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YES
Inglewood 1974 [Mike Millard Master Tapes via JEMS and Goody, 2CD]
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 39. Live at The Forum, Inglewood, CA; March 18, 1974. Very good audience recording.
Thanks to Mike Millard; Rob, Jim R; Barry G; JEMS; BK; and mjk5510 for sharing the show at Dime.
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Known Faults: Missing encore of “Roundabout” and “Starship Trooper”
End of “The Ancient” patched with Long Beach, March 19, 1974 Millard master source
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.
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.
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Yes - The Forum, Inglewood, CA; March 18, 1974
The Magical Millard Tour continues with the earliest recording of one of his favorite bands, Yes, performing on the Tales of Topographic Oceans tour. This is only the fifth live recording Mike ever made according to his original list and, as fate would have it, the very next night in Long Beach was when Mike met Jim R and their partnership was born.
As Yes collectors know, Mike recorded both LA and Long Beach on the Topo tour, with Long Beach being the better and more complete of the two recordings. That being said, for a March 1974 audience capture made before Mike upgraded his equipment, The Forum tapes are quite good and certainly among the stronger documents of the tour.
Yes Forum ’74 comes from the first batch of tapes Rob S borrowed, transferred to DAT and returned, so our source is the DAT he made in the early 2000s. That also means we’re only releasing a 1644 edition. Undoubtedly due to the age of the original cassettes when Rob made his transfer, there is some light instability in the left channel on occasion, but with a lot of help from our pal Goody, Rob’s DAT transfer has been pitch adjusted, aligned and cleaned up for what we hope is the best listening experience yet of this source. Mike himself only rated it “Good,” living up to the adage of being one’s own worst critic.
As for the performance, Yes fans love this tour, its setlist and frequently cite it as a shining era for Rick Wakeman. Fans of Topographic Oceans and Close To The Edge should be pleased.
Because Mike wouldn’t meet Jim until the following night, we don’t have our usual story, photos or ticket stub for the Forum show. But we’re so fortunate to have Mike’s recording. For those wondering, we do have the actual master cassettes for Long Beach ’74. In fact, Goody used that source to patch the end of “The Ancient” with Steve Howe’s acoustic guitar solo and Wakeman’s surging conclusion.
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JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R and Barry G 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 these 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 and photos. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike’s incredible audio documents.
Special thanks to Goody for championing the release of this show and putting so much of his talent into the final release. He sets a high bar and we all benefit from it.
I can’t say enough about mjk5510, our critical collaborator for nearly all JEMS releases. Without his support, our Saturday release schedule simply would not happen.
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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Lineage:
Probably) Shure microphones > Sony TC-152SD Cassette Recorder
Transfer: Mike Millard Master Cassettes > Yamaha KX-W592 Cassette Deck > Sony R-500 DAT > Analog Master DAT Clone > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 > Sound Forge Audio Studio 13.0 capture > Adobe Audition > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > Audacity > TLH > 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. Intro/Firebird Suite excerpt 2:14
Track 102. Siberian Khatru 9:51
Track 103. And You And I 9:44
Track 104. Close To The Edge 19:10
Track 105. The Revealing Science Of God 22:23
64 mins
Disc 2
Track 201. The Ancient 19:20
Track 202. Musical Interlude/Prelude/Ritual 25:51
46 mins
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