| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 10:03 |
Queen & Status Quo Live Aid, Wembley Stadium, UK 13 July 1985 BBC Radio 1 FM Stereo live broadcast Recorded by Owen Smith at: 44 Cumberworth Lane Upper Cumberwortth Huddersfield West Yorkshire HD8 8PD United Kingdom (Note I no longer live at that address so don't post anything there.) Almost certainly receiving from Holme Moss transmitter only a few miles away. Reception on wire loop 'T' aerial pinned to the back of the dresser. Recorded using a 1970s Sony receiver and Sony 3 head top loading casette deck using Chrome tape setting and Dolby B NR. Master cassette transferred to CD-R by Brian's Wig in May 2012 using Technics RS-A27 deck and presumably a sound card and computer. CD-R ripped by Owen Smith using dBpoweramp in Secure mode with C2 Error Pointers on RipNAS server. Lineage: FM Stereo > BASF Chromdioxid Extra II C90 > WAV > CD-R > WAV > FLAC level 5 Quality: For a cassette recorded off FM radio, this is about the best audio quality we're likely to get. It's a transfer of a Chrome master tape, well recorded with good FM stereo reception, very rarely played and well stored. However there are some faults: i) The left channel is louder than the right virtually all the way through, although it is more pronounced for the Status Quo tracks and Is This The World We Created? ii) There is some very high pitched whine on the Status Quo tracks. Possibly this is the FM receiver and I may have adjusted the tuning knob between that and Queen's performance. iii) There is the occasional drop out here and there as is normal for nearly thirty year old cassette tapes. The feedback howl and roadies saying they can't hear anything on the spare lead vocal mic is exactly how it was broadcast on the day, warts and all. Track Listing ============= Coldstream Guards: 01. Royal Salute Status Quo: 02. Rockin' All Over The World 03. Caroline 04. Don't Waste My Time Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones: 05. Woman In Belgium Queen: 06. Bohemian Rhapsody 07. Radio Ga Ga 08. Ay-Oh 09. Hammer To Fall 10. Crazy Little Thing Called Love 11. We Will Rock You 12. We Are The Champions Freddie Mercury & Brian May: 13. Is This The World We Created...? If you think the track selection is a little odd, well that's what the 19 year old version of myself recorded so that's what is on the tape. My abiding memory of the day is being stunned by the quality of Freddie's voice (having been to The Works tour at Birmingham NEC when it was rough), and annoyed that the engineers spoiled Is This The World We Created. Enjoy, and keep it lossless. Owen Smith 13 July 2013 |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 10:05 |
By the way this is the first torrent I've create here or elsewhere, so anything could go wrong. Let me know if it downloads OK, I am seeding. |
| Ale Solan 13.07.2013 11:06 |
Thanks for this one! Torrent not working tho... |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 11:12 |
It is working for someone, there is a peer uploading from me now (someone on Virgin Media running uTorrent 3.0 with 0.0% and uploading very slowing at 0.5kbps). My uTorrent shows 7 other peers are in the swarm, so it's not clear to me why they haven't connected. You do need to have encrypted torrents allowed, my torrent server doesn't allow unecrypted (often called legacy) connections. But allowing encrypted connections has been the default for all torrent software for years so I doubt that's it. EDIT: got two peers now, second one from Argentina running uTorrent 3.3.1. Still going very slowly, no idea why. |
| moonie 13.07.2013 11:15 |
Thanks for this.. I remember taping Quo & Queen off the radio as an excited 14 year old kid.. That tape's long gone now mind.. Be interesting to hear the mix again as it was broadcasted on the day. Cheers. |
| Ale Solan 13.07.2013 11:19 |
OwenSmith wrote: It is working for someone, there is a peer uploading from me now (someone on Virgin Media running uTorrent 3.0 with 0.0% and uploading very slowing at 0.5kbps). My uTorrent shows 7 other peers are in the swarm, so it's not clear to me why they haven't connected. You do need to have encrypted torrents allowed, my torrent server doesn't allow unecrypted (often called legacy) connections. But allowing encrypted connections has been the default for all torrent software for years so I doubt that's it. EDIT: got two peers now, second one from Argentina running uTorrent 3.3.1. Still going very slowly, no idea why.It just started downloading, it took some time but working now, thanks ;) |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 11:19 |
Hearing the mix as it was live on the day is precisely why I have shared this, and why I do not consider it to be official product. All the releases since have been remixed and cleaned up, and the feedback howl and roadies talking into live mics by accident are gone. |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 11:22 |
I think the torrent is running slow because I'm running CUETools in a Verify operation across all my ripped CDs on the same server. It's really hammering the disc and the network but I'll just have to let it run to completion. |
| Chief Mouse 13.07.2013 11:55 |
Thank you for this. Cheers. |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 15:23 |
Well some people seem to have completed download, uTorrent says there are 11 seeds and my share ratio is 1.084. Can someone confirm that they have it all, this is the first torrent I've created and uploaded anywhere. |
