Jefferson Starship
Mello Yello Presents MY-6
 |
Someone at the paper should
have stripped out the instructions
at the lower left.... |
produced by DIR Broadcasting Corporation for the ABC Radio Networkssyndicated broadcast date of October 9, 1981
Likely recorded at
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga Springs, New York
June 24, 1981
but also attributed to
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Columbia, Maryland
July 1, 1981
Discs A, B, and C:
01 Mello Yello Presents Intro #1 - Rick Dees
02 Commercial - Mello Yello
03 Mello Yello Presents Intro #2 - Rick Dees
04 Somebody To Love
05 Ride The Tiger
06 Stranger
07 Commercial - Mello Yello
08 Find Your Way Back
09 Fast Buck Freddie (not listed on the cue sheet)
10 Girl With The Hungry Eyes
11 Save Your Love
12 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
13 Commercial - Mello Yello
14 Commercial - Mello Yello
15 Alien
16 Mary
17 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
18 Commercial - Mello Yello
Discs D, E, and F:
01 Commercial - Mello Yello
02 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
03 Jane
04 Mistreater (listed as "Mistreat Her" on the cue sheet)
05 Light The Sky On Fire
06 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
07 Commercial - Mello Yello
08 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
09 Dance With The Dragon
10 Dragon Jam
11 Modern Times
12 Guitar solo
13 White Rabbit
14 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
15 Commercial - Mello Yello
16 Mello Yello Presents Break - Rick Dees
17 Rock Music
18 Wild Eyes
19 Freedom At Point Zero
20 Commercial - Mello Yello
21 Commercial - Mello Yello
22 Mello Yello Presents Outro - Rick Dees
23 Promo spot (originally at the end of Side A)
The groovy runout grooves say:
MY-6A MCR JOE
MY-6B MCR JOE
MY-6C MCR JOE
MY-6D MCR JOE
MY-6E MCR JOE
MY-6F MCR JOE
Note: the "Joe" is a cursive script squiggle, also interpreted as Bre, gre, SRE or Joe.
MCR stands for "Master Cutting Room," and the squiggle for Joe Brescio, the mastering engineer. As his first name is "Joe" and last name starts with "Bre" it's possible he intended it to be both.
UPDATED March 2025. I added some newspaper clippings...from both possible venues.
Flac files of wavs, includes 300 dpi scans of all six disc labels, cue sheets, print ads, your very own "souvenir t-shirt" and a six-pack of Mello Yello. I also added some general press coverage of Jefferson Starship for your reading pleasure.
Where and when was this recorded?
On the Mello Yello show, announcer Rick Dees announces the venue as the Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland, which took place on July 1, 1981.
The King Biscuit Flower Hour (also produced by DIR) syndicated a show attributed to Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, recorded on June 24, 1981. King Biscuit broadcast tracks from that show twice, with two different set lists. The first broadcast was July 19, 1981, and the second on a "Best of the Biscuit" show January 3, 1982. The Best of the Biscuit version is up in streaming audio on YouTube, and a comparison with the Mello Yello Presents reveals the tracks are identical.
All of the songs from both versions of the KBFH shows are on the Mello Yello version.
There are four songs unique to the Mello Yello show:
Fast Buck Freddie, Mary, Light The Sky On Fire, and Dance With The Dragon.
Wolfgang's Concert Vault lists this as Saratoga but doesn't include the unique songs from the Mello Yello broadcast. I don't detect any change in the ambience of the recording on those songs, but both venues are outdoors so "room ambience" is probably not a good guide.
The show is most likely from one venue, but I don't know which is correct. I think it is most likely to be from Saratoga. The two shows in question took place June 24 and July 1. The first KBFH broadcast was July 19. Given that they must edit, master the recording, press the discs, and ship them nationwide to radio stations, it's likely that it's the earlier show. Three weeks lead time is more likely than two weeks lead time.
As some of the Mello Yello songs are unique and not on the KBFH versions or the streaming audio, it's also possible that tracks from Merriweather Post Pavilion were added to the Saratoga tracks for the later Mello Yello broadcast, and they chose to identify the entire show as from that venue.
