Performance: A
Overall: 5/5 iTunes here we come (see review for a caveat though)
Here is another golden ROIO and part of the reason why I wanted to undertake this exercise. It is great, most of the issues mentioned in the original info were not problems for me and the sound is excellent, one of the best ROIO I have heard that is recorded from the audience with perfect amount of participation and there are no spoilt tracks due to talking or other issues, anything there is being so minor it didn't trouble me at all.
The performance is great, it really could be A+, it is just personal preference really, ASOS and CWTAE are not the kind of way I like the track to go but, like I said, just my taste. I will be keeping this in iTunes for sure, although I will be unchecking the tune ups so they do not sync to my iPod or play as part of the album, there is really no need.
This one warrants a track breakdown…
Set One.
1. Grantchester Meadows: This is a fairly good version, not my favorite track but this is a solid version, no issues.
2. Astronomy Domine: The vocals are little on the muted side by it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of this track, there is an extended keyboard section in the middle I haven't heard before (although I am just starting my journey and haven't listened to many of bootlegs from this era) and it was nice and refreshing.
3. Tune Ups: can be skipped nothing really happens
4. Cymbaline: This is a long version but that is because something happens after about 8 minutes there is something going on but I cant tell what it is, the music picks back up after 3 minutes or so and there are tune ups for about 30 seconds at the end, the info makes no mention of it either, so not sure about that one! But putting that aside, great version.
5. The Amazing Pudding: This is the would become the monstrosity that is 'Atom Heart Mother' and that is a real shame. The crap they added over the top of the basic piece, in my view anyway, ruined it on the album. This is a good version and really demonstrates that long standing point completely. It has all the good elements and none of the bad. Splendid!
Set Two.
1. Tune Ups: skip it, nothing interesting
2. The Embryo: The whales are back but there is other stuff going on over the top, most of the time an nice upbeat keyboard line and also some interesting drumming, neither of which I had heard before. Liked it. Good version of this track, liked it a lot.
3. Green Is The Colour: The cymbals are little heavy, if I have to be over critical and there is a little distortion on the recording on the louder sections but not distracting and this is a great rendition.
4. Careful With That Axe, Eugene: This is a spaced out, laid back version and is missing the intensity of some of the other performances I have heard of this well known track which is a real shame and is such an important factor to me but this is just personal preference and some might like that, still a good version.
5. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun: What a turn around from the last track, this is high energy with a great transition to the slower section, great contrast
6. Interstellar Overdrive: Another great version here lots of energy and great changes of pace makes this version one of the best I have heard.
7. A Saucerful Of Secrets: The start is really quiet at normal volume which means you don't really hear much going on until over a minute into the track then you have a full on 20 minute improvisation-fest that is classic 1968 Floyd but still retains the framework that we know and love and the end is really good. This rides the line of too much improv and crosses it occasionally but it was, none the less, a good version of this track.
Seek this out, it is a great, top rated, ROIO and is a must for all fans.
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Original info…
Pink Floyd - Since We Were Teenagers - MQR 004
Civic Auditorium - Santa Monica, CA, USA
May 1st 1970
Source: Audience
Sound Quality: EX
Taper: Dub Taylor
Total time = 121:53m
Set One 51:18
1. Grantchester Meadows
2. Astronomy Domine
3. Tune Ups
4. Cymbaline
5. The Amazing Pudding
Set Two 79:08
1. Tune Ups
2. The Embryo
3. Green Is The Colour
4. Careful With That Axe, Eugene
5. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
6. Interstellar Overdrive
7. A Saucerful Of Secrets
Magna Qualitas Records is proud to present "Since We Were Teenagers", this fully restored and remastered recording from Santa Monica as our fourth release. Due to our continuing work on everything related to Zabriskie Point, which led to the new revision of the Omayyad album, we've decided to complete the restoration of this excellent recording. GBC torrented this recording (provided by Rudy and M.M.) originally a while back, and his notes reflect the many instances of dropouts, damages and cuts in the tape. All this has been restored here using pieces of other shows or relocating pieces from this show.
