roio

THE ROLLING STONES - LOS ANGELES 1989 [MILLARD TAPE]

March 8, 2023 – 6:35 am

Fifty years ago today, Beatle George told us that All Things Must Pass. Then he told us about Living in the Material World. For 36 years, BigO has been trying to keep the spirit and history of the music alive. Before all things pass, we still need your help to live in this material world. You can help us to do this with a kind donation. Please give what you are happy to give…

HOW TO DONATE
Our costs will always be there. So readers who can donate towards the cost of the site, please open a Skrill account. Readers who wish to contribute to BigO will now have to use Skrill (click here). We are no longer able to use PayPal to receive donations. Register an account at Skrill. To make a payment, use this e-mail address as recipient’s e-mail address in Skrill: mail2[at]bigomagazine.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW
To reduce spamming, the BigO website is going through Cloudflare. What it does is scan your browser to ensure the visitor is not a spam. Do not be alarmed as this usually takes only a few seconds.  Email us if you still have difficulty accessing the BigO site; or playing or downloading the tracks. If you know a better way of reducing spam, do let us know.

+ + + + +

PROBLEM DOWNLOADING
If you encounter access or downloading issues, try using Firefox [as the track is playing, you can download it as…]. You can also try Avast Secure Browser.

+ + + + +

Click on the panels for a better view or to download jpg artwork.

THE ROLLING STONES
Los Angeles 1989 - Night Three [Mike Millard Master Tapes via JEMS, 2CD]
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 173. Live at the Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA; October 21, 1989. Very good audience recording.

Thanks to Mike Millard; Rob, Jim R; Barry G; JEMS; BK; Goody; and mjk5510 for sharing the show at Dime.

+ + + + +

Welcome to JEMS’ Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin done in and around Los Angeles circa 1975-77.

Until 2020, the Lost and Found series presented fresh transfers of previously unavailable first-generation copies made by Mike himself for friends like Stan Gutoski of JEMS, Jim R, Bill C. and Barry G. These sources were upgrades to circulating copies and in most instances marked the only time verified first generation Millard sources had been directly digitized in the torrent era.

That all changed with the discovery of many of Mike Millard’s original master tapes.

Yes, you read that correctly, Mike Millard’s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1992.

The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we’ve been told for decades they were gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on the assumption that because his master tapes never surfaced and Mike’s mental state was troubled he would do something rash WITH HIS LIFE’S WORK. There’s also a version of the story where Mike’s family dumps the tapes after he dies. Why would they do that?

The truth is Mike’s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard’s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother Lia inquiring about the tapes at the time to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike’s work.

+ + + + +

The Rolling Stones - Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA; October 21, 1989

Known Faults:
- Paint It Black: splice at the start

Though he had many favorites, the two bands that meant the most to Mike “The Mike” Millard were Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

Lost and Found series followers know that Mike began his taping career in 1973 and abruptly stopped in late 1983, leading to a four-year period of inactivity, the reasons for which are not entirely understood but burnout on many levels is probably accurate.

Whether he had retired or was taking an extended (and well-earned) hiatus, Mike strapped the gear back on in the summer of 1988 and began his prolific second phase, taping approximately 100 more shows until his last known recording in 1993. The apex of this later period is arguably the six Stones shows he recorded on the Steel Wheels tour, including all four Los Angeles shows and two dates in Oakland (Vols. 108 and 142).

To date, the only show we’ve released from the LA run is the final night, October 22, found was back on Vol 40. This week, we’ve tapped the night before and third show of the run on October 21.

Mike did not like stadium shows, which explains why he didn’t record the Stones in 1981 as their only SoCal dates were at Memorial Coliseum. But when the Stones came back eight years later to play stadiums around North America, Mike had no choice but to give in and, in fact, went as hard in 1989 as he had in 1975, recording six shows as noted above.

I’m inferring here, but it seems Mike accepted the reality of the stadium setting and tried to get the best taping seats possible, surely spending hundreds on scalpers to do so. But as a result, Mike’s 1989 recordings are among the very best audies of the tour.

His 10/21/89 is an excellent recording given the setting and arguably the best of Mike’s four Los Angeles captures, sounding relatively close, clear and full. The setlist also features some rarer tracks from Steel Wheels setlists including “One Hit (To The Body),” “Play With Fire” and “Dead Flowers,” joining overall tour standouts “Paint It Black” and “2000 Light Years From Home.”

+ + + + +

JEMS is proud to partner with Rob, Jim R, Ed F, Barry G and many others to release Millard’s historic recordings and to help set the record straight about the man himself.

We can’t thank Rob enough for reconnecting with Jim and putting his trust in our Millard reissue campaign. He kept Mike’s precious tapes under wraps for two decades, but once Rob learned of our methods and stewardship, he agreed to contribute the Millard DATs and cassettes to the program. Our releases would not be nearly as compelling without Jim’s memories, photos and other background contributions. As many of you have noted, the stories offer an entertaining complement to Mike’s incredible audio documents.

On this week’s honor roll: Rob S, who handled the transfer; Professor Goody who vetted the pitch adjustments; and mjk5510, in his traditional post-production and packaging role. We thank them all.

Finally, here’s to the late, great Mike the MICrophone. His work never ceases to impress. May he rest in peace.

BK for JEMS

+ + + + +

Lineage:
AKG 451E Microphones (CK-1 cardioid capsules) > Nakamichi 550 Cassette Recorder
JEMS 2023 Transfer: Mike Millard Master Cassette > Nakamichi Cassette Deck 1 azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX > iZotope Ozone > MBIT+ resample to 16/44.1 > Audacity > xACT 2.50 > 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.

Please Do Not Hammer The Links. Due to the size of some of the files, please be very patient when downloading the tracks. It could be that the server was very busy. The tracks should still be around. Please try again later.

Kindly email us if you encounter persistent problems downloading the files. Also email us if you have any rarities you’d like to share with our readers.

+ + + + +

Disc 1
Track 101. Introduction 1:52
Track 102. Start Me Up 4:02
Track 103. Bitch 3:45
Track 104. Sad Sad Sad 3:45
Track 105. Undercover Of The Night 4:23
Track 106. One Hit (To The Body) 5:58
Track 107. Tumbling Dice 4:39
Track 108. Miss You 6:47
Track 109. Ruby Tuesday 3:26
Track 110. Play With Fire 3:45
Track 111. Dead Flowers 4:07
Track 112. Rock And A Hard Place 5:01
Track 113. Mixed Emotions 5:14
Track 114. Honky Tonk Women 5:06
62 mins

Disc 2
Track 201. Midnight Rambler 10:35
Track 202. You Can’t Always Get What You Want 8:22
Track 203. Before They Make Me Run (Keith Richards lead vocal) 3:56
Track 204. Happy (Keith Richards lead vocal) 3:51
Track 205. Paint It Black 3:22
Track 206. 2000 Light Years From Home 5:43
Track 207. Sympathy For The Devil 7:45
Track 208. Gimme Shelter 7:20
Track 209. It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It) 4:16
Track 210. Brown Sugar 4:48
Track 211. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction 7:48
Track 212. Jumpin’ Jack Flash 7:08
75 mins

   Click here to order Rolling Stones releases.