Steamhammer
1970-02-04 _ London, England _ BBC Maida Vale Studio 4 _ "Rhythm & Blues" programme _ (MorM1-FM)
Broadcast on BBC World Service radio & presented by Alexis Korner
~*~ Mk2 version, carefully remastered fixing various issues, without equalisation or noise reduction ~*~
~~~!~~~ DimeTravel brings you "British Blues BOOM!" Volume 92 ~~~!~~~
"Sailing away tomorrow on the tide. The weather's looking good & I'm feeling fine..."
01. ...Junior's Wailing
02. On The Tide
03. Another Travelling Tune
Total Time ::: 12:20
::: VERY fine radio studio/off-air tape. Check samples for "uh-uh"/"uh-huh" prognosis, Mk2/Mk3 differential or quick "Holy Toledo" moments.
::: Warts: Repaired dullspots & dropouts but surely missed a few. #01 missing ~1min based on other live versions & has split second glitch ~14secs. #03 is 16mins on LP & only 4&1/2mins here, but seems most of the song & faded as it was on the original programme. Some remnants of quite erratic radio signal strength with volume & high end fluctuations remain, particularly in the Mk2 version.
::: COMPARISON CLAUSE: The Mk1 version is the original transfer with no adjustments.
::: CONTRAST CLAUSE: This Mk2 version is remastered without EQ or NR. The Mk3 version remastered WITH EQ & NR can be found elsewhere.
::: My preference leans heavily towards the Mk3 version, but the files are so small, you should grab 'em both.
::: Recorded 1970-02-04. First (and only?) broadcast on 1970-02-28.
::: Band is promoting "Mk II", issued ~3 months before this & featuring 2 of these songs. "Mountains" was issued in Nov.'70.
::: Possibly the unissued "On The Tide" was written for "Mk II". The style is quite similar.
::: Garner's "In Session Tonight" says this was normally a 15min show based on 1 session.
::: File size is small as it was from one track mono.
::: From the same off-air reel that had the lost Led Zeppelin "Sunshine Woman" session (the one Page remastered for the box).
::: PLEASE #1: 1 of 3 Steamhammer BBC sessions listed in Garner's book is still M.I.A. & I'd love to hear it while my ears are still 'earin'. BBC World Service "Rhythm&Blues" show brdcast 1969-09-27 (Junior's Wailing/All Your Friends Are Gone/Riding On The L&M).
::: PLEASE #2: It'd also be great to finally hear an upgrade of the 1969-07-13 BBC Top Gear session I uploaded 2 years ago. It IS out there somewhere.
Recording Information ::: AM broadcast -> unknown mono reel to reel recorder -> off-air master reel (possibly 1st generation reel copy by the taper to consolidate recordings).
Playback 2018-xx-xx ::: original taper's master or 1st generation reel -> unknown method first-ever digital transfer -> wavs -> flacs.
Remastering 2018-03-xx ::: flacs -> TLH -> wavs -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, #01 -1.9% & #02-03 -2.2% pitch (speed) fixes with single pass per segment after frequency analysis & with pitchpipe verification, NO equalisation or noise reduction] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. First uploaded 2018-03-xx.
Line-up ::: Kieran White - vocals // Martin Pugh - electric guitar // Martin Quittenton - electric guitar // Steve Davy - electric bass // Mick Bradley - drums.
Nothing here ever commercially released to my knowledge. If I'm wrong, please advise & I'll take the offending trax offline.
DimeTravel 402 ::: MEGA thanks to Tomi from Poland for reel rescue,transfer&sharing & to his bro for taping off-air. ::: Corrections welcome ::: This one appeared unsolicited & could hardly have been more welcome. Few & far between these days to get something I listen to some 10 times in a row right away. Great arrangements of "Junior's Wailing" & an abridged "Another Travelling Tune", but a revolutionary listen awaits all true Steamhammer fans with "On The Tide". Can't remember the last time I really got to hear a new song by the band of this vintage, and it's a stunner - timeless & haunting & full-throttle, with great changes & feeling - truly astonishing. Kick your shoes off, lie back & relax & take the ocean trip. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yrs truly, Knees
Support the artists! Nothing to buy, but check Martin Pugh's site at www.steamhammer.com
Do whatever you want with it except sell it, 'cause that ain't cool!