Rush
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, CA
June 12, 1981
Mike Millard Master Cassettes via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Vol. 17 (2026 Master Edition)
1644 Mastered Edition

Contrast Clause
This is a new transfer from master tapes of the same recording found on:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=620161
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=348368
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=587011
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=664475

Recording Gear: AKG 451E microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 cassette recorder

JEMS 2026 TRANSFER: Mike Millard Master Cassettes > Nakamichi RX-505 azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX10 Advanced and Ozone 9 > FLAC

01 2112 Overture
02 The Temples of Syrinx
03 Freewill
04 Limelight
05 Hemispheres Prelude
06 Beneath, Between & Behind
07 The Camera Eye
08 YYZ
09 Drum Solo
10 Broon's Bane
11 The Trees
12 Xanadu
13 The Spirit of Radio
14 Red Barchetta
15 Closer to the Heart
16 Tom Sawyer
17 Vital Signs
18 Natural Science
19 Working Man
20 Hemispheres Armageddon
21 By-Tor and the Snow Dog
22 In the End
23 In the Mood
24 2112 Grand Finale
25 La Villa Strangiato

Known Faults:
-None

A warm welcome back to JEMS' Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series, presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the Mike, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around LA circa 1975-77. For further details on how some tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=500680

With Rush reborn on stage in the most life-affirming way (Anika Niles deserves Time Magazine's Person of the Year), it felt like a fine occasion to launch our Millard upgrade program with Mike's legendary capture of the band at the Anaheim Convention Center in 1981.

This recording was originally released by JEMS back in 2019, the early days of the Lost & Found series. At the time, our best source was a set of first-generation cassettes made by Mike for his friend and fellow taper, Barry Goldstein. In the years since, we were able to locate Mike's original master cassettes of the show, which provide the source for this new 2026 transfer, presented in both 2496 flat transfer and 1614 mastered editions.

Rush is one in a small handful of previously released shows among the series' 261 volumes where newly recovered, generationally superior source tapes have been found which we will release in the coming months. To be clear, this series will not offer remastered versions of the same underlying source transfers, but will be limited to shows where Mike's true master cassettes have been found or a DAT from his master tapes is deemed to supersede a first-generation analog tape source.

Millard's Anaheim recording has long been beloved by Rush fans and it is surely up there with his best work. Too bad it is the only time he ever taped the trio. Anaheim has always sounded great, but there is more depth and detail in the low and high end than the first-generation cassette source. Mastering Rush tapes not for the faint of heart, but I took my best shot, informed by both seeing the band at The Forum a few months ago and having seen the Moving Pictures tour myself back in 1981. Samples provided. The flat transfer is also available to avoid debate altogether.

What follow is an edited version of the original notes that came with Volume 17 back in 2019.

***

Volume 17 is a very special installment if you are a Rush fan and I may as well get it out of the way right off the bat and admit that I am a (formerly) closeted Rush fan.

Anaheim Convention Center June 12, 1981 is one of THE significant Rush audience recordings. I'd go so far as to call it their Listen To This Eddie, which is fitting given both shows were recorded by Mike. It is an outstanding capture of the band playing at their peak, and crucially, it captures a period of performance that, in my opinion, is not well served by official live product.

As one of my earliest concerts, I saw the Moving Pictures tour in Seattle back in 1981 (sadly I didn't record), and the show left a mark on me. I love the studio album, too, but the resulting live document, Exit Stage Left, never sounded right. I auditioned it again last night to see if my memories were accurate and I still feel the same way: Exit has that kind of manufactured/"doctored in the studio" quality so many live albums of that era suffer from. The audience atmosphere in particular doesn't feel authentic. It also includes several songs not featured on Exit Stage Left including my personal favorite from Moving Pictures, "Limelight."

Anaheim also shares in common with Listen To This Eddie a long and somewhat murky history of bootlegs. It has been pressed to CD and posted in many forms. The website digitalrushexperience.com lists eight different versions, one of which claims to be off the master tapes. There's another called The Definitive Edition, only to be usurped by the somehow "more definitive" release, The Definitive Edition Remastered. Various notes on the lineage claim the original recording was on reel to reel. Even attribution of the work to Mike Millard seems a recent and not altogether accepted fact. The date has also been confused, sometimes listed as June 16 instead of the correct June 12.

For help understanding the extant morass of Anaheim editions, JEMS turned to a Rush expert who sent the following immensely helpful notes on the history of this recording:

In March 2001, AnalogKidAudioVideo mastered "The Definitive Edition" version of Mike Millard's Rush Anaheim '81 recording. The source tapes used for "The Definitive Edition" were analog cassettes loaned by a collector near Atlanta. Although the exact lineage of those cassettes is not certain, they were most likely copied from a first-generation HiFi VHS videotape recorded directly from Millard's masters. Listen closely to "By-Tor," "In the Mood" and "Grand Finale" using headphones and you will hear brief VHS tracking noises. Thus, "The Definitive Edition" is a second-generation source at best (Master > HiFi VHS > Analog Cassette) despite many fans' misguided belief over the years claiming it to be first-generation.

Another version called "Anaheim 1981 Master" appeared a few years later, circa 2003. The title implied Millard's masters were the source for the release, which was a complete fraud. If you load "Anaheim 1981 Master" into a digital audio workstation and sync it to "The Definitive Edition," you will see "The Definitive Edition" was in fact the source for "Anaheim 1981 Master." The same fades and nip/tuck edits created specifically for "The Definitive Edition" are on "Anaheim 1981 Master." The playback speed of "Anaheim 1981 Master" CD 1 is virtually identical to "The Definitive Edition" CD 1. There is only one explanation for such precise similarities: "Anaheim 1981 Master" is a bootlegger's reworking of "The Definitive Edition." "Anaheim 1981 Master" simply has extra processing (excessive limiting, noise reduction and EQ) which puts more lipstick on the pig, but ultimately "Anaheim 1981 Master" is no closer to the master and offers no greater audio fidelity than "The Definitive Edition."

"The Definitive Edition" set the benchmark for this recording back in 2001. All other versions since then appear to be Frankenstein monsters of "The Definitive Edition." Finally, in 2019 a true first-generation source has emerged. The long wait for an upgrade is now over! Many thanks to the good folks at JEMS for making it happen, and very special thanks to the one and only Mike the Mic for all the joy he has brought with this fabulous capture.

*****

JEMS is thrilled to partner with Barry and Jim R to release more of Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself. I recently heard a fun anecdote from a taper friend who attended a lot of concerts in LA in the '70s. He reminisced about the time when he came to learn who Mike was, what Mike looked like and that he recorded shows. He remembered the first few times he saw Mike being pushed into a concert in a wheelchair. He and his friend feared something bad had happened to Mike, only to eventually deduce the wheelchair was there for another purpose.

We can't thank Barry enough for trusting us with his Millard tapes and his own fantastic masters. Jim R also continues to be a great new friend and deep well of information not just about Millard but the rock concert culture of '70s Los Angeles. We look forward to sharing some of the incredible images he took in that era down the road. JEMS COO mjk5510 continues to bring his essential contributions to the Lost and Found series, too, and for that we thank him. Major shoutouts as well to Rob S for providing the master cassettes and to Professor Goody for checking pitch.

Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone and to finding more lost tapes.

May he rest in peace.

BK for JEMS

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