Al Stewart - Big Pack

Sometimes you're between pure joy - and sheer panic someone could destroy your beloved memories. In this case: my 2nd wife listening to a radio announcement, Al Stewart on the way to give a special concert in our region, at a very fine location by candle light, only 300 tickets available ... "Dear, do you think we should go there?"

Well, good question. Is it a good idea to go 30 years after "Year of the Cat" to an Al Stewart show, always that wonderful (while made by Alan Parsons) record in mind? Expecting to be disappointed by maybe an old fart milking the dead horse to pay his rent? 

the announced location

First - and last - disspointment in this case: There were too many folks with the same idea, so the location had to change to a not so romantic place and setting. Arriving at a school building, entering the aula, 600 people in the room ... our hearts sank rapidly. But then the man entered the stage and it didn't took a minute for him to comfort them with pure joy.

What a great entertainer who doesn't need the perfect production of Alan Parsons, just him and another acoustic guitar, played by Dave Nachmanoff. Pure fun to see them both on stage. More fun: leaving the room after the show, we found Al sitting outside on a desk, signing records ie. One guy had his complete LP-collection with him and while signing every one of them, Al shared his memories on every piece ("Hey, I asked Roger Waters for his car to shoot the picture for the cover ..."). 

So I did what I'm really not used to: I purchased a DVD and asked for an autogram ... This is the rip of that DVD and that's the cover

2001-11-18 Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA (DVDRip, FLAC)

01 Intro
02 Flying Sorcery
03 Antarctica
04 League Of Nations
05 Running Man
06 On The Border
07 House Of Clocks
08 Broadway Hotel
09 Apple Cider Reconstitution
10 Old Admirals
11 Roads To Moscow
12 Year Of The Cat
13 Clifton In The Rain
14 Small Fruit Song
15 Almost Lucy

@grace@

 

 1976-07-11 Upper Darby, PA (MP3)

101 Apple Cider
102 The Dark And The Rolling Sea
103 One Stage Before
104 Soho (Needless To Say)
105 On The Border
106 Broadway Hotel
107 Roads To Moscow

201 Nostradamas
202 Sirens Of Titan
203 Post World War 2
204 Blues
205 Year Of The Cat
206 If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It

1989 Cambridge Folk Festival (MP3)

01 Antarctica
02 Manuscript
03 Road To Moscow
04 On The Border
05 Year Of The Cat

2008-11-01 Ludwigsburg, Germany (MP3)

101 Al-Intro
102 Dave-Square Pig In A Round Hole
103 Dave-Story
104 Dave-Say Goodbye To The Elephants
105 Dave-Story
106 Dave-Firewomans Daughter
107 Al & Dave-House Of Clocks
108 Al & Dave-Tuning
109 Al & Dave-Flying Saucery
110 Al & Dave-Tuning
111 Al & Dave-Story
112 Al & Dave-Angry Bird
113 Al & Dave-Story
114 Al & Dave-A Childs View Of The Eisenhower Years
115 Al & Dave-Story  Ring My Bell  Wild Thing
116 Al & Dave-On The Border
117 Al & Dave-Story
118 Al & Dave-Clifton In The Rain  A Small Fruit Song
119 Al & Dave-Story  Tuning
120 Al & Dave-Gina In The Kings Road

201 Dave-Midnight Sea
202 Dave-Story
203 Dave-Thing Of Beauty
204 Dave-Story
205 Dave-Greatful
206 Al & Dave-Tuning  Story
207 Al & Dave-Bedsitter Images
208 Al & Dave-Story
209 Al & Dave-Hanno The Navigator
210 Al & Dave-Nighttrain To Munich
211 Al & Dave-Apple Cider Reconstitution
212 Al & Dave-Story
213 Al & Dave-Midas Shadow
214 Al & Dave-Running Man
215 Al & Dave-Story
216 Al & Dave-Peter Gunn  Year Of The Cat
217 Al & Dave-Story
218 Al & Dave-Joe The Georgian
219 Al & Dave-Story
220 Al & Dave-End Of The Day

This show gives a good impression on what we experienced

@moreAl@

Steve Gibbons Band/Al Stewart - Rock Around The World show 1977

Steve Gibbons Band / London
Al Stewart / Seattle
Rock Around The World #134 syndicated radio show
Most likely broadcast in 1977

Matrix / Runout groove: 134A CO 9050 A
Matrix / Runout groove: 134B CO 9050 B

Side One:
01. RATW 134 Intro - John Brody
02. Light Up Your Face
03. Johnny Cool
04. Natural Thing
05. RATW 134 Break - John Brody
06. Commercial - Natalie Cole Unpredictable LP
07. Tulane
08. Rollin'
09. Commercial - Elektra Asylum LP sale

Side Two:
01. Soho Needless To Say
02. On The Border
03. Broadway Hotel
04. Commercial - Barclay James Harvest
05. Road To Moscow
06. Commercial - Natalie Cole Unpredictable LP

This must be missing a second disc with the second half of the Al Stewart show, as announcer John Brody says it's a "special 90 minute concert" and this is only 42 minutes long. The Al Stewart concert had already been broadcast by Rock Around The World on show #119, with an
additional three tracks.

In spite of the missing second disc, I'm including the truncated Stewart show, because why not?  We can consider it a sample and I'll try and track down the complete version on EBAY.

Anyway...the reason I bought this in the first place was STEVE GIBBONS.  He didn't do a lot of syndicated broadcasts, especially in America, where he never had a hit.  I had an LP of his, back in the day, and remember it fondly (albeit dimly!), and when I saw this show on EBAY
I had to have it.

Where's it from?  I have no idea!  Announcer Jim Brody says it's from "London," and there was a BBC "Sight And Sound" show recorded at Golder's Green in 1977.  That show is up on YouTube, but these tracks don't match up, they're not the same recordings.  That's surprising, as usually these U.S. syndicated shows are obvious copies of the BBC shows.  There were three BBC In Concert broadcasts of Steve Gibbons, In Concert #166 (11/26/77), BBC Rock Hour #6 (02/09/78), and Pop Spectacular #166 (8/12/78) (according to the FABULOUS list at http://www.eclipse67.com/bbci.htm ).  All of them are listed as being from "Golders Green."  If any of Our Beloved Audience has a clue where and when this was recorded, please leave a comment!

As to when?  Well, there are commercials are for Natalie Cole's "Unpredictable" LP, and Bread's "Lost Without Your Love," both issued in February 1977, so that puts a limit on how old it might be.

Flac files of wavs, and a 300 dpi scan of the disc label....unfortunately, no cue sheet!

https://mega.nz/#!XcZ1CaDA!VgMw0JuDNYzaicNboJ90KbSE1emUdYDCgdYBpfxsPI8