
The Way You Do The Things You Do 22:31-29:05 -29:58
Mystery Train 29:59-39:33 –41:32
A Strange Man 41:33-47:56 –48:40
Moonlight Mile 48:41-58:54 % 59:00
Harder They Come 59:01-74:50 -76:52
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 76:53-87:00 -88:19
My Sisters And Brothers 88:20-95:40 ->
Lonesome And A Long Way From Home 95:41-112:30 (2) -112:41
! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3
lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-guitar, vocals;
lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals;
lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano, vocals;
lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
lineup: Ron Tutt – drums, vocals.
JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / =
clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] =
recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item
name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a
timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the
song really was, as represented on this recording.
! historical: unbelievable. Not even an audience tape, not
of either show from this night, and a complete video emerges! Wow.
! (1) John Scher: “On drums, Mr. Ron Tutt. On bass, the
indestructible John Kahn.” Etc.
! P: Sugaree Big huge grin and swaying, though the fingers
need a little warming up. The tempo is turgid. Keith feature over 5-min mark,
ho hum. Tape warbling. Is there any chance the whole thing is running slow? 7:45
Jerry is so blissed out, so is John, checking Donna out. Great little pulls
down the neck around 8:20, so animated! He’s putting his whole body into every
note.
! P: CJ has the three voice harmonies, Jerry, Donna and
Tutt! At 14:06 you can see Tutt singing “walking in his footsteps in the sweet
delta dawn” … wow! Again, crazy expressiveness over 17 min mark, his whole body
swaying, digging into every note. Rocking and singing. Sweet! Tutt again @
19:33 … they have this choreographed! @ 20:34-20:43 is that Harry Popick
talking to Tutt?
! P: TWYDTTYD I think this is Keith singing harmonies! Yes,
at start of song can see Tutt, and he is not singing. Garcia’s first solo
sounds almost like the melody of (a? another?) Motown. He takes a second run
round the bases, crowd, enthused, Jerry responding, Tutt banging. He skipped a
beat but no-one else did, and he caught up right on the 1, big cue to Donna for
the “you made my life so rich” verse. Nice.
! P: MT @33:07 another run ‘round the bases and it’s good.
More good in the late 33 min mark when he is tearing up, nodding shaking his
mane over the 34 mark. Outstanding. Smiling and shredding. Another very fluent
solo 36:30ish and ff. Pulling @ 37 wow! Some fanning 37:17. He is on fire,
gunslinging 37:30, bobbing his head like it’s 1968.
! P: Moonlight Mile. My goodness. Long noodle to start. Vocals
come in 51:45. The paragraph Jerry writes up until 53:48 leaves me breathless.
It’s like a Nabokov sentence, so richly textured. Just another “mad, mad day on
the road” … “just another moonlight mile down the road” …Nooohhh … they are all ready to do the “down
the road … down the road … down the road” shouting, Donna and Ronnie, and
Garcia pulls the rip cord. Why, Jerry, why? It rolls to an end, but it should
have gone on. Check against other versions #songs-M, but that “down the road”
climax is essential, and this version lacks it. Ahh, well. Maybe Jerry needed
to pee.
! P: HTC Jerry finds a nice groove 63 over 64, back to
bobbing, smiling, gesticulating. Keith nice lead 64:20ff, very pretty, fingers
well-filmed 64:40. KG another nice turn after 65. Nice shot 65:39, Keith, clean
hair, nose and above over the 9' Steinway baby grand, still grooving nicely, Garcia starts
saying hello after 56, chunky underneath and peaking hello, 66:30, Keith some
nice scales. Late 66 he steps on Jerry’s solo, Keith was going to go a third
time around. He is so loud and percussive. So Garcia soloes and they both do,
and that’s fine, Keith pulls back on the volume a little into 67. So Keith’s
feature was about two and a half minutes, he was ready for more. Jerry starting
to liquefy late 67, then doing a little wailing, looking over at Keith, puts
his hips into it 68:20. Really, really nice. 68:40 Jerry starts doing big cords
while Keith trills, Garcia making paragraphs of doubled syllables, not as fast
or baroque as the earlier stuff, but interesting because he’s doubling his
cords and then skipping the ones in between. Nice. Return to vox 69:40ish. 70:30
Donna was going to do another chorus, but Garcia goes to “the oppressors”
verse.
