Rick Wakeman
Maple Leaf Gardens Concert Bowl
Toronto, ON
October 16, 1975
The SF Tapes Volume Four

(Likely) Recording Gear: Sony TC-110 w/built in microphone

JEMS Transfer: JEMS Transfer: Master Cassette > Nakamichi RX-505 azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX10 Advanced and Ozone 9 > FLAC

01 Introduction
02 The Journey
03 Recollection
04 Catherine Howard
05 Sir Lancelot And The Black Knight
06 Down And Out
07 Anne Boleyn
08 The Forest
09 Arthur & Guinevere
10 Catherine Parr

Known Faults: Partial recording that likely misses the end of the show ("Hungarian Rhapsody" and "The Battle") and may be missing "Merlin The Magician" in the main set though there is no noticeable break

Welcome to The SF Tapes, a series of master recordings made by a friend of longtime JEMS pal ML.

SF hailed from Canada, and after his passing in 2022, ML rescued his tapes from near destruction � salvaged after sitting neglected in a garage for a couple of years. We can�t thank ML enough for recovering SF�s cassettes and bringing them to the JEMS Archive for evaluation, conservation, and transfer.

And what a haul it is. SF made hundreds of recordings in clubs, concert halls, festivals, and arenas � not just around Toronto, but also in Western New York (Buffalo, Rochester), Montreal, Ottawa, and beyond. From Howlin� Wolf and Billy Joel to Weather Report and Suicide, he captured an impressive breadth of artists and genres.

ML and SF first crossed paths in 1974 at Albert�s Hall, a club above the Brunswick Tavern in Toronto. �I thought, �There he is again � this guy�s been to all three nights!�� ML recalled. They bonded quickly over music, with SF recounting his adventures at editions of both the Ann Arbor Blues Festival and the Mariposa Folk Festival in the early �70s.

That friendship spanned decades and miles, as ML and SF followed The Who in 1979, 1980, and 1982; Springsteen in 1978, 1980, 1984, 1985, and 1988; and even made trips to Europe � first in 1985 to see John Cale and Pete Townshend�s Deep End, and again in 2019 to catch Cale in Paris. (ML notes that Cale played three straight nights � each with a unique setlist.)

Like JEMS patriarchs Jared and Stan, ML and SF were kindred spirits. SF began recording in 1973 (ML in �71), starting with a Sony TC-110 before upgrading to a series of Sony D6 Professional Walkman recorders and the ever-reliable Aiwa CM-30 microphone.

Their concert nights didn�t always end when the headliners left the stage. Sometimes they�d catch a show at Massey Hall or Maple Leaf Gardens early in the evening, then head to a jazz or blues club for a final set � hence, some of SF�s club recordings are incomplete, having been caught mid-show or near the end.

As the �80s wore on, SF got married and became a family man. He still made it to the occasional show with ML, often letting him handle the taping.

SF had a bit of a mad professor air about him � his newspaper collecting was legendary, and he wasn�t always meticulous about labeling his clippings or his tapes. Recordings could be scattered: unlabeled ones, a part one here, a part two there, or missing entirely. ML often stepped in to label, organize, and preserve what he could.

We�re incredibly glad he did. His generosity of spirit � like that of his great friend Jared � brings us this remarkable SF series.

Rick Wakeman, Maple Leaf Gardens Concert Bowl, Toronto, ON, October 16, 1975

The fourth edition of the SF Tapes returns to Toronto and a solo set from at that moment Yes-estranged Rick Wakeman, on tour in support of his 1975 solo album The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table.

As noted above, SF seems to miss part of the show but what he does capture is perhaps the best quality of the series so far, sounding up close and clear. Samples provided.

In addition to songs from TMALOKAATKOTRT, Wakeman also performs a few from 1973's The Six Wives Of Henry VIII and 1974's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. He was not lacking in narrative ambition.

Once again we say R.I.P. and express our gratitude to SF for taping these concerts in the first place and special thanks to ML for making this collection available to JEMS for preservation and distribution. Slipkid68 has been on point coordinating the series. He also handled some of the tape transfers and wrote the introduction to the series above. We'd also like to thank Professor Goody for helping as always with pitch adjustment and to mjk5510 for post production.

BK for JEMS