Van Morrison featuring the Caledonia Soul Orchestra
Shrine Auditorium
Los Angeles, CA
October 5, 1973
JF Archive Series Vol. 15 via JEMS

Taper: JF

Source: unknown recorder > unknown microphone (mono)

JEMS 2016 Transfer: JF master TDK cassette > Nakamichi CR-7A (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 5 > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > FLAC

01 Ain�t Nothing You Can Do
02 I�ve Been Working
03 And It Stoned Me
04 I Paid The Price
05 Here Comes The Night
06 Hard Times
07 Boogie Chillen�
08 I Just Want To Make Love To You
09 Try For Sleep
10 Into The Mystic
11 Listen To The Lion (tape alignment issues)
12 Warm Love
13 You Done Me Wrong
14 Caravan
15 Cyprus Avenue
16 Gloria
17 Domino

Sid Page - violin
Jack Schroer - saxophone
Bill Atwood - trumpet
John Platania - guitar
David Hayes - bass
David Shaw - drums
Jef Labes - piano, organ

JEMS is thrilled to renew the JF Archive series, presenting another one of the nine Van Morrison performances JF recorded in and around Southern California circa 1973-74. For further details and backstory on JF, his tapes and the extraordinary lost Van performances from 1975 that started the series, please refer to the notes in Vol. Three:

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=524853

Unlike the initial Lost California series, JF�s 1973-74 recordings have long been in circulation among collectors. However, this series marks the first-ever digitization and dissemination directly from his cassette masters. The recordings were made with unlikely equipment but yielded surprisingly listenable results.

The first Shrine show is a significant one indeed. Van�s setlist had evolved substantially since the Troubadour gigs in June, the most interesting changes to which were the inclusion of three new songs unreleased at the time. The first, �I Paid The Price,� only saw official release on last year�s expanded edition of It�s Too Late To Stop Now. This is one of its five known performances, all in 1973. The second is the debut of �Try For Sleep,� rarer still, with only four known appearances. It was finally released in a studio version on 1998�s The Philosopher�s Stone.

But the third, �You Done Me Wrong,� turns out to be more special still. It remains unreleased to this day, with no known studio recording. On top of that, it would only ever be performed at this show and the next night at the Shrine before vanishing forever. It name-checks some serious villains, from the Cosa Nostra to Jesse James, against a rollicking musical backdrop. Without JF�s tapes, we�d never have the chance to hear it. Some websites list �You Done Me Wrong� as a cover of the Ray Price tune of the same name, but it has completely different lyrics and Van calls it out specifically as a new song.

Beyond the new material, Van dips heavily into blues and R&B covers, including Bobby �Blue� Bland�s �Ain�t Nothing You Can Do,� Ray Charles� �Hard Times,� John Lee Hooker�s �Boogie Chillen�� and Willie Dixon�s �I Just Want To Make Love To You.� The rest of the show is crowd-pleasing material going all the way back to �Here Comes The Night� and �Gloria,� plus classics like �And It Stoned Me,� �Caravan� and �Domino.�

As for the recording, JF used the same low-end gear as his other masters and pulled the same listenable results. Because we have the master tapes, hiss is not an issue, even in the quietest moments of the show. There is an issue after the flip to side two, where the tape doesn�t align properly causing some serious wow and flutter that clears up after a few minutes. Overall, the sound does have a touch of harshness in the peaks, but if you�ve downloaded other titles in the JF series you�ll find this familiar and still satisfying. Samples provided and artwork included.

Here are JF�s reflections of the show:

�By this time my girlfriend Laura was bringing in both a great SLR camera and my cassette recorder. This was back when anybody could come in with a camera. Sometimes, like on this night, Laura would just walk up to the photographer�s pit and join the pros shooting Van or whoever else we were seeing while I would sit in my seat and record, holding the mic up in front of me, pointing it at the stage while keeping an eye out for ushers. I was sitting at the front of the balcony (called the loge on my ticket) where I had pretty good aim at the stage.

Supporting act for the two Shrine shows was Herbie Hancock, definitely not someone I would have been exposed to at that time in my life without Van.�

JF provided us with two of the fantastic images Laura shot that night, along with clippings of the newspaper advertisements for the Shrine shows. We�ve included them in the files.

Once again, our gratitude goes to JF, who reached out on DIME (you could be next!) and offered us his archive, which had been sitting in boxes for over 20 years, 6000 miles away from where he lives today. Like so many early tapers, he had great stories to tell and the memories flooded back as we sorted through tapes. We are pleased to be able to bring his work to all of you. Please let him know through your comments that you are, too. We also appreciate the unnamed Van collectors who helped get JF�s masters back in his control.

Pitch adjustments are courtesy of your friend and ours, Goody. Thanks to him. Finally, extra kudos to mjk5510, who continues his yeoman duty as JEMS� post-production and quality-control supervisor. His contributions are essential in getting the music to you.

BK for JEMS

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: