Capitol Theater,
Port Chester,NY,USA
April 27,1971
Late Show
CD 1
1-Talk/Tuning
2-Nothing Is Easy
3-Aqualung
4-With You There To Help Me
5-Sossity You're A Woman > Reasons For Waiting > Sossity You're A Woman
CD 2
1-My God W/ Flute Solo Including Bouree
2-Cross Eyed Mary W/ Drum Solo
3-Wind Up W/ Guitar Solo
4-Locomotive Breath ( Fades Out )
-Recorded by Ken & Judy Lee on a Sony pc-124 cassette deck with Sony dynamic mics on Norelco cassettes. Microphones were set up in the balcony with a 10-20 foot spread.
-Original tape was baked in "Susie Q", shell replaced and transferred on a Tascam 122mk3 via a Lucid ADA1000 Analog to Digital Converter directly to disc on a Tascam CDRW700 by John Jay Hance.
-Cleanup performed by Peter G with Soundforge.
Received on 2 cdr's from John Jay Hance > EAC > a couple of retracking corrections with cd wave editor > trader's little helper > flac
The Port Chester Restoration project
Capitol Theatre- Port Chester, NY
Audience recordings by Ken and Judy Lee
1970-1971
Ken and Judy Lee didn't think anyone would be interested in hearing their recordings...
Between the years 1970 and 1971, Ken worked security at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, while his girlfriend Judy ran movie projections between sets. One of a few live music taping enthusiasts of the time, Ken was granted exclusive permission by club promoter Howard Stein to record the shows at the theatre for his own personal use. Judy was on hand to perform the tape flips while Ken was busy doing his job.
In 1968, the couple took Judy's brother Mark, who was nine years old to his first concert at "Cafe Wha?" in New York City. The Monkees were on tour and Jimi Hendrix was along for the ride as their opening act.
Several years later, Mark was introduced to the music of the Grateful Dead at the Nassau Coliseum on March 19th, 1973 in Uniondale, Long Island. This single event marked the beginning of a life long odyssey of musical experiences with the band that affected him most deeply. Along with his good friend, John Jay Hance, who Mark met at a Dead show in 1979, the two traveled around the United States with the band in search of the ultimate musical experience, attending over 350 shows together. The two also shared a common interest in seeing live music of a wide variety of genres, and during the 23 years that they knew each other attended more than 1000 total concerts together, until Mark's untimely death in November of 2002.
Mark knew of brother in-law Ken's recordings from the Capitol Theatre, and had a strong interest in having the shows circulated; however, being true to his word to Howard Stein, Ken kept the recordings under wraps and the tapes never saw the light of the trading domain (One noteworthy bending of this rule occurred when Ken agreed at Mark's request to circulate the late show that the Grateful Dead did on June 24th of 1970. This show is highly regarded as an all-time magical performance by the Dead during their 30 year history as a band).
It was not until John Jay, who also knew Ken Lee, and of the Port Chester tapes, ran into Ken at Mark's funeral in 2002 that the fateful discussion of having the recordings released occurred. At that time, Ken didn't think anyone would have any desire to listen to his tapes. They had been sitting up in the attic of his present home for over 20 years going through the early stages of decay.
Because such a great deal of time had elapsed since Ken made his agreement with Howard Stein, and the fact that John Jay was insisting that there was an overwhelming interest by music lovers to hear these recordings, Ken agreed to open the flood gates and the Port Chester Restoration Project began, which is ultimately a tribute to Mark Cohen's passion for live music.
By fortune and coincidence, John Jay Hance, a master at the art of recording and restoring live music himself had already developed his own method for preserving fragile, decaying audio tapes with a heating method commonly known as "baking." The process of restoring Ken's recordings presents an even greater challenge, however. The cassette shells which encase the audio tapes first have to be removed and replaced because they are too fragile to be played. This is extremely difficult, being that these cassettes were glued together during manufacturing (as opposed to the use of screws, today). The halves of the shell must be carefully removed without doing damage to the tape inside.
Once the analog tape is restored and rebuilt, it must then be then played back one time through an analog to digital converter onto a cd, which is then cleaned of hiss and other extraneous noises. Then it can be replicated and introduced to the world of music trading. For the cleanup job, John Jay enlisted the help of "Sound Forge" software guru Peter G to help make what exists from the master tapes sound just exactly perfect. Having listened to the first installment of this project, Janis Joplin and Full Tilt Boogie from August 8, 1970 several times, I can tell you that the sound is brilliant!
