Audio: Lightfoot Live in Frankfurt 75-10-28

[T.G.]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=695PV4EW

Gordon Lightfoot
Jahrhunderthalle
Frankfurt, Germany
October 28th, 1975
FM Broadcast

1. Bend In The Water
2. Don Quixote
3. If You Could Read My Mind
4. All The Lovely Ladies
5. Sundown
6. The Auctioneer
7. Canadian Railroad Trilogy

[jj]

TG, nice of you to share this...i was hoping to read some review comments by you or others and see if it's much different in quality (or Gord song intro, anecdotes, etc) than the Red Rocks bootleg a few months earlier?

i'm not familiar with the file name/extension of the one that downloaded...and neither is my computer...it wouldn't launch

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by jj

i'm not familiar with the file name/extension of the one that downloaded...and neither is my computer...it wouldn't launch

A very good question Jim Me Lad and for anybody else who is similarly peplexed and challenged here is my take on the matter
I surmise that what TG did was first of all (as I did) discover the existence of a "torrent" comprising these 7 tracks and having downloaded them as 7 "Lossless" flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec ) format files he then decoded them to "lossy" mp3s, albeit at the top quality sampling rate of 320 KBPS, then in order to minimise the size of the stored downloadable file he bundled them all together in a rar format compressed file of 63.6MB , where rar is akin to a zip file and just like a zip file you then have to "unrar" the file. and just like a zipfile where one suitable decompression program to unzip a zipfile is called PKUnZip (another WinZip) for rars there is a Windows program called Err Umm "unrar" and an elimentary and simple google will find you this enticing result (no doubt MAC addicts can unearth an equivalent for Snow Dragon or whatever your flavoUr of Apple OS is termed)
"UnRAR for Windows Free Download
UnRAR for Windows extracts the files from a RAR type archive (*.rar). Perfect for opening RAR compressed files that you have downloaded from the Internet.
www.softpile.com/Utilities/.../Review_20895_index.html "

from there or another download website you can download the very small program installation file (unrarw20.exe) only 816KB
it's shareware (US$12.95) with a free trial limit of 5 extractions but for the purpose of this exercise you will only need to use it once
You should end up with 7 mp3s totalling 67.1MB

There remains the question of why there are only 7 tracks in this set
when the record shows that October 28 featured a pretty full setlist of 17 songs:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/751028.htm

yet the torrent only features just 7 tracks
I think I can shed a little light on this conundrum
It so happens that in 1979 the BBC (monopoloy public radio a.k.a. "the wireless") in the UK started the previously unimaginable luxury of 24 hour broadcasting and at some time probably in 1980 or 1981 they had a great overnight program called "You and the Night and the Music" which ran from 2 AM to 5AM for a while the disc jockey (I forget which one) at the beginning would reel off the list of artists he would be featuring. one night this included Gord , so as that night I was working late I stood by my cassette recorder and waited. On subsequent nights I would set the tape at a suitable point then if GL was scheduled left the recorder on its timer and retired to bed
In this fashion I was able to record 5 of the 7 tracks from that Frankfurt concert
I could not have been listening to the full program each night because I found that "Bend In The Water " had in fact been featured twice
so my tape has 6 tracks
After one track the announcer/DJ helpfully revealed that this was indeed from a concert in Frankfurt and that it was on the album "Back to Back"!!
Not having heard of such an album before the next morning I phoned the Beeb in London to be told "sorry that is a special radio station only album that is not for retail sale" or words to that effect, Dammit!!!
Nevertheless I have to assume that one copy escaped outside and hence the torrent.
I have no idea what else was on this alleged album but I would guess that it was a sort of compilation and that whoever compiled it chose just the 7 Lightfoot tracks
Other details
Wayne on:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/radioapp.htm