Originally Grantchester Meadows only ran about 30 seconds. Apparently that is where the taper started recording. We have patched the majority of the song in from the previous show in San Francisco on April 29, but since the very beginning of that fades in we decided to restore that as well from the KQED tape. We wanted the birds before the song to be there. The 30 seconds of the song that existed on the tape for this show are all there, but now the whole song exists in a form that is nearly impossible to tell its from more than one show. from 0 to 0:34 April 30 - KQED. From 0:34 to 7:13 April 29 - Fillmore East. From 7:13 to 7:37 (end) May 1 - Santa Monica
Astronomy Domine had a small part missing due to a damaged portion of the tape. This was patched with a piece from slightly earlier in the song. The buildup was a bit oversaturated and was all at one continuous loud volume, so this was readjusted to better reflect the gradually increasing intensity of the song.
The original little patch from Santa Monica 1970-10-23 is still in place in Cymbaline. It was done so well I can't even tell where it is, so why mess with perfection?
A dull spot in the tape at about 14 minutes into The Amazing Pudding was repaired.
The missing part of Careful was spliced in from Port Talbot 1969-12-06, curiously this concert was during the Sessions for Zabriskie Point. We searched long and hard through dozens of shows to find a tape where the performance was similar enough to the one at Santa Monica (and with similar sound quality) to fill the missing section. Quite a lot was missing, so it had to be done. The patch exists from 2:33 to 3:48.
Drop-outs and other anomalies were cleaned up or otherwise repaired. The volume of the whole thing was adjusted in various places to make the dynamics more pleasant, and because the tape sounds like the taper was adjusting the gain on the fly as the show went on in order to compensate for very quiet passages. A lot of the between song banter and tuneups and the tape effects during Cymbaline were very quiet, so they were brought up a bit. The distorted sections of the show were carefully restored to avoid a lot of the oversaturation they originally contained. Several spots where the high end dulled down a bit, likely from deterioration of the master, were EQd separately and patched in in order to compensate for the tonal changes. Noise Reduction was carefully applied in three stages, and the whole thing now appears for the first time in stereo due to the usage of a very sophisticated and well sounding (although freely available) stereo processing plugin. The tape flips were all patched by relocating audience from different parts of the show so the whole thing is now a continuous piece for each set.
This release is certainly not perfect. Many wrinkles and crumples were present in the master tape, and although we did our best, there's not a lot that can be done to fix them. It is, however, probably the best it has ever sounded since we were teenagers, maybe even as it ever will...
Source: Audience
Sound Quality: EX-
Recording equipment: Nagra R2R > 5" Reel Master
Playback: Tandberg R2R > Revox B-77 > M.M.'s 1st Generation Reels
Transfer: Reel[1] > Sony DAT > DAT(0) > Audigy 4 Pro > Nero Wav Editor > CDWav >
CDR(0) > CDR(1) > EAC > FLAC
Ah, forget about any other version of this show. Forget even about the nice tracks from the Omay Yad LP. Straight from a 1st Generation Reel, comparing it to the other versions around wouldnt be fair for the other releases, because this never sounded as good as it does with this version. You wont find a better version of this concert till the master reels gets transferred. And as if this wasnt enough, now we can hear Green is the Colour, Careful and Saucerful which werent available till today. It gets a bit distorted on the louder parts but it's absolutely listenable and the definition is still very good, i can live with that. Bass is really good but lacks a bit of highs, still, it has excellent brightness and definition overall. Another source with better highs would make a better difference even.
Only editing on this recording was on AD, removing some damaged portion at 4:16-4:20m and over Cymbaline, M.M. removed 'the lines converging where you stand' till the chorus part and patched it with a bif ot Santa Monica 23.10.70. The common 'Santa Monica' bootleg has the complete Cymbaline with the original drop-outs and cuts. Also, i have a couple of transfers from fan tapes that have some dropouts at the beginning of AD, that anomalies are not present here. Also, Careful has an skip at 2:36m and i think it might be missing around a minute cos it jumps suddenly from the quiet ambience to a few bars before the scream. ASoS has another skip towards the end. These skips/cuts are not from CDs.
Spectrum reveals that something happened above the 16khz, i think it has something to do with the mics used that night, transfer equipment or the Reel itself. If you want more info about this, go to the thread i started about this here at Y. Anyway now you all will have it and will be able to make your own conclusions. M.M. states on his notes (you'll see them in the back artwork) that
the reels were starting to deteriorate so that might be the true reason.
One of my favourite Floyd bootlegs
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