Forums > Sharing The Music - Announce > 1979-01-30 Rotterdam - 2-source mix

Taken from the readme file

Band   : Queen
Venue : Ahoy Hall, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Date    : 30. January 1979

Lineage :
Source 1 : AUD > master tape > WAV > CD(x) > WAV > Cool Edit Pro (hiss reduction, speed correction, equalisation) > WAV (*)
Source 2 : AUD > ? > CD(x) > WAV > remastering (click removal, equalisation) > WAV (**)

Tracklist :
Disc 1
 1. We Will Rock You (fast) (* / **)
 2. Let Me Entertain You (* / **)
 3. Somebody To Love (*)
 4. Fat Bottomed Girls (*)
 5. Death On Two Legs (*)
 6. Killer Queen (*)
 7. Bicycle Race (*)
 8. I'm In Love With My Car (*)
 9. Get Down, Make Love (* / **)
10. You're My Best Friend (*)

Disc 2
 1. Now I'm Here (* / **)
 2. Don't Stop Me Now (*)
 3. Spread Your Wings (*)
 4. Dreamers Ball (* / **)
 5. Love Of My Life (*)
 6. '39 (*)
 7. It's Late (*)
 8. Brighton Rock (cut) (*)
 
Length : 85:34

What the f* ? Somebody dares to boo when they here that "This next song comes from "News Of The World" ? :-)

A very nice gig again, like all the gigs from Ahoy, but unfortunately a pretty bad quality (again like all the gigs from Ahoy). The beginning of Spread Your Legs is musically very interesting, the same goes for all Brian's work today.

Two different sources appeared during the years, the first one in only "good +" quality and usually distributed with 2 last tracks (Champions and GSTQ) from a different concert, probably from the 80's. The second source
comes from a master, but still is incomplete and I would rate it as "Very Good / very good -".

The "alternate master" has many strange problems. For example for some strange reason the taper though it's a good idea to tell us where it was recorded DURING WWRY fast. There are also many small cuts (all of them are a few seconds long), and a couple of "microcuts" long only a couple of miliseconds ! The recording is full of hiss and disc 1 runs terribly fast (disc 2 runs "almost" correct). Also the length of the recording (cca 83 minutes) is strange - if he used a 90 min tape which ran too fast, where is the rest ? Or did the taper transfer his master tape not carefully enough ? Or was it simply damaged during the years ? Hard to say.

Well since I consider myself a "perfectionist" (or a madman, as some would say) I thought this concert definitely needs a 2-source mix. For most of the concert I've used the master copy, with the hiss carefully removed and restoring the original tape speed. I have also filled the gaps with the common source (including the speech during WWRY). I have kept all the cuts shorter then 1 second simply because the common source is in such a bad shape that I couldn't find the correct segments.

But for now it's probably the best representation of this gig.

on my way up wrote:







Thanks.

I've been in contact with the person who taped this show(the one from the mastertape). He sent me the cassette(and told me it's his master). The cassette sounds identical(with the hiss) to the version you used for this upload, Peter. At first I thought it was a different source from about the same length because the taper told me he had never distributed his tape. When I received it(actually a bit earlier because I spoke about it with Harry, who had a good experience with the fellow) I found out it wasn't true because he had been in contact with Harry previously(that's when the transfer we can enjoy here was done). I must say that was pretty disappointing! I sent him an email with my observations but he never replied...


Anyway, this is brilliant stuff. Check out Bob's comments on his site. Especially this version of 'It's late' is great, with the best solo I've ever heard from Brian. The confidence and precision with which he played that evening are one of a kind. I also adore his guitar work in Spread your wings and his solo in Killer Queen and Death on two legs and.... :-)







The Dutch always made sure they gave the band a great night, with their typical enthusiastic behaviour. A pity there are no great recordings for the seventies Rotterdam gigs:-(