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Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny .... May 18, 1974
Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
(Uncirculated First Generation AUD)(PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION BELOW)

Sandy Denny - Lead vocals, keyboards
Dave Pegg - bass, mandolin, vocals
David Swarbrick - fiddle, mandolin, vocals
Dave Mattacks - drums
Jerry Donahue - guitar


Taper: Paul's friend
Taping Gear: Likely a cheap cassette recorder
Lineage: Paul's First Gen. Sony PR-150 reel @ 3 3/4 IPS> Akai GX-220D playback> TASCAM CDRW-700> Trade CD-R> (wav) EAC (secure mode)> (flac) Trader's Little Helper level 6 (align on sector boundaries)
Quality: vg- (At best) (PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION BELOW)
Length: 81:12 minutes
Artwork: none.
Samples: none.


Set List:

Disc One: (32:15m):
01. Matty Groves
02. Solo
03. Sloth w/ bass solo
04. Instrumental
05. The Brilliancy Medley/Cherokee Shuffle (Tape flip)

Disc Two: (48:57m):
01. Like An Old Fashioned Waltz*
02. Rising For The Moon/ long Ned Kelly intro*
03. The Ballad Of Ned Kelly*
04. The Hexamshire Lass*
05. Tokyo*
06. John The Gun*
07. Down In The Flood (Dylan cover)*
08. Instrumental (cut)(Tape flip)*
09. Instrumental (Part two)
10. Audience
11. Who Knows Where The Time Goes
12. Instrumental

* See description below in text.


Taper's Comments:
1 - HELP!! If you have any uncirculated SPIRIT shows, or better quality FM
broadcasts than what's been posted here before, please share them. If you
know anybody who has shows that fit this category that aren't on DIME, please
dub off their stuff and share it. I'm trying to write a book on SPIRIT and need
all the information I can get. I have a database of over 1500 gigs 1967-1996, and
want to find as much information as I can to add to it. If you have any memories
of where you saw SPIRIT, the more specific the better (venue, city, date, supporting
bands, etc.), I'd love to know that as well. Please leave that in the comments
section or PM me. Thank you!

2 - Show description & comments follow:
I need to start this off by saying that I know next to nothing about Sandy Denny
or Fairport Convention. She obviously is an iconic singer, which is why I'm
offering this post, despite the issues.

The first generation tape of this concert were given to me by my old friend Paul,
who was a jazz musician, and has been previously mentioned in some of my posts.
I can hear him talking at times during the show, so he was right there with his
friend (unknown to me) who taped this show. I had planned to use these for trade
to obtain SPIRIT & Jimi Hendrix stuff, but I never did. I was given this tape in
the late 1970's, and it has sat on a shelf since then.

During the playback of this tape I began to hear the dreaded "chirps" about
midway through the reel, meaning that the tape was self destructing as it played.
The tape oxides were coming off as I played, and after one pass the tape heads
and tape guides were filthy with tape residue. Further attempts only sounded
worse, so thank God I didn't stop until I had at least one pass. Not every song has
the "chirping", it's mostly in the middle of the tape, and in no way is constant on
the songs. It's just here and there, but irritating. Since I often see some of you more
technically inclined folks talking about removing claps, talkers, and reducing sound
issues with your offers, maybe there's a shot that somebody can do something with
this? Please feel free to remaster and fix this if you can. I have other reels of the same
brand, and everything has been fine to date. For some of you older geezers like myself,
it shows the importance of trying to get your collections digitized before it's too late and
they are gone. I have marked the songs with "chirping" with an *. "Tokyo" is the worst
track by far, and then it quickly lessens to nothing.

As to the recording, I would suspect it was likely done with a cheap cassette recorder.
The sound is generally very clear, but has a rather cavernous sound. That is not
surprising to me, as I never thought the acoustics of Lisner Auditorium at GWU were
very good. There are portions of the show where it sounds like the limiter in the
cassette recorder is being pushed to it's limits. While this is not a sonic masterpiece,
it is not a "for completeists only" recording either, and I find it certainly listenable,
especially on the quieter songs.

I did my best on the set list, band line-up and other information using Wikipedia and
putting lyrics into Google. I'm certain some of you hardcore fans will be able to help,
especially on the instrumentals. Please post that information in the comments section
for the benefit of all.

I have presented this recording as it was on the tape, requiring two CD-R's. For those
of you who desire to go to one CD-R, if you eliminate Track 10 Audience on Disc Two,
it will likely fit. I hope you enjoy this despite the flaws.

bpthree



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Support the artists: Buy the officially released items, etc.

Prepared by Jeff James (roryglzep@aol.com)
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