The only taper-authorized remaster available
DATE: 12 August 1977
LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
VENUE: Boston Garden
RECORDING TYPE: Audience ["AR"]
THE ORIGINAL MASTER. TAPER AUTHORIZED
LINEUP:
Jon Anderson - Vocals and various instruments
Steve Howe - Guitars
Chris Squire - Bass guitars
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Alan White - Percussion
Disc 1
01 - Firebird Suite Intro/Parallels
02 - I’ve Seen All Good People
03 - Close to the Edge
04 - Wondrous Stories
05 - Colors of the Rainbow
06 - Turn of the Century
07 - And You and I
Disc 2
01 - "Flight Jam"*/Awaken**
02 - Minutes of the Audience
03 - Starship Trooper
04 - Roundabout
05 - Yours is No Disgrace
* Title of improv lead-in commonly seen at the Website Forgotten Yesterdays
** About 5 seconds lost to tape flip during the quiet section. Slight high frequency drop due either to fresh tape alignment or audience movement recovers about a minute in.
TAPER: Barry Rogoff (Balrog)
SOURCE: Original Master Tapes: Nakamichi 550, CM-100/CP-1's > Maxell UD-XLII
TRANSFER: November 2008, at 48KHz/24 bit resolution. Downsampled to standard CD resolution here
LINEAGE: Nak Dragon [Dolby B out] > RDL FP-UBC6 > MOTU 896 > Wave [48KHz/24 bit] > Izotope RX/CEP 2.0/Izotope Ozone > Wave (44.1khz,16-bits)> FLAC
ORIGINAL ART by Gromek
REMASTER SUMMARY: All work done at the 48/24 resolution, before downsampling. EQ work to reveal detail, as the audience heard and felt it. At least one very annoying local audience whistler has amplitude reduced by 1 dB at various points where no Yes signal occurs, but otherwise no attempts to alter band-crowd-venue sound balance. If
crowd sound as real and detailed as band sound isn't desired, please pass this by and stick to soundboards or industry releases.
No compression. Conservative noise reduction applied to compensate for unfavorable signal to noise ratio during quieter band moments and to further reveal midrange frequency detail, but some hiss has to be tolerated to avoid signal damage. Pitch- tempo was approximately 1% off, now corrected.
CONTRAST: Previously circulated as a "Highland" profit boot factory affair, made from a 2nd or more generation tape dub and a sonic mudslide. In B77 you have the original master tapes, transferred at 48/24 resolution, and carefully remastered with deep Yes familiarity.
You also have the complete source and lineage info.
NOTE FROM ONE OFFICIAL "BLIND" B80 PROJECT TEST GROUP LISTENER:
"1977 seemed to be the only year without at least one really outstanding Yes audience capture. The idea of a Balrog capture of a '77 show, therefore, was extremely enticing. Listening [nonetheless] to the raw version of AYAI was a very strange experience--the exact same performance, but without the "presence" and visceral excitement the mastering brought.
"The percussive metals [now] have that incredibly lifelike definition that seems to be one of Lestat’s specialties. And almost every emergence of Howe's pedal steel brought goosebumps. Frankly, I'm not sure that I've ever enjoyed a performance of AYAI this much- -while a great song, it is one of those perennials in Yes shows that rarely stands out as very special. But something about this performance does
feel special--as if the whole "sunshiny Alpine" vibe of GFTO carries over to this song as well here. Yet, I didn't have that same sense when listening to the raw version. The mastering really allowed a level of majesty to come through in a way I wouldn't have thought possible.
"I really, really like what was done with this tape. [Yes] doesn't sound distant at all, and have a nice, warm tonality, with an almost holographic stereo image (particularly surprising given the taping position). The only real sonic impediment is that '77 swish/swirl effect, but that is far outweighed by the sonic pleasures on offer here. This is a HUGE improvement over the other '77 shows I've heard - I have a much greater sense of 'being there' than with any of those other shows. The pipe organ and pedal steel sounds are nothing short of otherworldly!
In any event, I've really been enjoying this, and can't wait for the entire release!"
- "NorthNYMark"
"I'm pleased to have once again had the chance to participate in the pre-torrenting review of this new Balrog/Lestat production. What I learned off the bat is that each recording reviewed must be evaluated on its own merits and not simply the pedigree attached to it. B78, B79 and B80 set the bar very high. So with this in mind, I fought my way past caveats listed and concentrated on the following:
"the astounding up front vocals of Jon the ever nimble fret work of Steve the great low end bass sounds of Chris the heroic drumming of Alan especially during Awaken when it seemed the Band was going off the rails, and especially: "the fact the full power of this band is captured by a gentleman sitting in the cheap seats of the Garden in 1977!!
