The Cars @ Atlanta, GA 1987-10-20
LIMITED TIME / LAST TIME
This one just dropped today (Thanks CPS!) and I really like this album and tour so bumped this to the top. Of course I am wondering what attendance was and what it was like seeing them perform like statues in what was likely a mostly empty arena. I have a vague recollection of an LA announcement but apparently they pulled the plug before the tour made it here.
https://pixeldrain.com/u/EDKLxxix
CARS
October 20, 1987
The Omni
Atlanta, GA
Source: Sony ECM-102 > Panasonic RQ-L317
Taper: Jim Hennessy (Bring 'em Back Alive Productions)
Location: lower bowl, rear of venue
Lineage: Cassette(M) > WAV [24/44.1] > WAV [16/44.1] > FLAC
Transfer: Nakamichi DR-1 > Sound Devices 744T
Edits/EQ: +8.3dB
Notes: none
01 - intro
02 - Tonight She Comes
03 - Touch and Go
04 - Double Trouble
05 - My Best Friend's Girl
06 - Everything You Say
07 - Since You've Gone
08 - A Fine Line Between Us
09 - Let's Go
10 - Strap Me In
11 - (cuts in) Candy O
12 - Moving in Stereo
13 - Dangerous
14 - Drive
15 - You Are the Girl
16 - Let the Good Times Roll
17 - You Might Think
18 - encore cheers
19 - Hello Again
20 - Just What I Needed
Compiled August 2025 by CPS
In March of 1985, just after my 17th birthday, I got a job as a fry cook at Adam's Ribs in Edgewater, MD (just south of Annapolis). One of the line cooks was a guy named Chris Cullison, who was probably 20 or 21 at the time. Chris and I instantly bonded over 2 things:
1. Duane Allman, not Jimi Hendrix, was the greatest guitar player ever
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
When I told Chris my mom and I had gone to see SRV at Constitution Hall in D.C. in the fall of 1984, he proceeded to tell me he TAPED it.
That night I found myself in his house listening to the same show I had seen in '84. I was floored. He told me he was looking for someone to go to shows with him that wouldn't mess up his recordings and help provide some cover. Chris was taping shows using a hand-held recorder that wasn't exactly small. Our first show together was...........SRV & Double Trouble with the Fab T-Birds at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD late June of '85. 2 weeks later, on the 4th of July weekend, it was Robert Palmer at Kings Dominion in Richmond.
The only bummer about Chris was he would NOT copy a single recording for anyone. You could come over to his house, open up the tape boxes, pick a show, and he'd provide the bowls and beer. However, as hard as I tried and as many times as I asked, I could never get him to share any of his recordings. In 1986, I moved to Atlanta and never saw Chris again. What I wouldn't give to have that collection now.
By June 1986, I'm living in Atlanta and hitting the ground running. I saw as many shows as I could, from Ozzy/Metallica and then Triumph at the Omni, to R.E.M. at The Fox Thanksgiving weekend, and to as many local shows (especially Drivin' & Cryin') as I could get to. By the end of 1986, I decided to buy a recorder and was given a small plug in mic by ? I was going to tape shows like my buddy Chris in Maryland.
What you hear here is one of many recordings I made in the late 80s and early 90s in Atlanta. Sadly, I recorded only a small percentage of the shows I attended during those years. Taping in clubs and very small spaces was difficult in Atlanta. There really wasn't a huge rock club like Hammerjacks in Baltimore. Even The Masquerade was kinda small. Between overselling shows and tight security, I often got caught in the early days and just decided to tape shows at bigger venues only. I also sometimes simply wanted to enjoy a show without the hassle of taping.
I hope everyone enjoys these recordings and they add value to the community. They are nothing special soundwise. They are basic AUD recordings made with a simple hand-held recorder by a guy who simply wanted to be able to relive a moment in time. Almost all of these tapes have never been heard by anyone other than myself and the person who attended the show with me. With VERY rare exception, these tapes have never been copied or traded. They have been carefully stored and moved over the last 30 years. I myself haven't listened to any of these tapes since the late 1990s. By then, I was so inundated with high quality live recordings on tape of just The Black Crowes alone that I just lost interest in my own recordings. I thought they sounded terrible and no one would be interested. Hopefully, after all these years, I'll be proven wrong. So, fire one up, crank 'em loud, and Stay Tall everyone!
Jimbo
IT Captures the thunder sound that the cars did in rochester ny for candy o ..i know the pro shot video of philly has a little of it but the sound is kinda treble no matter how much remastering has been done over the years of the video to audio sound ..thing is it was taped on multi camera angles yet the sound mix on all those cameras were not really set to a stereo mix so some of the show comes off as less impact of being there ..audience tapes have a charm of their own cuz they are not mixed and pick up a lot more of the crowd and shooting of the sound from the stage and soundboard pa system going into the direction of whatever tape device one has ..and that sometimes picks up instrumentation clearer so two things stand out on this cars recording ....well maybe 3 ...fine line has a different sound on elliots thick guitar and ric's rythym acoustic as well as benjamin's bass and gregs thick mirrored keys that almost set up the thick guitar of elliot to kinda set up a nice mood in these shows ..i recall how the lighting and the sound was at the rochester war memorial kicking myself for never asking the folks in two rows in front of me for their number or anything cuz they were video taping the show ...and candy o wall of sound has that thunder in it that is picked up quite well here a pittsburgh tape and a miami tape have it too but it is more clear here and it reminds me of that effect in rochester ny of course benjamins vocals were loud and clear over that thunder in sound of bass and keys .............so the mood was and is always great ..here i think it picks it up from the distance and yet if you crank the sound on your device you are there..............kinda like walter cronkite hosting that show YOU ARE THERE................and since your gone is unique here why they usually nail it note for note here something set off ric to kick in late with his finger picking and the whole band recovers the song and he sings it above the fray of timing being off at first .......yet it is fun to here the anticipation in your ears for that tightness yet it is a bit unraveled and it comes together ..that is why so man folks love live recordings you get something you don't with repeated listenings of perfection on records.............although we love that too cuz a band like the cars did keep some things low in a mix for that brittle dynamic as they say to find things in a song like fine furniture it is there if you look at the makings of it ..and some gravitate to a little sound on record that is amplified by the band in concert to say maybe this is they way it should have been recorded but we love it both ways so man thanks for saving these tapes and sharing them too ...jon
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