The Kinks
The Forum
Inglewood, CA
April 25, 1983
Mike Millard First Generation Tapes via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 83

Recording Gear: AKG 451E Microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder

Transfer: Mike Millard First-Generation Cassettes > Nakamichi RX-505 (azimuth adjustment; Dolby On) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX8 > iZotope Ozone 8 > convert to 16/44 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC

01 Around The Dial
02 Definite Maybe > State Of Confusion
03 The Hard Way
04 Catch Me Now I'm Falling
05 All Day And All Of The Night > Destroyer
06 Yo-Yo
07 Come Dancing
08 Don't Forget To Dance
09 Lola
10 David Watts
11 A Gallon Of Gas
12 Back To Front
13 Art Lover
14 Till The End Of The Day
15 Bernadette
16 All Day And All Of The Night

Known Faults:
-Lola: spliced
-Remainder of show (likely 4-5 songs) after "All Day And All Of The Night" are missing.

Introduction to the Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Series

Welcome to JEMS� Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around Los Angeles circa 1975-77. For the complete details on how tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' long history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=500680.

Until 2020, the Lost and Found series presented fresh transfers of previously unavailable first-generation copies made by Mike himself for friends like Stan Gutoski of JEMS, Jim R, Bill C. and Barry G. These sources were upgrades to circulating copies and in most instances marked the only time verified first generation Millard sources had been directly digitized in the torrent era.

That all changed with the discovery of many of Mike Millard�s original master tapes.

Yes, you read that correctly, Mike Millard�s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1992.

The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we�ve been told for decades they were gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on the assumption that because his master tapes never surfaced and Mike�s mental state was troubled he would do something rash WITH HIS LIFE�S WORK. There�s also a version of the story where Mike�s family dumps the tapes after he dies. Why would they do that?

The truth is Mike�s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard�s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother Lia inquiring about the tapes at the time to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike�s work.

The full back story on how Mike�s master tapes were saved can be found in the notes for Vol. 18 Pink Floyd, which was the first release in our series transferred from Millard�s original master tapes:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=667745&hit=1
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=667750&hit=1

The Kinks, The Forum, Inglewood, CA, April 25, 1983

The Millard wayback machine arrives at 1983, which would prove to be a pivotal year in the history of Mike the Mike. This partial recording of The Kinks was one of a dozen shows he taped that year. We know there is a part two tape of this performance, but it is currently MIA along with 7 of those 12 shows Mike did in 1983. They are affixed to our Wanted list and we continue to track down those who knew Mike back in the day in hopes of finding them.

This show finds The Kinks at peak of their second wave of popularity, driven by the success of the single "Come Dancing," which hit No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 largely due to the power of MTV on which the video for the song was in heavy rotation. The album State Of Confusion would not be released for another few months, but the band was featuring several songs from it in the set beyond "Come Dancing" including "Don't Forget To Dance," "Bernadette" and the title track. The rest of the set favors recent successes like "Destroyer" and a few classics.

Mike only rated this recording as "Fair" on his list, and as we have come to learn, what Mike considered good or fair most would call excellent. There is perhaps more movement in the stereo image, but this is a very nice capture, sounding close and rich like most Millard masters do. Samples provided.

Here's what Jim R recalled about The Kinks at the Forum 1983:

Mike and I went together to The Kinks concert at The Forum on April 25, 1983. I could not find my ticket stub, but I remember we sat in the 7th or 8th row on the floor. In other words, at the back of our "sweet spot." Still great seats and you get a little more camouflage there than in the third row. A payoff was used to get Mike's equipment into the venue. I left my camera gear at home to be less conspicuous as was often the case as we moved from the relatively openness of the '70s to the more restrictive '80s.

This was our fourth Kinks tour. Being big fans since we first saw them in 1978, this was a "must see" show even though it was in an 18,000 seat arena. I admit that we were spoiled from seeing them at Universal Amphitheatre (capacity 6000) in '78 and '79 and The Hollywood Palladium (capacity under 5000) in '81. Much more intimate settings!

Despite The Kinks' increased popularity as evidenced by playing The Forum (a benchmark venue), we were happy to see they were still a fun party band. We had plenty of exuberant fans around us embracing the high spirits.

I hope you enjoy this one. A little on the short side but still enjoyable. Cheers to my buddy Mike.

###

JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R, Ed F, Barry G and many others to release Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself.

Of late we have tied each week's volume number to the year of recording, but that ends this week. After taping the ARMS show in December 1983 (Vol. 65 in the Lost and Found series), Mike retired from recording for the next four and half years. As I've written before, the details behind his decision to stop are not entirely clear, but we believe it had something to do with Mike getting caught recording at a Robert Plant show at The Forum in September 1983.

We recently learned that Mike had been caught once before at a Pretenders show in September 1981, but that was at a small venue in Pasadena so there were no lingering consequences. Being caught at The Forum after taping there for years meant Millard believed he was a marked man and security would be looking for him.

We can�t thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept Mike�s precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would not be nearly as compelling without Jim�s memories, photos and other background contributions. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike�s incredible audio documents.

Special thanks this week to Professor Goody, for weighing in on proper pitch, and to mjk5510 for cover art and post production. Next week will be a wild card choice. Remember, due to the NAB list, some artists can't be posted on DIME, so if a Saturday arrives and there is no Lost and Found release, Try To Discover another site where the rules are different.

Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.

BK for JEMS

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

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