The Who/CA,USA 1976 Mike Millard Master Tapes

The release of Mirrored Master seems to have entered the 1976 mode. A few days ago, a mirrored sound source of The Who’s 1976 live performance, which would have made maniacs all over the world go wild, was released, and last week, a mirrored sound source of The Who’s 1976 stage performance was released. He made it public. In the 1970s, he seemed to have a strong affinity for ZEP, and surprisingly had no connection to The Who. Therefore, this appearance was enough to surprise enthusiasts all over the world. This time, Millard recorded the San Diego performance on October 7th. Keith Moon was nearing the end of his last concert tour when he was still alive. Regarding this period, a masterpiece audience album called “WINNIPEG 1976” and “DEFINITIVE TORONTO 1976” has already been released. In the end, the two days held in Oakland after San Diego were released as the ancient masterpieces “JOHN’S BIRTHDAY PARTY” and “JOHNNY B. GOODE”, and it can be said that it was a time when high-quality sound sources were lined up. . However, this time’s mirrored sound source is of amazing quality that is enough to surprise enthusiasts all over the world even in such a high level period. However, he wasn’t able to make it on time for the start of the concert that day (he wasn’t only late for ZEP’s second day in Long Beach…bitter smile), and as a result, he missed recording the first two songs. Therefore, JEMS compensated for the two missing songs and the beginning of “My Wife” with another sound source from the same day that had been previously available. This feels like a typical 70’s vintage audience, especially the opening “I Can’t Explain”, where the sound image is blurry and the quality is typical of audience recordings that capture large venue concerts of this era. When this becomes the next “Substitute”, the view gets better, but as soon as the singing part of “My Wife” starts, it switches to the mirrored sound source. Also, the beginning of the concert finale “Won’t Get Fooled Again” hit a tape change, so I made the same adjustment. Although I am saying this, the dimension is too different between the conventional monaural audience used to compensate for them and this mirrored master. Among them, when the sound source changes in “My Wife”, it shows off the difference in sound quality as if “Oh, here comes the real hit”. The fact that Millard recorded the Who concert in 1976 was enough to surprise me with this sound source, but the sound quality is also amazing. It goes without saying that he has a stable high quality that is unique to him, but this time the big appeal is that he captures John Entwistle’s bass with tremendous force. Normally, if the bass sound is loud in a band’s audience recording, it would be no surprise if the balance of the performance is disrupted and it becomes difficult to hear, but this is a recording that captures The Who’s stage. There is no problem at all even if his bass, which originally has an overwhelming presence, is captured with a great balance. Rather, it is a mirrored quality that focuses on his pounding bass, but also picks up the sounds of other members. Among them, Keith’s drumming has a slightly overpowered balance, but his drumming is usually too noisy, but it’s interesting because with this balance, it looks rather good. “My Wife”, which I mentioned earlier, is a good example of the tremendous recording balance of this sound source. This is John’s song. While he is shouting, the rhythm does not waver at all, and the way he plays the aggressive bass is captured with a balance of soundboard-like power. And when the singing part is over and the three players start playing their parts, it’s thrilling. Not only John’s sound but also Pete Townshend cuts in and the scenes where Keith’s bass drum supports them are captured so vividly that it is hard to believe that it is an audience recording. On the other hand, it realistically captures the excitement of the audience, but the fact that the Who’s performance is brought to the forefront even though you can hear so much surrounding sound is a testament to how much the Who’s sound echoed through the venue at the time. It makes you imagine how big and stupid it was. Maybe that’s why American audiences in the 1970s got so restless that they set off firecrackers. What is even more interesting is that John’s volume becomes a little lower when it comes to the shortened version “TOMMY” part that occupies most of the second disc. This seems to be the result of the Who adjusting the instrument balance as the concert progressed. The tour, which was held for one year starting in 1975, devoted the second half to the shortened version of “TOMMY”, which gave the concert a sharper feel and the structure was very easy to listen to. In addition, in “TOMMY”, the tension of Pete and Roger Daltrey is very high, and the big round from “We’re Not Gonna Take It” to “See Me, Feel Me” is showing more excitement than usual. It is also unique to mirrored recording that this excitement can be felt realistically. And when it came to “Summertime Blues” at the end of the concert, it was very interesting to see Pete repeating cuts with a clean tone different from usual, and it was very interesting to see how he was getting on board with the tremendous excitement that day. I can feel it. To begin with, at the end of the tour, the performance was extremely complete on any given day, and even though the show and tour schedules changed due to the troubles Keith caused, at this time I felt a sense of satisfaction that we were able to complete the tour somehow. It is no wonder that Pete testified in his autobiography that this is an iron-clad performance. Yet, the sound image is shockingly vivid. Mirrored Master was amazing this time too! San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, USA 7th October 1976 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 (41:29) 1. Intro (alternate recording)★The taping sound at 0:19 has been deleted. 2. I Can’t Explain (alternate recording) 3. Substitute (alternate recording) 4. My Wife ★0:00 – 0:33 (alternate recording) ★I’ll try to fix the intense sound pressure adjustment for 8 seconds from 1:40 as much as possible. did. 5. Baba O’Riley 6. Squeeze Box 7. Behind Blue Eyes 8. Dreaming From The Waist 9. Magic Bus Disc 2 (58:25) 1. MC 2. Amazing Journey 3. Sparks 4. The Acid Queen 5. Fiddle About 6. Pinball Wizard 7. I’m Free 8. Tommy’s Holiday Camp 9. We’re Not Gonna Take It 10. See Me, Feel Me 11. Summertime Blues 12. My Generation / Join Together / My Generation Blues 13. Won ‘t Get Fooled Again ★0:00 – 1:26 (alternate recording)