ROBYN HITCHCOCK AND THE EGYPTIANS 1988-09-20 The Ritz New York, NY Analog audience recording (stereo) {recorded by Gene Poole}: unknown mics/recorder > 1985-86 US TDK SA (Type II CrO2) 90-minute analog audio cassette master {from the Gene Poole collection} > Sony TC-WE435 (azimuth adjustment) > Roland R05 (24/96) > Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (audio cleanup, convert to 16/44) > SHNtool (fixed SBE) > CD Wave (track splits) > TLH (WAV > FLAC8) FLAC master, 14 April 2020, by elegymart [1:33:22] 01 introduction 02 Superman 03 Unsettled 04 Acid Bird 05 banter: Frank alone > 06 My Wife and My Dead Wife 07 Insect Mother > 08 Egyptian Cream 09 Glass 10 banter: Frank the 5000-year-old Peruvian Inca > 11 I'm Only You 12 One Long Pair of Eyes 13 The Lizard 14 banter: Ruth top > 15 Balloon Man 16 banter: Frank's old man > 17 The Man with the Lightbulb Head 18 America 19 If You Were a Priest 20 Heaven 21 E1: Birdshead 22 Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis) 23 A Globe of Frogs 24 E2: Baby, You're a Rich Man 25 Eight Miles High Band line-up: Robyn Hitchcock - guitar, vocals Andy Metcalfe - bass, keyboards, backing vocals Morris Windsor - drums -- special guest -- Peter Buck - guitar on t13 onwards Notes: THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 90 Here's the latest installment of the Gene Poole Collection, a random wellspring of recordings which have recently surfaced. To paraphrase Lou: This is gonna go on for a while, so we should get used to each other, settle back, pull up your cushions, whatever else you have with you that makes life bearable in what has already been the start of trying decade... Some of Gene's handiwork has probably been heard by your very ears before, for the most part via the Stonecutter Archives, but this is the first major unearthing of tapes direct from the legend himself. As promising as that may seem, it's best to let the surprises hit as they are shared. The trade-off to the prolific taping on Gene's part is that the expectations for a perfect track record would be unrealistic and unfair. There will be instances of incomplete recordings, caused by late arrivals to gigs, recorder and mic malfunctions, and other assorted foibles as would befall any mortal taper. There will be times where a master from another source exists which could be superior. For the most part, Gene recorded with a variety of mics and recorders, and many shows suffered from wire dropouts, so that only one channel was extant in the capture. Due warning about the past imperfect given and out of the way, credit should be given where due as well -- for many shows thought lost forever, it's exciting to discover that many of these even in incomplete form have now cropped up. The transfers, the audio fixes, and the research all have required some lead time -- many tapes had scant info (sometimes just the name of the artist/band, with no date listed for the performance). Needless to say, gear documentation is virtually nil -- if we wait around for that precise detail to be forthcoming, nothing from the collection would probably see the light of day. Guess where we're going this time, folks? Why back to the Ritz again, this time for Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians. In line with the last edition, here's another show with the appearance of a guest axeman, Peter Buck from R.E.M., who joins the band at the halfway mark of the show. Who knows how the tour was booked, but Robyn and the boys are admittedly discombobulated from playing in Japan four days prior, and then L.A. and then zinging to the East Coast for this date. Meanwhile, on the same island of Manhattan, less than thirty blocks away at Madison Square Garden, the Grateful Dead were playing a marathon engagement of nine shows. Possibly critical of the unusually inordinate number of Deadheads wondering about the streets of New York City, Robyn comes back out for the encore dressed in a tie-dye and does his best impression of an acid casualty, with the audience screaming "Grateful Dead" and "Sugar Magnolia." Relix Magazine at the time had given "Globe of Frogs" a favorable review, and were it not for a Dead show happening across town at the same time as this show, there probably would have been a fair number of Deadheads in attendance at the Ritz. Jerry Garcia's daughter and her boyfriend were a fan of Robyn, for instance. Four nights later, for the final show at the Garden, the Dead welcomed numerous special guests, including Suzanne Vega. Together they covered "Chinese Bones" -- coincidentally the song off "Globe of Frogs" that has Peter Buck guesting on guitar. It wasn't until the following March when Robyn opened for R.E.M. at Oakland Coliseum that he first got to meet Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia backstage, whereupon his opinion of the Grateful Dead changed. Robyn's even been known to cover "Candyman" live on occasion over the years. In addition to Peter Buck's appearance and the two nice covers that close out the set, the saga of Frank is tossed in for good measure as a continuing thread for the duration of the show. Sound quality on this one is nicely balanced with Andy's bass coming through just lovely. If you're a fan of this more commercial phase of Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians when they hadn't tired of playing their college radio pop hit "Balloon Man" (and what a top rendition they perform here, only slightly marred from the nearby excited chipmunk squeals), make space for this one in your collection. Enjoy, elegymart App\Http\Controllers\Api\FileDownloadController::download(): Return value must be of type string, none returned