"These facts, combined with Lestat's audio engineering magic, result in a recording that matches if not exceeds the best captures from the GFTO tour already circulating. So give a listen and see if you don't get goose bumps like I did. Go on- I dare you!" - "Jackstraw"
NOTES FROM THE PRODUCERS:
Almost without exception, circulating GFTO recordings shows have been hollow, muddy affairs, as if the gods of recording had determined that music of such magnificence should not be heard unfettered; the best a listener could hope for was that whistlers and clappers didn't overwhelm the recording, and the recordist didn't have a flip mid-Awaken.
Boston 1977 is that exception: bright, clean and absolutely MUST be considered strictly in context of ARs from the 1977 GOING FOR THE ONE Yes tour to be fully appreciated, especially by those already familiar with others by its taper from other years.
Despite many problems described below, B77’s dynamic range, detail, lifelike presence, and balance among GFTO tour ARs now stand nearly if not completely alone, and were enough to deliver sound after the restoration process far exceeding both taper’s and my expectations.
When I first analyzed the raw master I knew it could eventually offer more depth and detail than most GFTO shows in circulation, but due to a number of negatives both unique to it and universal to 1977 Yes audience captures even I dared not dream it would ever come out this well.
Even with the best tapers and equipment involved, due to sound system configuration and road engineer peculiarities GFTO tour arena ARs simply did not tape well from the audience. There are no exceptions. Some small venue captures from Europe appear to be better in many ways thanks to less ‘swallowing’ of PA output and less taper distance, but these in turn are represented in circulation either tape generations
removed or poorly mastered or both. Most audience captures from the 1970s remain rough. In Yes’ case the best ones from either side of 1977 beat even the best ones from 1977 for uniformly high sound quality.
B77 is an arena event, in an arena of legendarily bad acoustics. Its taper had a mediocre location relative to stage and sound system. The resulting problems of band to crowd volume ratio, greater interference with soundstage by crowd movement near mikes, seeming additional imbalance in PA output mix, and quieter Yesworks largely crossing a sonic ‘event horizon’ will be noticeable at times.
We at "BLG" actually like detailed crowd sound and consider it a critical part of the event reality, but at least one whistler right in the mikes is most irritating. Clapping also more prominent as expected. Neither over modulate or distort however, and are fairly confined between Yes numbers.
Local crowd movement effects the opening stanzas of "Parallels" and "Close to the Edge", where high frequencies suddenly become much more detailed about 30 seconds to 1 minute in, and what sounds like a left channel dropout during "AYAI" is another symptom.
"Wondrous Stories", "Turn of the Century" and softer parts of other pieces are the most disappointing moments in this and many other ARs of the tour thanks to the arena ‘event horizon’ effect. Excepting some of Alan White’s metals, much Yessound almost ‘disappears’ during these numbers and it’s aggravated by a couple of items described just below.
Some definition in Squire’s bass even during full-bore moments is also lost amidst related Boston Garden ‘boom’.
Happily these problems mitigated quite well, without altering natural PA output mix, with all Yes parts now more ‘upfront’ and in balance with each other than most GFTO tour offerings - but they’ll still be noticeable at times.
Add to them the universal GFTO tour problems of uneven PA amplitude and ‘swish/swirl’ [henceforth "SS"] - a hideous distortion of certain high frequencies afflicting Yes ARs from 1977 like no other year or tour after TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS [although it seems to have made a nasty comeback in 1980]. For the most part it involves certain percussive metals, but occasionally other things too. When it rears up it can be beyond aggravating.
SS cannot be edited out or effectively mitigated with any software, and despite so many outstandingly good features B77 has an unusually severe case of it. We’re nearly certain it results when already uneven, poorly aimed PA output is interfered with by crowd movement [even air movement] and interacts with microphone diaphragms in ways it seems not to with eardrums at the event. The more distant the taper
from PA system the worse it gets, but even front and center it can be bad.
Meanwhile, at least one Yes insider has reported the soundman in 1977 had high end hearing loss. This would explain at least in part many unpleasant GFTO tour anomalies, the plague of SS among them even though it was probably not noticed by actual audiences. It also easily explains why recordings from the tour including its YESSHOWS selections are so trebly, and PA volume frequently so uneven.
We then have added 1977 cassette tape hiss and a ‘tunnely’ property resulting from the particular venue and taping position. These could be mitigated thankfully, but only to a degree without damaging signal and badly altering natural sound capture properties [commonly attempted in other GFTO tour ARs with disastrous results].
