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PETER GABRIEL
West Hollywood 1978 [Mike Millard first generation cassettes via JEMS, 2CD]
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Vol 14. Live at The Roxy; West Hollywood, CA. September 30-October 1, 1978 (early and late sets). Fairly to very good audience recording.
Thanks to Mike Millard; Jim R; JEMS; BK; and mjk5510 for sharing the show at Dime.
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JEMS is pleased to restart our 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 LA circa 1975-77.
This compilation of Peter Gabriel Roxy shows was assembled by Mike himself as a two-cassette set which he gave to JimR and surely others. It covers both September 30 and October 1 and presumably draws from early and late shows both nights, showcasing what Millard thought were the best versions plus unique tracks.
As Jim R explains below, the late show recordings were done close to the stage and PA, the early shows farther away. Club recordings are very dependent on positioning with the PA. As such, and because the compilation uses multiple sources, the sound quality varies from good to excellent, and no doubt is more inconsistent than a typical Millard master. These weren’t the easiest tapes to work with, but we’ve hopefully made them as listenable as possible.
We believe Mike’s Roxy ’78 compilation has circulated for many years under the title Two Nights At The Roxy, though the recordings have never been attributed to him. Unfortunately, we had difficulty tracking down a copy of that title, but comparisons between the new Millard transfer and extant recordings of the 9/30/78 sets show this Millard transfer is an upgrade to what’s in circulation from at least that night.
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Here’s what Jim R recalls about Peter Gabriel Roxy ’78:
This brings back many memories, though keep in mind these shows were over 40 years ago, so the details might be a little off…
Mike and I attended both nights, September 30 and October 1. One of the advantages to seeing early and late sets was that at the end of the early show, if you had tickets for the late show they let you stay inside between shows. We took advantage by grabbing a primo table before the late show attendees were admitted into the building.
During one of the late shows, I caught a tambourine, or should I say the tambourine caught me. I had my arms up in the air, and Gabriel threw it into the audience. It went down my arm, and several fans pulled on it, breaking it into several pieces. I was left with a portion of the tambourine and a large arm bruise.
I have been asked on several occasions if Mike ever met any artists. The answer is yes, Mike and I met Peter Gabriel backstage after the UC Irvine Crawford Hall concert on November 18, 1978. Doug Knittle introduced us to a guy named Maytag who had met Peter on the beach before the Huntington Beach Pier concert the day before the Roxy shows. Maytag had Mike’s recordings of the 1977 Roxy concerts and played them for Peter. Peter was intrigued by the quality and wanted to meet Mike. Mike and I met Peter when he was back in town about a month and a half later.
During the meeting we were both a little nervous. Mike explained his methods for setting up the deck and the microphones to get the best possible recording. Mike also explained to Peter how he NEVER sold any of his work. I threw in my two cents where needed to fill in any gaps. Peter took it all in and thanked the both of us. We could tell he appreciated hearing that Mike never sold any recordings.
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JEMS is thrilled to partner with Jim R to release more of Millard’s fantastic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself. It’s been 25 years since he passed away, and the Internet version of his life story is incomplete and often inaccurate.
One frequently repeated myth is that Millard destroyed his tapes in some kind of fit of anger in 1990. We can now confirm that did not happen, and though we still don’t know exactly what happened to his master recordings after his death, we know they didn’t wind up in a landfill.
Thank you to Jim for trusting us with your legacy in partnership with Mike. Tip o’ the cap as well to mjk5510, recently promoted to SVP of JEMS Operations (if only we could) and to Exit Club for taking the Millard journey with us. We hope our efforts honor and celebrate the man and the music he so brilliantly preserved.
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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flashback17, Dime:
To introduce myself, I recorded Peter Gabriel 1978-9-30 Roxy Theater,Early show (Master) and the Long Beach Terrace Theater and California Theater in San Diego later that year. The 2nd untitled track, was not played at the Roxy, it was added to the setlist later. It was called “Check on that” until all the misheard lyrics versions renamed it. Listen closely you can hear it is theater size and different sound system than the Roxy. I don’t think any of the recording is from the Early show,1978-9-30 , but I will go over it closer and post anything I find. Such and amazing recording, and the sound was that loud and distorted it’s not the recording. Without matching up the audio of every song. I would say it is made up from:
1978-10-01 Early show.
Then 2nd untitled track and Exposure from another venue.
