Jethro Tull
Cobo Arena
Detroit, MI
September 6, 1973
Secret Origins: JEMS 8-Track Master Series Vol. Three

Recording Gear: Lloyd's 8-Track Cartridge Recorder > Lloyd's mics

JEMS 2016 Transfer: Master cartridges > Panasonic 8-Track player > McIntosh C32 Preamp >
Wavelab @ 96/24 > FLAC 8 > wav (splicing, balancing and individual loud clap reduction) >
FLAC (sb's aligned) > torrentially yours.

runtime: 116:11 (minutes:seconds)

01. A Passion Play (Part One) 24:15 (short gap removed at 17:23)
02. the story of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles 5:39
03. My God 6:33
04. A Passion Play (Part Two) 14:38
05. (the middle bit of) Thick As A Brick 17:26 (end applause spliced)
06. Cross-Eyed Mary 4:13
07. No Rehearsal 1:07
08. Thick As A Brick (reprise, with drum solo, cuts, spliced at 1:21) 5:54
09. intro to Aqualung 1:25
10. Aqualung 7:58 (fade out after)
11. intro to Wind-Up 2:25
12. Wind-Up 5:06
13. Instrumental 6:25 (cuts at 3:04, spliced)
14. Locomotive Breath 6:56
15. Hard-Headed English General 3:23
16. Wind-Up (reprise) 2:46

Ian Anderson: lead vocals, flute, harmonica, acoustic guitar
Martin Barre: guitars
John Evan: organ, piano
Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond: bass, voices
Barriemore Barlow: drums, percussion

Let me shine some light on the early days of JEMS.
Before the hard-drive recorders, before the DATs, before the many generations of Sony cassette decks,
there was a guy in Tacoma recording on a Tandberg mono reel to reel, and in the alternate universe
that is Detroit, there was me and the opposite of a Tandberg, a Lloyd's 8-track cartridge recorder
(before that there was a Sears Silvertone Cassette Recorder that saw some limited, low-quality use).

I started using the 8-track cartridge recorder because it was stereo, had external mics and
most importantly had adjustable recording levels (oddly, no VU meters though, which made things difficult).
It took a little trial and error to figure out the best setting to record successfully.
Sadly, Pink Floyd at Cobo Arena in March of 1973 was the test.
I had seen David Bowie that same week and got lucky (search for Vol. Two of this series),
but Floyd was over-recorded to the point of distortion (well, most of it).
After that, I had a pretty good sense of where to set the levels for shows.
I only recorded about a dozen concerts on this system before Sony put out the 153-SD Cassette Recorder,
which took its place.

Jethro Tull played four shows at Cobo Arena on the Passion Play tour in 1973.
I saw two of the shows and recorded one of them.
I loved the album and the show has always been one of my favorites.
I'd make the argument that it was Tull's last great tour, and selling out four arena shows in Detroit
reminds you just how big they were at the time (the set lists were identical each night).
It was a very high tech show for the era, incorporating film elements and special effects very few
other groups were attempting. The films they projected are included in the "Passion Play" box set that
came out a year or so ago.

This is one of the better 8-track recordings I made, and superior to the Bowie. Samples provided.
We hope you enjoy the results.
Thanks to glasnostrd19 for his help in prepping, polishing and publishing this one on our behalf.

Tapeboy for JEMS

Jethro Tull is one of just a few bands that has been near and dear to my heart, even before I was
aware people couls go see their favorite bands play live in concert.
it was when Stand Up first came out that their music first came to my attention
and even though I loved Benefit and Living in the Past and Thick as a Brick alot
it wasn't until the final night of the Passion Play tour that I finally got to see tull live for the 1st time.
I was shocked to hear they played any city 4 times, although if they would do so, the 4 most likely suspects
would probably be Chicago, Detroit, NYC and Los Angeles which are all very large cities.
Boston is not a very big city but it is tull heaven, basically.
they scheduled just 1 show there to end the passion play tour for sept 28
but as was the case most of the times tull played in boston, 1 night wasn't enough in 1973.
they added a second night on sept 29, which was a blowout show and the beginning of a long love affair
with me seeing tull shows. regrettably I wasn't a "tapeboy" then, and didn't know one
or we'd all be listening to that show. if I ever find a tape of that show, I will share it if possible.
this one is very similar, as tapeboy pointed out, the passion play tour setlist didn't vary much, if at all
but the concept of a ballerina opening a rock show was pretty radical in 1973
and "a Passion Play" was one of just a few opera tours heard in rock
around the same time as the "Jesus Christ Superstar" production
and a few years after the 1st rock opera most of us ever heard (Tommy, by the Who)
and soon before the Who embarked on "Quadrophenia".
Passion Play is probably the ultimate example of a rock opera, and the polar opposite of commercial pop.
it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen in Boston, and this show is a very nice reminder of it.
thanks go out to tapeboy for capturing it in pretty good quality considering the equipment he had.
this recording doesn't suffer any of the bleed through issues so prominent in the
1973 Detroit David Bowie recording.
there was a large applause section missing after the TAAB part, so I spliced in a section
to smooth that out a little bit.
if burning to CD, probably best to start disc 2 with Cross Eyed Mary,
although it could also be started with the middle bit of TAAB if preferred.
there are a couple of short bits missed probably due to changes of tape
but not alot is missing anywhere and the sound is fairly consistent for a 1973 arena audience tape.
I didn't have to do much to fix this, just join a few loose ends and balance a couple of parts a little bit.
there are a few pretty nice Passion Play auds circulating, but not many, and no soundboards even after 43 years.
this will be one of the better ones. thanks to all who ever recorded a tull show from the 1970's
the band has had many great records, among the most great songs of any rock band,
way too many to play anywhere near all the "good ones", and always put on a fine live show.
the period of 1969-1973, and the Minstrel album (pathetically underrepresented in concert)
and Songs from the Wood and Heavy Horses, okay almost all of the Clive Bunker and Barriemore Barlow era
was my favorite for tull. Passion Play (and TAAB) got alot more negative critical acclaim than warranted
after the band's closest thing to a "heavy metal" album (Aqualung) but those were two of their best albums of all imho.
the music just wasn't sliced into neat little 4 minute radio cookies which was a big problem for getting radio airplay.
there were versions of TAAB (in 1972) that were well over an hour long
and I suspect there are probably a few Passion Plays that run over an hour too.
it was too long ago to know for sure, but I think I saw one.
that show seemed to go on forever, and there was no opening act (that I remember.)
the place was sold out to the gills, and I doubt anyone wanted to hear anyone else but tull play.
it may have been a little longer than this show, only because it was the final show of the tour,
but this is pretty close to as long as that.
all the jokes heard here are probably exactly the same ones I heard in Boston. word for word.
that song "no rehearsal" is a lie. Jethro Tull are very heavy rock and roll recyclers.
they rehearse this thing as much as the Rockettes rehearse their routine (and that's alot.)
the effort paid off in the quality of the result. thanks to all for putting the passion into it.
couldn't have a passion play without it.

glasnostrd19 for JEMS