! P: TNTDODD can’t tell if that’s Keith singing the baritone
part. 86:05 Jerry shredding, again 86:20
! Sisters and Brothers marred by tape problems. But this is
a deepy, swampy, Dorothy Love Coates groove. 90:10 Donna holding onto the
Steinway and swaying … oh my. Watch Jerry sing @ 90:45! Wow. 94:30ish we can
see that the baritone singing is Keith, because Tutt is in frame and he’s just
grooving and drumming.
! P: LAALWFH they aren’t quite on the same page to start,
need to go round the bases. That’s unfortunate. So, too, is the 1976 tempo.
See, this song needs to bust out the gate. And it doesn’t here. So not off to a
good start. @ 97:00 Keith hits a clam and Donna shoots him a nasty look, right
on camera. See 4/3/76b for how it’s supposed to sound, or 4/1/76. 97:30 ish
Jerry goes to see about a technical issue, some distortion. 97:50ish he solos. 100
minute mark we haven’t achieved liftoff, Garcia is working a little to coax the
notes out of his guitar, and his bandmates. They get something cooking around
101:45. Now some nice syntactical sustain in the 103 minute mark, very long
phrases. 104:30ff JG gets back to the LAALWFH melody, and he’s doing some very
interesting work with Keith, looking back directly at him, they are together on
this little thing happening over 105 minute mark. Jerry is checking Donna out, jamming with her husband,
long run down and back up 105:39ish, there it is Jerry, right there, that’s the
spot! Late 106 mark Keith is hitting the FOTM stuff, Jerry joins him 107:15, or
nearly, but Keith is definitely on that. Jerry’s phrasing is long extended,
here, Tutt starts banging 107:45, Jerry down to FOTM theme, he is playing FOTM
over the 108 minute mark, fanning 108:06, 108:18 real high. Tearing it up.
108:33 this if JG playing FOTM, wow, picks something special right at 108:58,
so so nice. Back to LAALWFH on the guitar, 109:15ff, really back at 109:30,
slow it down, how’s he gonna signal the big return? Silence 110:00-110:10, then
the big return, but the tape is dying here. Just in time to get the big return
before it dies, thank you tape gods. They are going over “somebody help me”
more times than usual, over and over. Return 111:40, but we are in warbleville.
update 20170710: Here the show doesn't light me up, yet my CC aud listening notes from a month before this post include this:
The show is quite hot, IMO. MITR ends in a manic flurry. Tore Up, my
notes tell me, is "ridiculous". Jerry is *really* into this Dixie Down.
RIR is absolutely fantastic, with some interesting (if cheesy) vocal
work by the ladies over the first guitar break and Jerry going
absolutely nuts after 5:45 or so. The scratchy blow-vibe of his voice is
the only mitigating factor here.
Different tapes, a month apart, very different inferences about the show.
Bullet points.
It's amazing that such a tape should come into the light at this late date. There are more tapes in more closets waiting to be listened to!
Does anyone know the status of the video tapes that were said to have been made by John Scher at the Cap?
Love the tour, love the setlist, some good moments, but the show doesn't light me up the way it should.
--late show (7 tracks, 69:52, missing first song)--
--main set (6 tracks, 62:31)--
[MISSING: The Harder They Come]
t01. Mission In The Rain [10:34] [0:26] %
t02. Russian //Lullaby [11:35] [0:29]
t03. Tore Up Over You [8:40] [2:57]
t04. Love In The Afternoon [10:25] [1:39]
t05. I'll Be With Thee [5:12] [0:19]
t06. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [10:00] (1) % [0:15]
--encore (1 track, 7:21)--
t07. Rhapsody In Red [7:08] [0:13] %
! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #4a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals;
! lineup: Maria Muldaur - vocals.
JGMF:
! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! R: Source: mono SOUNDBOARD cassette (copied from linear VHS videotape on June 14, 1978).
! R: Lineage: Closed Circuit In House Videotape > linear (mono) VHS Tape > Alan Bershaw's Maxell UDXL2 cassette with Dolby B (playback on Nakamichi Dragon with Dolby B in) > Lexicon Lambda > Logic (track indexing and amplifying levels only) > Wav 16/44.1-> FLAC. Transfer by Rob Nolan on September 7, 2012: Alan's CDR-> Wav 16/44.1 > FLAC.
