David Bowie
Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles
9 February 1976
Wish Upon A Star LP (early pressing)
WAV files (provided to me by audio engineer who did the transfer) > CD Wave >
Click Repair > TLH > FLAC
01 Waiting For The Man
02 Word On A Wing
03 Stay
04 TVC15
05 Panic In Detroit
06 Fame
07 Changes
08 Diamond Dogs - Wish Upon A Star LP
This is a raw transfer from an early pressing of the "Wish Upon a Star" LP -
the one with "For Patty" in the runout groove, vinyl fact fans.
It's nice that it was recorded at The Inglewood Forum - I've never been there
but recordings made there tend to have a nice ambience to them (Bowie's 4th
April 1978, Neil Young concerts recorded there...).
I do actually like some of Bowie's sax playing - on Pin Ups for instance,
on Lulu's version of The Man Who Sold The World - but on TVC15 here it is,
erm, 'lovely'...not surprising he dropped it early in the tour. :)
The right hand bias of the sound did / does concern me, but I have not
tried to address this - as conventional re-balancing can have mixed results.
I was told about 'Stardust' software that could apparently work well, but
I cannot get this to work in Audacity - I am aware it will probably work
within more advanced tools, but until I get my head around any (I have tried)
I am working within the limits of my knowledge and experience.
I did however apply light Click Repair to reduce the worst of the vinyl noise.
I don't consider that processing - you might. However I have to listen through
any transfer / torrent I am preparing to check for errors or faults and I have
some standards about the quality of music I will listen to!
The bass is a little boomy during 'Stay'. It would be nice to hear what a pro
engineer could do starting from this recording (as opposed to a later CD version).
Nice maelstrom of guitar and synth sound towards the end of this track, though,
got to say...
I think most of the torrents of this have been from CDs, so this should be
an upgrade.
More Bowie items have been uncovered and circulating, despite what any collector
may pretend otherwise - so let's start hearing the tapes stashed in the cupboards,
please.