Description
The soundboard album capturing the Rolling Stones’ hilarious first night in 1981, released ten years ago as “PHILADELPHIA 1981 1ST SHOW,” sold out immediately. Five years later, it was reissued as “PHILADELPHIA 1981 DAY 1,” but now it’s nowhere to be seen. Originally, it was a popular recording due to its appealing combination of “good soundboard quality from the PA output” and “a chaotic performance on the first day of the tour.” However, the T&J file that the 2015 release was based on was actually released more than ten years ago, and the initial version was mistakenly released as a lossy file, which meant “PHILADELPHIA 1981 1ST SHOW” was also based on that version. Even so, the 2015 release was significantly improved and much easier to listen to, but now this too has become a major improvement. In other words, a release beyond a simple reissue is possible. That’s where “GRAF ZEPPELIN” stepped in to take on this re-release. First of all, the base is not the original lossy file, but the corrected lossless file. Thanks to his thorough remastering based on that, the re-release has been made with a quality that easily surpasses that of the original from 10 years ago. The original file had the drawback of poorly filled-in, but “GRAF ZEPPELIN” redid it from scratch, and as a result, the transition from audience to soundboard in the opening “Under My Thumb” is now much smoother. Furthermore, issues such as the sound bias at the moment “All Down The Line” switches to audience, and the soundboard distortion that was present in VGP’s “ROCK’N ROLL ANIMALS,” have all been carefully re-edited and resolved. Also, in the 2015 version, the audience cheers were doubled over the cut after the end of “Beast Of Burden,” while in the VGP version, there was a two-second gap at the moment of switching from soundboard to audience, so both had rough transitions. This time, the editing style of the 2015 version is followed, yet the transitions are perfectly seamless. This is particularly noticeable when comparing the two versions around “Beast Of Burden,” but the 2015 version not only had noticeable hiss noise, but also a somewhat harsh, tinny sound due to being based on the lossy version. In fact, the hiss noise was quite jarring around “Time Is On My Side,” to the point that people at the time wondered, “Is this really low-generation?” On the other hand, while the VGP version had suppressed hiss noise, it had a somewhat muffled feel. In this respect, the careful remastering of “GRAF ZEPPELIN” and the synergistic effect of the lossless version have resulted in a natural level of hiss noise and outstanding clarity. Therefore, you can fully enjoy the PA soundboard without the muffled feeling of the VGP version. Even so, the chaotic atmosphere of that day is still very strong. Up until “Shattered” in the early part of the live performance, their bodies still seem to remember, and they play with a fair amount of energy. However, from “Let’s Spend The Night Together” onwards, the performance is a chaotic mess. Songs like “Black Limousine” sound as if the arrangements weren’t even finalized. “Let It Bleed,” which would later become a signature song of ’81, starts loosely and then has to be restarted. In short, the new songs are a complete disaster, and you’ll be struck by how unpolished even “Start Me Up,” which is essentially its live debut, was at one point. But then, with “Miss You,” the atmosphere changes completely and becomes heated, highlighting the stark contrast between familiar and unfamiliar songs. The highlight is “Satisfaction,” in which Keith unleashes his legendary miraculous intro. Come to think of it, ’81 was the tour in which this signature song made a regular return, but as expected, the long break resulted in a chaotic performance. This legendary soundboard recording of the rough and loose opening night of ’81 has been reborn by “GRAF ZEPPELIN”! This is the definitive recording of the first day of the 1981 tour, featuring all tracks completely recorded, primarily from soundboard recordings with audience recordings filling in any gaps! While the previous release used lossy source material, this time it’s newly mastered from lossless masters throughout! Furthermore, phase correction, frequency balance adjustments, and low-frequency noise removal have been precisely performed. Three tracks are effectively missing from the main soundboard recording, which have been filled in with audience recordings as with previous releases, but the transitions are extremely smooth. In the previous release, there was a dubbed audience recording at the transition point after the performance of Beast Of Burden, and the previously released VGP version had a gap of about 2 seconds, but this time there are no gaps and the transitions are perfect! John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia, PA, USA 25th September 1981 SBD UPGRADE!!! Disc 1 (59:54) 1. Under My Thumb 2. When The Whip Comes Down 3. Neighbours 4. Just My Imagination 5. Shattered 6. Let’s Spend The Night Together 7. Black Limousine 8. She’s So Cold 9. Time Is On My Side 10. Beast Of Burden ★Aud 11. Waiting On A Friend ★Entire Aud 12. Let It Bleed ★0:00-5:36 Aud Disc 2 (78:38) 1. Band Introductions 2. You Can’t Always Get What You Want 3. Tops 4. Tumbling Dice 5. Hang Fire 6. Let Me Go 7. Little T & A 8. Start Me Up 9. Miss You 10. Honky Tonk Women 11. All Down The Line ★0:04-3:57 Aud 12. Brown Sugar 13. Jumping Jack Flash 14. Street Fighting Man 15. Satisfaction ★4:51 (Post-performance part) Aud 16. Last Announcement ★Full Aud SOUNDBOARD RECORDING
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