BT:12/7/93 Paramount Theater

Thanks to Scott Bernstein for the upload…

http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=540703

Bruce Hornsby And The Range
The Paramount Theater at MSG
New York, NY
12/7/1993

Sony ECM-959 stereo M/S mic -> Denon DTR80 (16 bit/48khz) – master

Master DAT playback: Sony R500 -> Sound Devices 722 digital input (@24/48)

Mastered: Soundforge Pro 10.0b/c – *All file manipulation in Soundforge done at 24 bits*. Volume normalization, sample rate conversion 48khz to 44.1khz using iZotope 64-Bit SRC set higher than “Highest Quality” setting w/anti-alias filter, then dithered back to 16 bits using using iZotope MBIT+ with Ultra noise shaping, High dither settings. Minimized or complete muted hundreds of individual loud claps during quiet songs. Tracked in CDWav.

Set 1/disc 1
1. intro
2. Look Out Any Window
3. China Doll -> Night in Tunisia
4. banter – we take requests
5. The Way It Is
6. Talk of the Town (Dark Star [Grateful Dead] teases)
7. I Shall Be Released
8. Scarlet Begonias ->
9. Jacob’s Ladder (Celebration [Kool & The Gang] teases) ->
10. What a Time ->
11. Billy’s Bounce -> Parisian Thoroughfare ->
12. Jacob’s Ladder
13. banter – for the 6 bebop fans in the house
14. End of the Innocence
15. Across The River story (w/”Play That Funky Music”) ->
16. Across The River

Set 2/disc 2 (requires an 80 minute disc)
1. Girl From The North Country (Bruce solo) *
2. The Show Goes On
3. Rainbow’s Cadillac
4. Long Tall Cool One
5. Every Little Kiss
6. Night on the Town ->
7. Iko Iko ->
8. Not Fade Away
9. Defenders of the Flag
10. The Valley Road
11. encore break
12. I Can’t Make You Love Me
13. Another Day ->
14. It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry
15. Mandolin Rain ->
16. Fields of Gray

*= missing first few seconds as the setbreak was unexpectedly short — most people were not back at their seats yet

The band:
Bruce Hornsby – piano, accordion, vocals
Jimmy Haslip – bass
Jon Molo – drums
John D’Earth – Trumpet
Bobby Reid – sax
JT Thomas – organ
Debbie Henry – vocals

Recorded, transferred, mastered, and tracked by Scott Bernstein (Oct 27-Dec 2, 2010)

Taper Notes:
Not sure exactly why I got inspired to pull out this show as a potential BARN series, but I have truly dug DEEP into the depths of the BARN for my 66th release. This is a long ago Bruce Hornsby show (just after his stint in the Grateful Dead, leaving “the new guy” Vince to fend for himself after a breaking-in peroid) from what was first known as “The Felt Forum” and then “The Paramount Theater” and now simply “The Theater at MSG”. This is a wonderful venue and I have had a bunch of good times there (though it’s not a venue that I frequent very often, I have seen Van Morrison there a few times — once with Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, String Cheese Incident, a Blues Traveler/Spin Doctors New Years’ show, Neil Young, The Cowboy Junkies, and maybe a few others there over the years).

Anyway when I popped this ancient DAT tape in that I probably hadn’t listened to since I recorded it I was taken by the warm and “up close” presence that it had, plus the fun performance by the band (despite the fact that, looking at the Hornsby setlist website they did not vary their setlists a lot at this time [that has certainly changed tremendously in the intervening years]). They are having fun onstage playing with dropping all kinds of jams (mostly, jazz) into their songs, and interacting with the audience. This was back when all I had was a single point stereo Sony ECM-959 microphone, but I do recall being *right in the sweet spot* and this recording proves (as has been proven time and time again) that location rules in recording. Having multi-thousand-dollar gear in a less-than-ideal location in a venue will never be as good as having less-than-ideal gear in the *right* location. And this is one of those cases.

I hope you all appreciate the hours and hours that I spent de-clapping this one — I think this is the release I have spent the longest amount of time on thus far (in fits and starts over an entire month!!!). Being that this is one of those recordings that has a lot of dynamic range — there are quiet acoustic piano solo numbers and loud rock numbers, combined with the fact that I had only a small stand and some apparently extremely zealous clappers near me, meant that there were some thunderously loud claps on this recording. I’ve done my best to comb through the show and eliminate (or virtually eliminate) the worst of them. Also there are still a couple of minor flaws in the recording when, it sounds like, my stand was bumped by people going in and out of the aisle. But on the whole, this is a suprisingly clear and warm recording of a really fun and at this point semi-ancient show.

Enjoy!

Scott