Jefferson Airplane
1972-08-12 Westbury, New York Roosevelt Raceway Festival Of Hope (M-AUD)
*** remastered without EQ from taper's original master cassettes ***
01. --tuneup-- Grace... "Can you feed me? Can you feed me?"
02. Have You Seen The Saucers
03. Aerie
04. Feel So Good
05. Crown of Creation
06. Milk Train
07. When the Earth Moves Again
08. Long John Silver
09. Blind John//
10. Eat Starch Mom
11. Wooden Ships
----------------
12. Trial By Fire (*NOT really audible!*)
13. Summer Of '72 Question Of The Day
--. Good Shepherd (MISSING -if played-)
--. The Other Side of This Life (MISSING -if played-)
--. Volunteers Of America (MISSING - if played)
Total Time ::: 1:20:19
::: Just fine but non hi-fi AUD. Check samples for personal inhalation potential or to scratch yr download itch while waitin'.
::: Warts: Claps, talking, yelling. Some non-repairable dullspots & I surely missed some. "Blind John" cuts at end. MANY issues were fixed!
::: "Trial By Fire" announced after "Wooden Ships" & can barely be heard in the background of tape hiss, in it's entirety, as taper left.
::: Festival Day 1 : 1972-08-12 Saturday (order from Christgau review & announcements):
James Brown / Chuck Berry / Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen (approx 4pm) / Elephant's Memory / James Gang / McKendree Spring / Stephen Stills & Manassas / Jefferson Airplane.
::: Festival Day 2 : 1972-08-13 Sunday (order from Christgau review):
Billy Preston / Bo Diddley / Lighthouse / Shirelles / Ike & Tina Turner / Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show / Sha Na Na / Sly & The Family Stone. Looking Glass on Day 2 billing but not in review (Possibly a no-show as "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" was at top of charts?).
::: The taper has some recollection McKendree Spring didn't play, which is strange as they are still being announced as upcoming well into the afternoon.
::: This taper only taped Day 1 & did everything except McKendree Spring (didn't play?) & Chuck Berry's main set was lent out & never returned (only had his encore).
::: Benefit for Nassau Society for Crippled Children & Adults sponsored by Nassau Easter Seal Society.
::: Purportedly the first rock festival used to raise funds for an established charity.
::: Ticket Price: $10.00 per day, noon to midnight (tho' Day 1 apparently ended about 2AM).
::: Vintage Robert Christgau review at http://robertchristgau.com/xg/news/nd720820.php & concert poster available online if you look.
::: One online listing has Malo listed on 1972-08-12. Incorrect as far as I know, however this taper recalls hearing they might have actually played AFTER the Airplane at the end of the day.
::: JA's "Long John Silver" recorded March-May '72, but released July 20, about 3 weeks before this show. They play a lot of it...
::: Same tour as "Thirty Seconds Over Winterland" album ( recorded in Chicago in August & San Francisco in September.
::: My recollection is I also have a 2nd taper recording, but those cassettes are buried at the moment. It would explain some other song title info.
Recording Information ::: $35 Lafayette monaural cassette recorder with adjustable recording level & unknown monaural Sony microphone -> master normal bias mono cassettes, no noise reduction.
Playback (circa 2008) ::: master normal bias mono cassettes on unknown brand azymuth adjusted cassette deck -> unknown digital equipment -> wavs @ 48 kHz on DVD-Rs.
Mastering (2013-08-xx) ::: 48 kHz wavs in Audacity (normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch / dropout / bump / pop / click / dullspot repairs, speed fix -.33 (averaged correction for whole recording), volume adjustments, NO equalisation, dithered down to 44.1 kHz) -> CD Wave (track splits) -> Trader's Little Helper -> yer ears. First uploaded week of 2013-08-31. Further mastering notes : Did my 20 hours on this, then went back for a spotcheck & ended up doing a complete second overhaul (they have been me fave band for some 40 years, afterall), and removed or reduced hundreds more claps - a HUGE improvement in the sound & the music is far more part of the listening experience but it still is what it is, an AUD tape with some AUD noise. On the one hand, no one should have to listen to a very stoned person trying to figure out how to clap to "Crown Of Creation". On the other hand, he mostly gives up after several attempts & you get to concentrate on the music... And, with the second go round of mastering, I was able to reduce almost all of the clapping anyway. There are definitely still some small glitches & occasional parts more muffled than others from wind or folks movin' around. Tapeflips at end of trax 4&9.
