Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Charleston Civic Center
Charleston, WV
November 23, 1973
(swittich Master Series Volume 3)

Recording: Unknown Panasonic Cassette Deck with external mic

Transfer: Master Tape > Nakamichi DR-01 (azimuth adjusted) > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity > iZotope RX 8 / ozone 9 (mastered) > xACT 2.50 > FLAC

01 Introduction
02 Hoedown
03 Jerusalem
04 Toccata
05 Tarkus
06 Benny the Bouncer
07 Take A Pebble
08 Lucky Man
09 Piano Improvisation
10 Take A Pebble (Reprise)
11 Karn Evil 9 1st - 3rd Impression
12 Pictures At An Exhibition

Known Faults:
-Karn Evil 9 1st - 3rd Impression: start slightly cut and two splices

I am very excited to kick off a new mini-series of historic master recordings from dime member swittich.

Swittich taped 13 shows in 1973-1974 in the Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia area, four have been previously released from straight transfers and the balance are uncirculated. In the past collectors offering to transfer shows wanted to pick and choose specific shows, of course, we will be releasing every show...no tape left behind.

Volume 3 in our series is a very exciting find and we wanted to get it out just in case the worst case scenario happens and we lose TTD.

For the first time directly from Scott's master tape, ELP's complete 1973 performance in Charleston, WV. We expect shows in the biggest cities, LA, NY, Chicago, Cleveland, to be taped but finding a series of audience tapes from the 1970's in secondary markets is a grat find indeed.

I asked Scott for any memories of this show and he relayed the following:

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"The ELP concert was from the Brain Salad Surgery Tour during which the "Welcome Back my Friends to the Show that Never Ends - Ladies and Gentlemen" live album was recorded. I was sitting on the floor, literally, as this was festival seating. People up front were standing in front of the stage. People sitting where I was kept yelling, "Sit down", which you can hear on the tape. There was a girl in front of me who was drunk or otherwise under the influence, who kept yelling and laughing, "Sit down. I can't see. I'm only three feet tall". I think it's on the tape. Very frustrating for a taper.

ELP was using a quadraphonic sound system with speakers in the rear. It was particularly effective at the end of "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression" as the sound was swirling around and around. One slight disappointment was that Emerson did not play his grand piano as it revolved in the air as he did at other venues during that tour. I just assumed that the structure of the Charleston Civic Center couldn't support the weight. (I didn't want to believe that they just didn't want to go to the trouble to set it up for a bunch of "hillbillies".)"

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In addition to not playing the revolving grand piano, they dropped "Still...You Turn Me On" from the set. The show still appears to be the full length of other shows in this era so possibly we get more improvisation throughout.

And when he says people around him where shouting sit down this "was" very prominent the first half to the point Greg Lake asks the folks standing to sit on the floor because there's "nothing much to look at at the moment".

However, as you know here at the mjk5510 audio lab we remove as much audience interference as possible without affecting the music during the mastering process. We are happy to report we achieved great success on this show.

Quality is limited only due to the recording gear at the time but once again Scott has found a nice location and not "The Band" quality it is a highly listenable and enjoyable show.

Thanks to swittich for reaching out for assistance in getting these historic shows out, the tapes have been safely stored and so far so good on the transfers.

On the honor roll for this release is Goody, our resident pitch master and like the Band release this one sure needed his help.

We have two more of Scott's masters that we are working to get out prior to the end of the month that can only be released here.

Artwork is included.

mjk5510

01 Doobie Brothers 1973-12-06 Louisville, KY
02 The Band 1974-08-31 Cleveland, OH
03 Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1973-02-03 Charleston, WV

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

Images for this show: