Welcome - About Live and Loud!

Live and Loud! began as a fortnightly internet radio show in 2012 taking old unreleased live concert recordings I could find and working to repair and improve them - fixing tape hiss, noise, tape drop out, clicks, speed variations, defects - before improving the sound quality by EQing the sound to bring out the instruments as clearly as possible. These are now made directly available to download for free to reach as many fans of the music as possible.

Depending on the quality of the original recording, these can often be made to sound almost like commercial recordings - but of course I can't guarantee that for every show. What I can guarantee is it will sound far better than the original files available which have been floating around the internet and on bootleg recordings for many years.

Almost all are either "soundboard" recordings (taken directly from the mixing desk used at the gig on the night) or old FM radio recordings. A few gigs, if they are of special historical importance, make an appearance even if they were recorded from the audience - these can also be made to sound better than ever.

Do your ears a favour and listen on headphones or good speakers to get most benefit - laptop speakers will always sound pretty poor by comparison.

All shows still available are listed, including a link to download the remastered show for free. If you want to support the site with a small donation, you can receive the shows as either separate MP3s or FLACs (your choice) - head over to the Rewards for Donations page and see how you can get a lot for very little!

If you want to email me, an email link is in my profile in a link in the side panel.

And finally... These are great fun to listen to but DO NOT replace original releases - support these artists and buy their music.
There is nothing you can go and buy in a regular record store here. If a gig is made available as a regular release, then it will be removed (as a couple have been already).

Tuesday, 14 March 2023

Show 185 - OMD - Live At Milton Keynes Bowl - 24 Aug 1991

 

A quick request. If you plan on downloading this and putting it on your YouTube channel or your own bootleg page - I don't mind. But a credit to this website where you found it, and a link back to this page would be really appreciated. It helps me gauge which artists are popular - ie more chance of other restorations coming. Don't just steal it and take the credit (you know who you are). Thanks.

 

The Show

An interesting show from OMD this time, dating back to when OMD was basically Andy McCluskey after he and the other members of the band had parted ways a couple of years earlier. This was their full live set supporting The Stranglers and Simple Minds - to what sounds like a rapturous reception, it has to be said. Broadcast live on FM radio at the time, this recording was supplied to me by a listener to Live and Loud! Shows. Being live it includes the moment when the power cuts out, bringing 1 song to a very quick close! However, kudos is definitely due in the way the band dealt with that and straight away went into something else.

What Was Done

There were a huge number of tiny gaps in the audio, especially in the first half of the gig - tape dropouts perhaps, which took a long long time to smooth out and I've fixed as many of them as possible - there are some left I couldn't fix - mainly in the first song or 2. 

Every song on the source faded out during the applause after and the joins back in to the next song were often disjointed - I fixed all those so the songs fade out and back in much more smoothly. After that, I lowered the pitch and speed a little as it all ran a bit fast and breathless (and a little high pitched). Then the nitty gritty parts - EQ, compression, the usual studio toys to improve the sound mix and create space for the bass, drums, vocals and synth parts. There wasn't a lot of bass end, so I fattened that a bit, so the kick drums and bass are far more solid now, and the original recording had quite a lot of top end, so I rounded that off so it doesn't hurt the ears. So yes, this one took a while.

The All Important Download Link

You can now download this repaired, restored and remastered version of this show exclusively for FREE by clicking right HERE and grabbing it as one 320kbps MP3 file. 

If you're new to the site, please have a look at the list of artists covered and grab what you like! You can find all the OMD shows I've done HERE.

Setlist

Enola Gay
Messages
Call My Name
So In Love (aborted)
Electricity
So In Love
Walk Tall
Joan Of Arc
Dreaming
Maid Of Orleans
Talking Loud And Clear
Locomotion
Pandora's Box
Sailing On The Seven Seas


Supporting The Site

If you want to support the work I do, and this site, and obtain separate, fully tagged 320kbps MP3s or lossless FLACs of this restoration in return, head on over to the Rewards For Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs. There is no obligation to do so of course - you can take the file on this page absolutely for free - but every single donation does go towards this site and domain/storage costs, and helps the site stay open, and helps me do more shows. Either way, enjoy the show.

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And if you like this recording, please spread the news and share the page link to anyone you think might be interested - facebook fan groups, web forums, Mastodon, Twitter, Instagram are a great way of spreading the word - that way, I always find out which bands are popular and can do more shows by them in the future. Many thanks.