| MackMantilla 13.07.2013 15:26 |
28 years after.. thanks a lot for sharing this :-) |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 15:43 |
Yes, I only noticed half an hour ago that I posted this on Saturday 13 July, the same date and day of the week as the original concert. I'd love to claim this was planned, but it was in fact a complete accident. I had time over the last couple of weeks on holiday to sort out the tagging of the files etc. and just happened to post it today. Even the weather is similar, it's been an absolute scorching hot day today in the UK (compared to the dismal UK summers over recent years anyway) and if I recall correctly it was lovely weather for Live Aid. And here I am listening to The Show Must Go On from The 12" Collection as I type this. Coincidence? |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 16:03 |
MackMantilla wrote: 28 years after.. thanks a lot for sharing this :-)People, please let me know what you think of this. I have nothing else of Queen to share, this plus a 4th source for Birmingham NEC on The Works tour which was shared last year is all I had. I still can't get over the fact that I accidentally posted this on a Saturday 13th July. If I'd held this for a 30th Anniversary release it wouldn't have been as good because it wouldn't have been a Saturday, and the weather might have been rubbish. |
| Chief Mouse 13.07.2013 16:21 |
I appreciate your share very much :-) I only had this source before http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpLfBZGEdc And I do think yours is a lot better and cleaner. You can hear Freddie's vocals really well in WATC chorus. |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 16:25 |
Chief Mouse wrote: I appreciate your share very much :-) I only had this source before http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpLfBZGEdc And I do think yours is a lot better and cleaner. You can hear Freddie's vocals really well in WATC chorus.The clarity is down to Brian's Wig doing a great transfer of the casette. When I play the tape, with Dolby B on it sounds wooly and muffled, and with Dolby B off it sounds very shrill and harsh. I don't know what he did when I sent him the tapes, but Brian's Wig's excellent transfer made this possible. |
| Chief Mouse 13.07.2013 16:32 |
Ah, thanks to you both then :) |
| Gregsynth 13.07.2013 16:50 |
Nice to hear Freddie sound so amazing after listening to the previous tour. After listening to Nagoya 1976 and Tokyo 1979, I needed to hear some top notch Freddie vocals! Owensmith, you are amazing for sharing this, thank you so much! |
| Gregsynth 13.07.2013 16:57 |
OwenSmith wrote: Hearing the mix as it was live on the day is precisely why I have shared this, and why I do not consider it to be official product. All the releases since have been remixed and cleaned up, and the feedback howl and roadies talking into live mics by accident are gone.I prefer this mix than the official release (you can hear Freddie so much easier)! |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 16:57 |
Gregsynth wrote: Nice to hear Freddie sound so amazing after listening to the previous tour. After listening to Nagoya 1976 and Tokyo 1979, I needed to hear some top notch Freddie vocals! !Freddie's voice really was in incredible shape for Live Aid. I clearly remember being stunned on the day, his voice was so good!. |
| Gregsynth 13.07.2013 16:59 |
OwenSmith wrote:It's some of his best live vocals ever. Listen to Radio Ga Ga -- it's better than the studio version (he sings it 100% clean, nails the whole song, etc). Your broadcast also highlights how clean his upper register is!Gregsynth wrote: Nice to hear Freddie sound so amazing after listening to the previous tour. After listening to Nagoya 1976 and Tokyo 1979, I needed to hear some top notch Freddie vocals! !Freddie's voice really was in incredible shape for Live Aid. I clearly remember being stunned on the day, his voice was so good!. |
| on my way up 13.07.2013 17:19 |
@Gregsynth: The first half of Tokyo 23-04-79 isn't that bad for Freddie (the rest of the band are in spectacular shape during the entire concert. Nagoya '76 is a good show for Freddie in my opinion. A couple of cracks but overall his singing is really good...! |
| tcc 13.07.2013 17:52 |
Thanks for this. |
| Nitroboy 13.07.2013 18:07 |
Holy shit, this source is even better than the last radio broadcast - Freddie sounds even more epic! THANK YOU |
| OwenSmith 13.07.2013 18:23 |
I think it's a toss up between this (Live Aid) and the Crazy Tour for Freddie's voice. I've not heard anything else that comes close. |
| GinjaNinja 13.07.2013 18:26 |
Thanks for this! |
| Gregsynth 14.07.2013 00:53 |
Bo Rhap is amazing! |
| pmatsynot 14.07.2013 04:05 |
thanks for the share |
| pittrek 14.07.2013 04:08 |
Not downloading this but I'd like to ask you if you have recorded the COMPLETE concert. I have a 16(?) CD version but it's still incomplete and the quality is pretty low on some of the songs |
| OwenSmith 14.07.2013 04:11 |
pittrek wrote: Not downloading this but I'd like to ask you if you have recorded the COMPLETE concert. I have a 16(?) CD version but it's still incomplete and the quality is pretty low on some of the songsThis is all I recorded, can't help with completing your magnum opus, |
| pittrek 14.07.2013 04:33 |
Thanks, BTW I DID download your recording and the quality is really great ! |
| moonie 14.07.2013 06:52 |
This does sound great. And I prefer this mix too. Cheers again mate. |
