David Bowie/CA,USA 9.8.1974

Last week, enthusiasts around the world were excited by the discovery of new recordings of David Bowie’s 1970s live shows. The recordings of the consecutive shows at the Universal Amphitheater in LA in September 1974 were already limited. The multi-track recording of the 5th show has long been known, and is now easily available as “CRACKED ACTOR (LIVE LOS ANGELES ’74)”, but it has established an unshakable position as one of the classics with the masterpiece “DEFINITIVE LOS ANGLES 1974”, which includes parts that were not recorded there and is recorded with an analog feel that exudes a more 70s feel. However, the performances at the Universal Amphitheater in LA were held for a week straight, so even if you are not a enthusiast, it is natural to want to listen to the stages on other days. However, there are no decent recordings of these LA shows other than the one on September 5th. No, there were audience recordings on other days such as the 2nd and 6th of the first day, but they were uniformly poor in sound quality, and the fact that no CD-R items had been released until now spoke of the strictness of quality. The masterpiece that threw a stone into such a situation, the enthusiasts’ madness, was released three years ago as “BOWIE 74 LIVE”. The historic excavation of the master recorded by John Wizard for the real-time masterpiece and mega-rare EP, which was recorded from the middle of the live performance, was extremely valuable, and delighted enthusiasts all over the world. However, last week, it suddenly appeared on the Internet as an audience recording of the stage on September 8th, the existence of which had never been confirmed until now, and it was a nearly complete recording of the live performance, so it was a big deal. The record of the final day of the LA consecutive performances, which was the turning point of 1974, Bowie’s soul year, was a historic excavation without any exaggeration, but the sound quality was also surprisingly high, which greatly delighted enthusiasts all over the world. At the beginning of the live performance, from “Moonage Daydream” to “Sweet Thing”, the conversation near the taper is a concern, but once that subsides, the sound image is surprisingly on, and in particular, Bowie’s singing voice is so close that if this sound source had been available in 1974, a boot LP would have been released and it would have been treated as a masterpiece… It makes you think so. In other words, it is surprising that such a high-quality audience recording has been kept secret until now. In the middle of the live performance, just as “Knock on Wood” began, the taper replaced the cassette, so the recording of the song was short, and the beginning of the following “It’s Gonna Be Me” was missed, but the content is so valuable and the sound quality is easy to listen to that it seems like a small thing. It is well known that when the tour resumed in September, Bowie wanted to stop using the “DIAMOND DOGS” stage set, which had been causing so many problems, but was persuaded by management, who foresaw the large number of celebrities who would flock to the LA performance, to continue with the set. The difficulty of creating the spectacular “DIAMOND DOGS” stage set, which exceeded the technology of the time, can be seen in the incident where Bowie sat on a chair at the top of the set and sang through a receiver at the beginning of “Space Oddity”, which was out of sync with the band’s performance. Not only did they vividly capture such an incident, but during the MC time at the beginning of “All The Young Dudes”, Bowie, who usually only utters short lines such as greetings, spoke at length, introducing the band members and thanking them, which seems to be the final day of the consecutive performances. What’s more, the feeling of the final day is very fresh, different from the atmosphere we’ve become familiar with from the September 5th releases. Above all, the good sound quality allows you to clearly hear Bowie, who has survived the hard consecutive performances, singing to the end with all his might. A historic excavation and a surprisingly good audience that finally revealed the pattern of the last day of the LA consecutive performances in September 1974, which had been covered by a veil until now. Live at Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, CA, USA 8th September 1974 TRULY PERFECT SOUND★First appearance, high quality sound source Disc:1 (47:24) 1. 1984 2. Rebel Rebel 3. Moonage Daydream 4. Sweet Thing / Candidate / Sweet Thing (Reprise) 5. Changes 6. Suffragette City 7. Aladdin Sane 8. Band Introductions 9. All The Young Dudes 10. Cracked Actor 11. Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me Disc:2 (49:17) 1. Knock On Wood 2. It’s Gonna Be Me 3. Space Oddity 4. Future Legend 5. Diamond Dogs 6. Big Brother / Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family 7. Time 8. The Jean Genie 9. Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide 10. John I’m Only Dancing (Again) David Bowie – vocals Mike Garson – piano, mellotron Earl Slick – guitar Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar Michael Kamen – electric piano, Moog, oboe David Sanborn – alto saxophone, flute Richard Grando – baritone saxophone, flute Doug Rauch – bass Greg Errico – drums Pablo Rosario – percussion Gui Andrisano – backing vocals Warren Peace – backing vocals Ava Cherry – backing vocals Robin Clark – backing vocals Anthony Hinton – backing vocals Diane Sumler – backing vocals Luther Vandross – backing vocals