Finally, Yes’ early GFTO performances were rough by Yes standards. Arrangements and improvisations were far smoother and more elegant by the time they hit Europe in November. In B77 - one of the earliest GFTO shows - we hear more than a few flubs and it seems the new material had a lot of developing to do onstage. Happily, like sound quality it turns out to have been a better performance than the raw
master let on - one of the major benefits of the remaster.
-Lestat, February 2009
INDEPENDENT SOUND ANALYSIS:
Several trusted 'beta testers', including Barry, Gromek, NorthNYMark and others. Even with the especially severe SS every member of the project test group has told us they found B77 more detailed and realistic sounding than any other GFTO tour AR in their collections, and they are fanatical Yes collectors. My reaction as well, and though it’s unlikely to be universally shared it’s enough we expect most listeners will be ecstatic.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to Yes, then and now.
Special thanks to Gromek for artwork [as always] so perfectly evocative of the show's energy and this effort.
Endless, endless thanks to Barry for another miraculous AR, the expertise, bravery and sacrifice of enjoyment it required.
NOTES FROM BARRY:
I went to four shows in 1977: Springfield 8/10, Boston twice (8/12 and 8/13?)*, and Providence 8/15. I taped the two for which I had the best seats (8/12 and 8/15) and was very lucky to catch Yours Is No Disgrace as the second encore in both. Along with Starship Trooper, it was Steve Howe at his improvisational peak.
As Lestat notes, the sound quality of the GFTO tour was poor in comparison to the "in the round" Tormato and Drama years that followed. The traditional arena arrangement with the stage at one end of the floor varied in sound quality depending on the building acoustics and may have been at its worst in the boomy old Boston
Garden.
For that reason, this recording has never had an authorized remaster before now. I made a few trade copies back in ‘77 but I was much more excited about the Providence 8/15 show, which was made from much better seats. I almost had a WBCN DJ convinced to play some Providence tracks on FM radio during a Yes marathon but, when I arrived at the station, discovered that they had no quarter-track reel-to-reel decks.
Providence was a PRRP release called "Musical Rainbows" that’s been well circulated by now. Both Providence and Boston have appeared in the form of the usual commercial bootleg garbage.
My goal in taping concerts has always been to achieve time travel. I want go back in time and relive musical experiences that were much too important to me to allow them to be heard once and lost forever. And I want the experience to be available to everyone who loves the music.
Anyone who has ever taped a concert knows that there's a price to pay, not only in terms of money spent and risk taken, but that making a good recording is work. You have to monitor the equipment and that diminishes your enjoyment of the show. Once again, I want to point out how much Lestat's remastering work makes up for that loss. Other than the absence of smoke in the air and the ambience of the old Boston
Garden, it's not much different from being there. I sincerely hope it provides the same experience for you.
* Not 100% sure about this date. I think it was a second show added on after the first one sold out. In any case, it’s not listed on Forgotten Yesterdays.
NOTES FROM GROMEK
Even though we’re warned at great length above of all the problems in all audience recordings from the GOING FOR THE ONE tour including this one, I’ll be surprised if this one does not go into history as one of the absolute best sounding live recordings to ever circulate among Yes fans! I even think it’s the best one to date to come out of the "BLG" treasure chest, especially considering the year and tour.
As a ‘beta tester’ it was an absolute pleasure to listen to this show. The sound is amazing, it’s clear and full bodied, like any live recording should sound. Certainly for a recording of its age, and from 1977!
As before I am happy and proud to be a part of the "BLG" team. "B" and "L" both have done an amazing job in bringing this recording to us all for our enjoyment."B" has taken all the risks in getting his equipment into the venue, but got away with it, and has produced a beautiful recording. "L" has done absolute wonders with the recording, and has made it sound even better.
I salute both, and hope they both will continue to do their voodoo that they both do so well, so they can bring pleasure to all who wish to hear a good recording of good music.
My part in this project is creating the cover art for this particular recording, and although I have to say that my part is the easiest part of the whole process and package, I am still very happy to do it, and I sincerely do hope you all will approve and enjoy what I created. I hope it gives you that little bit extra that you may need when listening to this wonderful recording!
That would make it all worth while for me, to create a bridge between the show, sound, the story behind it and the imagery on and in the cover art made.
So place this disc in you cd player, sit back and enjoy the ride. It will blow you away!