| dive2063 14.07.2013 07:20 |
Thanks for this record ) Gotta love Freddie's voice in the foreground |
| OwenSmith 14.07.2013 07:20 |
I'm glad people like it, and that the 19 year old me didn't screw up the recording back in 1985. My dad's Sony cassette deck was a serious bit of gear with seperate record level sliders for mic/DIN inputs and line level inputs, it was possible to use it as a mixer. Also it had a switchable Limiter on it, with previous recordings I'd had the levels set too high and gain pumping could be heard on playback. By this stage I'd learnt to record at lower level, and I either had the limiter off or the levels were low enough it wasn't doing much. I wish I still had the model number and a picture of that cassette deck, it was one serious bit of mid 1970s audiophile gear. Same goes for the Sony receiver, it was a great bit of kit and had a lovely feel to the controls. I remember the upward acting mains power level and the clonk it made, and the beautiful weighted tuning knob. All the knobs were knurled silver and the receiver was in a nice wooden sleeve case. It all looked really classy and looked and sounded much better than the neighbours's Music Centres. |
| onedunpark 14.07.2013 07:45 |
Echoing everyone else, many thanks for this great share. |
| Thistle 14.07.2013 15:00 |
Thank you, Owen! |
| Mr.QueenFan 17.07.2013 14:13 |
Owen, thanks a lot for this! I have downloaded the fixed version first, but i want to have both versions. Thanks to everybody who seeded this, it took me THREE minutes to complete the downloading. I just want to say about this performance, that Radio Gaga in live Aid is the best introduction to Freddie's voice that anyone can have. His tone is not only beautifull but strong as well. What an incredible talented person this man was. It was a perfect performance by the boys. Great stuff! |
| OwenSmith 17.07.2013 19:38 |
It's always surprised me that there was no Live Aid on queenzone, given how many people must have recorded it in stereo off the radio. When I posted this I thought I would get complaints about it including non Queen stuff (Coldstream Guards, Status Quo, Mel & Griff) but no-one has said a word about that. I think Quo goes well with Queen. They were the support band on the Magic tour (I was at Newcastle) so Quo and Queen always go together in my mind. |
| Ale Solan 18.07.2013 00:57 |
OwenSmith wrote: It's always surprised me that there was no Live Aid on queenzone, given how many people must have recorded it in stereo off the radio. When I posted this I thought I would get complaints about it including non Queen stuff (Coldstream Guards, Status Quo, Mel & Griff) but no-one has said a word about that. I think Quo goes well with Queen. They were the support band on the Magic tour (I was at Newcastle) so Quo and Queen always go together in my mind.Status Quo + Queen kick arse big time! |
| Mr.QueenFan 18.07.2013 09:08 |
OwenSmith wrote: It's always surprised me that there was no Live Aid on queenzone, given how many people must have recorded it in stereo off the radio. When I posted this I thought I would get complaints about it including non Queen stuff (Coldstream Guards, Status Quo, Mel & Griff) but no-one has said a word about that. I think Quo goes well with Queen. They were the support band on the Magic tour (I was at Newcastle) so Quo and Queen always go together in my mind.I kid you not man, when i'm in the mood to watch the Queen performance at live aid in DVD, i allways watch the intro with Status Quo. They were the perfect starting to this magical concert. Too bad that they don't remember being there :-) |
| moonie 20.07.2013 12:26 |
Back then Queen & Quo were my two favourite bands, so I was quite excited to say the least when Status Quo were announced as special guests on The Magic Tour.. I was at Newcastle as well. Do you remember the German heavy metal band who opened the show? Zeno I think they were called.. Also, INXS couldn't play due to their equipment truck being involved in an accident, or something along those lines. |
| OwenSmith 20.07.2013 15:39 |
moonie wrote: Back then Queen & Quo were my two favourite bands, so I was quite excited to say the least when Status Quo were announced as special guests on The Magic Tour.. I was at Newcastle as well. Do you remember the German heavy metal band who opened the show? Zeno I think they were called.. Also, INXS couldn't play due to their equipment truck being involved in an accident, or something along those lines.I don't remember the German metal band who opened the Newcastle Magic show, though we (myself, my girlfirend and my brother) were there in plenty of time. We were central and quite far forward on the pitch which was a great place to be as we could see everything and the sound quality was fantastic. I do recall one of the support bands being unable to make it, and I remember it was announced that Status Quo would play a longer set than planned if that was OK. If that was OK?! Of course it was OK! Usual self dreprecation from the beloved Quo. Just like "This is a favourite - I hope" at Live Aid. Sadly this share has now become a bit of a memorial to Mel Smith who died today of a heart attack. I love the bit about the perhaps older people who "may not be in touch with the latest trends in modern music - like Status Quo for example" which got a huge roar from the crowd. I bet Rossi and Parfitt laughed along if they heard it. Rest in peace Mel, go and tell jokes to Freddie. |