Randy Newman & Rotterdam Philharmonisch Orkest: Ahoy' Rotterdam 1979

During the tour which followed the Born Again album, Randy Newman was joined by a Dutch Orchestra for just one night. The evening opened with Newman solo at the piano, after an intermission he was joined by the orchestra. The show was recorded and filmed, it was broadcasted on Dutch radio and Dutch television in 2 parts a month or 2 after the event. This is the radio broadcast which my dad (who was at this show) recorded to tape in 1979. Tracks 1-14 are from the first broadcast, tracks 15-26 are from the second. You'll notice that the second broadcast sounds slightly better, probably better recorded.

Note that this was not the order in which the songs were actually performed. The only thing my dad could remember about the actual setlist is that the first half of the evening was only Newman at the piano, that the second half was with the orchestra, that "Birmingham" opened the second half of the show and "Davy the fat boy" closed the second half. The tracks marked with * feature the orchestra and therefore are from the second half, the rest of the songs are solo performances from the first half.

I transfered the tape to digital with my Edirol R-09 digital recorder. I used Adobe Audition 1.5 to adjust the volume of the first broadcast to that of the second and to crossfade the 2 broadcasts. I also corrected the balance and did some slight noise reduction. Tape hiss is still audible in quiet passages, but more noise reduction would have ruined the recording. The end result turned out a lot better than I expected, very good for an FM recording that's 27 years old.

Artwork is included in the torrent. Check out the mp3-sample below. Enjoy!

Line up:
Randy Newman - Vocals, Piano
Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest - Orchestra

Lineage: Tape->Harman/Kardon TD 420->Edirol R-09 (WAV, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)->Adobe audition (crossfades, noise reduction)->CDWAV (trackmarks)->FLAC fronted->FLACs

Date: August 24 1979
Venue: Ahoy', Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Source: FM broadcast
Quality (1-10): 9

1. Birmingham*
2. Linda*
3. Sigmund Freud's impersonation of Albert Einstein in America*
4. Cowboy*
5. He gives us all his love
6. It's money that I love
7. Yellow man
8. In Germany before the war
9. Short people
10. Simon Smith and the amazing dancing bear
11. Guilty
12. The story of a rock & roll band*
13. I think it's going to rain today*
14. Sail away*
15. Kingfish*
16. Louisiana 1927*
17. The girls in my life (part 1)
18. Rednecks
19. Rider in the rain
20. Lonely at the top
21. God's song (that's why I love mankind)
22. Mr. Sheep
23. Political science
24. Marie*
25. Texas girl at the funeral of her father*
26. Davy the fat boy*