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TOM WAITS - WEST HOLLYWOOD 1975

December 17, 2020 – 5:46 am

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TOM WAITS
West Hollywood 1975 [JF Archive Series Vol 27, 2CD]
Live at The Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA; August 16, 1975 (8 pm Show). Also August 31, 1975 with Chuck E Weiss. Very good audience recording.

Thanks to JF, Professor Goody, JEMS, BK and mjk5510 for sharing the show at Dime.

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Known Faults: small cut in “Spare Parts 1 (A Nocturnal Emission)”

JEMS loves a vintage taper series and we are pleased to resume this one from the archive of our friend JF, who taped in and around Southern California in the ’70s and Boston in the ’80s. He frequented smaller venues, like the Troubadour and the Roxy, leaving arenas to others with rare exceptions and leaning more towards the folksier, jazzier and eclectic sides of rock.

Most of his ’70s tapes were made on what I would describe as the kind of large, rectangular, portable, C-cell powered cassette recorder that my family and surely many others had in the ’70s, either a Panasonic or a Sony. While I used ours to record myself, my friends and my sister around the house, the teenage JF figured: Why not try taking it into concerts?

I only learned what recorder JF used after I had heard some of his tapes and I have to say I was mildly shocked. Given the gear, his tapes are surprisingly clear. And make no mistake, this was an early era for audience recording, part of the first wave spurred on by of the vinyl bootleg revolution.

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olume 27 of the series presents two fine recordings JF made on cassette before archiving to reel and re-using the cassettes as was his cost-saving practice in his youth. They capture Tom Waits in his prime, performing at The Troubadour in August 1975.

First up is the full 8pm set from August 16, which sees Waits backed by an ace four-piece band performing tracks from his first two albums plus several new songs that would eventually be released on Nighthawks At The Diner later in the year. These are long, highly entertaining versions, often preceded by hilarious stories and introductions. The double entendres and word play Waits revels in throughout the set are marvelous and quite funny, while his references offer an amazing time capsule of mid-’70s popular culture. Prince Matchabelli anyone?

If you’re a Waits collector and the date rings a bell, that’s because there is a famous radio broadcast from the Troubadour credited to this date, memorialized on the first Waits bootleg LP Bounced Checks. JF’s recording is from the 8pm show and different from the broadcast, which is presumably taken from the late set. To the best of our knowledge this is a new, uncirculated recording and given JF’s taping gear at the time, remarkably clear and full. Samples provided.

If that weren’t enough, we get a previously uncirculated and undocumented Waits mini set from the same venue on August 31, 1975. According to an ad in the LA Free Press and confirmed by JF, the bill was Phil Ochs, Doug Weston and Friends, Weston being the owner/proprietor of The Troub. One of those Friends turns out to be Waits, and on JF’s recording we hear Weston call him to the stage from the crowd, where he proceeds to play three of his own songs and a fourth with Charles E Weiss, better known as Chuck E of “Chuck E’s In Love” fame. Weiss performs an entertaining spoken word piece we’ve called “You Should See My Brother.”

The quality of August 31 guest appearance matches the August 16 set, rounding out what we hope is a major new find for Waits’ collectors.

Special thanks to Professor Goody for his work on these newly uncovered recordings and to mjk5510 for his post-production contributions that ensure new JEMS titles every week.

Our heartfelt thanks goes to JF, who reached out on DIME (you could be next!) and offered us his archive, which had been sitting in boxes, 6000 miles away from where he lives today, for 20+ years. Like so many early tapers, he had great stories to tell and the memories flooded back as we sorted through tapes. We are pleased to be able to bring his work to all of you. Please let him know through your comments that you are, too.

BK for JEMS

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Lineage:
unknown recorder > unknown microphones (mono)
Original 1970s Transfer: JF master cassette > Toshiba Cassette Deck > Teac reel-to-reel (3-3/4 IPS)
JEMS 2020 Transfer: first gen mono reel to reel > Otari 5050 (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX8 > iZotope Ozone 8 > Audacity > TLH > FLAC

Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (320 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.

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Disc 1
Track 101. Emotional Weather Report 4:53
Track 102. On A Foggy Night 4:26
Track 103. Warm Beer And Cold Women 5:59
Track 104. Eggs And Sausage 5:03
Track 105. Nighthawk Postcards (From Easystreet) 11:06
Track 106. (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night 4:06
Track 107. Semi Suite 3:55
Track 108. San Diego Serenade 3:28
43 mins

Disc 2
Track 201. Spare Parts 1 (A Nocturnal Emission) 5:36
Track 202. Rosie 3:20
Track 203. Diamonds On My Windshield 8:48
Track 204. Putnam County 6:30
Track 205. Ol’ 55 3:37
Track 206. Closing Vamp 1:18
Track 207. Eggs And Sausage 3:57
Track 208. Chuck E Weiss (You Should See My Brother) 1:47
Track 209. Warm Beer And Cold Women 5:16
Track 210. Putnam County 7:44
48 mins

Lineup:
Tom Waits - vocals
Michael Melvoin - piano
Teddy Edwards - saxophone
Jim Hughart - bass
Jim Gordon - drums

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