Van Morrison
Armadillo World Headquarters
Austin, TX
January 12, 1974
Soundboard Master via JEMS

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

01 4 O'Clock In The Morning (Try For Sleep)
02 Come Running
03 Moondance
04 Don't Look Back
05 Ain't Nothin' You Can Do
06 Into The Mystic
07 I Just Want To Make Love To You
08 Warm Love
09 Listen To The Lion
10 I've Been Working
11 Domino
12 Caravan
13 Cyprus Avenue
14 Gloria
15 The Wild Side Of Life (Hank Thompson cover)

Known Faults: First song joined ever-so-slightly in progress; �Don�t Look Back� has two small dropouts; tape flip during �I�ve Been Working�; start of �Cyprus Avenue� missing.

It�s not everyday you find a 52-year-old, unheard Van Morrison soundboard recording, but that�s exactly what we have here in all its Irish glory.

Van had wrapped up 1973 with a run of shows in California. His return to the road in January 1974 began in Austin with a three-night stand at the legendary Armadillo World Headquarters, capacity 1,500, in what would be his first gigs in the state of Texas. January 12 was Saturday night, the last of the run, and we�re fortunate that someone ran a cassette capturing this 73-minute set in full, save for the minor cuts noted above.

Morrison opens the show with what is now the earliest known recording of �4 O�Clock In The Morning,� which he would play on occasion through 2001 and shows up on his A Night In San Francisco live album. Two from Moondance, �Come Running� and the title track follow, before the second known performance of �Don�t Look Back,� another rareish song that debuted a month earlier in San Francisco.

We get fine readings of �Into The Mystic,� �Warm Love� and �Listen To The Lion,� and the recording is clear enough to hear the on-stage chatter counting in the latter. We�ve attempted to seamlessly mask the tape flip in �I�ve Been Working� before the set wraps with a flurry of hits and one final treat surely chosen for the Armadillo: a cover of Hank Thompson�s �The Wild Side of Life.� Morrison performed the tune on a 1973 RTE Ireland TV broadcast, but otherwise this is the only concert rendition and recording of the song.

The vintage cassette tape played back remarkably well and we are pleased with the quality, richness and balance of the recording itself. Samples provided.

Thanks to the folks who helped JEMS obtain this remarkable, historic recording. Shout outs as well to Professor Goody for making sure the pitch was accurate, the authoritative Vanomatic website database (ivan.vanomatic.de) and mjk5510 for taking care of post production.

BK for JEMS

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