David Bowie 1976-02-09 Los Angeles, The Forum (Ed F Master via JEMS)
Sound Quality Rating
01. Station To Station.flac
02. Suffragette City.flac
03. I’m Waiting For The Man.flac
04. Word On A Wing.flac
05. Stay.flac
06. TVC15.flac
07. Sister Midnight.flac
08. Life On Mars.flac
09. Five Years.flac
10. Panic In Detroit.flac
11. Fame.flac
12. Changes.flac
13. The Jean Genie.flac
14. Diamond Dogs.flac
15. Rebel Rebel.flacc
Label : No label
Audio Source : Audience recording
Lineage : Ed F. Memorex master Cassettes
Taping Gear : Mono Recording Gear: Radio Shack microphone > Unknown Portable Cassette Recorder (likely Panasonic)
Taper: Ed F.
Recording Location: Unknown
Total running time :
Sound Quality : Noise ,dull ,but still good listened to
Attendance : 16.000
Artwork : None
Known Faults: The Jean Genie: splice
Bowie announces the number: “A very old friend of both yours and mine,Iggy Pop,is gonna do an album with me and this is a song we’re doing on the album,and it’s called Sister Midnight“. It is rather a long version,which is accompanied by a lot of screaming from the audience.
This record gives a good impression of the high standard of the concert:
Each song is played splendidly,with great vigour; the audience are quite thrilled,they can be heard en masse, which lends the record a fine atmosphere. Panic in Detroit is performed really magnificently with a long drum solo by Dennis Davis,who imparts a special flavour to the version by making all sorts of funny sounds with his mouth.
The solo stops,and the number is ended with a short solo by each one of the members of the band, “This is a song by my very favourite Lou Reed“ Bowie says during the beginning of Waiting For the Man.
In TVC15 Bowie plays the saxophone for a while; the audience cry out their enthusiasm,although,to be honest,I think it is awful! It sounds rather like a bleating goat!
Despite being a serious fan, the one David Bowie tour Mike Millard didn’t record was the 1976 Isolar tour in support of Station to Station.
To the best of our knowledge, the only extant document of the three-show Forum stand is a partial recording of the February 9 show, pressed on the bootleg Wish Upon A Star. To that we add this previously uncirculated, complete recording of the same show, taped by Millard’s friend Ed F.
As we have written before, at the time Ed F recorded on lesser quality gear than Millard but still made what I consider very good recordings for the era and the equipment with some exceptions. Regrettably this is one of them.
Ed’s capture suffers from overloaded levels and severe distortion for much of the show, and the quality is further harmed by an overly enthusiastic audience that is often screaming near the microphone. The result is a muddled, challenging listen, that gets slightly better on quieter songs but is still tough sledding. Samples provided.
That being said, it is a new recording of a previously unavailable full show, and as such has merit despite sonic challenges. We assume serious Bowie collectors will welcome its release, flaws and all.
The set list for the show is also different from what’s been listed on the Internet, with the inclusion of “Diamond Dogs” and the exclusion of “Queen Bitch.”
Thanks to Professor Goody for navigating the audio mire to come up with pitch adjustments and to mjk5510 for handling post production. We are most grateful to Ed F for loaning us his master tapes as well.
The Tour Band – The Station To Station Tour
• David Bowie – Vocals, saxophone
• Carlos Alomar – Rhythm guitar, music director,backing vocals
• Stacy Heydon – Lead guitar, backing vocals
• George Murray – Bass guitar, backing vocals
• Dennis Davis – Drums, percussion
• Tony Kaye – Keyboards
The band became known as “Raw Moon”
Crew
• Vern Moose Constan, Rob Joyce – Band technicians/personnel
• Lonnie McKenzie, Leroy Kerr, Lester Burton, Buddy Prewitt, Larry Sizemore – Lighting technicians/personnel
• Buford Jones, Scott Wadsworth – Sound technicians/personnel
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