LDB Master Series #300

Hello, this is a collection of masters I would like to seed here. I've been taping shows for more than 25 years (in 2013 I will celebrate 30 years of happy recording hobby!) and have an awful lot of masters. These are in different formats, following the technological evolution: first on analogue cassettes, then MiniDisc, some DATs (I was borrowed a DAT machine to record some of the shows in late 90's / early 00's) and finally digital files using Edirol R-09.

I've taped many shows of many artists over the years (both from audience and radio broadcasts) , so don't be surprised if you will find many different artists seeded! My music spectrum is quite wide, spanning from classical to hard rock.

Some shows are already circulating, some others have not circulated through collectors yet. But most of all, enjoy! They all come from my master recordings!

Please DO NOT share this music on mp3, just convert it for your own use. Sharing mp3's is the right way to make me stop sharing music here. PLEASE DO RESPECT THIS WISH and enjoy the music in lossless form.

Let me make a point about musicians who do not allow their shows to be traded / shared for free:

1) Some of those people claim that they don't like others to trade / share their intellectual property. I am not going to remind how really intellectual property works in other sectors such as IT but let's say that these people do care about shows being traded for free while they do not care when photos made by professionals wearing a 'photo pass' are sold and a profit is made beyond their will. Trackers are an easy target to ‘kill’, where individual sites by photographers are more difficult to stop.

2) Some of these artists are themselves listeners / owners of ROIOs both audio and video, although they don't want to admit it. And they are quite embarrassed when it is found out.

3) Most, if not all, of those who record shows do it discreetly since it is well known that the best way to be caught is to show the microphone in front of the artist. Those who really show-off are the ones who like to film a few minutes of the show with their smartphone or camera to keep a souvenir or post it to youtube...Not really a danger...

4) Nobody claims to have the 'right' to record shows. If artists feel that - for whatever reason - they don't want their shows to be shared, fair enough. But they do not have to find irrealistic reasons why they don't want this to happen. Let's say that, if you take the list of artists for which recordings exists (let's say...5000/6000), only a very small minority requires their shows to be banned (let's say less than 50) which is less than 1%. Are they right or wrong? I don't know, let's only say that they just doing the opposite of the big majority, as much as today's world is all about sharing freely as long as this does not cause a financial damage to the owner, which is not the case.

5) The presence of live shows has never been the reason for an artist to be successful. But for some of them it has helped. A lot, especially in the early days. And some of the artists that are today against such recordings are the ones that have probably taken advantage from their shows circulating and building a strong and loyal fanbase. On the other side, artists such The Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan for which live recordings have always been more a pain in the neck (especially in the vinyl boot days) are among those who are ok with such recordings. Strange, isn't it?

6) The Beatles, U2, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Pearl Jam. What do these artists have in common? They all allow their recordings to be shared. Then one has a hard time to figure out why artists like Artful Dodger, Dickey Betts, Blackfield, ELP, King Crimson, Bo Diddley, John Scofield do not allow it. And the "excuses" are the most fantasy ones. "contractual obligations and the wishes of other musicians with differing opinions"; "They object to the presumption that it’s okay for someone else to barter and trade our intellectual property". Some others send lawyers letters while it is sufficient a simple email on behalf of the artists to have them in the NAB list. And artists like ELP who are in the NAB list do rip people off by releasing and selling their own crappy live shows recorded with a crappy microphone with an awful sound quality!

7) Recordings are part of the music history, and no lawyer will stop them, especially in this digital era. Thanks to it we have invaluable documents that keep the legacy of the music and make sure that some moments are captured for posterity. If a certain Dean Benedetti did not bring his recorder, we would not have today the privilege to listen to some of the finest Charlie Parker solos that have been saved for music students and jazz lovers to listen and learn. And God bless Mike Millard…

Live music recording will always exist, beyond me, you or the artists and his well paid legal department. That, is a fact...

ROXY MUSIC
Paris, Palais des Congrès
November, 27 1974
Master Reel to reel

01.Out of the Blue
02.A Song For Europe
03.Three and Nine
04.If It Takes All Night
05.In Every Dream Home A Heartache
06.If There is Something (incl. Violin Solo Eddie Jobson)
07.All I Want Is You

TT 43:34

Lineage: Europe 1 original reels > Teac A3340S > HD > SoundForge 7.0 > CD Wave > FLAC Frontend (level 6)

Bryan Ferry - vocals, keyboards
Eddie Jobson - strings, keyboards, vocals
Andy MacKay - saxophone, oboe
Phil Manzanera - guitar, vocals
Paul Thompson - drums
John Wetton - bass, vocals

For volume 300 I had to find something special. And I think this IS something special. Some time ago I had access to quite a few master reels from Europe 1 that were saved from the thrash some time ago. The Santana 71 show that I have already seeded was part of it. Unfortunately the reels were mixed up and only a few complete. But the historical value is very high. This is one I managed to have it transferred using a revox player. I have many reels, probably the most amazing one being the Jimi Hendrix Olympia October 1968, which I was told has already been released somewhere. Europe 1 was one of those stations that used to record many shows, in particular from the Olympia. My belief is that they were doing a king of matrix by both capturing the soundboard but having also a few onstage microphones.

This comes from the 1974 tour. On the reel it is marked Olympia but it is possible that it was a mistake by the engineers and honestly I trust more the Roxy Music experts over here. So I have updated the venue and date. Thanks for the help. It sounds amazing, as you can imagine. This is my gift to you for you to celebrate volume 300. In the attachment you will find the list of all my Master Series releases. Enjoy!!!!

ldb