! R: seeder notes: The only notable flaw on this recording is a glitch at 8:32 into Russian Lullaby, during John Kahn's bass solo with an unknown amount missing.
! R: seeder notes: This is a mono soundboard recording that is very clean considering the lineage.
! P: t01 MITR reminds me again of the very distinctive vocals from this tour. They are gackshredded, which of course isn't uncommon for ca. 1978. What's really different is Garcia's phrasings. Think about the care early Dylan took with his phrasings ... this Garcia is in that same conceptual space. Partly, first, it's just managing an otolaryngological system that is getting torn to shreds by blow, among other things. (I am not sure what smoking persian would do to one's throat.) But I'd add a second piece: having just come out of the studio, and just made a record that he felt was his finest, I think he is just in an articulate-the-words kind of space. The vocals on Cats Under the Stars are stellar, and beautifully recorded by Betty in the custom-built space at Club Front. Jerry would only learn later, to his profound pain, that the album would be a commercial failure.
! P: t01 MITR there are some nice pyrotechnics here, but for whatever reason this one doesn't kick me in the crotch. I should try to listen again and see how I feel.
! R: t01 fade to splice at end of track
! P: t02 RL Kahn bass solo from about 6:55-9ish
! R: t02 glitch @ 8:32 reported by seeder. I didn't hear it.
! P: t06 TNTDODD time stops at 6:20 while everyone in the band nods off for just a second or two.
! t06 (1) JG: "Thank you. Thank you. See y'all later on." He is really, really hoarse (of course).
! R: t06 I don't hear the splice, but there must be one.
! song: t07 Rhapsody In Red is a special song selection. Listen to Donna Jean and Maria doing their album backing vocals after the 2:30 mark. So clear on this tape. They wouldn't do it very often with this precision, and this is a very good reprsentation of the genre.
! P: t07 Rhapsody In Red: John's run downs at 4:40ff are just ridiculously well-recorded. At 5:30 I want to say "rudimentary, but well-recorded", but then around 5:40 Garcia starts smashing glass with his guitar, up to 6:08. I am supposed to fall over from the fanning he just did, real rock star stuff, but, on this listen, it's doesn't cut me the way smashing glass should.
So, this show has not really circulated complete, unless it does and I missed it. Nice to hear the John Scher introduction intact. The first 60 minutes have never made the digital jump, as far as I know. There's a "Creepin'" here, which is conceptually interesting but practically, to my ears, not so much. We see some of the strengths and limitations of LOM on any given night here.
Legion of Mary
Capitol Theatre 426 Monroe Street Passaic, NJ 07055
April 5, 1975 (Saturday), Early Show - 8 PM
91 min Closet Call aud (flac2448)
--Early Show (9 tracks, 91:10)--
t01. John Scher Introduction (1)
t02. Tore Up Over You [8:27] [0:02] %
t03. Creepin' [14:00] [0:02] %
t04. I Feel Like Dynamite [11:25] [0:04] %
t05. Mystery // Train [13:#25] %
t06. Every Word You Say [6:59] [0:03] %
t07. Mississippi Moon [8:23] [0:03] %
t08. I Second That Emotion [18:43] [0:05] %
t09. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:52] [0:08] %
! ACT1: Legion of Mary
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.
JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! R: unknown gen aud (Maxell XLII90, no Dolby) > Nakamichi BX-300 playback (no Dolby) > Pyle Pro cables > WaveTerminal 2496 > Samplitude 10.1 Download Version (record @ 24 bits/48kHz) > CDWave 1.9.8 (tracking) > Adobe Audition 3.0 (cross-fades, etc.) > Traders Little Helper 2.4.1 (FLAC encoding, level 8) (flac2448).
! R: There are several cassette gens here, at least one of which (possibly including the master) gave us some reasonably serious distortion. Use the cheap speakers. There's hiss. I suspect that this runs sharp, perhaps substantially so. Warble. Wow and flutter. And the like.
! historical: lots of screaming "Jerry" audible throughout this recording. Just a sense of Jerry's -err, LOM's-- life on the east coast at this point in time.
! t01 (1) John Scher: "OK. On drums, Ron Tutt; on horns, Martin Fierro. On bass, the inspirational John Kahn. On the organ, Merl Saunders. On guitar, Jerry Garcia. The Legion of Mary."
! R: t02 Significant PA problems at the start of Tore Up.
! P: t02 Tore Up Jerry takes his first solo with some real gusto. What he's doing around 7:45 is also pretty insane. I need to be careful about over-interpreting, since when tapes are running fast, like this one, it makes the performance seem higher energy than perhaps it actually was. Ears are funny.
! P: t04 IFLD Garcia's solo about ten minutes in is absolutely fantastic. This is a great version of this song, totally cookin'.
! P: t05 Mystery Train is fantastic. JG's solo about eight minutes in is positively crackling. Nine minutes in Martin plays a little flute lick? Very nice and tasty.
! R: t05 MT splice @ 12:21
! R: picking up the organ nicely.
! P: t06 Every Word You Say Tutt is singing harmony vocals.
! P: t07 NB Martin plays flute on Mississippi Moon
! P: t07 MM they seem a little lost, not quite sure where to take it. Jerry does some nice glassy stuff around 5 minutes in. But the natives are getting restless, lots of chatter. Earlier, someone had kicked a bottle down the floor. They settle down a little bit, though, and the crowd gives a nice round of applause after quiet attention to the finale.
! R: t08 getting some serious tape warble now, in ISTE. Splice ca. 13:15, bad warble.
! P: t08 about 14:40 is Martin playing a clarinet? Or a different sax, an alto? at 17-min it sounds like his normal sax. So he's just doing something with it to make it play higher. Unusual for him, to my ears.
! P: t09 TNTDODD Merl's harmony vocals are horrific. Jerry hits some sweet notes right around 8-min mark, just some very loud nice stuff, at end as well.
! Disclaimer: This is part of a "Closet Call" project aimed at making missing Garcia dates available for study. These are "warts and all" ... straight transfers of the source cassettes with editing only of the most offensive tape transitions and such. If you don't like hiss, possible speed problems, etc., etc., then move along. And, to anticipate a FAQ: no, I don't plan on doing 16/44s of these. Thanks to wk for supplying these tapes!
--late show main set + encore (9 tracks, 80:47)--
--main set (8 tracks, 72:57)--
t01. John Scher Introduction [0:25]
t02. Harder They Come [11:00]
t03. //Mission In The Rain [#10:34] [0:04]
t04. //Russian Lullaby [#13:50] [0:38]
t05. Tore Up Over You [8:45] [0:11]
t06. //Love In The Afternoon [#10:14]
t07. //I'll Be With Thee [#5:05]
t08. //The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [#9:50] [2:16]
--encore (1 track, 7:50)--
t09. Rhapsody In Red [7:12] [0:38]
! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #4a
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia: el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn: el-b;
! Lineup: Buzz Buchanan: drums;
! Lineup: Keith Godchaux: keyboards;
! Lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux: backing vocals;
! Lineup: Maria Muldaur: backing vocals.
JGMF:
! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! R: Specs: xx gen audience cassette (Maxell XLII90, No Dolby) > Nakamichi BX-300 playback > Pyle Pro cables > WaveTerminal 2496 > Samplitude 10.1 Download Version (record @ 24 bits/48kHz) > CDWave 1.9.8 (tracking) > Wavelab 5.0.1a (cross-fades, etc.) > shntool (stripped non-canonical headers) > Traders Little Helper 2.4.1 (FLAC encoding, level 8) > Foobar (tagging).
! historical: allegedly FM broadcast WNEW-FM, but no FM tape has surfaced. This is the only aud I have seen in circulation, though I believe Jim Anderson may have taped. This is the end of a very long day for Garcia. He did an interview with Scott Muni at WNEW in the afternoon/early evening, at which the St. Patrick's Day libations were being passed around. Then an early show, then a late show. Ray Riescher, who provided me with audio copy of the interview, said that Jerry was noticeably drunk at this late show. Note added 12/24/2012: a soundboard tape has now emerged.
! R: Not a great tape. Just about every song clips or cuts in. A number of harsh transitions remain even after cleaning up the worst ones. There is some swirly hiss.The sbd tape is better!
! P: The show is quite hot, IMO. MITR ends in a manic flurry. Tore Up, my notes tell me, is "ridiculous". Jerry is *really* into this Dixie Down. RIR is absolutely fantastic, with some interesting (if cheesy) vocal work by the ladies over the first guitar break and Jerry going absolutely nuts after 5:45 or so. The scratchy blow-vibe of his voice is the only mitigating factor here, IMO.
