Rolling Stones/CA,USA 12.6.1969 Upgrade

The Stones held a free concert at Altamont to conclude their 1969 American tour, which ended in chaos and even death, and what’s more, it was documented in the movie “GIMME SHELTER”, which is said to be “Love and Death”. It feels like the story has been talked about exhaustively, with people calling it “the end of the era of peace.” However, Dokkoi enthusiasts know this. The Stones’ stage, which was turbulent until the middle of the performance, turned around and ended with a normal live performance. The movie only captures the chaos and deaths that occurred during the free concert, and if you watched it normally you would only get a negative impression. Movies exaggerate these dramatic parts. It was the audience recording on the same day that overturned the stereotypical image of Altamont among enthusiasts. I can’t help but be surprised that they were able to capture most of the Stones’ stage performance in that chaotic venue, but I’m also surprised that they were able to capture their performance with a solid sound image throughout, despite its rough texture. It was the perfect sound source. Above all, its value as a document is extremely high. It may certainly not be an audience recording that will appeal to everyone. However, for many enthusiasts, it is a very valuable sound source, and it is highly valued because it is in a recording state that can be listened to sufficiently. Starting with “GIMME SHELTER” released by the IMP group at the height of the CD bubble in the early 90’s, VGP’s “KILLER FESTIVAL” and others. Furthermore, in the past 10 years, lower generation versions of sound sources have appeared, and in addition to that, other sound sources have also appeared, so IMP’s “ALTAMONT FREE CONCERT 1969” and DAC’s “IT’S JUST A SHOT AWAY” are the best. I think he is positioned as both Yokozuna of Altamont. However, it is surprisingly unknown even among enthusiasts that after those items were released, a further first generation copy of this audience appeared on the internet (in 2012). You could say it was almost overlooked. Based on this best version ever, it also adds the stereo soundboard recording that exists in the movie audio. Altamont Free Concert 1969 had already realized the concept of having the audience patch together existing SBD parts, but while those were supplementing the movie’s audio to parts other than the performance, This version uses the stereo audio from the movie only for the performance parts. That said, the point is not to simply compensate for SBD, but to mix audience recordings for those parts as well, to alleviate extreme changes in sound quality (especially sense of presence). This is not a normal concert, but that Altamont. In a sense, it’s because of the noise around me. Thanks to this, the SBD part suddenly became very realistic. Of course, “Gimme Shelter” SBD is based on the ancient masterpiece “A SHOT OF SALVATION” sound source. In addition, for “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Carol”, which had recording problems in the early stages of the performance in the main audience recording, by using separate monaural audience recordings, for the first time, both songs were recorded with an audience, but the performances were intact. Now you can listen to it in this condition. It was also used in the intro by Sam Cutler before the Stones appeared. In particular, the editing was unique in that “Carol” remained as the traditional curly cut on the DAC version, and “Jumping Jack Flash” was switched to a news video monaural soundboard on the IMP version, so the beginning of the live performance was recorded with a continuous auditory recording. It’s a surprising benefit to hear. The places where cuts are made on the tape are basically the same as in previous releases, for example, the cut at the start of the performance of “The Sun Is Shining” is the same this time as well. It is also the same that the intro of “Midnight Rambler” is supplemented with another source. On the other hand, the cut parts that seemed to have been edited to make them less noticeable on the previously released editions are heard as they are this time. For example, before “Under My Thumb” starts, after Mick says “So when you’re sitting comfortably.” What’s more obvious is the short interval between when he says “Thank you very much” and when “Satisfaction” begins. It is said that these cuts have been done inconspicuously on all items up until now. However, what is noteworthy about this release is the wonderful upper feeling of the main source. First of all, the sound quality itself has clearly improved. The IMP version had a huge hiss noise that hinted at a drop in the generation, and the DAC, on the other hand, had a muffled sound quality with a feeling of equalization. In that respect, this version is very refreshing, clear and natural. This condition also applies to the separate monaural sound source used for the first two songs. And the highlight is “Brown Sugar,” which until now had switched to a sound source with extremely low generation just before the performance ended. This time, you can listen to the high-quality main source until the end of the performance, which is a huge advantage! It is now possible to listen to extremely historical scenes at the live premiere, before the release and immediately after the recording, without any deterioration in sound quality. For enthusiasts, this part alone will be an upper point that you cannot miss. Furthermore, you cannot miss the fact that the atmosphere of the venue completely changed after “Brown Sugar” was played. The situation is clearly different from the previous deplorable situation. From here on, as the song progressed, both Mick and the audience got more and more excited, and especially in “Satisfaction” and “Honky Tonk Women”, the atmosphere changed to a cheerful one. If there is footage of the second half of the live performance, I would definitely like to see it. That’s why it was a great success to discover the upper version of the historic “Brown Sugar” Altamont version, which has no deteriorated parts. The Altamont Speedway Free Festival Altamont Speedway, Livermore, CA, USA 6th December 1969 UPGRADE!!! Disc 1(57:54) 1. Sam Cutler Introduction 2. Jumping Jack Flash * 3. Carol * 4. Sympathy For The Devil [I ] 5. Sympathy For The Devil [II] ** 6. The Sun Is Shining 7. Stray Cat Blues 8. Love In Vain 9. Under My Thumb [I] 10. Under My Thumb [II] ** 11. Brown Sugar 12. Midnight Rambler [Warm Up] 13. Midnight Rambler Disc 2(47:54) 1. Live With Me 2. Gimme Shelter ** 3. Little Queenie 4. Satisfaction 5. Honky Tonk Women 6. Street Fighting Man 7. ‘ Newswatch’ Report, KRON-TV, San Francisco, CA. 8th December 1969 * The blends of the master audience tape and the another audience tape recorded for radio broadcast ** The blends of the audience and soundboard recordings