Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Long Beach Arena
Long Beach, CA
February 3, 1974
Mike Millard Master Tapes via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 239

Recording Gear: AKG 451E Microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder

JEMS Transfer: Mike Millard Master Cassettes > Yamaha KX-W592 Cassette Deck > Sony R-500 DAT > Analog Master DAT Clone > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX > iZotope RX9 Advanced and Ozone 10 > MBIT+ resample to 16/44.1 > xACT 2.50 > FLAC

01 Introduction
02 Hoedown
03 Jerusalem
04 Toccata
05 Tarkus

Known Faults: Splice and end cut on "Tarkus"; rest of the show was not recorded

Introduction to the Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Series

Welcome to JEMS� Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around Los Angeles circa 1975-77. For the complete details on how tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' long history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...d.php?t=142055.

Until 2020, the Lost and Found series presented fresh transfers of previously unavailable first-generation copies made by Mike himself for friends like Stan Gutoski of JEMS, Jim R, Bill C and Barry G. These sources were upgrades to circulating copies and in most instances marked the only time verified first generation Millard sources had been directly digitized in the torrent era.

That all changed with the discovery of many of Mike Millard�s original master tapes.

Yes, you read that correctly, Mike Millard�s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1992.

The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we�ve been told for decades they were gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on the assumption that because his master tapes never surfaced and Mike�s mental state was troubled he would do something rash WITH HIS LIFE�S WORK. There�s also a version of the story where Mike�s family dumps the tapes after he dies. Why would they do that?

The truth is Mike�s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard�s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother Lia inquiring about the tapes at the time to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike�s work.

The full back story on how Mike�s master tapes were saved can be found in the notes for Vol. 18 Pink Floyd, which was the first release in our series transferred from Millard�s original master tapes:

http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/...d.php?t=156400

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA, February 3, 1974

This week we release Mike "The Mike" Millard's second ELP recording from the band's 1974 tour in support of Brain Salad Surgery. It's the companion to his fine capture from Anaheim two days earlier, released on Vol. 230 of the Lost and Found series.

Frustratingly to him I'm sure, Mike does not get the same results in Long Beach as he did in Anaheim. For what was only his fourth live recording effort, Millard has significant technical problems in Long Beach that result in a series of dropouts he is not able to control or ultimately prevent. Mike eventually makes the call to abandon recording entirely, preserving only this 36 min fragment

The struggles in Long Beach led to Mike apply the only "Bad" rating to any recording on his list, a level even below "Poor" which he did assign on a handful of occasions. While sonically inferior to Anaheim, the partial Long Beach is still marginally listenable and therefore merits an installment in our series.

Mike would have much better luck and results when he next recorded ELP in 1977 on his legendary Nakamichi 550 > AKG 451e microphone rig. We'll be releasing those recordings in the near future.

Here's what Jim R recalled about seeing ELP in Long Beach in 1974:

Like Mike Millard, I attended the ELP Concert at the Long Beach Arena on February 3, 1974. I didn�t know Mike yet, but we met a month later at a Yes concert at this same venue.

The seating, or shall I say standing, was GA (general admission) and I was able to move about the open floor, aided by a laid-back stoner crowd. I shot photos in front of Keith Emerson on the left side of the stage then looped around the edge of the floor to the right side in order to get close up pics of Greg Lake. Just like having a photo pass except I had to squirm my way through the crowd to get to the front edge of the stage (two times). Pretty cool for an 18 year old.

ELP's fan base was growing rapidly with Brain Salad Surgery on store shelves. A couple months later in April, ELP headlined the first California Jam and got paid a whopping $400k, a record amount for the time.

If I remember correctly, Mike told me that he secured seats just above the floor for this one.

ELP was known for having a very clean sound. I remember being told that Keith Emerson's synthesizers generate a perfect sine wave with zero distortion.

Hats off to Mike may he rest in peace along with Keith and Greg.

###

JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R, Ed F, Barry G and many others to release Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself.

We can�t thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept Mike�s precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would not be nearly as compelling without Jim�s memories, photos and other background contributions. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike�s incredible audio documents.

Shoutout to Jim R for contributing notes and photos to Volume 239 as well as Rob S who did the original transfer of Mike's master cassettes to DAT and provided us a rip of the audio. Professor Goody gave this a listen and approved the pitch, and mjk5510 took care of post production and CD friendly cover art.

Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.

BK for JEMS

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