1970-03-07 - Fillmore East (Late Show), NYC, New York

Name: THE RARE TAPE NIGHT

10 ½” Reel of Scotch tape, 1/2 track, @7 ½ ips (Technics 1506) to Tascam Prof CD Recorder

EAC > Wav > Flac > Mp3 Lame


Complete show: No

Rating: 8/10

Note from the owner:

Here is another tape with a story. In the early 1970’s WBCN-FM (Boston) started a show they called ‘Rare Tape Night’. Maybe 2 or 3 times a year for a few hours they would play back recordings they had in their archives. Early on, 'folks / friends of the station' would drop off rare recordings they acquired (bootleg lps, tapes ect). These would be played back, sometimes until late into the night. As the Radio station grew, the time slot got smaller and smaller until the show was abandoned (probably due to record company pressure). Early recordings of WBCN shows have them playing Woodstock ‘outtakes’, the Byrds at the Tea Party, Buffalo Springfield’s Long Version of ‘Bluebird’, and FM broadcasts that the station originated. Around 1978, I made friends with some folks at WBCN. I was invited up several times as they were interested in what I had for recordings (Bruce Springsteen was big at this point). At one point an intern handed me this 10 ½ in. reel and asked if I was interested in it. He said he needed an empty reel from me in return or he was going to take a razor blade to it. They had already listened to it and decided it was something they would never play. So I gave him my take-up reel and took the box home. It was marked Neil Young Live Fillmore East 3/7/70 and Tea Party 3/1/70. I have no idea if this show is out or where the rest is. This is all I have. I was told there were a couple of guys taping Tea Party shows on a portable ‘UHR’ reel to reel, but I was never able to find out who they were……….

Issues: There are random clicks and pops on this tape. It was in very poor condition and not properly wound when I received it. There are also a few splices. It is one of those tapes you hate to playback, and you watch the entire time. But I played it through without any issues. The taper claps between songs with the mike in his hand so ‘be prepared’. The Fillmore acoustic set sounds good but the electric is a bit muddy. The Tea Party acoustic & electric sounds very good and a little bit brighter.

Note: I align the payback head on my machines to match the source recording. This gives you the best playback without having phase issues. If you should hear any phase issues, they are inherent to the source tape I am playing back. I also biased all my reels prior to recording on them. I feel this has given me some great sounding tapes as you will hear in the future…………………Peace

I never used noise reduction and all my tapes are at 7 ½ ips. Nothing has been edited out or EQ’d.

Acoustic Set:

01. On the Way Home (already in progress)
02. Broken Arrow
03. I am a Child
04. Now a Day’s Clancy Can’t even Sing
05. The Loner

Electric Set:

06. Everybody Know This is Nowhere (already in progress)
07. Winter Long
08. Down By The River

Bonus Tracks from The Boston Tea Party, 1970-03-01, Boston, Massachusetts:

09. Sugar Mountain
10. Cowgirl in the Sand *

* Song debut

Line-up:

Neil Young - vocals, guitar
Danny Whitten - guitar, vocals
Billy Talbot - bass, vocals
Ralph Molina - drums, vocals
Jack Nitzsche - electric piano

Mp3 Lame 320kbps, artwork included

PART 1
PART 2