This time, it’s a debut on Live and Loud! for Thomas Dolby with a show taken from his The Flat Earth tour of 1984.
I had 3 different versions of this recording, all at different bit rates. 2 of the recordings had some different tracks from each other but were higher quality than the 3rd version which had all the recorded tracks on. So I ended up piecing the best of the 2 together to form 1 complete recording. If you listen carefully you can perhaps play "spot the difference" and see where the joins are! But its all come together well so hopefully most of you won't be able to tell. :-)
Careful EQ of each source separately took some time, as did the editing of the tracks together so they're not glaringly obvious - but it sounds great now, superb stereo and crystal clear. 1 song, Airwaves, does fade out and back in at 1 point, thanks to the original cassette recording running out and needing to be turned over!
Is it all the tracks played? Information and pictures of that 1984 tour seem quite hard to find but maybe not; its about an hour and 10 minutes long. Its certainly all the tracks that I can find that were recorded though, including an unused, lower quality soundboard. Information is so scarce that a source I often use to confirm tour information didn't have this gig listed at all (it does now; I added it).
The show is now available to download exclusively for free here as 1 MP3 file.
Or, if you would like to have separate tagged MP3s, or even lossless files in FLAC format, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs.
Setlist
The Flat Earth (spoken intro)
White City
Dissidents
The Flat Earth
One Of Our Submarines Is Missing
Puppet Theatre
New Toy
Airwaves
I Scare Myself
Hyperactive!
Europa And The Pirate Twins
She Blinded Me With Science
Encore 1
Commercial Breakup
Encore 2
Windpower
Excellent!
ReplyDeleteAny chance of finding the song "Marseille"? I have such fond memories of seeing this tour at the Chicago Theater.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, I've not found a recording with that on. HOWEVER, there IS apparently a live version as an extra track on the 2009 Remastered Collector's Edition CD of the Flat Earth album. Hope that helps!
DeleteHey there...I saw Dolby's "Flat Earth" tour in Chicago at the Auditorium Theater on 5 Jun 1984. It was only the second concert ever that I saw (at the time). Great show as I recall! I wish I had a recording of it, but this recording from London's Dominion is awesome, Flip!
Deletehttps://archive.org/details/thomasdolbyboulderco8may1984
DeleteThanks for that link - Mary, if you ever see this again - that link goes to a copy of a US gig from that tour, with Marseille on.
DeleteSo happy to see a show from this tour. I saw Dolby 3 times in the NY area. He had an amazing band that really fleshed out the studio work!
ReplyDeleteCoo, yeah he had a great band with him by the sound of it.
DeleteI recorded this concert off the radio when it was first broadcast, sometime in '84 from BBC Radio 1. I've just been listening to a lot of Thomas Dobly recently and started thinking about this concert (tape, long gone!)...great to find it again....sounds fab, Thanks Mr.G
ReplyDeleteThanks; glad you enjoyed. Cheers!
DeleteI was at that concert and remember it as a great evening! As to your query as to whether it's the whole show or not, I can't answer as it's such a long time back but I don't remember it being a very long gig. Terrible support act called Decca-Dance!
ReplyDeleteHaha, cheers for that. Hope this brought back the good memories.
DeleteI was at this gig and have a strong recollection of Dolby leaving the stage during "Hyperactive" and then returning with the cube on his head (the one from the video) and did a solo on a key-tar. Then suddenly another Thomas Dolby returned to the stage and pulled off the cube of the imposter, to reveal Howard Jones.
ReplyDeleteWow, brilliant! Thanks for sharing that. :-)
DeleteI was there too, and you are spot on.. Howard Jones was the man.. I remember being blown away with the bass playing in Hyperactive..., amazing.., actually watching someone play that complicated riff, and for such a long time...
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Delete"Is it all the tracks played?" I think that's all. I remember seeing him in Cologne back in 83 or 84 and it was one of the shorter concerts I have seen. Topped only by Propaganda being done after about 45 minutes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Thanks for that. I'm surprised Propoganda could get away with that...that seems far too short!
Deletepeople were quite disappointed, but since Propaganda Mk I dissolved short time later not one could boycot a next tour. :)
Deletein the same vein: Erasure played at WDR 2 Großer Sendesaal in Cologne, the show ran an hour and was broadcast live, and after 45 minutes all material had been performed so they started over again and played the first 15 minutes once more. :o) Never understood why didn't add a few Yazoo or Depeche Mode tracks.
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