Steamhammer
1973-06-09 Recklinghausen, Germany Vestlandhalle (M2or3-AUD)
Kurt-Oster-Strasse 2

*~* Carefully remastered removing problems & then lightly! EQ'd ~*~

01-[07:06]. Small Ball & Gibbon intro (or Cennamo dimentia) ->
02-[10:10]. Small Ball & Gibbon
03-[10:50]. Heritage
04-[11:28]. Sonata In C
05-[11:00]. Burning Buzzard

Total Time ::: 50:34

::: VERY fine full-bodied AUD. Check samples for intake diagnostics or tripping velocity teasers.
::: Warts: NOT many. Fixed many dropouts & dullspots, but surely missed a few. Tapeflip @ ~38:30 BETWEEN songs only missing seconds of talk.
::: Bill probably Steamhammer opening, then Eloy, then UFO.
::: All 3 bands/sets circulating from the evening sound to be same taper/master/location/equipment.
::: Very cool the audience is so quiet during this set. They were MUCH rowdier during Eloy & UFO.
::: All these songs are instrumentals but with a lot of worked out arrangements as well as loads of jamming.
::: "Burning Buzzard" seems to be an altogether different song than the Armageddon "Buzzard".
::: 1st 7 minute intro into #2 is lots of feedback & intensity - don't dispair if it ain't yr bag!
::: In '05 DocTinker uploaded a 2% fast, 4 minute M1 fragment of "Burning Buzzard" as 1973-06-06. That date was perhaps(!) incorrect as now the full Steamhammer, UFO & Eloy sets have all surfaced as 1973-06-09. Adverts anyone?
::: Thanks to DIMERs hanwaker, DocTinker & fbauer for weighing in with a bit o' help on this, as well as to finkployd49 for offering.
::: #2 song title unclear; listen & see what you think when it's announced. Not sure the 7 minute intro is the same song.
::: Steve Martin's "Steamhammer Family Tree" says this 4-man line-up is the same as the "Axis" band, which followed the 3-man Pugh/Cennamo/Lingwood "Steamhammer Mark XI", but at this gig they were apparently still billed as Steamhammer. Soon after this, in 1974, Pugh & Cennamo formed the A&M band Armageddon with Keith Relf (ex-Yardbirds, ex-Renaissance) & Bobby Caldwell (ex-Captain Beyond, ex-Johnny Winter). Drummer John Lingwood has since played with many bands including Stomu Yamashta, Manfred Mann & Family.

Recording Information ::: master mono or VERY narrow stereo tape -> 1 or 2 analog cassette generations -> 2nd or 3rd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassette, Dolby off.

Playback 2014-05-29 ::: 2nd or 3rd generation Maxell XLII-90 cassette on Nakamichi 680ZX cassette deck, Dolby off, azimuth & speed adjusted (pitched!) for individual recording (verified with spectral analysis & pitchpipe), heads cleaned & demagnetized -> Sony Linear PCM Recorder PCM-M10 (LPCM 44.10kHz/16bit WAV files) -> computer -> Audacity [normalisation to remove DC offset, channel/phase alignment, fades, manual one-at-a-time glitch, bump, pop, click, dropout & dullspot repairs, volume adjustments, very light EQ] -> CD Wave (track splits) -> flacs (Trader's Little Helper) -> yr ears. (And... Sound quality is quite fine with good bass response, low distortion & very little audience noise. Seems to be mono, but then clapping near mike is louder in 1 channel than the other, so may well be VERY narrow stereo or played back on a deck that had uneven tape head wear). Sorry to purists but no time to do 2 versions & after 20 listens or so, it simply sounded better with a bit of EQ, so that's what's here. First uploaded week of 2014-07-05.

Line-up ::: Martin Pugh - electric guitar // Martin Quittenton electric guitar // Louis Cennamo - electric bass, bowed electric bass // John Lingwood - drums, percussion.

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

DimeTravel 032 ::: Thanks to the original taper & traders! ::: Corrections welcome ::: While I'm a huge Steamhammer fan & have been since the early 70s, their final (4th) album, "Speech" never really did it for me (or at least not nearly to the extent of their early material). While I like Martin Pugh, the fact that Martin Quittenton was out of the band & the album mixed in some prog moves that fell a bit flat, always left me a bit "speechless" (if you will). However, Quittenton is back in the band here & this shit is f'ing dense & intense. Extremely long, complex musical works with lots of jamming & seriously experimental music in places. Check out the end of the world, real armageddon sounds in #1. There are some superb extended guitar notes in places that remind me of Harvey Mandel circa "Baby Batter" or "The Snake". Louis Cennamo is playing a lot of melodic lead bowed bass thruout & having one of his finest hours ever to surface during this set. An outstanding musical performance - kinda like peaking for an hour. Volume is essential. Really a shame the band got their set cut short (from the sound of it), as one assumes they woulda done some older Steamhammer crowd pleasers. But then, what is interesting is that ELOY's encore, presumably later that same evening, is Steamhammer's "hit", "Junior's Waling". I can't tell that any Steamhammer bandmembers are out on stage, but it seems possible & it was presumably a nod to Steamhammer's shortened set & a tribute to the band. While a couple of other somewhat later versions of ELOY playing the song have surfaced, one wonders if this show (or maybe this was a tour with Steamhammer?), was the initator for ELOY covering the song. In any case, the line-up is superb with 2 first-class guitarists & the bassist, & the sound is golden, tho' with a bit more prog touch than earlier days & no vocals on display here. Pretty damn cool music. Listen, enjoy, show appreciation, share, give, spread peace. Yers truly, Knees.

Support the artists! Nothing to buy, but check Martin Pugh's at http://www.steamhammer.com & John Lingwood is still gigging.

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