NOTES FROM RAMBLE ON JOE [project test listener, musician and writer in residence]
Boston 1977: The return of Rick Wakeman
From the beginning, Jon shows the strong assured voice which so moved Tony Wilson to write so favorably about the band back in 1968. As noted, there are some minor PA mix problems (mainly in the bass), though these improve through the first part of the show. This doesn’t really matter; from the opening strains of the "Firebird Suite", Barry’s tape provides the clear, clean sonics so painfully missing from practically every tape available of this tour. Despite his caveats about location and nearby whistlers, this is easily the best 1977 Yes capture to reach these ears - it’s tempting to quote from "Circus of Heaven":
"Was that something beautiful, amazing, wonderful, extraordinarily beautiful?"
To which the pragmatic Barry would respond: "Oh it was OK" - well aware that you simply can’t capture the best sound at the back of the hall (echo) near a wall (muddy bass). There’s the occasional tape flaw, which is only to be expected in a cassette three decades old.
The amazing thing is that he did in fact make an excellent capture which still sounds great today, and the performance itself more than compensates for the occasional technical issue.
As for the band themselves, their enthusiasm exceeds themselves: in "All Good People", it sounds like Steve is actually throwing in extra notes in those incredibly fast runs. Rick was of course busily up front right from the opening song, and puts a little middle-eastern edge into his CTTE solo. "Close to the Edge" is especially rewarding, as it opens with such fury it’s a wonder the band didn’t tear themselves apart. It’s nice to hear Alan so thoroughly in charge, alternately pushing & holding the band. This actually frees Chris to be even more inventive, and he adds little fills into CTTE I hadn’t noticed before.
But let’s get back to Jon - it’s easy to focus on such heavyweight instrumentalists, but how about the singer? In food, there’s a term from the Japanese, unami, which describes any given food at its peak, in its best presentation - the state in which it just couldn’t be any better.
For Jon’s voice, that’s arguably 1977: his voice was fully mature and strong, built up by a decade of performing, and not yet middle-aged; he takes on the high notes with grace and confidence, rarely showing any sign of strain. In addition, he had the GOING FOR THE ONE material (and band!), all of which showcased his voice beautifully.
The band seems to have realized this. Unlike every other tour, there are no solo instrumental spots -- all the performances are full band songs, and Jon takes the reins without hesitation, song after song. By comparison, the band themselves are still feeling out the material at this early date; "Going for the One" isn’t performed, the so-called "Flight Jam" leading into "Awaken" would become more focused later in the tour, and "Awaken" itself isn’t quite as well realized as we need it to be.
"Starship Trooper" begins to make up for this, as Rick reminds us again why he was wanted back in the band: one minute he’s stodgily serious, the next as playful as a kid with a new synthesizer. Sure I wish Steve’s guitar was louder, but that doesn’t have to spoil our pleasure in a perfectly good "Trooper" replete with synth explosions - especially when that’s followed by a "Roundabout" performed with real
vigor. Check out Steve’s feedback swells during the quiet part, and Rick’s organ solo - all to resolve on a resoundingly triumphant final chord -- really good stuff!
Had they left it there, we’d be content to call it a strong & complete show, but the band pulls a final surprise by playing a second encore - a rarity for any band. But this is Yes, and they’ve already played all their usual encore material - what could they play? No easy way out here, folks: two hours into the show, and the band tackles "Yours Is No Disgrace" with no sign of fatigue: Steve burns through his solo,
and Jon still sings like he has energy and range to spare. What a night for Boston; what a night for Yes; what a treat for the fans in attendance!
And now, thanks to Balrog and Lestat, we finally have an audience capture of a show from the GOING FOR THE ONE tour approaching the quality of "B78" and "B79". Even a brief exposure may result in an unwillingness to listen to other tapes from this tour; for that, we apologize, and note that it’s an unavoidable (if not entirely
unintended) consequence. We think it’s a risk worth taking; we hope you think so too.
Please share freely but losslessly, and never, EVER even THINK of selling for any sum anywhere. Reseed or redistribute this recording in its complete and original form only. Should we become aware of an incomplete reseed or distribution, we will publicly discredit the party responsible.
On that note, be also vigilant against for-profit `boot factory' ripoffs. We've seen this done with our work already. While flattering they'd covet it on the one hand, the dishonesty of it and idea of anyone spending good money for what can be had freely are both infuriating. Last time it happened Gromek's fabulous art was dumped in favor of the usual boot factory crap, and none of the lineage/process info provided here was included in the ripoff either. Truly criminal - intellectually as much as legally.
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http://mrzcwz.link-protector.comTomorrow: Happy 70th Birthday to Bob Dylan.
