The Who @ San Francisco, CA 1976-03-27

sadly incomplete

LIMITED TIME / LAST TIME


The Who
Winterland Ballroom
San Francisco, Calif.
March 27, 1976
Barry Goldstein Master Series Vol. Five via JEMS

Recording Gear: Sony TC-55 portable cassette recorder

JEMS 2023 Transfer: Barry Goldstein Master Cassette > Nakamichi RX-505 azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 3.1 capture > iZotope RX > iZotope RX9 Advanced and Ozone 9 > MBIT+ resample to 16/44.1 > Audacity > xACT 2.50 > FLAC

01 I Can't Explain
02 Substitute
03 My Wife
04 Baba O'Riley
05 Squeeze Box
06 Behind Blue Eyes
07 Dreaming From the Waist
08 Magic Bus
09 Amazing Journey > Sparks
10 The Acid Queen
11 Fiddle About
12 Pinball Wizard
13 I'm Free
14 Tommy's Holiday Camp
15 We're Not Gonna Take It > See Me Feel Me
16 Summertime Blues
17 My Generation > Join Together

Known Faults: "Amazing Journey" is joined in progress; "Join Together" cuts off. Final song, "Won't Get Fooled Again," was not recorded

JEMS is proud to continue our partnership with longtime Southern California taper Barry Goldstein. Barry began taping in the early '70s and has been active ever since, though his later work focused more on video than audio. In his heyday, Barry was a dual threat, recording the shows he attended and photographing, too, with impressive results.

His master tapes circa 1973-’83 include previously uncirculated shows and recordings of David Bowie, Genesis, Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, Supertramp, The Who and others.

Beyond his own captures, Barry was a close friend of the late, great Mike “The Mike” Millard, attending many concerts with him as well as recording nights and concerts Mike didn't cover. Like Jim R, Barry shared Mike the Mike tapes with JEMS that are not in general circulation for our continuing Lost and Found series.

The fifth release in the series is another gem: Barry's master tape of The Who at the Winterland Ballroom on the first night of two in the spring of 1976. Barry's recording has circulated for years, but this marks the first direct digital transfer of his master cassette and from what we can tell represents a material upgrade to circulating copies.

The Who was in the third week of a U.S. tour that saw them filling about half the set with material from the rock opera Tommy, which had been turned into a successful film the previous year and sparked renewed interest in the work and the band overall.

The Winterland Ballroom, with a capacity under 6,000, was one of the smallest venues on the tour that was otherwise hitting sports arenas and even stadiums. Beyond the Tommy material, the set includes greatest-hits cuts like "I Can't Explain," "Substitute," "Baba O'Riley" and "Magic Bus," plus "Squeeze Box" and "Dreaming From The Waist" from The Who By Numbers, released in October 1975. Tickets to the show were sold via mail order lottery to considerable demand. Seven months later, The Who would return to play two shows at the stadium-sized Oakland Coliseum, sharing the bill with the Grateful Dead.

Taping The Who in 1976 wasn't easy as many a recorder had its recording levels overwhelmed by high volume from the PA. Happily, Barry does not have an issue and makes a fine, clear capture with nice low-end given his gear.

With the 2024 return of Tommy to Broadway in a revamped production, it seemed an ideal time to share Barry's 48-year-old document, which has never sounded better.

JEMS once again thanks Barry for trusting us with his incredible audio, video and photographic work (his photos from the show are featured on the included cover art), and for deciding now was the time to share that work widely with fans.

We remain grateful for the on-going support of Professor Goody and his magic pitch work and mjk5510 for post-production and artwork.

We look forward to sharing more of Barry's master recordings in 2024.


BK for JEMS

https://pixeldrain.com/u/q4mCFieQ