LEO KOTTKE

Friday, 7 March 1986

Carnegie Hall
881 7th Avenue
New York, New York 10019
USA


FLAC master, 18 May 2020, by elegymart:
Analog audience recording (stereo) {recorded by Gene Poole}: unknown mics/recorder > 1985-86 US Maxell Epitaxial XLII (Type II CrO2) 90-minute analog audio cassette master {from the Gene Poole collection} > Sony TC-WE435 (azimuth adjustment) > Roland R05 (24/96) > Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (audio cleanup, convert to 16/44) > SHNtool (fixed SBE) > CD Wave (track splits) > TLH (WAV > FLAC8).
Created this text file.


Total running time [33:46]
---------------------------------------------------------
01 Embryonic Journey [0:41]
02 Air Proofing Two [6:48]
03 Rings [5:46]
04 Little Martha [2:40]
05 Cripple Creek [4:13]
06 June Bug [4:48]
07 Pamela Brown [5:00]
08 Jack Fig [3:45]


Solo line-up:
Leo Kottke – 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitars, slide, vocals


Notes:

THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 109

Here's the latest installment of the Gene Poole Collection, a random wellspring of recordings which have recently surfaced. To paraphrase Lou: This is gonna go on for a while, so we should get used to each other, settle back, pull up your cushions, whatever else you have with you that makes life bearable to kick off the new decade...

Some of Gene's handiwork has probably been heard by your very ears before, for the most part via the Stonecutter Archives, but this is the first major unearthing of tapes direct from the legend himself. As promising as that may seem, it's best to let the surprises hit as they are shared. The trade-off to the prolific taping on Gene's part is that the expectations for a perfect track record would be unrealistic and unfair. There will be instances of incomplete recordings, caused by late arrivals to gigs, recorder and mic malfunctions, and other assorted foibles as would befall any mortal taper. There will be times where a master from another source exists which could be superior. For the most part, Gene recorded with a variety and mics and recorders, and many shows suffered from wire dropouts, so that only one channel was extant in the capture. Due warning about the past imperfect given and out of the way, credit should be given where due as well -- for many shows thought lost forever, it's exciting to discover that many of these even in incomplete form have now cropped up.

The transfers, the audio fixes, and the research all have required some lead time -- many tapes had scant info (sometimes just the name of the artist/band, with no date listed for the performance). Needless to say, gear documentation is virtually nil -- if we wait around for that precise detail to be forthcoming, nothing from the collection would probably see the light of day.

Here's another just unearthed opening set for a prior TGPC volume, this time from Leo Kottke at Carnegie Hall, where Violent Femmes headlined (see Vol. 66).

Gene and the Good Doctor settle into their seats late, catching the end of the Jorma/Airplane instrumental "Embryonic Journey." The unruly crowd were yet to go unfettered and overboard as they would during the Femmes set. In this calm before the storm, some of the audience up front actually are attentive and mesmerized by Leo's fingerpicking and cheer him on, but just as he goes into a bit of "Hayseed Suede" in the second number on tape, someone nearby asks about either Gianni or Donatella Versace's friend, audibly annoying Gene. Before Duane Allman's "Little Martha" another obnoxious audience member loses his patience and calls out for the main act. On the number after that, someone yells out "Howard Stern!" -- "Baba Booey" was probably a year or two from becoming a ritual heckle at this point.

This is Leo in his post-tendinitis stage, when his music was mainly classified as new age music, which in hindsight doesn't make much sense. As a musician, Leo undoubtedly practiced and practiced before he got to Carnegie Hall. The sound quality shares the similar distant murkiness as with the Violent Femmes set, only the excessive murmur and chatter drowns out more of the playing here. Who knows what the house sound was thinking -- on the last number, Leo is surprised when they prematurely turn off his monitors before he's able to end his set.

Enjoy,
elegymart