Elephant's Memory
1972-08-12 Westbury, New York Roosevelt Raceway Festival Of Hope (M-AUD)
*** remastered without EQ from taper's original master cassettes ***
01. -intro & obnoxious audience-
02. Liberation Special (*)
03. Crying Blacksheep Blues
04. Life
05. Mongoose
06. Madness
07. Baddest Of The Mean
08. Chuck 'n Bo
09. Power Boogie
Total Time ::: 52:19
::: Ain't hi-fi but there ain't many to choose from, so well worth a listen. Check samples if yr panties might twist up in a knot, or for some brief Elephant Memories...
::: Warts: Fixed 100s of dullspots & dropouts, but didn't get 'em all - most are easily cross-channel patched. Quick tapeflip ~8 mins into "Mongoose", carefully spliced. "Chuck 'n Bo" has ~9 seconds spliced from the middle as the tape went dead. Some AUD talk goin' on & bit o' clappin' in #9.
::: 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?).
::: This taper only taped Day 1 & did everything except McKendree Spring & Chuck Berry's main set (only taped or kept 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
::: One online listing has Malo listed on 1972-08-12 but it's incorrect as far as I can know.
::: This show is about the time of the release of their 2nd album, "Take It to the Streets"
::: (*) Track 2 seems to be "Liberation Special", but with mostly alternate lyrics.
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, volume adjustments, NO equalisation, dithered down to 44.1 kHz) -> CD Wave (track splits) -> Trader's Little Helper -> yer ears. First uploaded week of 2013-08-23. (Signal dropout in #8 was related to the tape recorder. It happened on occasion. It wasn't a transfer issue.).
Line-up (unconfirmed!) ::: Stan Bronstein – saxophone, clarinet, lead vocals // Rick "Reek Havoc" Frank – drums, percussion, vocals // Chris Robison – keyboards, vocals // Mike Rose - electric guitar // "Crow" Isenberg - electric guitar // Gary Van Scyoc - electric bass // Wayne "Tex" Gabriel – electric guitar // Gary Van Scyoc – electric bass, vocals // Adam Ippolito – keyboards, vocals.
NOTE : On 1972-08-30 (2+ weeks later) at the "One to One Concert" with Lennon & Ono the band also featured John Ward- electric bass // Jim Keltner - drums.
Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.
CoolSonics 265 ::: Thanks to the original taper & trader, The Florida Kid! ::: Corrections welcome ::: There is some damn funny dialog going down around the taper at times. Possibly some dealing & at one point in the middle of "Mongoose" some woman babbles "You know I'm straight again?" It seems like the taper was dealing with some adverse conditions of one sort or another. This band seems much better live than on their albums (no offense!). Here the horns are lower key & the guitar is pretty damn rippin'. Overall I find it much more interesting, just wish the quality was better. Does anyone have any radio broadcasts or soundboards of them? This reminds me of a number of things, in some places it has a fairly heavy Steppenwolf vibe to it. Anyway, pretty enjoyable for me right up to the last couple of rather mundane repetitive rock & "boogie" numbers. In any case, hope you enjoy it!
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
Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!