KeithM Master via JEMS
Recording Gear: Sony ECM-939 Stereo Microphone > Sony Walkman D6C
JEMS 2017 Transfer: master cassettes > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 > iZotope RX6 and Ozone 6 mastering > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > xACT 2.37 > FLAC
01 Where The Streets Have No Name
02 I Will Follow
03 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
04 MLK
05 The Unforgettable Fire
06 Bullet The Blue Sky
07 Running To Stand Still
08 Exit
09 In God’s Country
10 Bad
11 October
12 New Year’s Day
13 Pride
14 With Or Without You
15 Gloria
16 Sunday Bloody Sunday
17 40
Known Issues:
-None
Introduction To The KeithM Masters
JEMS is pleased to present the outstanding work of KeithM to U2 fans the world over and return to our series from the 1987 Joshua Tree tour.
KeithM recorded hundreds of concerts in, around and beyond Southern California starting in the early ‘80s, including what can only be described as a series of essential recordings from April 1987, the start of the Joshua Tree tour. Of the tour’s first 16 performances, incredibly KeithM recorded nine of them using a Sony ECM-939 stereo microphone and Walkman D6C. In my opinion, they range from really good to excellent and offer a striking balance in that they capture the extraordinary excitement of the crowd, but somehow little to no up-close chatter or talking.
Some of KeithM’s recordings have circulated before (though perhaps not all?) and the lineage of what is around ranges from an analog generation or two removed to “unknown.”
This series presents the first proper digital transfers ever made from KeithM’s metal master tapes and, as such, we believe each and every one of them represents a substantial upgrade to circulating copies of these nine incredible shows. In other words, 31 years later, we get to hear some of the formative shows of the original Joshua Tree tour in best-ever quality thanks to the remarkable preservation and generosity of KeithM.
Los Angeles, April 21
Night four of a high-profile, five-show stand in Los Angeles is one more step in cementing U2’s position as the biggest band in the world at that moment.
Given it is the shortest set of the run and it lands between highs of Bob Dylan guesting the night before and the mixed up set list of the final LA show the night after, April 21 gets overshadowed. I’ll admit that until now, I judged it negatively for being only 17 songs long, but upon playing it anew from KeithM’s master, I have to say it stands up quite well on its own.
Like the entire LA run, the audience is in a constant state of delirium, but I find their participation here to be additive, whereas some other nights it can detract a little. There’s no quibbling with the songs that are performed either, as the band continues to play with supreme confidence and the versions are every bit as good as those the prior nights, even if there aren’t as many of them.
The biggest flaw in April 21 is that is just doesn’t read as special, short of the highly irregular placement of “Sunday Bloody Sunday’ in the encore. Yet I can assure you it is a very fine show and worthwhile listen.
Based on the samples posted at the incredibly useful U2Start.com, there are two extant recordings of this show. The first and poorest one is registered there under two names, AGFA Fe C90 (UAG) and Shine On Los Angeles. KeithM’s recording is the underlying source for the second, previously circulated as The 4th Night, an unknown analog generation/CD-R source of good quality. That’s now superseded by this direct digital transfer of the master cassettes. Samples provided.
I’d like to express my personal gratitude to KeithM for loaning us his precious master tapes and allowing us to share his work. He is enjoying reading your comments so please keep them coming. Special credit goes to DIME member bitrate for helping me connect to KeithM and remaining persistent as the months went by before we finally got things going with the tapes. Lastly, there’s no one JEMS trusts more to handle post-production of this series than our esteemed colleague mjk5510. Thanks to him for his continued vital support of our efforts. Without him, our recordings would come out a whole lot slower.
BK for JEMS
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