Ginger Bakerīs Airforce: Offenbach, Germany, Stadthalle 12/18/70 nice Aud.

Hey friends, today Iīm giving Durian a platform to upload & share one of his favorite shows with us!
Many thanks for sharing the only complete show of this Band , I found yet!
The sound quality is nice. Mp3 sample below

Tracklist:
CD1
01 I got the answer
02 Free Kings
03 Donīt care
04 Early in the Morning
05 Sunshine of your Love
06 Toady
07 Let me Ride
Cd 2
01 12 Gates in the City
02 What a Day
03 Aiko Biae
04 Do what you like
Lineup:
Ginger Baker : dr
Jeanette Jacobs: voc
Denny Laine: g
Remi Kabaka: perc.
Graham Bond: sax
Harold Mc Near:
Phil Seamen:
Lineage:
unknown( probably low) Gen Tape-CDRx-my CDr-Eac-Flac

Here are Durianīs own comments about this performance:

I won this as a cdr on Germany ebay about a year or two ago for around 40+ euros. Normally I would never bid on a cdr but I noticed that the seller was pretty much selling cdr's recorded exclusively in or around the Offenbach area so I am assuming he was the original taper or at least buddies with the original taper - I am going to go with the "Buddy Theory" and for safety's sake let's say that this is not from the actual master itself but probably 2nd gen - or at the very worst 3rd gen. In any case much to the seller's credit I have never seen him relist this item since I bought it from him so I think it is perfectly reasonable to assume mine is one of a very VERY tiny amount of copies "around" and in any case this tape is more rare than bottled French dwarf.

I have been an Airforce fanatic since I first heard them when I was 11. Since about 1972 I have searched high and low for ANYTHING at all on tape, vinyl or cd beyond the 2 lp's that were officially released. And in 30+ years of continual searching this is the ONLY live tape/outtakes/rarities comp or whatever I have ever come across.

So the obvious questions are:

"Does it live up to 30+ years of intensive searching?". No. Not really (but then again: could anything have lived up to that long a wait?).

"Is it something every Airforce fan should download?". Absolutely.

Soundwise it's an average audience recording from that era. Nothing earth shattering but not a total insult to the ear either. If all you want in your collection is stuff that sounds like Mobile Fidelity remastered it for Gold Disc release then stay far, far away from this torrent. But if you are like me and just plain fucking grateful that at least ONE unreleased live tape by this great great band has finally shown up then jump on it right now cowboy.

Highlights?

1) 3 - count 'em: THREE drum solos. Each one very different from the other. The first one is essentially a snare drum workout that turns into what sounds like Ginger and the drummers of Joujouka. The second is more snare workout but here Ginger sounds surprisingly like an ESP label era Sunny Murray of all things! And the third one is typical manic Ginger - but manic Ginger playing one of the best solos I have EVER heard him play. Probably along with the drum solo on the Tubes What Do You Want From Live and the drum solo on the new version of Coloseum's Daughter Of Time cd I'd rate this as one of the best drum solos I have ever heard (and I am NOT a fan of drum solos generally speaking).

2) At the beginning of Disc 2 Ginger say's something to the audience that appears to royally piss of the "Studenten" in the audience who apparently see his comments as something that could only have been made by a capitalist pig tool for the bourgeoisie. This results in the "Renitenten" starting a "Pfeiffkonzert" and trying to boo him offstage. My guess is he said something like "Please get off my fucking stage" (maybe somebody here can figure out what he actually said that caused these clowns to get so pissed of). Ginger of course is having none of it and ignores the bozos and goes into the next song.

Downsides?

1) I myself have seen 2 shows at the Offenbach Stadthalle in the early '70's (Faces and Uriah Heep) . Acoustically speaking this place was an absolute pit. The sound on this is about as good as anybody would have any reasonable right to expect for what amounts to (most likely) a hand held condenser mic on a hand held cassette recorder in a sonic shithole. It does sound a DAMN sight better than the 2 recordings I made there with the two shows I saw there (sorry - tapes long since stolen from me) so maybe the taper was in what could generously be called the "sweet spot". Presumingly Dietmar has included a sample below but like I said above: if you are an Airforce fan you KNOW how impossible it is to have found anything by them in the past 3+ decades - so be grateful that this even exists in the first place.

2) It's "Airforce 2" era - so no Steve Winwood etc. Not something that cause me personally to lose any sleep but it might bug some people.

3) No "Do You Know Who Your Frenz Are". Un-fucking-believable that they did not play this one live!

Personally I think this truly need's to be shared with other Airforce fans. I plan on sending Dietmar a few shows I taped over the years (of which the tapes were not stolen - which would be about 90% of what I taped and aboput 90% of the REALLY cool stuff I taped in the early '70's unfortunately) as I find the time to dub them to cdr (in some cases with full artwork) and also some of the boots I proposed to the Japs that they rejected and never released (tapes I did not personally tape etc). There is a supermegabitchin' "right era" Ted Nugent with one of the best front covers I ever did that I'd love to send to Dietmar if the cdr has not deteriorated into a bunch of clicks and pops - we'll see what happens.

I have included all the artwork for this that the original seller included with my copy.

Enjoy.