ROLLING STONES - BARROOM QUEEN IN PHOENIX 1981-12-13 (Soundboard recording of complete show)

My own notes - this show looms large in my own personal history as it's the primary source of the Let's Spend The Night Together theatrical release which I saw at the Wescove Cinema in West Covina at the age of 9 and is still one of the greatest and most pivotal concert experiences of my life. I didn't realize how cut to pieces the songs were nowadays preferring some of the newer archive releases but still take this complete audio recording out for a spin every once in awhile like I am now.


Posted as part of today's anniversarython at [ijwthstd.blogspot.com]




Hi Stones fanatics,

Here we have something special, first time collaboration between JEMS and Captain Acid.
I was asked to remaster two sets of tapes of Stones show in Tempe, December 13, 1981, which I gladly accepted.
More about the tapes will be explained later by JEMS.

What I did was some speed corrections, EQ and level correction. Nothing else was needed, the tapes were great to start with. Transfer of the cassettes was done by JEMS. After the remaster i have converted the files to 16bit FLAC.

Remastered by Captain Acid
Artwork by Mr. D

February 2019

INFO FROM JEMS:

(First set of tapes, aka "RUFF MIXES") APCD 037-1

"Ruff Mixes" via JEMS Archive and Captain Acid

Transfer: in-house cassettes > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96) capture > iZotope RX >


The Stones' Tempe '81 performance has been bootlegged numerous times from soundboard sources, notably on titles like Satisfaction Guaranteed and Let’s Spend the Night Together.

Our version comes from a pair of in-house cassettes that were included in the same trove of tapes that yielded our Foxes In The Boxes series a few years ago. As some folks have deduced, all the tapes once belonged to Art Collins, who essentially ran Rolling Stones Records on behalf of the band inside of Atlantic Records in the U.S. They came into JEMS possession several years ago.

These two TDK SA-90 cassettes were labeled Ruff Mixes and they are clearly copies from reel to reels, as you can hear the reel come up to speed at the start of the recording. Like the Foxes tapes and the Concerts for Kampuchea outtakes we also released from his collection, Collins seems to have used cassettes as reference tapes to review/approve mixes. The dubs were likely made for him off master or mix-down reels, which explains why their quality is so high. Photos of the tapes are included in our packaging.

Captain Acid has been reviewing this source to determine if it is a different mix than what's in circulation. Regardless it is an alternate source with intriguing provenance and very nice quality. The Captain's additional insights can be found in his notes.

The Collins Cassettes also contain a second set of tapes from this gig, and that mix is different from these. We are working to bring that second version to you soon. Until then, enjoy this new source of Tempe '81.

BK for JEMS



(Second set of tapes, aka ALTERNATE REFERENCE MIXES) APCD 037-2

The Stones' Tempe '81 performance has been bootlegged numerous times from soundboard sources, notably on titles like Satisfaction Guaranteed and Let's Spend the Night Together.

This torrent is the second of two new sources for the Tempe soundboard recording culled from the same trove of tapes that yielded our Foxes In The Boxes series a few years ago. As some folks have deduced, all of the tapes once belonged to Art Collins, who essentially ran Rolling Stones Records in the US on behalf of the band inside of Atlantic Records. As implied by the Foxes tapes and the Concerts for Kampuchea outtakes we also released, Collins seems to have used cassettes as reference tapes to review/approve mixes. The dubs were likely made for him off master or mix-down reels, which explains why their quality is so high. Photos of the tapes are included in our packaging.

The first new Tempe source, labeled 'Ruff Mixes', was a pair of TDK SA-90 cassettes clearly copied from reel to reel, as you can hear the reel come up to speed at the start of the recording. This second cassette source is two Maxell UD-90s with typed labels but no additional detail, just the venue, date and song titles.

The mixes on the second set of cassettes differ from the 'ruff mixes' and are on balance more refined than the roughs. By way of example, the sax solo on "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is low in the rough mixes, but appropriately leveled here. There's no obvious sign these came off mix-down reels but they very likely did.

As both new sources are excellent, we leave it to the listener to decide which source you prefer. Regardless, we hope our two new Tempe mixes provide a fresh way to hear a very familiar recording.

BK for JEMS


Rolling Stones
Sun Devil Stadium
Tempe, AZ
December 13, 1981

Disc 1:

1. Intro - Take The A Train
2. Under My Thumb
3. When The Whip Comes Down
4. Let's Spend The Night Together
5. Shattered
6. Neighbours
7. Black Limousine
8. Just My Imagination
9. Twenty Flight Rock
10. Going To A Go Go
11. Let Me Go
12. Time Is On My Side
13. Beast Of Burden
14. Waiting On A Friend
15. Let It Bleed

Disc 2


01. You Can't Always Get What You Want
02. Band Introduction
03. Little T & A
04. Tumbling Dice
05. She's So Cold
06. Hang Fire
07. Miss You
08. Honky Tonk Women
09. Brown Sugar
10. Start Me Up
11. Jumpin' Jack Flash
12. Satisfaction
13. Outro - Star Spangled Banner



[we.tl]

Thank you, Dan!

Thank you very much!

Thanks for sharing. I just saw this over on the blog.

I haven't listened to anything from this period in a long time.
I forgot how frantic the tempos and performances were.

To my ears the Alternate Reference Mix is the better sounding of the two.

Cool pics of the gig.

I was at that stadium 5 years earlier for a big rock show.
Started in the morning. Graham Central Station, Santana, Peter Frampton.
Maybe someone I've forgotten. And Kris Kristofferson. And Barbra Streisand....
They were filming A Star is Born. Bill Graham set this up to fill the stadium.
The top ring of seats were not there yet, they got added on soon after I believe.

not blind, was blindmansbluff, is acetboy

Wish this would get an official release.

thanks for all the great work and all involved !!

THX

Thanks Dan!
Thanks again Captain!