Jefferson Airplane
1970-05-17 ::: Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana, USA
Indiana University Bloomington ::: (old) Memorial Stadium
East 10th Street ::: M3-AUD
~*~ Carefully remastered fixing various issues, without EQ or NR ~*~
"We go around the country & everybody says 'You take acid all the time'. No, (but) once a day, every day".
Set One :::
01-[01:10]. ==talk & tuning==
02-[11:35]. The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil
03-[01:08]. ==talk & tuning==
04-[02:52]. Mexico ->
05-[00:36]. ==talk &tuning==
06-[15:11]. Get Off
07-[01:24]. ==talk & tuning==
08-[03:52]. Greasy Heart
09-[02:09]. ==talk &tuning==
10-[07:10]. Uncle Sam Blues
11-[01:09]. ==talk & tuning==
12-[02:28]. White Rabbit
13-[03:46]. Volunteers
14-[00:56]. ==thanks/applause/war teach-in announcements==
Set Two (NOTE: NOT a Hot Tuna set as Balin is absent & Slick &/or Kantner play thru all 3 songs) :::
15-[06:05]. Whatever The Old Man Does Is Always Right
16-[14:52]. "It's Easy"
17-[10:50]. Baby What You Want Me To Do
Encore(s) :::
18-[01:47]. ==lots o' Grace talk, & tuning==
19-[04:27]. Somebody To Love
20-[01:40]. ==talk & tuning & equipment hassles & AUD yelling==
21-[06:50]. The Other Side Of This Life
22-[01:33]. ==talk & tuning==
23-[06:51]. Good Shepherd//
Total Time ::: 1:50:22
::: VG+ pretty enjoyable, upgraded AUD. Check samples for reflux or influx.
::: Warts (NOT as bad as it looks, mostly fairly consistent): Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed some. ALC issues addressed thru most but some unnatural volume in places (more info below). #02 ~1min clapping in music near start (lowered) & bit of AUD talk during music. #06 some loud clapping in parts middle to end (somewhat fixed). #12 some AUD talk. #13 missing 1or2 notes at start & clapping thru most (not really addressed). #16 micro splice at 3:15. #16+17 few split second micro-echo spots due to now pasted over dropouts. #16 has a splice in the middle. #19 loud clapping 1st 75secs (somewhat reduced) & bit of AUD talk 1st few seconds. #23 cuts probably right near end. #18-23 overall audio quality poorer&more erratic as people stood up. #21 has many ALC fluctuations (somewhat fixed). #21-23 somewhat muffled.
::: COMPARISON CLAUSE: This M3 version somewhat upgrades Davmar's old M4 one. This M3 is remastered&speedfixed&slightly less bright&hissy&has fuller sound (more Jack!), tho' at times Davmar's M4 is crisper. MOST importantly, this does NOT have the M4 frequent, weird low level distortion (eg, compare"Mexico"vox+music or "Good Shepherd"start when Jorma sings"one for Paul"). Also, the M3 has MANY repairs to problems that existed on both.
::: NOTE: Considered doing an EQ+NR version but it'd need multiple settings in different parts due to sound fluctuations, so didn't make one.
::: BILL also w/B.B.King & The Byrds, +local band The Screaming Gipsy Bandits "providing music before the show&during intermissions"!
::: General admission daytime concert 12:30-7:30pm. JA headlined & played last.
::: Stadium held 20,000. Newspaper doesn't say it sold out & photo shows some space in back of field.
::: JABase&Fenton WRONGLY list "Assembly Hall" venue. Newspaper review confirms "old" Memorial Stadium.
::: Fenton says this is final JA "Baby What You Want Me To Do" played until 1989 reunion (correct?).
::: Fenton says"WhateverTheOldManDoesIsAlwaysRight"played here for 1st time by JA as standalone song (correct?).
::: Only known version of "It's Easy"(& an unconfirmed title). 1st "Get Off" appearance (same basic riff as "I Can Tell").
::: B.B.King (partial set) also recorded by this taper, as were The Byrds, tho' a SBD also circulates for the latter.
::: Very LOSSY copy of BB King at www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kkuNPKYyM0
::: JA played "Baby What You Want Me To Do" 3-4hrs after The Byrds played it in their set this same day.
::: Kinda funny that AUD got a FULL, HEAVY dose o' Jack in the 1st 7 MINUTES of the show.
::: Marty ABSENT due to MN hotel room arrest May 16th for pot&contributing to delinquency of minors (sentence reduced=$100 fine).