! song: Russian Lullaby t03 includes bass solo. I am trying to figure out when this came in.
! historical: t08 @ 6:50 Some classic taper talk.
! disclaimer: This is part of a "Closet Call" project aimed at getting missing Garcia dates into the digital realm. These are "warts and all" ... straight transfers of the source cassettes with editing only of the most offensive tape transitions and such. If you don't like hiss, possible speed problems, etc., etc., then move along. And, to anticipate a FAQ: no, I don't plan on doing 16/44s of these. Thanks to wk for supplying these tapes!
A few days ago I posted about an advertised but canceled Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders band gig (Kahn and Kreutzmann rounding things out) scheduled for 2/16/74 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ. I irresponsibly dropped a few notes about the replacement show for the night, and here I follow up on those bits and pieces. It'll be a little repetitive vis-a-vis the first post, but I want to round out the picture more satisfactorily. So, I'll (I) go again through the date context (including why an east coast gig would have been especially interesting), (II) run through some of the empirical terrain around the Berkeley gig, (III) give the key points I extract from my listen, and (IV) post my listening notes.
I. Date context: why an east coast gig on 2/16/74 would have been noteworthy
What's noteworthy about this canceled gig, I think, is that the Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders group was not touring much beyond the Bay Area, and not at all off the west coast, at this point. Beyond the Bay Area, they had done the May 29-30, 1973 shows at the Ash Grove in Santa Monica, CA and the September 5-6 Hells Angels and Cap Theatre shows, before canceling gigs at the University of Iowa (10/20/73) and San Diego State (11/18/73).
After 9/6/73, JGMS wouldn't get back out of state (and to the core northeast) until July 1-3, 1974. So finding a listed gig in the middle of this range is pretty interesting, all the more so since, unlike those shows, there was no (planned) GD activity out east around the same time.
September 5, 1973 is the gig on the S.S. Bay Belle in NYC Harbor, immortalized in the film "Hells Angels Forever". Who knows the story behind that one? I haven't checked The Sources, but it's got to be interesting. Then the September 6, 1973 gig at John Scher's Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ the next night in front of the GD tour starting in Nassau on September 7th. To my knowledge this would be the second John Scher-produced GOTS show, after the Old And In The Way gig in Passaic on June 6, 1973. (As an aside, I have more or less ruled out the possibility of OAITW gigs in Camp Springs, NC on September 1-2, 1973 and the even less-likely Harpers Ferry, WV on September 7th.) I can only conclude that the planned gig 1) had some record company money behind it, and/or 2) related, reflected Jerry's desire further to build his non-GD audience base out east.
That's it beyond the Bay Area for this band during this timeframe. And instead of a 2/16/74 show in Passaic, we instead find the Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders band, as so many Saturdays before and following, at the Keystone, 2119 University Avenue in Berkeley, CA, 94704.
II. The Empirical Terrain of the 2/16/74 Berkeley show
The ever-reliable listings in the Hayward Daily Review --and, BTW, if anyone knows Kathie Staska and/or George Mangrum, who wrote the amazing "Rock Talk by KG" column for many years for that paper, please send them over here!-- from the February 15th edition (p. 51) list Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders for February 16th-17th, with Paul Pena billed for the second night as well. I am trying to determine if there's anything odd about the listings that might suggest that they were booked late, after an east coast gig had been canceled, but I find nothing unusual. I wonder if the Passaic show was canceled early enough that the Keystone was still free? Or if Freddie held it open for them "just in case"? Or if someone had been planned and got bumped ... or none of the above. We'll probably never know. There's nothing in the record available to me that points toward any of these. Anyway, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders are listed for Saturday 2/16 and Sunday 2/17, the second night also billing Paul Pena (Hayward Daily Review, February 15, 1974, p. 51).
Unlike so many other shows from this time period, we have three other data sources on the 2/16/74 Berkeley show. To quote myself, this is "maybe the only show from this time period represented by an audience recording (made by Louis Falanga,shnid-8063, missing the last two songs), a soundboard recording (shnid-91471, complete), and anex postreview." The review (1) is brief, but informative: we are told there is a conguero in the band, and we are treated to some nice color, the audience "packed into a crowded, smoke-filled room for three dollars a head", shoeohorned into the club "like cattle in a packing house", but grooving to good music.