Keep in mind that Ken and Judy recorded nearly EVERY show at the Capitol during '70 and '71, on an estimated 300-500 cassettes (one box of cassettes is believed to be missing). While many are labeled with correct dates and the music they contain, much of what exists is still a mystery. Several gems containing long forgotten performances and musical collaborations have already surfaced. Expect some nice surprises in the years to come.
Enjoy Ken and Judy's recordings from the Capitol Theatre and appreciate the great care and quality of craftsmanship that went into their creation and is currently going into their preservation.
rar files packed with a (winrar) recovery record -
links require copy and paste to browser
rapidshare.com:
http://lix.in/-8cda60
or
http://lix.in/-85393b
http://lix.in/-86bfdc
http://lix.in/-88467d
http://lix.in/-89cd1e
http://lix.in/-8b53bf
or
http://kcmvzk.link-protector.com
http://kcmvzm.link-protector.com
http://kcmvzz.link-protector.com
http://kcmvzn.link-protector.com
http://kcmvzc.link-protector.com
megaupload:
http://lix.in/-853945
or
http://lix.in/-8cda6a
http://lix.in/-8e610b
http://lix.in/-8fe7ac
http://lix.in/-916e4d
http://lix.in/-92f4ee
or
http://kcmvzr.link-protector.com
http://kcmvzs.link-protector.com
http://kcmvnx.link-protector.com
http://kcmvnw.link-protector.com
http://kcmvnv.link-protector.com
Comments welcome.
13 comments:
Pretty disturbing art at the very least...Dave thanks for the MIngus, a new experience for me and also the regular appearance of Lucinda, does this mean you like her music now? Best to you!
The art is actually an enlargement from the Aqualung album and yes, I have enjoyed the Lucinda Williams. I am glad that you suggested it!
A million thanks for this one, Dave. Any chance of getting the rest of the Ken and Judy Lee collection? There are so many gems there, very much like the Dan Lampinski archive.
I can look into it.
Later this week I will have the latest Lampinski up - It is Jethro Tull.
13 minute drum solo on this one from Clive Bunker--and this was the second show that night--don't know if that's a good or bad thing!!!!
Treasures are found in the most unlikely of places, and this is really a treasure. Just think of the way this has been recorded, the PA system involved, and the way it has been treated since then. And out of this comes a miracle right into our laps. Thanks a lot-lot-lot to everyone involved in this munbelievable recovery, and please: let's have some more from this period of time. A Jethro Tull quote I think is quite fitting in this context: "And it's only the giving that makes you what you are..."
Henning2804, Denmark
Dave, I appreciate your "looking into" the other Ken and Judy Lee recordings. I'm interested in ALL their recordings but there's a Traffic show that I'd particularly like to hear . . . . and I agree entirely with Henning from Denmark:
"let's have some more from this period of time," and venue, I might add. While it lasted the Capitol Theater in Portchester was a great rival of the Fillmore East. Thanks, Dave.
I had picked up a Tull concert from 7/29/70 Port Chester, NY, Ken & Judy Lee recording in mp3-256kbs form from Guitars 101 several months ago. I'll have to check to see how the setlist compares to make sure it's a differant show, or just a mixup in the dates. I know there are some excellant Grateful Dead recordings from Port Chester by Ken&Judy available on the archive.org site.
I just checked, and the mp3 version links are still active at Guitars 101. The sound quality is ex for an audience recording. It is definiyely a differant setlist than this show. So 7/29/70 would be another good old Tull to get in lossless form if possible. Thanks in advance.
Thanks a million for this!! Can't wait to give it a listen, and I am more than curious to know what treasures are yet to be revealed from the Ken & Judy Lee trove!! Bless you, Dave. BTW...are you able to find any DAVID SANCIOUS & TONE from any of his TRUE STORIES gigs? I would imagine the gigs would have to be between 8/77 - 8/78. That would be amazing! Thanks for anything you may be able to do.
Another gem from the best live music site on the planet- thanks again, Dave. Please keep an eye (ear) out for more early Tull. Awesome stuff!
Baking old tapes in an oven is best left to the experienced. I am glad this show survived the process. A true gem. It proves one thing you.. never know what is gathering dust in a box in some attic.
Thanks a lot, what a treasure, and thanks for the information on the processing
Post a Comment