Warren Zevon
18 March 1990
Slim's 
San Francisco, CA

master recording D-6 > TDK MA 110

JEMS 2017 Transfer: master cassette > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96 capture to .wav) > iZotope RX and Ozone > Peak Pro XT (edit / index) > xACT 2.35 > Adobe Audition > FLAC via Trader's Little Helper

1) intro
2) Even a Dog Can Shake Hands
3) Poor Poor Pitiful Me
4) Boom Boom Mancini
5) I'll Sleep When I'm Dead --> 
6) jam -->
7) Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
8) Splendid Isolation
9) Detox Mansion
10) jam II
11) A Certain Girl
12) band introductions
13) Transverse City -->
14) Run Straight Down -->
15) Long Arm of the Law
16) work-up and intro -->
17) Werewolves of London
18) Play It All Night Long
19) Lawyers, Guns and Money

the band:

Jennifer Condos (bass, vocals)
Frank Simes (guitar, vocals)
Ian Wallace (drums)
Warren Zevon (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica)

This master recording may not land Warren Zevon in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but I’m happy to introduce it to the collector community. And may it please the nominating committee. 

San Francisco was the third Northern California date on Zevon’s Millennium Paranoia tour in the winter of 1990. Slim’s is Boz Scaggs’ place, so the sound was good, but taping was a shot in the dark: we sat in the balcony, which felt miles away from the PA. Around us, waiters delivered dishes, clanged empties, and filled water glasses. Luck being what it is, I remember those as minor distractions more than I hear them now. My friend Walt made sure we had good equipment.

Newer material comprised about half the set. That was music to the ears of fans who enjoyed Zevon’s comeback LP “Sentimental Hygiene” (made with R.E.M. backing him) and 1989’s “Transverse City,” a dark record where songs contemplate things falling apart. Here, three of them appear as a long segment; in others, he and his terrific band improvise.

I don't recall trading this tape. Now, it joins perhaps a half-dozen other recordings from Zevon's winter/spring 1990 tour. Its set list appears shorter than others from that time, which clock in around 17 songs. And to think I used a 110! Still, we get about an hour and 20 minutes of music.

Thanks to Walt (11 years gone) for joining me, loaning me his rig, and for being a knowledgable, enthusiastic fan and friend. My old comrade BK at JEMS took the helm for the transfer and conservation of sound. Thank you to him, too.

Lastly, let's hope that David Letterman can soon reprise his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction duties. Standing in for Neil Young, his remarks honoring Pearl Jam hit the mark; imagine what he would have to say on behalf of Warren Zevon, who called the television legend “the best friend my music ever had.”

Share this freely, and for free!

 - slipkid68