Two absolutely fantastic tapes round out the record of this show. I'll probably note the Falanga aud separately, so I won't go into it here. I'll report next on what the board tape reveals for me.
III. Analysis
(a) The Tape
This board tape entered general circulation maybe three years ago from a mysterious, generous Garcia-vault-connected source named alligator. The tapes he/she dropped were all beautiful Betty Boards, from the "missing 3rd batch" that never made it into general circulation. Full, nice tapes. This tape is missing about 7 minutes at the start, which are, happily, available from the aud recording. So I'd guess that the total show time, with cross-patches, is probably 150 minutes.
(b) The Show
The performance is mediocre, to my ears. "More interesting than good", as I say below. Why interesting? Mostly because of personnel, also for a setlist rarity.
(c) Personnel
First, we assume that Bill Kreutzmann is drumming, though it's possible it was someone else. We believe that he was drumming with JGMS around this time, and of course he was identified for the abortive Passaic show for this date. We also assume Kahn is playing bass. Seems pretty safe.
Second, it has long been noted that there is a conguero sitting in the whole show. The contemporary review mentions it and the tapes reveal that this guy is very good. I have traditionally assumed that this was Armando Peraza. Not sure if that's documented somewhere or if it was my guess, based on his reported presence on February 11, 1972 and a published characterization of him as a "recently added member" of the group from around that same time (2).
Third, most interestingly, a second guitarist comes in for the second number. After a nice, hot "Soul Roach" he (presumably, with possible apologies to Alice Stuart) plugs in, tunes up and bends a few nice notes in the first couple of minutes of "La-La" [Allan | Scofield], not to be heard from again. Someone comes in and does some "la-la" vocalizing a few minutes later (ca. 6 minutes into the song). Sounds very Santana-ish to me. This might mean it's Peraza vocalizing while playing the congas, or it's the mystery guitarist. And maybe the Santana-ish vocals imply the second guitarist is a Santana guy? It's definitely not Carlos. It's someone who's not playing real loud, more of a rhythm guy to my ears. Thoughts?
My second guess about the second guitarist is Paul Pena. He was listed as opening on 2/17/74, though not on this night. But he was around a ton during this period. Either Freddie or Merl or Jerry or some/all of the above or someone else liked the pairing, because it was a very frequent combination. I have a studio date of October 4, 1973 for (some of) Garcia's work on Pena's New Train (not released until 2000). I know of no live performances together, but the back of my mind has always told me that it had to have happened a time or two. This could be one of them.
Anyway, anytime we get an episode of Garcia hosting someone onstage, it's worth noting. His willingness to do this sort of thing is a proxy for (if not effect of) his health: they are positively correlated. It also makes one wonder how much more of this there is. We know of a bunch of sit-ins from this period (that should be a post), including July 12, 1974 at Keystone by a second guitarist that I reckon to be David Nelson. More and better tapes, and lots of close listening, will likely reveal more of this sort of thing.
(d) Setlist
As I noted in the first post, the setlist rarity here is the Merl Saunders composition "Little Bit Of Righteousness" (also published as "Righteousness"). Regarding the name, the vinyl release Merl Saunders (Fantasy F-9460, 1974) gave the shortened title, while the 1997 reissue CD Keepers (Fantasy FCD-7712) gave the longer title. On the intuition behind lex posterior derogat priori, I will go with the longer (later "officialized") title. It has sort of a CTI feel, with Martin doing a Stanley Turrentine thing. Another analogy might be a Zawinul composition from ca. '69 Cannonball Adderley Quintet. It's slower and darker, not the same pop of "Mercy Mercy Mercy" or anything like that, but some of the same swing. It's an awfully nice composition - bravo, Merl! This is the third of five known Garcia-Saunders live renditions of the song between 1971 and 1975. (It also appeared, improbably enough, in a Keith and Donna setlist from 8/20/75.) It was probably played many more times that are unknown for lack of tapes/setlists.
The other relative rarity is "Soul Roach", an instrumental credited to Merl Saunders and Ray Shanklin [Allan] and inspired, Scofield tells us, by "a swinging family in Denver". It looks like it was on Merl's first album (Merl Saunders Trio and Big Band, Soul Groovin' (Galaxy Records, 1968) as well as on the Garcia-relevant Fire Up (Fantasy 9421, 1973; re-released on CD, with different material, as Fire Up Plus[Fantasy FCD 7711-2, 1992].) It showed up at least twenty times, so it's not that rare. But it's good and interesting, generally speaking.