::: Normally you'd guess tape is incomplete as"Good Shepherd"an unlikely closer, but many oddities here, so maybe it did come last.
::: Someone MUST have a ticket stub, newspaper ad or poster from this event - nothing was easily found online.
::: Aerial venue PHOTO back in the day https://fedora.dlib.indiana.edu/fedora/get/iudl:1127594/LARGE
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE MISC SEMI-RELATED FACTOIDS:
::: "Volunteers"LP recorded March 28-June 12 & issued Nov. '69, so 'twas a well-known masterpiece by this time.
::: "Have You Seen The Saucers"/"Mexico" 7" 45 single recorded Feb'70 & issued in May'70."
::: "Mexico"was Grace's lambast of Tricky Dick's Operation Intercept anti-dope campaign trying to stem pot flow from Mexico".
::: Some US states banned"Mexico"45 but it went to #10 on charts. 5mos later PrezDick asked for no drug songs on radio&TV.
::: Oddly, JA didn't play EITHER side of their new 45 in Rotterdam or at the Bath festival the next day.
::: RCA had little JA material to release in '70 so "The Worst of Jefferson Airplane" was issued in November.
::: J.Tamarkin says "Whatever The Old Man Does Is Always Right" is the correct title for the song.
::: Is it sinking in yet that we are working on/collecting/downloading many tapes that are more than 50/FIFTY! years old?
::: Does HT 1970-06-18 Kingston, Jamaica Club Maraccas live 11 song RCA recording session tape actually circulate?
::: ATTENTION ~PRESS BREAK~ SIGNE TOLY ANDERSON unreleased 1970 SOLO "album"...While researching info for this upload, I found the following 2 articles. 1970-11-07 Billboard says new Marin Disc label ALREADY recorded new Signe Toly Anderson LP (Michael Kamen of NY Rock Ensemble produced). 1970-12-31 Record World says, "Her first album, which she has conceived&designed, is entitled 'Circles' with 6 original songs&others by leading contemporary writers." So, was it recorded? Seems VERY likely demos were made. Inquiring ears WANT to hear - soon! We're aging. Signe's gone, Michael's gone. Just think about who might have played on it. Dig, Baby, Dig!
HOT TUNA NOTES: While JAbase & Tunabase list Hot Tuna on this bill, this is NOT correct for this show. There is NO Hot Tuna set within this recording & they didn't play another separate set on this night. For one, Marty Balin was a current member of (electric) Hot Tuna & he is NOT present here due to his hotel bust the day before, so they presumably bagged the "Tuna" set as such in the middle of the JA performance & went ahead & played some of the material with the Jefferson Airplane full band (minus Marty). Grace and/or Paul remain on stage for the ENTIRE performance, including songs they usually disappeared on (presumably due to Marty's absence). "Whatever The Old Man Does Is Always Right" has Grace talking during the beginning of the song (but not singing) & definitely has Kantner playing second guitar (just check the rhythm guitar about 3mins in). In a nod to what might have been the usual Hot Tuna set had Marty been around, Grace yells out "Hot Salmon" as they go into "It's Easy", but Grace is "smoking" on the lead free-form vocals on that number, "freak out, freak out, FREAK out... etc", AND then she is also out for a rare appearance on "Baby What You Want Me To Do" singing most of the lead vocals, and again, with Kantner on guitar as well (& abershaw concurs). Also note, that Paul "The Duck" Ziegler [†R.I.P. 2000†] is said to have appeared on electric guitar 2 nights with Hot Tuna in early March in Berkeley, & then presumably not again until a live club recording sessions for RCA in Jamaica mid-June, followed by late June festivals in Rotterdam,NL & Bath,UK. After June '70, Ziegler then was apparently out except for a guest spot with Hot Tuna at September '75 gig. Ziegler was not present at any other Hot Tuna (and/or) shows/sets in May '70 as far as is known & it seems unlikely he would appear in Indiana on a single night without Marty. Also, after some close comparisons of "Baby What You Want Me To Do" here & with the long version at the Bath Festival, not only is it pretty clearly Kantner here, it's not Ziegler's style. (As an aside, while noted as "Jefferson Airplane" in the article/caption, here's a picture of Hot Tuna performing with Ziegler & Marty on 1970-06-13 at a club in Jamaica: www.tunabase.com/images/posters/19700626_news.jpg). Does anyone know of other Ziegler appearances with Hot Tuna other than those mentioned here?
