George Harrison
11 December 1974
Providence Civic Centre
Providence , Rhode Island, USA
Source - "Putey's Day of Destiny" (Publisher - Howling Leg)
A show from towards the end of the tour, which wound up on 20 December 1974. This was the only show that day. Evidently a rowdy concert, even with an Altamont moment when George interrupts the show in to invite some jerk to stop assaulting a woman. His voice sounds pretty hoarse.
Sourced from Harrsongs 1999 bootleg, "Live at Providence Civic Centre", this version fixes a lot of its glitches, as detailed below. The sound is excellent - very clear and undistorted - and only slightly marred by a bit of wow & flutter. Most of the Indian music section is missing, and several parts are missing from what is present - the latter possibly the result of tape hoarding (the gaps sound like clean cuts, there were no evident machine problems before they occur, and they occur at odd points, not where you'd get tape flips [sometimes two within the same song] - also fades were applied during applause at the end of some songs, and some repeats occur from sloppy editing).
There are file sets for two formats - a double CD, with fades at the end of Track 11 and start of Track 12
- a seamless version for DVD-Audio
1. Hari's on Tour (Harrison) 5:28
2. While my Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison) 6:54
3. Something (Harrison) 4:19
4. Will it go round in Circles (Preston) 3:25 part 1
5. George berates the crowd! 1:03
6. Will it go round in Circles (Preston) 2:23 resumes
7. Sue me, sue you Blues (Harrison) 4:11
8. Zoom zoom zoom (Shankar) 5:45
9. For you Blue (Harrison) 5:10
10. Band Introductions 1:38
11. Give me Love (Give me Peace on Earth) (Harrison) 4:13
12. In my Life (Lennon/McCartney) 6:16
13. Tom Cat (Scott) 4:22
14. Maya Love (Harrison) 5:14
15. Dark Horse (Harrison) 4:19
16. Nothing from nothing (Preston/Fisher) 4:01
17. Outta Space (Preston) 3:57
18. What is Life (Harrison) 5:20
19. My sweet Lord (Harrison) 8:31
Total time 86:29
Edits
1. Generally, tracks have been realigned to their start points or introductions.
2. SBEs have been removed.
3. Hari's on Tour (Express)
- repeat and click in siren intro edited out
- gap at edited out (some music is missing) and segue smoothed
4. Sue me, sue you Blues
- break and gap at 0:37 smoothed
- break at 0:50 patched using section from elsewhere in song
- volume spike at 1:11 repaired
- fade at end edited out
6. Give me Love (Give me Peace on Earth)
- left channel drop out at 0:27 repaired
- gap at 1:05 patched
- fade and repeat at end edited out
8. In my Life
- gap at 1:07 removed
9. Tom Cat
- repeat in applause removed
10. Maya Love
- fade & repeat of applause at end edited out
11. My sweet Lord
- end of applause faded out
Show identifier - track 01, 1:03 - "Good evening, New Providence!"
Lineage: Audience recording > unknown fiddling about over the years > CD > CDR > trades > CDR > EAC > wav > Cool Edit Pro > wav > flac
Line-up:
George Harrison (Guitar)
Robben Ford (Guitar)
Willie Weeks (Bass Guitar)
Andy Newmark (Drums)
Billy Preston (Keyboards)
Emil Richards (Percussion)
Tom Scott (Horns)
Chuck Findley (Trumpet)
Jim Horn (Saxophone)
Jim Keltner (Drums) - joined the tour on the 27th
Indian musicians:
Ravi Shankar (Sitar)
Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute)
Rijram Desad (Percussion & Strings)
T.V.Gopalkrishnam (Mridangam & Vocal)
Gopal Krishn (Vichitra Veena)
Sultan Khan (Sarangi)
Kartick Kumar (Sitar)
Kamalesh Maitra (Percussion)
Satyadev Pawar (North India Violin)
Alla Rakha (Tabla)
Harihar Rao (Percussion)
Lakshmi Shankar (Vocal)
Viji Shankar (Vocal)
Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor)
L.Subramaniam (Violin)
Bootlegzone reviews of the original Harrsong album:
"Yet another solid Harrison live 1974 disc. This one gets extra points for having both Preston's and Tom Scott's songs, as well as one track by the Shankar family. Also, this is the show where the concert is interrupted by fighting, and you can hear George get angry! There are a couple of what sound like splices in the recording, places where you miss a second or two that sound like they come from the original source tape, not from the CD from which my CDR was made. Sound is average--the usual "auditorium echo" at a venue not intended for music acoustics, with a recording made back in the cheap seats. This was a great tour with a fantastic band ,and I feel every show is worth having. Since George was unhappy with his voice and other aspects of the tour, it's unlikely we'll ever see a legit release of one of the shows George himself recorded and/or filmed anytime soon. Until then, grab this or any live '74 shows you can get." Bill S., 09 July 2001
"...These discs are crap. Sound is bad; Harrison's voice is also bad. His rendition of "In My Life" is criminal; even changes the "hit" line "in my life I love you more" to . .. I love God more". Is nothing "sacred"? The "bonus" tracks, exp. the Banton Rouge ones, (7 and 8 on disc two) are especially distorted. A waste of time to listen to this,except perhaps to hear Preston." John Kallestad, 22 Dec 2003
"...The Interview by Ben Fong Torres With George Harrison And Billy Preston... was [for]... 'Rolling Stone' magazine, on 12 November 1974, backstage at the Los Angeles Forum between shows. This set is worthwhile for the bit where George interrupts Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round in Circles" to stop a fight that has started in the audience. George's voice is obviously shot but the set is still important as a piece of history. During "Dark Horse" (Disc 2, Trk. 1), who is the ass-hole in the audience that says he "can't stand George's music"??? Why is he there???" Joe Caldwell, 28 Jan 2002
"The 'ass-hole in the audience that says he can't stand George's music' was Donald Putey, a London taxi driver who bore George an enduring grudge after George stiffed him for a £1 2s 6d fare in late January (or possibly early February) 1963. Although he was not impartial to the music of the other three members of the group, he always maintained an abiding hostility to George's work, particularly "Living in the Material World". Whether this was an honest aesthetic opinion, or a jaundiced view caused by his earlier encounter, friends and family never discovered - his untimely death in a bizarre toenail-clipping accident in mid 1986 meant that he took this secret to his grave.
"As to why he attended the concert - he was on holiday in Providence, seeing his nephew, who ran a small, but successful, chicken slaughtering business there. The nephew had season tickets to the venue and suggested they go, not knowing who was playing. Imagine poor Donald's horror! And what bad luck, given the paucity of live shows in George's solo career! Donald compained about it for years.
"Hope this clears it up for you." Aidanymous, 21 Feb 2008
"Aidanymous - I believe Joe's question was of a rhetorical nature - and I for one find it justified. Maybe it was someone who had been given the ticket as a present and just wanted to see if George live was better for him than George in the studio?" thewalruswasjohn, 23 May 2008
Artwork included for both versions.