Max Webster
St. Catharines, ON, Canada
Brock University
October 5, 1975


Rejoice - the Max Webster box officially comes out today ! And here is some companion material for the true aficionados of this band.

Very few people have heard a note of music from Max Webster before they released their first album, and that changes today. Let's call this Max Webster flood part deux.

Previously uncirculated, this 1975 show sees the band opening for Rush (for only the fourth time out of hundreds). Although they are normally playing in the bars six nights a week (3 to 4 sets per night), when they get an opening slot they already realize what their strongest material is - mostly the tracks that would end up on their debut album. Marmalade Mama is a bluesy track that the band often played in this period (about a prostitute in Toronto, as Mike Tilka explains), and along with dozens of other originals, it would never be recorded. It features Kim on slide guitar.

Tilka says all the songs they've performed will be on their debut album to be released on December 15, which means that a) Marmalade Mama was recorded, and b) the album was recorded far earlier than we realize. It would be pushed back another six months, finally being released in May 1976.

A couple Rush crew guys are near the mic (a single Yamaha mic set up at front of house), offering smartass and uncomplimentary comments between songs, particularly during Kim's funny banter with the audience. But the band get the last laugh, as the audience want an encore after Hangover (the review of the show seems to corroborate this - http://maxwebsterlive.ca/file/1975-10-05-st-catharines-review.jpg) - but the tape cuts out, so we can't know if they came back (or were allowed to, being an opening band).


AUD > Master Cassette > WAV (GoldWave speed correction and fixes) > FLAC
(transfer: Yamaha KX-260 tape deck > Scarlett Focusrite interface > Pro Tools)


Lineup:

Kim Mitchell - guitar & lead vocals
Mike Tilka - bass & vocals
Paul Kersey - drums
Terry Watkinson - keyboards & vocals


More info:

http://maxwebsterlive.ca/1975-10-05-st-catharines


1) Coming Off The Moon
2) Marmalade Mama
3) Blowing The Blues Away
4) Only Your Nose Knows
5) Toronto Tontos
6) Here Among The Cats
7) Lily
8) Hangover


Enjoy, and please keep it lossless (and don't bootleg this - particularly rockinconcerts.com; if you are the person who runs that website, you are pure scum).