Rotterdam, Holland

 

Date:  June 7, 1975
Venue:
  Ahoy Sprotpales
Grade:  B
Sound:  Remastered / Speed Corrected
Total Running Time:  84 minutes 12 Seconds
Source:  Audience
Artwork:  CHA (Photo credit ©
Hilco Arendshorst )

Track Listing:

Disc One:
1. Devil's Daughter
2. Stealin'
3. Suicidal Man
4. Shady Lady 
5. Prima Donna
6. Rainbow Demon
7. July Morning

Disc Two:
1. Return To Fantasy
2. Easy Livin'
3. Sweet Lorraine
4. Gypsy
5. Bird Of Prey
6. Love Machine
7. Look At Yourself

Lineup / Credits:  Mick Box (Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals) / David Byron (Lead Vocals) / Ken Hensley (Keyboards, Guitar, Backing Vocals) / John Wetton (Bass, Backing Vocals) / Lee Kerslake (Drums, Backing Vocals)

Comments:  More on this one, we have now located a low generation source of the complete recording.  We have converted it to digital format, remastered the sound and ran speed correction.  First off the tape speed was a slight bit slow and it was on two cassettes.  Please keep in mind we are talking about tapes that are over 20 years old.  Tape one was in much better shape then the second and only for the right track being lower in signal worked great.  Tape two had much higher distortion levels.  Still after cleaning it up it has a good base show to evaluate.  The main problems with the recording itself were the distance from the stage and the technology available to do it with.  A good bit of crowd noise overrides many of the lower volume recordings and makes it hard to understand what Byron was actually saying to the crowd, a part of these shows we really want.  The keyboards are low in the sound are hard to make out at certain points as well, this may have been a problem from the board and not the recording.  Add some talking and bit of yelling from the fans surrounding the taper, plus several dropouts, and skips in two songs from switching tapes you end up with a good recording that could have been a once in a life time thing.

The show itself isn't the problem at all.  The band was tight, sounded great when the songs started.  The crowd was very energetic and really vocal.  During the intro of Shady Lady, Byron is describing how this was written about a woman from the US when Mick plays the opening notes of "The Star Spangled Banner".  July Morning came off in a special tone as well, toss in the improvisation during Prima Donna and at the start of Sweet Lorraine, Gypsy and Love Machine which they did often, this provided a very interesting listen.  Wetton's vocals and contribution to the rhythm stand out as he has firmly planted himself as a member of the band already.  

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