LOU REED
Arenes de Frejus
Frejus, France, August 16, 1977
Disc One
01 - (crowd/tuning)
02 - Sweet Jane
03 - Rock'n'Roll Heart
04 - Waiting for the Man
05 - Rock'n'Roll
06 - Vicious
07 - Leave Me Alone
08 - Satellite of Love
Disc Two
09 - Berlin
10 - Walk on the Wild Side
11 - Coney Island Baby
12 - How Do You Think it Feels (with some 'I Wanna Take You Higher' interferences)
13 - Banging on My Drums
14 - Heroin
TT : approx. 116:00
Recorded by the French Gentleman.
Transferred by unclemeat.
Remastered by Bombdiggity (2013-10).
aud > reel-to-reel (mono, 1st gen) > wav > flac > TLH > wav >
Audition 3: level adjustments, fades, FFT filter to reduce mic distortion (low pass @ 5500 Hz), eq,
copy single channel to two channel > flac > TLH >
wav > Audition 3 : tracking, 1 small edit* > TLH > flac (level 8, sectors aligned)
* Deleted less than 1 second of silence in the applause after 'Satellite'. .
Don't be shocked by the flac file size (it's mono).
Free for sharing, never sell.
This was a previously unknown recording of a date from which no tape has surfaced. Research indicates that the performance was rescheduled from the original tour date, so the August 16th date on the tape and the ticket stub found on the web modify the known chronology.
This is an amazing performance but a fairly rough sounding recording (though that seems to be standard for old Lou shows). One cannot help but notice the electricity and enthusiasm of the crowd here, which no doubt enhanced the musical output but not the recording environment. I haven't been to many shows with a crowd that bananas (and I've been to a lot of shows).
The recording was plagued by very severe distortion, which fortunately was almost entirely removable since what the mic since what the mic involved could not actually capture seems to be the range that registered as distortion . That is all gone now. That removal required what would seem to be a radical filter but I assure you there was nothing anyone would want to hear up in that range on this recording. The sound has some inconsistencies, attributable in part to the fervor of the crowd, the volume involved, and no doubt some movement of the recorder/mic as well. It was an autolevelling deck so when the volume changed suddenly the sound did too. Lou's vocals are sadly somewhat weak in the mix. There is some sort of "intermission" announced about 30 minutes in after which the sound is somewhat more consistent and perhaps improved overall (Lou's vocals seem to get boosted a little).
This was a show for the ages, but even a really good mic would not have gotten a clean recording of much (beyond the crowd anyway). There was obviously a lot going on I'd have liked to have witnessed. This recording has plenty of atmosphere but as they say, "You had to be there". Well, enjoy!
Thanks to the French Gentleman and unclemeat.
https://mega.nz/#!gqRgTajC!k3gDMPPkOSSO6J3XODupcdawp7mIG8d9j_1SLku5kJw
