Fairport Convention (featuring Sandy Denny)
The Troubadour
West Hollywood, CA
January 29, 1974, 9pm Set
JF Archive Series Vol. 16 via JEMS
Taper: JF

~*~ Carefully remastered fixing various issues, without EQ or NR ~*~

01. The Hexamshire Lass
02. Polly On The Shore
03. The Hen's March Through The Midden & The Four Poster Bed
04. Bring 'Em Down
05. Tokyo
06. John The Gun
07. Who Knows Where The Time Goes?
08. Down In The Flood
09. Solo
10. Sir B. McKenzie's Daughter's Lament For the 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From the Straits of Loch Knombe, in the Year of Our Lord 1727, on the Occasion of the Announcement of Her Marriage to the Laird of Kinleakie (consisting of... Bonnie Kate > Up The Chimney > The Kilfenora Road > Biff, Bang, Crash > Tail Toddle > Boston Tea Party)

Encore :::
11. Fiddlestix

Total Time ::: 58:50

::: Quite fine mono AUD with some distortion. Check samples for 'folk no' or 'folk yes' download determinations.
::: Warts: Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed a few. #01 fade in at start not missing any music. Distortion increases around 20mins (possibly due to the band playing louder, tho' since the recorder had ALC, it doesn't really make sense).
::: Fairport played the Troubadour from Tuesday January 29 thru Sunday February 3, 1974.
::: On 1974-01-29 Fairport played 2 shows & Eric Kaz was the opening act. More info below, courtesy of DIMER gv0000.

Recording Information ::: unknown cassette recorder with automatic level controls with unknown microphone (mono) -> master cassette -> 1st generation reel-to-reel (copied by original taper JF way back when).

Playback (JEMS 2016 Transfer): 1st generation reel -> Otari 5050 mkII azimuth-adjusted transfer -> USBPre 2 -> Audacity 2.0 capture (16/44) -> IZotope RX 6 and Ozone 6 -> wav.

Remastering 2017-09-xx ::: wav -> computer -> Audacity [fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, minimal volume adjustments, 3 averaged pitch (speed) fixes with single pass per segment after frequency analysis & with pitchpipe verification, NO equalisation or noise reduction] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. First uploaded 2017-09-xx.

Line-up ::: Dave Swarbrick - violin, vocals // Jerry Donahue - lead guitar, vocals // Trevor Lucas - rhythm guitar, vocals // Sandy Denny - piano, vocals (#06-09) // Dave Pegg - electric bass // Dave Mattacks - drums.

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

NOTES on officially released material from Fairport's January 29 to February 3, 1974 Los Angeles Troubadour run. ::: The RELEASED material all seems to be from February, probably all from the February 1st early & late shows. "The Airing Cupboard Tapes '71-'74" features "It'll Take A Long Time" & "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" (labeled February 1974). The Sandy Denny anthology "A Boxful Of Treasures" features "John The Gun" & "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" (from 1974-02-01). The "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" box has "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", "Solo" & "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" (noted as February 1974, with a different version of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" than on "A Boxful Of Treasures"). The sometimes considered semi-legit (after all, Fairport sold them at Cropredy one year!) "From Past Archives" boot CD has "She Moves Through the Fair" & "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz" (noted as February 1974). Island's 2005 "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz" reissue CD contains "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz" (February 1974 & same as the "From Past Archives version). Disc 17 of the The "Sandy Denny" 19 CD box is "Live at the LA Troubadour 1974" (marked "live tracks sequenced as a concert performance", all of which seem to be from the February 1st shows & not the same as this January 29th set). CD2 in the "Rising For The Moon" deluxe version is "Live at the LA Troubadour, 1974", all of which seems to be replicated in "The Seventh Disc" of the worth-drooling-over new 2017 collection "Come All Ye", excepting 1 track. "Come All Ye" labels the material "February 1, 1974" & has an "alternate version" of "Down Where The Drunkards Roll" which is presumaby from the other set that same night. Lastly, in case you aren't confused yet, the "Live at the L.A. Troubadour" Fairport album was 1970, not 1974. Hopefully I've not missed anything. I compared the aforementioned versions to this January show & there isn't any overlap.

