Jethro Tull – U.S. Tour 1972

here is the info file from Dime

JETHRO TULL
1972
from vinyl boot "U.S. Tour"
unknown date
unknown location

None of this has ever been officially released – guaranteed,
at least as of September 2008, and since, according to Ian,
no soundboards or FMs were made of this (or the Passion Play) tour
we’ll never get an official release.
Unless of course Ian decides to go the Robert Fripp route and release
live recordings from "indeterminate" sources.
Wouldn’t that be great?!

———————————–
It occurred to me that I have never seen this up here on DIME.
Maybe it’s been here before and I just missed it.
Since I’ve enjoyed this since the mid 1970s I thought I’d share it.

A little story/history/explanation:

Take yourself back in time.
A time when live recordings were only found in small independent record stores.
You were lucky if it had a xeroxed single cover insert saying who and where it was.
Some had a stamped cover.
Some had deceptive artists’ names (better to fool the record companies
should they stumble upon a box of these in pressing plant).

All were mysterious.
Would it sound good? An FM? SB? most likely from the audience.
You’d never know till you plunked down your five bucks and took it home
All were special.
Having one made you seem privledged.
You shared the record, and a secret bond, with like-minded friends.
Those days were special.

Things are different now with everything so readily available.
The hunt, the discovery of a rare gem, is somehow diminished in this digital internet age of global instant gratification

Anyway… take yourself back to say, 1974 or 1975 …
to a dingy little record store and in the back of a bin
you stumble on a white jacketed 12 inch slab of vinyl,
the only hint of what’s inside, a stamped JETHRO TULL U.S. TOUR on the sleeve.
This recording is from such a creature.

I bought this vinyl boot decades.
I think it was a TMOQ (Trademark of Quality) release.
Allegedly this is the same as another vinyl boot called "Ticketron".
Does anyone remember this precursor to Ticket Master? (same monopolistic policies, but not nearly as pervasive or evil)
Having never heard the "Ticketron" boot I can not say for certain if "U.S. Tour" and "Ticketron" are the same.
Does anyone know for sure?
If this is the same as "Ticketron" then it was recorded at The Scope in Norfolk, VA April 22, 1972.

I still love this thing.
Repeated playings seared the whole thing into my subconscience.
I still have most of the solos memorized.

Well, those repeated playings took their toll on the vinyl,
as you will hear, i.e. surface noise and clicks and pops.
Ahhhh… for the love of vinyl, like music and live performance,
vinyl has human frailties.

The actual album was lost, borrowed, stolen, or sold long ago.
This comes from a cassette I made of it, probably when Jimmy Carter was president.
If anyone has a better (cleaner) copy, please seed it.
If anyone has "Ticketron" please seed it.

————————–
THE BAND
Ian Anderson – vocal, flute, guitar
Martin Barre – guitar
Jeffrey Hammond – bass
Barrie Barlow – drums
John Evan – keyboards

————————–
THE SONGS:

01 Thick as a Brick (most of side 1) 23:05
02 talk 0:58
03 Wind Up 13:37
04 Locomotive Breath 11:18

TOTAL TIME 48:57

————————–
THE SOUND:
Another GMR
(that’s Genuine Monophonic Recording)
Taped from the audience and put on vinyl in the dark of night.
Very Nice sound actually

Plenty of surface noise for all us oldsters who miss the vagaries of vinyl.
It’s still, to my ears anyway, a very enjoyable listen,
and a nice reminder of my youth.
This recording was always special to me.

————————–
THE LINEAGE:

audience > vinyl boot > cassette > Nakamichi BX-2 with azimuth adjustment done > digitize via Audacity > FLAC 8 via xAct

I did take out the surface noise whenever there was a "silence" on the LP.
No actual music was altered.
I removed a click or three, but surface noise removal is beyond my ability.

No noise reduction or eq was applied.
Tape player (Nakamichi BX-2) azimuth adjustment was done.

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HEY GANG:
I offer what I have, with ALL the information known to me.
If you’ve got a better version, seed it.
If you have more accurate information, please add it in a comment.
If anyone would like to attempt a remaster, go right ahead.

Try and keep it positive.
Let’s make DIME as good an experience for all as possible.

cheers,
thirduncle