Rita Coolidge (with The Dixie Flyers)
1971-05-06 :: Croydon, London Borough of Croydon, England
Fairfield Halls :: Fairfield Concert Hall :: Park Lane :: M-AUD

"The Delta Lady"

01. --The Dixie Flyers introduced--
02. ? (instrumental)
03. Rita introduced -> Bad Water
04. Born Under A Bad Sign
05. Mud Island
06. Crazy Love
07. It's Love, Baby (24 Hours A Day)
08. Lay My Burden Down
09. The Game Of Love ->
10. When The Battle Is Over
11. I Believe In You
12. If You Were Mine
13. Only You Know & I Know

Total Time ::: 45:32

::: Quite decent AUD for its vintage with a bit of cavernous room sound. Check samples to test the waters or a little Ritafication.
::: Warts: Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed a few. #01 spoken intro has some issues. #03 bit of talk @start. #10 & 12 each x2 tiny digijumps. Occasional diginoise residue I couldn't fully repair (esp. in #02) but it isn't bad at all! Still a few noises & slightly muffled spots here & there but nothing too distressing!
::: I'd written this off long ago due to DAT issues, but resuscitated it w/new technology/remastering skills.
::: #01 is The Dixie Flyers opening the show alone before Rita came onstage.
::: Rita's entire opening set & the only circulating full-length set from the tour.
::: Rita opened for The Byrds for this tour, her 1st Euro tour under her name.
::: Touring to promote her 1st album, "Rita Coolidge", released February 1971.
::: "Nice Feelin�", Rita's 2nd album, was issued Nov.'71 & featured this band.
::: Rita pics London 1971-05-05: www.alamy.com/stock-photo-portrait-of-rita-coolidge-in-the-park-69398703.html
::: Rita&The Dixie Flyers A&M studio promo photo: https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/musician-rita-coolidge-and-her-band-rita-coolidge-and-the-dixie-in-picture-id475019844
::: Wikpedia credits Delaney & Bonnie for discovering Rita & inviting her to L.A.
::: Rita's real jump to fame was w/the "Mad Dogs&Englishmen" tour ('70) & movie (Mar'71).
::: Too bad this "Only You Know&I Know" doesn't segue into "Blues Power" like in Amsterdam a week later.
::: The Dixie Flyers here are the Criteria Studios house band, NOT the bluegrass band from Ontario.
::: Jim Dickinson, the other guitarist for The Dixie Flyers, was not along on the tour.
::: The Dixie Flyers more info @ www.allmusic.com/artist/the-dixie-flyers-mn0000783942/biography
::: Fitting Wolfgang's description: "a sound somewhere between Leon Russell&The Shelter People & Delaney&Bonnie".
::: Wolfgang's has the only other '71 live Rita around: 1971-05-15 Amsterdam partial & Sheffield 1971-05-09 Joe Cocker guesting w/her band.
::: Rita's 1st LP backing band: Spooner Oldham/Clarence White/Chris Ethridge/Jerry McGee/Booker T. Jones/Bobbye Hall Porter/Jim Keltner. Plus guests: Marc Benno/Leon Russell/Stephen Stills/Bobby Womack/Donald "Duck" Dunn/Ry Cooder/Clifford Scott/Fuzzy Samuels/Graham Nash a.o. If you ain't got it, it's well worth a listen, as is her 2nd.

Recording Information ::: unknown mono reel recorder/mike -> master reel to reel tape.

Playback (circa 1995?) ::: master reel to reel tape -> Sony TCD-3 DAT Recorder (LP speed) -> DAT. Playback (2018) Sony TCD-D7 -> Tascam Tascam CD-RW900 -> CD-RW -> computer -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, clap, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, no pitch (speed) fix seemed necessary as it is very close with frequency analysis & pitchpipe verification, PopMute carefully applied to some clapping between songs only, NO equalisation except some split second bass distortion reductions, no noise reduction] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. First uploaded 2018-11-xx.

Line-up ::: Rita Coolidge - vocals // Charlie Freeman - electric guitar, backing vocals // Mike Utley - organ, piano // Tommy McCLure - electric bass // Sammy Creason (RIP) - drums.

Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.

DimeTravel 469 ::: Thanks to the original taper & trader, The Man In The Palace! ::: Corrections welcome ::: This was a fine discovery found buried in a "DATS with death knolls" box in the aging archives. There's an aspect of a rehearsal feel about it, probably as it is in a big hall & the audience is fairly subdued & it was at the beginning of the tour, probably jet-lagged to boot. It's still a righteous listen & respectable capture of an artist in her relative infancy but in my opinion, her creative prime. I know some of you swamp rockin', Delta boogying, dynamic & ethereal female vocalphile, (dare I say?) hippie chick addicted, D&B headed MAD DOGS will crack a brew & be all over this one like manic pot-deprived resin-scrapers - and with good reason, too! Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees

Support the artists! www.ritacoolidge.net -- www.ronmcclure.com

Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!