Fabulous Titans @ San Francisco, CA 1980-06-14

 


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Fabulous Titans
Savoy Tivoli 
San Francisco, CA
1980-06-14 (Saturday)

THTP Release 116

Recording chain: 
Stage mics > splitter (split to house snake/SBD and TH snake) > TH dedicated snake >
Peavy MkII 12 channel mixing board (10 channels snake, 2 channels audience mics) > 
AKAI GXC-570D Cassette Deck (Dolby B on) > TDK SA-90 tape

Archival Process: 
1999: Sony TC-KA3ES > TDK SA-90 tapes playback (NO Dolby) > BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer (to clean up tapes) >
Tascam DA-30 DAT > HHb DAT-125 DAT tape
2002: HHb CDR-850 Professional CD Recorder (In real time) > HHb CDR74 Gold 100 year archival grade CDRs
2005: Transfered to HDD in AIFF file format

Dime release processing: AIFF Master Files > FFMPEG > 16 bit FLAC 8 > tagging, cover artwork, checksums.

Recorded, preserved, and master AIFF files provided by: Terry Hammer

Setlist:
01. Make Me Feel Alright
02. Reggae Music
03. No Jestering
04. Singer Man
05. Waiting In Vain
06. Night Boat To Cairo
07. Don't Turn Me Away
08. Keep On Walkin' Don't Look Back
09. Don't Ever Leave Me

Length: 42:59

Band:
Ron Rhodes - lead vocals, organ
Scott Hill - guitar, vocals
Don Fulton - bass, backing vocals
Lloyd "Legs" Adams - drums, vocals
Carroll "Rico" Knapp - saxophone

Notes:
* The Fabulous Titans play an infectious brand of ska/reggae, that reflected the strong interest in ska and reggae that permeated the scene from the very earliest days, fueled by such pivotal albums as 'The Harder They Come', and the movie by the same name, whose showings were frequently attended by people in the punk scene.

* Ron Rhodes and Don Fulton were in the Shakers who were the very first US reggae band and had 1 album on Electra Asylum called Yankee Reggae

* The Fabulous Titans were a Ska/Reggae outfit. Reggae and Ska were very influential on the early punk scene. I emember listening to the raw crackly Reggae singles, fresh from Jamaica, that a friend managed to find. These were the ones recorded in 1 or 2 track studios in tin shacks in Kingston. It wasn't just the Clash, Slits, PiL, Ruts, who were heavily influenced by Ska and Reggae, it was in the air.
* Apparently the Fabulous Titans were the first American group allowed to play in communist Cuba, in 1981 (unless it was a different group with the same name, which seems unlikely). Audioslave was the second.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_in_Cuba_(Audioslave_album).

* Epiphany Records released a 12" 45 EP (12" EPs allowed for deeper bass responses on vinyl, that's why PiL on their metal box album opted for the far more expensive 3x12" 45 format, in a metal box, which did not make their record company happy, lol).
https://www.discogs.com/The-Fabulous-Titans-The-Fabulous-Titans/release/3400374
2 of the tracks from that EP were played this gig, Rico's Lament, and Don't Ever Leave Me.
* About Epiphany Records: https://www.discogs.com/label/92432-Epiphany-Records
Epiphany Records released (mostly reggae) artists like Soul Syndicate, Earl Zero, Max Edwards, and Flo & Eddie. They also released the Zero Vs. The Offs 12".

* Their single (not in this set) Rico's Lament was released in 1982 by Chiswick Records, yet another smaller label frequenty seen releasing bands from this era.

* About Chiswick Records: https://www.discogs.com/label/37789-Chiswick-Records
"Sublabel and forerunner of Ace Records, started in 1975 by Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong, with its origins in a second hand 45 records market stall in London. They were later joined by record fanatic Trevor Churchill. Towards the end of the 70s, they were releasing work by a series of "pub rock" bands. It is now the punk, power pop and rock label in the Ace Records stable."
As I've noted, each label had its own 'sound', and types of artists they liked and signed. A remarkable number of record labels in the UK were started by people who expanded their market stalls in London into a full fledged label.

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No distribution in lossy formats!!
No selling!!
No bootlegging!!
No remastering!!
Yes sharing. Definitely share.

Support the artists when or if they play, and buy their records/merchandise.

Please correct any errors or oversights in this information in the comments section so the information can be as accurate as possible.

If you can find related materials like flyers, posters, ticket stubs, even photos, etc, please add them in a comment and I will add them to the main release folder, so that can be included on the next re-seeding. Every bit is welcome, and as I am time constrained on this project due to the amount of material, I cannot spend as much time on each release doing research as I would like, so if we can add to and improve the information and release contents during this series, that would be great.

Please make an effort to pick at least one of these THTP releases and keep it seeded for as long as you can, particularly the lesser known groups. That will really help out long term.

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About Terry Hammer and the THTP:

Someone put my feelings very well about these recordings in the following quote. I can't really improve on their words beyond noting that these recordings sound absolutely and utterly stunning, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to present these to you here in their original, first generation, lossless hi-fidelity versions, for the first time ever.

"[These recordings were] recorded and preserved by collector/engineer Terry Hammer, for broadcast over the UC Berkeley station KALX and several others from the 1979 -1981 period. Anyone who spent a night at one of these clubs knows how chaotic the atmosphere was. That he was able to, not only get a decent feed from the sound mixing board, but was also able to get clean recordings was something of a miracle. And the fact this guy did it over and over again is pure dedication to the cause of preserving history for decades to come. Fortunately for everyone, he’s been making these gems of history available and their value as historic documents is inestimable. This is really exciting stuff and I am grateful for Terry’s foresight and deft skill."
src: https://pastdaily.com/2014/06/25/gang-four-live-american-indian-center-san-francisco-1980-nights-roundtable-concert-edition/ 

As Terry notes about the process of recording these shows: "Like all of my live recordings this was mixed direct to 2-Track Reel To Reel (and Cassette deck for backup and personal use) using headphones. Sitting in the club with the loud P.A. sound trying to drive the amp in my mixing board loud enough to hear what I was mixing.If you've ever been to a live concert,then,you know how loud it can be."

If you've ever been looking for an excuse to upgrade your sound system, these recordings certainly should provide you with some motivation, because they have incredible sound. And if you already have a quality sound system, you are in for a treat!! The audio goes straight to 20k hz, no losses I can detect. Due to the reality of tapes, even high end as used here, the low end starts at 47 hz.

And if you want to learn more about this incredible musical era, listen to the stuff you haven't heard, there are amazing gems in there.

Do we call these soundboards? Technically not precisely because this is not the house mix, these shows were mixed using a dedicated mixing board, with an additional 1 to 2 audience mics (1 for Mab because he needed 11 snake inputs), 2 at other clubs) in the mix. But I call it the Terry Hammer Tape Project (THTP) to make sure there is no doubt about the project's creator.

TECH:
Note that Terry made 2 master recordings (recording at the same time) when he mixed these shows live:
1: Reel to reel, for the radio stations: 
Technics RS-1500 Reel To Reel (mostly TDK Audua L-1800 & LB-1800 tape with back coating or Scotch 206 / 207 with back coating. Maybe a few Maxell UD-XL). All the KALX shows went to KALX, they supplied the reel to reel tape.

2: For his own use, and as backup in case something happened to the reels: 
AKAI GXC-570D Cassette Deck (Dolby B on) > TDK SA-90 tape

Terry isn't sure, but thinks the audience mics he used maybe were Electro Voice EV-DS35's.

Info: http://www.bbesound.com/products/sonic-maximizers/482i.aspx

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 - teetering