1. U2
    Country Club
    Reseda, California
    March 15, 1979
    RG Master Cassette via JEMS
    New Wave LA Series Vol. 28

    Recording equipment: unknown microphone and unknown cassette deck

    JEMS 2020 Transfer: RG Master Cassette > Nakamichi RX-505 (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > CD Wave > ffmpeg > FLAC

    01 The Ocean
    02 Twilight
    03 I Will Follow
    04 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
    05 An Cat Dubh
    06 Into the Heart
    07 Another Time, Another Place
    08 Cry - The Electric Co.
    09 Things to Make and Do
    10 Stories for Boys
    11 Boy-Girl
    12 Out of Control
    13 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
    14 The Ocean
    15 I Will Follow
    16 A Day Without Me

    JEMS is pleased to continue a series of historic recordings made by our longtime friend and diehard music collector RG. He was on the scene in LA as a teenager, began recording shows in 1977 and continued on well into the 2000s. Our series will focus on tapes he made between 1977 and 1987.

    What sort of music was he into? Well, one simple way to put it is KROQ music, meaning the bands that LA’s “world famous” new wave radio station was playing were the bands he saw and recorded. First wave if you will, with forays into indie and punk(ish) artists. The early years are dominated by UK artists breaking in the US. Over time his work expands to US bands in the second wave. Some of the artists RG taped include:

    Siouxsie & the Banshees (Vol. 4)
    Madness (Vol. 8)
    The Specials (Vol. 6)
    OMD (Vol. 10)
    The Damned (Vol. 25)
    The Stranglers (Vol. 1)
    Public Image Limited (Vol. 3)
    John Cale (Vol. 9)
    Magazine (Vol. 21)
    The Buzzcocks (Vol. 7)
    Orange Juice (Vol. 13)
    U2 (Vol. 28)
    Wreckless Eric (Vol. 27)
    The Cramps (Vol. 22)
    Johnny Thunders (Vol. 18)
    Talking Heads (Vol. 24)
    Iggy Pop
    XTC (Vol. 2)
    The Jam
    The Only Ones (Vol. 19)
    The Undertones (Vol. 17)
    Boomtown Rats (Vol. 5)
    The Birthday Party (Vol. 15)
    Penetration (Vol. 26)
    The Bluebells (Vol. 12)
    The Plimsouls (Vol. 11)
    Athletico Spizz '80
    Killing Joke (Vol. 14)
    Jonathan Richman (Vol. 16)
    The Records (Vol. 20)
    Robert Fripp (Vol. 23)

    Later on he caught The Smiths, R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and many more.

    RG used good, not Millard-level recording gear, which means his tapes are mostly solid and listenable, with the occasional very good one and also sorta crappy one. What makes his tapes compelling is that RG was recording in a particularly vital window of time. In many instances these were the first or second times these acts played Los Angeles. Some never did proper US tours, only playing select dates in key markets like LA or NYC. Also, for many of these gigs, RG was the only taper. He grabbed a few local radio broadcasts along the way, too.

    Because these shows were almost exclusively at clubs like The Whisky and The Roxy, the sets are generally short, 45 to 60 minutes because that's what you did at The Whisky. On occasion, RG would copy his own masters to save tape and we have done our best to distinguish what’s a true master and what’s a first generation copy. If there’s a doubt, we will note it. Regardless, the series will offer the lowest generation copies available of his recordings, digitized directly for the first time from RG’s tapes which had been stored in boxes for the last 15+ years.

    This week is one of RG's most famous and well-traveled recordings, U2's first show in the greater Los Angeles area on the Boy tour. He sprang for a TDK SA-X 90 for this one so his anticipation for and interest in U2 must have been high.

    Copies of RG's recording have been in circulation for decades including a JEMS-made transfer done to DAT in the mid '90s. His recording is considered one of the better documents of the band's earliest US shows.

    I know this performance well, having listened to it since we first released it 30 years ago. I love how the set list repeats songs because the band's catalog was so limited. You also hear early, earnest Bono make clear his mission that the band is going to conquer America. Boy was he right.

    Rick's recording isn't perfect, but it is very good and captures the energy and excitement of the moment marvelously.

    We’re grateful to RG for letting JEMS dig through his tape boxes and pull out the assets for this series. He witnessed amazing LA music history. Tip of the hat as well to cpscps who volunteered to handle post-production on our series which is a huge help to us and makes it possible to get more music in your hands. Stay tuned for more New Wave in LA.

    BK for JEMS

    https://we.tl/t-fehqAynRtz
  2. Is this the recording were the taper pausing his recorder between songs?

    BTW... text file says 1979
  3. I'm not responsible for the text file
  4. Did they hack your account?
  5. If it spoils your enjoyment take it up with the original uploader on dime or, failing that, a psychiatrist.
  6. Thanks for the advice of a psychiatrist .... and the Dime info.
  7. Did call the psychiatrist but she said she couldn't fix the text file either...
  8. Wow, thanks!
  9. Has this recording been known to the U2START community or is it brand new?

    Right in time for the Boy RSD.
  10. It's listed on u2start, but without a download link. The version Eddie shared is only a small upgrade to that version with a new transfer from the master tape. There's also the more known bootleg 'The Ides Of March', but that seems to be an entirely different recording.
  11. Thank you very much for sharing this @eddiemonsoon And sorry for the belated reply.

    I disagree with @RickU2 (how strange ). To my ears this is not the same recording "slightly upgraded" - it's a completely different source and recording to the one we currently have. Not neccesarily better, truth be told. It's more intense and louder where the previous one was a bit more distant. You can tell it's a different recording to the one we had specially in the audience screams - this one has completely different girls around the taper than the other one. That can't be remastered, upgraded or downgraded - either the screams are the same or they aren't.

    I'll rename and upload this to our catalogue, thanks again Eddie