References for the post above, then listening notes below the fold.
REFERENCES:
(1) Beard, Micahel. 1974. Rock Notes: Garcia at Keystone. Daily Californian Arts Magazine no. 16 (February 22, 1974), p. 7. (2) Hunt, Dennis. 1972b. Playing Small Rock Clubs is a ‘Release From the Dead’. San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, April 9, 1972, p. 8.
An ad for a show by Jerry Garcia, Merle [sic] Saunders, John Kahn and Bill Kreutzmann (call 'em Garcia/Saunders, or JGMS), with Sons of Champlin opening, Saturday, February 16, 1974 at the Capitol Theatre, 326 Monroe Street, Passaic, NJ, 07055.
This is positively stunning, I have to say. If this were to have happened, it would have been only the third Garcia/Saunders show off the west coast, after September 5, 1973 (the "Hells Angels Forever" show on the S.S. Bay Belle in New York City harbor) and September 6, 1973 at this same Capitol Theatre Passaic. (Aside: I have been spelling it "Theater", but the ad and the current website both say 'Theatre'.) Those were just in front of a GD tour starting in Nassau, NY on Friday, September 7. This 2/16/74 date doesn't look like that - no GD gigs out east, and hard to imagine that the February 22-24 Winterland shows were booked at the last minute. Even the next east coast shows, July 1-3, 1974 at the Bottom Line in New York City [ed: Corry says July 2-4, but that's not right], had some anticipated (or at least hoped-for) shows around them in Canada and Wisconsin.
But the one under consideration looks like a pure one-off. [update: I have found a whisper of other anticipated shows in this window, e.g., at Ithaca College (Henk 1974). So it's possible that something bigger was under consideration.] Bearing in mind that John Scher would promote Garcia out east for the next 21 years, it would be especially interesting to learn what they had in mind, what was planned. I suspect that this was intended to promote Live at Keystone. Matt Scofield has that released in 1973 (of necessity late in the year, since the album was recorded in July), though the context of a show review discussed below suggests that they may have been publicizing the album in early '74. Insofar as Round Records is kicking off and Garcia has a big personal financial stake in it, he has an incentive to get serious about solidifying an east coast fan base (as the GD had done 3-4 years previously). So a one-night scouting trip, perhaps an investment in more record sales, would make sense.
Why was the show canceled? No idea. Instead, on Saturday, February 16, 1974 and Sunday the 17th, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders played the good ol' Keystone in Berkeley, CA. The Saturday show has a few features worth mentioning. It's maybe the only show from this time period represented by an audience recording (made by Louis Falanga, shnid-8063), a soundboard recording (shnid-91471), and an ex post review. The audience recording will destroy you as a capture of a moment in time. These Louis Falanga, later Falanga and Bob Menke, tapes are stunning aural documents. The soundboard tape serves history not only by giving us a different and very clean representation of the show, but also by supplying the last two songs of the show. The jewel here is a take on the little-known Saunders composition "Little Bit Of Righteousness" [Allan -- NB I think his information around this contains errors], which would appear (uncertain tense) on Merl's eponymous 1974 Fantasy LP and re-released as part of the 1997 mashup CD Keepers.
The review of the Saturday show is wonderful to see and, while it seems to coincide with record company promotion (the reviewer mentions the new Fantasy album Live at Keystone), it makes one wonder what treasures lie within the still unscanned (AFAIK) pages of the Daily Californian. The opening graf paints a nice picture:
With so much free music around on every street corner and spot of grass, why would anyone want to get packed into a crowded, smoke-filled room for three dollars a head and listen to store-bought music at the Keystone? There aren't many answers to this question, but the Jerry Garcia / Merle [sic] Saunders act is one of them, and it jammed us in last Saturday like cattle in a packing house.
[Garcia] hides unobtrusively against the wall and leaves the stage to his band: bass, a single horn, Saunders' organ, normal percussion and, inexplicably, a bongo drum player.
The standard notes mention a conga player, and I have historically and too-casually assumed it was Armando Peraza; it could have been anybody. It's good playing. I can only assume this is Kreutzmann drumming on his presence during this time period (including in the ad for the canceled 2/16/74 show in Passaic).