JF Archive Series Vol. 16 via JEMS aka DimeTravel 374 ::: Thanks to the original taper, JK, the fine traders & tape historians at JEMS! Also, thanks to BK at JEMS for the extensive notes & to DIMER gv0000 for additional concert info. ::: Corrections welcome ::: Great to hear another set from the Troubadour. I enjoy these early days of Sandy back in the band. Introduced with "We've got someone special with us", she joins the band for tracks #06-09. Sandy returned to Fairport as a guest on December 15, 1973 at the Rainbow Theatre & the following night at Croydon's Fairfield Hall. She officially re-joined the group, rather on the spur of the moment, for their January 1974 tour in Japan, New Zealand & Australia immediately followed by the Los Angeles shows, including this one from the first night, which appears in circulation here for the first time ever, thanks to JEMS. The master is lost so this is as good as it gets. The taper, to save tape, would copy his masters to a reel and re-use the cassettes. One nice thing about this set is that it features 5 songs which I don't believe have been heard before from the Troubadour run - "Polly On The Shore", "Bring 'Em Down", "Tokyo" & "Sir B. McKenzie's" & "Fiddlestix". As is so often the case, sincere thanks to DIMER gv0000 for his informative date investigation. The gentleman stated "Fairport was at the Troubadour Tuesday January 29 until Sunday February 3, 1974. Sandy Denny is mentioned in an ad from a February 1 newspaper, but not in an ad from the January 27 L.A. Times. The January 27 ad & the January 29 newspaper listing for the show lists John Martyn as the opener, HOWEVER the January 31 review of either a January 29 or January 30 show list Eric Kaz as the opener, as does a February 1 newspaper ad. The January 29 newspaper listing notes 2 shows at 9:00 & 11:00 pm. So, they did play the Troubadour on January 29, probably 2 shows & Eric Kaz was most likely the opener." So, another Fairport recording for your extensive libraries, and a good one at that. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

THE JF BACKSTORY

JEMS loves a vintage taper series and we're pleased to continue this one from the archive of our friend JF, who taped in and around Southern California in the '70s and Boston in the '80s. He frequented smaller venues, like the Troubadour and the Roxy, leaving arenas to others and leaning more towards the folksier, jazzier and eclectic sides of rock.

Most of his '70s tapes were made on what I would describe as the kind of large, rectangular, portable, C-cel powered cassette recorder that my family and surely many others had in the '70s, either a Panasonic or a Sony. While I used ours to record myself, my friends and my sister around the house, the teenage JF figured: Why not try taking it into concerts?

I only learned what recorder JF used after I had heard some of his tapes and I have to say I was mildly shocked. Given the gear, his tapes are remarkably clear for the era. And make no mistake, this was an early era for audience recording, part of the first wave spurred on by of the vinyl bootleg revolution.

For further details and backstory on JF, his tapes and the extraordinary lost Van Morrison performances from 1975 that started the series, please refer to the notes in Vol. Three:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=524853

Fairport and Sandy Denny at the Troubadour

When I first saw the reel containing this show and marked by JF as coming from one of his audience masters, it didn�t register that he had captured something somewhat historic but it turns out he did. I knew vaguely that Sandy Denny left Fairport Convention in 1969 and returned in 1974. Perhaps I was even aware that some early �74 shows at the Troubadour were recorded and tracks were eventually released on the Sandy Denny box set and Rising For The Moon reissue. But it took hearing her voice on JF�s tape and some internet research to realize this recording predates by a few days the shows that yielded the aforementioned live tracks. In short, JF recorded the first US show on the 1974 tour to feature Sandy Denny, following dates in Japan and Australia.

Though originally recorded on cassette, JF's Fairport recording was transferred from reel-to-reel. That's because JF, due to tight budgets at the time (he was barely out of high school), routinely transferred his master tapes to reels in order to save tape/money. Because he recorded his masters in mono, he would dub the finished recording onto a single track of a reel, allowing him to fit four or more shows on one 7" tape and reuse the cassette for the next show. That wasn't true in all instances, but it is for most. Yes, in hindsight, he is still kicking himself about it. And yet, based on the tapes we've transferred so far, JF did a fine job dubbing off his masters, and the Fairport reel doesn't sound any worse for wear despite the one-generation loss.

Once again, our gratitude goes to JF, who reached out on DIME (you could be next!) and offered us his archive, which had been sitting in boxes, 6000 miles away from where he lives today, for 20+ years. Like so many early tapers, he had great stories to tell and the memories flooded back as we sorted through tapes. We are pleased to be able to bring his work to all of you. Please let him know through your comments that you are, too.

Thanks as well to kneesfudd, an expert on the subject matter, who volunteered to handle post-production and posting on JEMS behalf. We so appreciate the support.

BK for JEMS

Support the artists and/or their families! www.fairportconvention.com - www.dmattacks.co.uk - www.folkicons.co.uk/swarbmenu.htm - www.sandydennyofficial.com

Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!