(008729) David Bowie 1985-07-13 Wembley Stadium, UK (Live Aid) (16-bit) (FLAC)

DAVID BOWIE

Wembley Stadium, UK

13 July 1985 ("Live Aid")

16/44 version (The 24/96 version can be found here: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=151503&highlight=Bowie

Lineage: Live broadcast via German radio - Bose Receiver - Nak tape deck - TDK-SA - played on a Nak DR-1 - eMu1212 - SoundForge (24/96 -> 16/44) - CDWave - vol. raise - tlh

01 TVC15

02 Rebel Rebel

03 Modern Love

04 band introduction

05 Heroes

Part 1 of a 3 part series of my Live Aid masters. Languishing forgotten for 30+ years in my cassette masters collection were one & a half TDK SA's, the main one unmarked except for a small paper slipped into the cassette spine saying "Live Aid".

When I reviewed it a couple months back it sounded quite alright to me, while at the same time bringing back the memories of all the technical difficulties that befell the transmission that day.

Subtitled "Snafus, Fuck Up's & satellite signal loss", parts 1 & 2 present the glitch-free recordings (first in 24/96) and part 3 the rest with a number of performances cut short by non-recoverable drop outs in 16/44.

Bowie's performance, sandwiched between those by Queen and the Who, was very strong that day. While I prefer his usual sidemen this statement found in the Salon review (link below) "...it was the energy of this band of newcomers that sold the material this day. This wasn’t an established artist rolling out the parade of hits with nothing to lose. Everyone on that stage was at the top of their A game. It was a mix of excitement, energy, and sheer terror that combined for a bright, crisp performance that invigorated the crowd at this point in a very long day.*

This is the broadcast mix, which favors Neil Conti's drms so much that when he hits the tom tom's for the chorus in "TVC15" you can literally picture the sound waves shaping the sound image inside your head.

"Bowie was supposed to play five songs, but agreed to leave “Five Years” out of the set so that his time could be used to show documentary footage of the famine in Ethiopia instead. Bob Geldof said, “Bowie was sobbing…he says, I want to drop a song and introduce this.” "

The band that day:

Keys & backing vocals: Thomas Dolby

Guitar: Kevin Armstrong

Bass: Matthew Seligman

Drums: Neil Conti

Percussion: Pedro Ortiz

Sax: Clare Hurst

Backing vocals: Tessa Niles and Helena Springs

Recording first shared on thetradersden by 1bgsky on 09 February 2020. Please do not share on other trackers without permission.

https://mega.nz/file/12NDgZZL#SnpJWGDcvwkfH3p22-CbQc11SmMak-9nZ9sEMbYvE4E