Joe Ely
(with special guests)
70th Birthday Bash
Paramount Theater
Austin, Texas USA
February 10, 2017
(Re-Mastered)

Quality: Excellent audience
Lineage: Core Sound Binaurals (w/bass rolloff)>Sony MZ-NF810 (walkman mini disc w/ auto level setting)>
Total Recorder>Audio Cleaning Lab 3.0>WAV>FLAC 8
Taper: Mike Rowefoen
Transfer/encoding: joeyjay
Artwork: Chee-Zee
File size: 681 MB

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Re-Master notes:
Already rated as excellent this needed some help to be considered close to that and benefitted from the improvements made here (IMHO).
Those improvements include the reduction of the audience and removal of a multitude of microphone handling noises - bumps and clunks.
Harmonic Balancing and reshaping of the spectrum to give more of an up-front sound exposing more detail and fixing the muffled sound.
One distraction for me was that the loud snare drum caused the auto record level function to create lots of short volume jumps.
Those volume dropouts have been smoothed over by small adjustments of the amplitude.
Some "pumping" can still be heard but this took care of the worst.
Endless hours were spent fixing hundreds of tiny details to make this sound even nicer.
A Labor of love for one of my favorite artists.
Happy Birthday Joe!

enjoy--
Re-mastered by Flying -M- (March 2017)
iZotope RX4 advanced & Har-Bal 3.0 > CD Wave > TLH (flac level 8)
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THE PLAYERS
Joe Ely - vocals, guitar
Lloyd Maines - pedal steel
David Holt - guitar
David Grissom - guitar
Jeff Plankenhorn - guitar, mandolin
Jimmy Pettit - bass
Glen Fukanaga - bass
Joel Guzman - accordion
Davis McLarty - drums
Pat Manske - drums, percussion
Jimmie Dale Gilmore - vocals, guitar
Butch Hancock - vocals, guitar
Terry Allen - vocals, maracas

SET ONE (54:18)
01. Introduction
02. I Had My Hopes Up High
03. She Never Spoke Spanish To Me
04. Banter
05. Honky Tonk Masquerade
06. Banter
07. Waving My Heart Goodbye*
08. Thank God For The Road**
09. Right Where I Belong***
10. Borderless Love***
11. Dallas***
12. Magdalene
13. The Highway Is My Home
14. Cornbread Moon

SET TWO (74:04)
01. All Just To Get To You
02. Up On The Ridge
03. Banter
04. You Can Bet I'm Gone
05. Cold Black Hammer
06. Dry Land Farm
07. Boxcars
08. Streets Of Sin
09. Banter
10. Me And Billy The Kid
11. Cool Rockin' Loretta
12. encore applause
13. Happy Birthday Joe
14. Live Forever
15. Not Fade Away > Who Do You Love > Bo Diddley > Not Fade Away (reprise)****
16. encore applause
17. This Land Is Your Land

*Gilmore vocal
**Hancock vocal
***Flatlanders vocal
****Allen co-vocal

Notes: So here were are, a milestone birthday for
the greatest of Ol' Mike's Texas music heroes, Joe
Ely. To celebrate his 70th, Joe brought players
together from his bands over the years, stretching from
Lloyd Maines from the earliest days to the more
recent vintage of Jeff Plankenhorn and Pat Manske.
When a band has four guitar players (if you count Lloyd
on pedal steel) and two bass players, you know they mean
business. Late in the second set, there were 13 people
rocking at once on stage. The highlights for Ol' Mike were
two songs rarely played anymore - the classic "Honky
Tonk Masquerade" (in its pedal steel glory) and, yes, "Cornbread
Moon" ... played just like the old days. The "Not Fade Away"
raveup with Terry Allen also moved the needle. Joe's fellow
Flatlander amigos show for a short set, then return at the end,
Otherwise, it was a fair mix of greatest hits and touchstone
pieces from a road well-traveled. Speaking of, there was a
fantastic slideshow on a screen above the stage before each
set that showed scores of photos from Joe's archives,
from family pics, to celebrity mixers, to hot-and-sweaty gig action
shots. Here's hoping he compiles it into a coffeetable-style
book to share with us someday. Simply. Effin. Awesome.

The downside - if you want to call it that - was the venue was
"too large" for an Ely Band show, if you know what I mean.
The venerable Paramount is certainly an intimate enough
place for the auditorium-style concert, but the best Joe shows
have always been in tight quarters with everything blowing up
right in your face. This is really a weak complaint, I know, but
merely saying that as good as it was, it would have been
transcendent in a smaller, sweaty place. Of course, not nearly
as many people would have been able to make it, and it would
have take four hours to move the musicians off and on ... so I'll
shut up. Anyway, recording came out great - Ol' Mike was midway
back in the venue, not really close to the stage, but the sound
mix was pretty good for the most part. Grissom's first solo, on "All
Just To Get To You," was lost in the mix, but you can get your
DG fix on "Streets of Sin" and "Loretta." Holt was magnificent
as usual as well; he handled all the lead duties on the first set.
Joel's accordion was well-miked, you'll see, but in general
everything's balanced really nice for as many players that
had to be considered. Give it a listen and see what you think.

As I will always do until I'm gone, all thanks go to Joe and
all the Ely Band guys (living and RIP) for all the great nights
of music and memories during Ol' Mike's life. This one was a bit
wistful, but on we go. Continued thanks to The Coin for the
now-retired surrogate mics that captured so many Ely gigs
for me/us, and to D. Ortiz (wherever he may be) for the current
loaners. Enjoy. On with the show ...

*************

All thanks go to the original taper, Mike Rowefoen and to joeyjay and Chee-Zee for their parts in first sharing this recording.
I just put some time into cleaning this up and making some improvements (IMHO) to this very historic concert.
Much easier to listen to now with the enthusiastic crowd being toned down a notch or two.

Some folks don't go for these "remaster" jobs and if you are one of those the original recording is still available and can be found at:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=584687
This is a wonderful performance so you should check it out either way.

For historical reference only and not intended for resale or any commercial use.

enjoy
-M- (March 2017)
A FLYING M PRODUCTION


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