Depeche Mode
1981-08-26
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England, UK
1981 Tour

Incomplete FM broadcast recording and incomplete concert recording
Lineage: Capital Radio FM broadcast, sometime during the week after the concert -> unknown FM tuner -> Toshiba portable stereo radio / cassette recorder (unknown model) -> unknown tape type -> MiniDisc (unknown equipment) -> WAV (16/44) -> in Adobe Audition CC 2014: automatic phase correction (most accurate settings), normalized to -0.1dB, manual click removal -> FLAC 16-bit 44.1khz using FLAC 1.3.0 64-bit (level 8 compression), tracked using cuesheet
Taper: John Gates ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk706smM4aU )
Generation: 1st
auCDTectTaskManager log included

A very good quality FM broadcast recording of three tracks, previously uncirculated until now. This FM broadcast provides another soundboard-quality source for the tracks "The Price Of Love" and "Dreaming Of Me". The only other source for these tracks in such quality is the soundboard recording from 1981-06-27 Crocs, Rayleigh, Essex, England, UK ( https://www.depechemode-live.com/wiki/1981-06-27_Crocs,_Rayleigh,_Essex,_England,_UK/Source_1 ). "Boys Say Go!" has several soundboard or FM sources available (see https://www.depechemode-live.com/wiki/Boys_Say_Go!#1981_Tour ). "Dreaming Of Me" has a somewhat different arrangement and sound, more closely resembling the single version compared to the version played at Crocs. I prefer this version over Crocs, to be honest - something about that specific performance's sample choices irritates me a little.

"Boys Say Go!" and "The Price Of Love" fade in and miss the first few seconds, which is why I deem the broadcast as an incomplete recording. "The Price Of Love" and "Dreaming Of Me" are a fair bit more muffled than "Boys Say Go!". "The Price Of Love" has sort of a "pumping" effect to the audio, causing the audio to become more clear and then more muffled, especially at the beginning of the song. The stereo balance was off (as you can hear in the YouTube link above), but automatic phase correction took care of that.

The taper of the broadcast confirmed that this version was sourced from a MiniDisc transfer of the original tape. One of his friends currently holds the original tape and the taper has requested it back, so if all goes well I will retransfer the tape using high-end equipment at some point.

https://www.depechemode-live.com/wiki/1981-08-26_Institute_of_Contemporary_Arts,_London,_England,_UK/Source_1
You can also find some photos from this concert here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.188064844671511&type=1

Track list:

01. [2:26] Boys Say Go!
02. [4:09] The Price Of Love
03. [3:32] Dreaming Of Me
Total time: 10:07

Line up:
Dave Gahan - lead vocals
Martin L. Gore - keyboards, backing vocals
Andrew Fletcher - keyboards, backing vocals
Vince Clarke - keyboards, backing vocals

All tracks performed were written by Vince Clarke, except for "The Price Of Love" which was written by The Everly Brothers.

Surfaced by ligushka on DIME August 26, 2014.