Whiter shade of pale is from 1978-09-30 Late Show and most of the 2nd half
Little or none from 1978-09-30 Early show (the show I saw and recorded)
I wonder if there ever was a complete set, it seems like mic problems might have been the reason for this “highlights” Version.
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Butterking, Dime:
Flashback, thanks for chiming in and bringing your expertise. We know from Jim’s ticket stubs Mike recorded at least three and probably all four shows on 9/30 and 10/1 (Jim says he can’t find the other stub). Because of the existence of the circulating Two Nights at the Roxy I presumed these to be solely Roxy recordings. We have other similar compilations made by Mike from multiple Stones and Rod Stewart shows at a single venue.
However, if you look at the J-card artwork Mike made, he doesn’t write The Roxy, he just writes Peter Gabriel Live 1978 which would support your note about the untitled song. This comp must reach wider than just his Roxy shows. Please let us know if you figure out anything additional about the sources.
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metro_cubo, Dime:
Since I own the four Roxy shows (nothing sourced from these Millard tapes) I have re-constructed the whole thing and found out that not all the tracks come from the Roxy shows.
Here are the details:
01 Me And My Teddy Bear (01/10 late - Peter’s intro matches perfectly)
02 On Presuming To Be Modern > On The Air (30/09 early)
03 Moribund The Burgermeister (30/09 early)
04 Perspective (01/10 late - Peter mentions this is the last show at the Roxy)
Note: tracks 2, 3 and 4 flow seamlessly which indicates that they all come from the same show. And track 4 is for sure from 1/10 late as presented by Peter as being the last show at the Roxy. However tracks 2 and 3 are more matching with 30/09 early show)
05 Indigo (1/10 early - intro matches perfectly)
06 Untitled (Not One Of Us - early version) (1/10 late - intro matches)
07 Untitled aka Take On Back (Family Snapshot - early version) this version does not come from any of the Roxy shows. Peter premiered this track at New York City’s Palladium on November 4th) - Long Beach 22/11
08 Humdrum (1/10 late - “this is a little different from the first show”)
09 A Wonderful Day In A One Way-World (1/10 late)
10 Home Sweet Home (01/10 late)
11 D.I.Y. (01/10 late)
12 Waiting For The Big One (30/09 early)
13 A Whiter Shade Of Pale (30/09 early)
14 Mother Of Violence (01/10 late)
15 Exposure - this version does not come from any of the Roxy shows. It was not performed on any of the 4 shows - Long Beach 22/11
16 Slowburn (1/10 early)
17 Flotsam And Jetsam (1/10 early)
18 I Don’t Remember (1/10 early)
19 Solsbury Hill (30/09 late)
20 Modern Love (30/09 late)
21 Here Comes The Flood (01/10 late)
22 The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (30/09 late)
23 Animal Magic - since there is no fade out with The Lamb,
I am assuming this comes from the same 30/09 late show. I don’t have Animal Magic on my copy of the show but The Movement database is reporting that it was indeed played on 30/09 late show as well
24 White Shadow (01/10 late)
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Lineage:
AKG 451E microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 cassette recorder
JEMS 2019 TRANSFER: first-generation cassettes made by Mike Millard for Jim R > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96) capture > iZotope RX MBIT+ resample 16/44.1 > iZotope RX and Ozone mastering > Peak Pro 6 (volume smoothing / edit / index) > xACT 2.39 > FLAC
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (320 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
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Disc 1
Track 101. Me And My Teddy Bear 2:22
Track 102. On Presuming To Be Modern/On The Air 7:03
Track 103. Moribund The Burgermeister 4:55
Track 104. Perspective 4:02
Track 105. Indigo 4:33
Track 106. Not One Of Us (early version) 3:30
Track 107. Take On Back (Family Snapshot) 4:06
Track 108. Humdrum 4:16
Track 109. A Wonderful Day In A One Way/World 4:15
Track 110. Home Sweet Home 5:17
Track 111. DIY 3:57
Track 112. Waiting For The Big One 6:07
Track 113. A Whiter Shade Of Pale 4:37
59 mins
Disc 2
Track 201. Mother Of Violence 3:48
Track 202. Exposure 5:20
Track 203. Slowburn 5:32
Track 204. Flotsam And Jestsam 4:18
Track 205. I Don’t Remember 4:52
Track 206. Solsbury Hill 6:01
Track 207. Modern Love 4:43
Track 208. Here Comes The Flood 4:19
Track 209. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 5:52
Track 210. Animal Magic 4:47
Track 211. White Shadow 5:24
55 mins
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