DELBERT McCLINTON

Tuesday, 10 July 1984

Lone Star Café
61 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10003
USA


FLAC master, 5 May 2020, by elegymart:
Analog audience recording (mono) {recorded by Gene Poole}: unknown mics/recorder > 1982-84 US/European TDK SA90 (Type II CrO2) and 1984 US Maxell XLII Extra Fine Epitaxial C90 (Type II CrO2) analog audio cassette master {from the Gene Poole collection} > Sony TC-WE435 (azimuth adjustment) > Roland R05 (24/96) > Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (audio cleanup, convert to 16/44) > SHNtool (fixed SBE) > CD Wave (track splits) > TLH (WAV > FLAC8).
Created this text file.


Total running time [1:41:06]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
01 setting up [0:58]
02 introduction > It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day) [5:10]
03 Just a Little Bit [2:59]
04 Lipstick, Powder and Paint [3:09]
05 Plain Old Makin' Love [3:21]
06 Going Back to Louisiana [3:38]
07 Night Life [4:53]
08 Standing on Shaky Ground [4:10]
09 I Don't Want No Woman [5:40]
10 Rebecca, Rebecca [5:46]
11 Take Me to the River [3:46]
12 The Jealous Kind [4:36]
13 A Mess of Blues [3:38]
14 When Something Is Wrong with My Baby [5:34]
15 Linda Lu [3:30]
16 Baby Ruth [2:42]
17 That Woman [3:31]
18 Maudie [5:19]
19 It Should Have Been Me [3:32]
20 Goin' Down Slow [2:34]
21 Givin' It Up for Your Love [4:06]
22 Sneakin' Around [4:43]
-- encore --
23 Medley: Kansas City/I Got My Mojo Working [5:55] >
24 Rooster Blues [5:19]
25 upcoming show announcements [2:25]


Band line-up:
Delbert McClinton - vocals, harmonica
Reese Wynans - keyboards, vocals
James Pennebaker - guitar
?? - guitar
Larry Lange - bass, backing vocals
Roddy Colona - drums
Joe Sublett - saxophone
?? - trumpet


Notes:

THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 96

Here's the latest installment of the Gene Poole Collection, a random wellspring of recordings which have recently surfaced. To paraphrase Lou: This is gonna go on for a while, so we should get used to each other, settle back, pull up your cushions, whatever else you have with you that makes life bearable in what has already been the start of trying decade...

Some of Gene's handiwork has probably been heard by your very ears before, for the most part via the Stonecutter Archives, but this is the first major unearthing of tapes direct from the legend himself. As promising as that may seem, it's best to let the surprises hit as they are shared. The trade-off to the prolific taping on Gene's part is that the expectations for a perfect track record would be unrealistic and unfair. There will be instances of incomplete recordings, caused by late arrivals to gigs, recorder and mic malfunctions, and other assorted foibles as would befall any mortal taper. There will be times where a master from another source exists which could be superior. For the most part, Gene recorded with a variety of mics and recorders, and many shows suffered from wire dropouts, so that only one channel was extant in the capture. Due warning about the past imperfect given and out of the way, credit should be given where due as well -- for many shows thought lost forever, it's exciting to discover that many of these even in incomplete form have now cropped up.

The transfers, the audio fixes, and the research all have required some lead time -- many tapes had scant info (sometimes just the name of the artist/band, with no date listed for the performance). Needless to say, gear documentation is virtually nil -- if we wait around for that precise detail to be forthcoming, nothing from the collection would probably see the light of day.

For this edition, we head over to the Lone Star Café for a set from Delbert McClinton.

Unlike some of the other artists and bands in this collection, Delbert has had nothing if not an extensive discography. Still performing as recently as last year, he has 62 years of playing live concerts under his belt, in addition to four Grammy Awards.

1984 was in the second half of a large gap in Delbert's discography, with no recorded output released between 1981 and 1986. This was the "Giving It Up For Your Love" era, after he had a hit with that song off his 1980 album. His resurgence wouldn't begin until the end of the decade, when his "Live from Austin" release earned him one of his many Grammy nominations. That didn't mean he was inactive as he certainly hit the road with frequency and continued to perform. Delbert's brand of blue-eyed soul could on the one end of the spectrum mirror Paul Rodgers (he had good enough taste to record two Andy Fraser compositions), Robert Palmer, or Frankie Miller (check out his contribution to Miller's 2016 "Double Take" album). At the other end, he and his band were absolute house rockers with their rough-hewn mix of country, blues and R&B, and so for New York City, the Lone Star Café was the most ideal place to play -- prior to the opening of the Lone Star Roadhouse a few years later, that is. It was purportedly the only place outside of Texas where one could buy a Lone Star beer anyway.

Perhaps like Van Morrison, Delbert was notorious for going through his musicians like water. No two performances featured the same setlist, as Delbert would just call out the songs to the band during the set, which made it a challenge for some to keep up with the man. James Pennebaker has had the most longevity, but this was the final year before Reese Wynans moved on to join Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Don Wise, who remained with Delbert on sax for many years, wouldn't sign on until the following summer. The band is introduced at the end, but the music obscures some of the names, so any corrections are welcome.

This is one of Gene's single channel mono recordings, bumped over to two channels for listenability. There's a split-second tape dropout in "Plain Old Makin' Love" and the tape was a little muffled after the second tape flip. The Lone Star was a small enough venue, and this was a smokin' set. The sound is more than acceptable for a mono recording. There isn't much in the way of audience chatter; an instance of someone trying to sing along with "When Something's Wrong with My Baby" and another of someone who seemed to have engaged in a fight somewhere else in the club getting a little close to the tape but the discussion is thankfully brief, and in a way adds to the atmosphere.

Enjoy,
elegymart