The King Biscuit (July 19, 1981 broadcast date) set list:
1. Somebody To Love (also on Mello Yello and on the Best of the Biscuit)
2. Ride The Tiger (also on Mello Yello and on the Best of the Biscuit)
3. Stranger (also on Mello Yello and on Best of the Biscuit)
4. Find Your Way Back (also on Mello Yello and on Best of the Biscuit)
(missing Fast Buck Freddie, which is unique to the Mello Yello show)
(missing Girl With The Hungry Eyes, which shows up on the Best of the Biscuit)
5. Save Your Love (also on Mello Yello)
6. Alien (also on Mello Yello)
(missing Mary, which is unique to the Mello Yello show)
7. Jane (also on Mello Yello and on the Best of the Biscuit)
8. Mistreater (also on Mello Yello and on the Best of the Biscuit)
(missing Light The Sky On Fire, which is unique to the Mello Yello show)
(missing Dance With The Dragon, which is unique to the Mello Yello show)
9. Modern Times (also on Mello Yello and on Best of the Biscuit)
10. White Rabbit (also on Mello Yello and on Best of the Biscuit)
11. Rock & Roll Music (also on Mello Yello)
(missing Wild Eyes)
(missing Freedom At Point Zero)
The KING BISCUIT Best of the Biscuit (Jan. 3, 1982 broadcast date) set list
1. Somebody To Love (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
2. Ride The Tiger (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
3. Stranger (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
4. Find Your Way Back (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
(missing Fast Buck Freddie, which is unique to Mello Yello show)
5. Girl With Hungry Eyes (also on Mello Yello)
(missing Save Your Love)
(missing Alien)
(missing Mary)
6. Jane (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
7. Mistreater (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
(missing Light The Sky On Fire)
(missing Dance With The Dragon)
8. Modern Times (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
9. White Rabbit (also on Mello Yello and earlier KBFH show)
(missing Rock Music)
10. Wild Eyes (also on Mello Yello)
11. Freedom At Point Zero (also on Mello Yello)
ABOUT THE MELLO YELLO shows:
The "Mello Yello Presents" syndicated broadcasts were prepared by the DIR Broadcasting Corporation, the same company that did the King Biscuit Flower Hour for the ABC Radio Networks. In some markets, the concerts were sponsored by Sprite instead of Mello Yello.
I've only seen shows from 1981 and 1982, so it looks like the Mello Yello sponsorship was short-lived.
This Jefferson Starship show has the code MY-6 scratched in the run-out groove of all three records on both sides. That would seem to indicate that it's the sixth in the series, but I found the following shows listed in Billboard. In terms of air dates, it's the fourth show.
May 1, 1981 - Christopher Cross, Leo Sayer, ABC Contemporary
May 2, 1981 - Rod Stewart, ABC FM Network
May 3, 1981 - Anne Murray, ABC Entertainment
Oct. 9, 1981 - Jefferson Starship, ABC Contemporary
Oct. 10, 1981 - Moody Blues, ABC FM Network
Oct. 11, 1981 - Charlie Daniels, ABC Entertainment
April 10, 1982 - Genesis (this is also subtitled "Super Groups In Concert" on the disc label)
It's not clear if the 1982 was part of the same series. The 1981 shows were part of an ad campaign that ran across three different ABC networks, each targeting a different demographic. While the shows ran over a single weekend, they ran on sequential nights. "ABC did some research on the May 1-3 series and found that one in four teens listened to at least part of one of these three concerts."
ABOUT THE SOFT DRINK: Mello Yello is a high-caffeinated, citrus-flavored soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company which was introduced on March 1, 1979 to compete with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.
THE BAND:
Grace Slick - vocals, keyboards
Mickey Thomas - vocals
Paul Kantner - guitar, vocals
Craig Chaquico - guitar
David Freiberg - keyboards
Pete Sears - bass
Aynsley Dunbar - drums