Recording Information ::: unknown mono tape recorder/microphone with ALC -> master mono tape(s) -> 2 analog-only tape generations -> 3rd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassettes, Dolby B on ('80s trade).
Playback 2017-05-xx ::: 3rd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassettes on Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck, Dolby B on, azimuth adjusted for individual tape, heads cleaned & demagnetized -> Sony Linear PCM Recorder PCM-M10 (LPCM 44.10kHz/16bit WAV files) -> computer -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, assorted averaged pitch (speed) fixes from -1.6 to -4.0 with single pass per segment after frequency analysis & with CD pitch verification, NO equalisation (except split second bump fixes & 60KHz notch in encores only), NO noise reduction] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. (NOTE: 2 channel mono tape & Rchan substantially higher, so only used that 1 channel doubled up after remastering as it steadied the sound - hence small file sizes. PopMute used to lower clapping between some songs). Started this one more than 4 years ago... so it goes. Freed 2021-11-xx. (NOTE: Rather poor ALC (automatic level control) so between songs volume went way up (unnaturally) & after some near-mike claps & occasional abrupt music sounds, volume had extreme dropoffs (repaired much of it where possible). MANY (usually) low level mike motion bumps repaired but would reappear if bass increase EQ attempted).
Line-up ::: Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing) - vocals // Paul Lorin Kantner (†R.I.P. 2016†) - electric guitar, vocals // Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. - electric guitar, vocals // John William "Jack" Casady - electric bass, audacious eyebrow action // Joseph Edward "Joey" Covington (born Joseph Edward Michno) (†R.I.P. 2013†) - drums, percussion, vocals. (NOTE: Martyn Jerel Buchwald aka "Marty Balin" (†R.I.P. 2018†) absent for this one gig of the tour - see above for more info).
Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.
DimeTravel 864 ::: Thanks to the original taper & traders! Thanks to DIMER gv0000 for his info assistance. Thanks to davmar with whom I shared many JA shows by snail mail many years ago. ::: Corrections welcome ::: Grace free-form rambles in a number of songs - spacy, not always at her innovative best, but at other times, she enters the stratoacidsphere - "The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil" & "It's Easy", for example, & some others also have far out ad-libbing, like the end of Greasy Heart" with the "Can You Hear Me Laugh" improv. I'd be curious what happened (likely on stage) that has Grace laughing so hard during "Mexico" she can hardly sing at the start. Grace talks thru the USB intro but does not sing, tho' Paul Kantner IS playing, & the song suffers from Jorma's quite out of tune guitar. The end of "Mexico" is exceptional where Grace raps for 75 seconds with a concluding bit about Bobby Seale, but all kinda part of the song & then she & Joey vocally take the rap directly into "a thing called 'Get Off'" (done to the tune of "I Can Tell" but with quite different lyrics). Grace takes off in STL & then goes into a repeated (food?) rap at the end of "Good Shepherd". Grace talks about Marty's bust in the STL intro - the lack of 3 part harmonies, but actually it's VERY cool version, with Paul's voice much more distinct in places than usual for the era. Before the encore, Sounds like Grace encourages the crowd to climb into the pit in front of the stage & tells them to get rid of the barriers. Grace before "Good Shepherd, "The thing is, we'd really like to say something clever but everbody is 'too f'd up'(?)".Covington's singing is the same old cringing mystery. This is 2 weeks after the Kent State shootings, only 300 miles away & on a college campus & right after major DC Vietnam protests. Surely the town (and state) officials were quite nervous, which makes the newspaper review odd, as it states, "less than a dozen policemen could be seen across the vast gathering & most of them were protecting the performers". No overt mentions abou tthe event or subsequent protests by JA that I heard here, but perhaps "Vounteers" is sung with more emphatic effort than usual. It is followed by (presumbably student) promoter announcing an war teach-in the next day. Apparently the previous couple of weeks both Paul & Grace were all for the band making a more public stand regarding the shootings (check Grace's comments at the Fillmore gigs) but the rest of the band was somewhat reticent, presumably worried about possible blow-back. Continuing with my in-depth explorations, remasters & upgrades for spring/summer 1970 Jefferson Airplane recordings, this one is a delightful addition, the performances of many of the songs are quite unique. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees
Support the artists and/or their families! www.jeffersonairplane.com -- www.facebook.com/GraceSlickOfficial -- www.jeffersonstarship.net -- www.hottuna.com -- www.jackcasady.com -- www.jormakaukonen.com
Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!