"Rolling Stones
Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA
October 22, 1989
Mike Millard Master Tapes via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 40
1644 Edition
Contrast Clause: 2496 Edition here:
[
www.dimeadozen.org]
Recording Gear: AKG 451E Microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder
Transfer: Mike Millard Master Cassettes > Nakamichi DR-1 (azimuth adjusted) > Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 > Sound Forge Audio Studio 13.0 capture to 24/96 .wav > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 8 > MBIT+ resample to 1644 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC
01 Introduction
02 Start Me Up
03 Bitch
04 Sad Sad Sad
05 Undercover Of The Night
06 Harlem Shuffle
07 Tumbling Dice
08 Miss You
09 Ruby Tuesday
10 Angie
11 Rock And A Hard Place
12 Mixed Emotions
13 Honky Tonk Women
14 Midnight Rambler
15 You Can’t Always Get What You Want
16 Little Red Rooster
17 Before They Make Me Run (Keith Richards lead vocal)
18 Happy (Keith Richards lead vocal)
19 Paint It Black
20 2000 Light Years From Home
21 Sympathy For The Devil
22 Gimme Shelter
23 It’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll
24 Brown Sugar
25 (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
26 Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Known Faults:
-None
Introduction to the Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Series
Welcome to JEMS’ Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around Los Angeles circa 1975-77. For the complete details on how tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' long history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One: [
www.dimeadozen.org].
Until 2020, the Lost and Found series presented fresh transfers of previously unavailable first-generation copies made by Mike himself for friends like Stan Gutoski of JEMS, Jim R, Bill C. and Barry G. These sources were upgrades to circulating copies and in most instances marked the only time verified first generation Millard sources had been directly digitized in the torrent era.
That all changed with the discovery of many of Mike Millard’s original master tapes.
Yes, you read that correctly, Mike Millard’s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1992.
The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we’ve been told for decades they were gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on the assumption that because his master tapes never surfaced and Mike’s mental state was troubled he would do something rash WITH HIS LIFE’S WORK. There’s also a version of the story where Mike’s family dumps the tapes after he dies. Why would they do that?
The truth is Mike’s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard’s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother Lia inquiring about the tapes at the time to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike’s work.
The full back story on how Mike’s master tapes were saved can be found in the notes for Vol. 18 Pink Floyd, which was the first release in our series transferred from Millard’s original master tapes:
[
www.dimeadozen.org]
[
www.dimeadozen.org]
Rolling Stones, Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA, October 22, 1989
The Millard archive yields another gem, which is Mike the Mike’s recording the Rolling Stones playiing their fourth and final night at the colossal Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, site of two Olympic Games. This was the biggest stand of shows the band ever played in Los Angeles, with more than 360,000 people attending over the four performances (for a combined gross of $9+ million). Yes, Steel Wheels was the Stones’ first U.S. tour since 1981, so demand was high. But attendance at the Coliseum was undoubtedly bolstered by having Guns ’N Roses and Living Colour as opening acts. GNR was on top of the world at that moment. Mike did record their sets as well, but unfortunately they can’t be shared on DIME.
1989-90 would also prove to the band’s final tour with original member Bill Wyman on bass, which could lead one to call Steel Wheels (and Urban Jungle, the later ex-US leg) the last tour of the band’s middle era. I however see Steel Wheels as the first tour of the modern era, driven primarily by the addition of Chuck Leavell on keyboards, who has sat on that piano bench ever since. Sure, the band toured with Billy Preston on keys and Ians Stewart and McLagan along the way. But Leavell’s arrival had two major impacts. One, it opened up the band’s catalog, as with his keyboards and synthesizers, heretofore “unplayable” songs requiring strings or other studio-centric sounds could be recreated which explains the inclusion of tracks like “Ruby Tuesday” and “2000 Light Years From Home.”
Leavell’s second impact is debatable and I’m sure my contentious take puts me in the minority, but…his keyboard arrangements can be a little on the cheesy side. Over time, his place in the mix of what the live Stones sound like, how much of the melody he is carrying vs. the rest of the band, has only increased, to the point where I once jokingly referred to a Bridges to Babylon recording as “Chuck Leavell featuring members of the Rolling Stones.”
That being said I find myself slightly more forgiving as I listen to Millard’s fine capture more than 30 years later. Hearing “Ruby Tuesday” and “2000 Light Years From Home” in any form is a treat. I think “Mixed Emotions” is the best single of the contemporary Stones era and it is played well here, as are relatively uncommon songs like “Sad, Sad, Sad,” “Undercover Of The Night,” “Harlem Shuffle,” and “Rock And A Hard Place.” Of the classics, “Paint It Black” is cool, Jagger puts a lot of feeling into “Miss You” and “Midnight Rambler,” and the Uptown Horns add some nice accents to songs like “Happy.”
Given its enormous size and shape, the Memorial Coliseum is a challenging venue for taping as so few seats are close to the PA. Even with Millard sitting in the main section on the floor, seven rows back, the recording has a little distance to it but is otherwise clear, full and steady. Samples provided.
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JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R and Barry G to release Millard's historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself. There are a few recordings out there that have long been attributed to Mike that he didn’t actually record based on his own master tape list. One of those is Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Oakland Stadium, July 13, 1974. Perhaps it is simply the quality of the recording that led someone to assume “it had to be Millard,” but the show predates the AKG + Nak era and to the best of our knowledge and research, Mike did not attend or record.
Another is the Stones Candlestick Park, San Francisco, October 17, 1981. The fact that Millard taped multiple Stones shows in ’75 and ’89, but none in ’78 or ’81 is peculiar, though for both tours, the LA market only got stadium shows which was likely a factor. As I have written before, if Millard couldn’t record a show in the manner and location he wanted to, he was more inclined to skip a show than tape from an inferior location. The San Francisco recording isn’t on Millard’s master list either, but there is evidence to support the show was recorded by a friend of Millard’s using his gear, but not Mike himself. We do know Millard would allow close friends to use his rig on occasion and we hope to have more definitive answers on this subject in the near future.
We can’t thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept these precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would not be nearly as compelling without Jim’s memories and photos. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike’s incredible audio documents, though Jim didn’t attend this show.
I can’t say enough about mjk5510, our critical collaborator for nearly all JEMS releases. Without his steady support, our Saturday release schedule simply would not happen.
Finally, cheers to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.
BK for JEMS
Size 904.30 MB (948,231,016 bytes)
Added Sat 18th Jul, 2020 20:58 GMT
Upped by mjk5510"
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