Bootlegs

Info

[no title] (21 Sep 1988)
[no title] JEMS/Millard
Date: 21 Sep 1988
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA
Format: –
Duration: –
artwork available
01- BORN IN THE U.S.A.
02- THE PROMISED LAND
03- COVER ME
04- THE RIVER
05- CADILLAC RANCH
06- WAR
07- MY HOMETOWN
08- JUNGLELAND
09- THUNDER ROAD
10- GLORY DAYS
11- BORN TO RUN
12- RAISE YOUR HAND
13- CHIMES OF FREEDOM
14- GET UP, STAND UP


Track 04: with Sting
Track 13: with Sting, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Joan Baez and Youssou N'Dour
Track 14: with Sting, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Joan Baez and Youssou N'Dour


Mike Millard first gen via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Vol. Nine

Recording Info (presumed, not confirmed): Nakamichi CM-50 microphones > Nakamichi 550 cassette recorder

JEMS 2015 Transfer: First-generation cassette copy made by Mike Millard for BC > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96) capture > pitch correction > iZotope RX MBIT+ resample 16/44.1 > Peak Pro XT (volume smoothing / edit / index) > xACT 2.21 > FLAC


Notes from info file:

Known Faults:
-My Hometown Intro: 7 seconds patched with Persic source
-Sting 'Chimes Of Freedom' Intro: 1:00 minute patched with Persic source

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 in and around LA circa 1975-77. For further details on how other tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One.

Installment No. 9 is Millard’s fine recording of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's set at the Concert for Human Rights Now! in support of Amnesty International. They shared the stage with the tour's other headliners (Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour) at this, one of three U.S. stops on the 20-city, five-continent trek that followed immediately on the heels of the full Tunnel of Love tour.

The distinct nature of the tour makes it something of an anomoly in Springsteen's concert history, separated from a traditional album tour in support of an extremely worthy cause. The set list in fact omits any song from Tunnel of Love, going back to something closer in spirit to 1985's outdoor shows, albeit in a much shorter form at under 90 minutes. It hits hard, moves fast, and then its over.

Perhaps because of those unusual circumstances, Amnesty performances have never been held in particularly high esteem, but that's probably more a reflection of the set lists and durations than the performances themselves. One listen to this recording reminds that the show often jumps with energy and perhaps even some palpable intention to win over the fraction of the audience that wasn't there to see Springsteen primarily.

Millard's recording isn't at his best, breathtaking level, but is still very nice, on par, though different sounding, than the two extant recordings, one of which, by the legendary Persic, provides a patch to complete Millard's tape.

The LA Amnesty show is the second of three previously unknown and uncirculated Millard recordings of Springsteen provided to JEMS by BC, a longtime friend of Mike the Mic who attended dozens of concerts with him through the years. The tape JEMS transferred and mastered was dubbed for BC by Millard himself and bears his signature tape-labeling style, including the bubble letter Mike the MIC logo.

If you'd like to learn more about Mike the MICrophone, the links below offer a glimpse of his story albeit with some questionable and incomplete information.

Millard's Wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Millard

The best article written about Millard has been deleted from the original website but is reprinted here:
http://www.classicrockforums.com/forum/f6/led-zeppelin-official-thread-6185/index164.html

JEMS is deeply thankful to BC for reaching out and loaning us his Millard first gens and for sharing stories and filling in gaps in the story of this legendary taper. BC says that the Mike Millard he knew would have loved the sharing community on DIME and Jungleland, as well as the continuing interest in his work. Thanks also to mjk5510, who helped make the connection to BC and, as usual, supervised our post-production efforts.

Here's to the late, great Mike the MICrophone and to finding more lost tapes.

BK for JEMS

Artwork

[click thumbnails to download full resolution artwork]