Line-up ::: Grace Slick née Grace Barnett Wing – vocals // John William "Jack" Casady – electric bass // Paul Lorin Kantner – rhythm electric guitar, vocals // Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. – lead electric guitar, vocals // John Henry "Papa John" Creach – electric violin // David Frieberg - vocals // John "Goatee" Barbata – drums, percussion.
Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.
CoolSonics 266 ::: Thanks to the original taper & trader, The Florida Kid! ::: Corrections welcome ::: This JA goes out to Iain at Cornucopia, whose DIME moniker I can't remember. And to Mr Berger for sharin' a little joke with the world. And to Cotter Michaels, out there diggin' on some grooves (I'm sure!), & to JMT aka "Ptomaine", I know you'll get off on "Blind John". And to James R. - I know we left some of our brains behind in Kathmandu in the 70's, but life wouldn't have been the same without it.
JA set is not complete from this taper. He left before the Airplane set finished but continued to record as he walked away (sounds like the deck was in a backback). Lucky he did, as he had been right up against a fence & a small riot broke out in the spot after he left!
The jamming in "Feel So Good" is absolutely ferocious at times, first class heavy. As one of our audience friends says in the middle of the song, "They knock you right out!". Jack is in fantastic form thoughout this performance, often playing lead melody with great bass tone.
There is an intense, occasionally over the top screamer in the audience, who also laughs a lot like Porky Pig. I have greatly lessened his impact, but he is a drag. He is also very likely the loudest clapper (often way off beat) that to a great extent I removed or reduced (thruout the songs) - serious work. Fortunately his participation level comes & goes & has been greatly minimised. Lots of funny dialog here & there, eg in "Feel So Good", someone next to the mike yells "Hey, Dieter", then, "You don't know what you're missing." Sounds like Dieter done passed out...
The Festival did not sell well. The first day was perhaps better than half sold & the 2nd day was maybe only 1/3rd sold..
Possibly Grace's "Can you feed me?" rap at the start is related to a story by John Riccio online about the festival, "The Airplane was flown in from NYC... I was at the Festival of Hope turning the helicopters around & loading/unloading - The Airplane marched off, right to the trailer... Later, I find out that the Airplane (Grace really) blew a fit when they were told that there was food: hamburgers. She (and others) wanted Italian Food - now. They would not play without food, and they wanted Italian Food. A run was made to the local joint, full buckets of everything you could imagine. Papa John could care less; he's drinking with the truck drivers.... Now they were happy."
"They got a dancer, (some female) on the side of the stage, inches her way on, during 'Feel So Good' (I think) and the crowd begs her to drop her top. She does a flash, to keep em' happy & it's Grace that gives her the biggest hand. I get back to the trailer w/4K other people now, fences down..." -John Riccio
Robert Christgau noted, "It was a bummer to observe the Nassau County Police Department (also at the behest of the Raceway) march in when the fence came down during Jefferson Airplane's climactic first-day set". An online remembrance says Steven Stills did "Wooden Ships" with JA which makes sense musically but I hear nothing about him being announced before the song & Christgau says he came out on their final (2nd?) encore. DIMER inthestudio recollects, "Then out of nowhere some chick came on stage dancing topless. The fans went wild and the fence came tumbling down as Grace was singing "Got a Revolution".
That's all from this corner of the forest, ENJOY!
Kudos to Zongo for life support, Lochner for mikes&more & Fast Freddie for runnin' Video Dick's Record Emporium with the bathroom office full of tape decks. Thanks to Hanwaker (few among us can keep his pace). Mountains of gratitude to Davmar, D.White, Sanchez, Elliot, The Florida Kid, Kloiber, Zingg, JTW, Bershaw, Boston Gold, Dixon, Moore, Gough & SO many more for all that collecting & sharing... Royal thanks to The Man In The Palace, Doc Tinker, Brinkhoffs, Barely Eatin', Reel Master Gaule, Parrish & all the traders who housed me thru my music acquisition & travel years. Hats off to Brother Kent, Uncle Jake, Little Queenie (& her neighbor Frank) & his honor Ptomaine Thomas. Glasses raised to Byron for musical horizon expansion & much obliged to J & Thurston for keepin' my concert fires burnin' since my continental shift. Thanks to the Mods for keepin' DIME alive. Enjoy, share, give, spread peace. Yers truly, Knees
Support the artists! Support the artists! www.hottuna.com --- www.jeffersonstarshipsf.com (the latter not functioning as I type this).
Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!