states:-
"-GERMAN RADIO Oct. 29, 1975
Taped at Lightfoot's Frankfurt concert, this radio special included stellar performances of Bend In The Water; Don Quixote; If You Could Read My Mind; All The Lovely Ladies; Sundown; The Auctioneer and Canadian Railroad Trilogy."
which are of course the 7 tracks in question
He further says
"BBC RADIO - London, UK - May 17, 1981
BBC played six songs from Lightfoot's October 28, 1975 concert in Frankfurt, Germany in anticipation of his London Royal Albert Hall concert the next evening. Songs included Bend In The Water (twice); If You Could Read My Mind; Sundown; All The Lovely Ladies and Canadian Railroad Trilogy."
he said that because in 1997 having "met" Wayne by email thanks to his postings on the newsgroup alt.music.Iightfoot I had traded with him for 4 hours of assorted GL video and sent him casssette copies of everything I had accumulated over thirty years,including my off BBC recordings. I never said they were all broadcast on May 17th though., so he obviously just assumed that date. I did attend that May 18th RAH concert see:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/810518.htm

I do remember Wayne teling me in an email that he already had some of tha Frankfurt concert. so as he was able to state a date just maybe he had a copy of whatever was broadcast in Germany hence the broadcast might well have comprised only 7 tracks
Just possibly the complete Frankfurt concert recording exists (probably Gord has a copy stashed away togther with a zillion other desirable gems!!)

[jj]

Originally Posted by johnfowles

A very good question Jim Me Lad and for anybody else who is similarly peplexed and challenged here is my take on the matter
I surmise that what TG did was first of all (as I did) discover the existence of a "torrent" comprising these 7 tracks and having downloaded them as 7 "Lossless" flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec ) format files he then decoded them to "lossy" mp3s, albeit at the top quality sampling rate of 320 KBPS, then in order to minimise the size of the stored downloadable file he bundled them all together in a rar format compressed file of 63.6MB , where rar is akin to a zip file and just like a zip file you then have to "unrar" the file. and just like a zipfile where one suitable decompression program to unzip a zipfile is called PKUnZip (another WinZip) for rars there is a Windows program called Err Umm "unrar" and an elimentary and simple google will find you this enticing result (no doubt MAC addicts can unearth an equivalent for Snow Dragon or whatever your flavoUr of Apple OS is termed)
"UnRAR for Windows Free Download
UnRAR for Windows extracts the files from a RAR type archive (*.rar). Perfect for opening RAR compressed files that you have downloaded from the Internet.
www.softpile.com/Utilities/.../Review_20895_index.html "

from there or another download website you can download the very small program installation file (unrarw20.exe) only 816KB
it's shareware (US$12.95) with a free trial limit of 5 extractions but for the purpose of this exercise you will only need to use it once
You should end up with 7 mp3s totalling 67.1MB

There remains the question of why there are only 7 tracks in this set
when the record shows that October 28 featured a pretty full setlist of 17 songs:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/751028.htm

yet the torrent only features just 7 tracks
I think I can shed a little light on this conundrum
It so happens that in 1979 the BBC (monopoloy public radio a.k.a. "the wireless") in the UK started the previously unimaginable luxury of 24 hour broadcasting and at some time probably in 1980 or 1981 they had a great overnight program called "You and the Night and the Music" which ran from 2 AM to 5AM for a while the disc jockey (I forget which one) at the beginning would reel off the list of artists he would be featuring. one night this included Gord , so as that night I was working late I stood by my cassette recorder and waited. On subsequent nights I would set the tape at a suitable point then if GL was scheduled left the recorder on its timer and retired to bed
In this fashion I was able to record 5 of the 7 tracks from that Frankfurt concert
I could not have been listening to the full program each night because I found that "Bend In The Water " had in fact been featured twice
so my tape has 6 tracks
After one track the announcer/DJ helpfully revealed that this was indeed from a concert in Frankfurt and that it was on the album "Back to Back"!!
Not having heard of such an album before the next morning I phoned the Beeb in London to be told "sorry that is a special radio station only album that is not for retail sale" or words to that effect, Dammit!!!
Nevertheless I have to assume that one copy escaped outside and hence the torrent.
I have no idea what else was on this alleged album but I would guess that it was a sort of compilation and that whoever compiled it chose just the 7 Lightfoot tracks
Other details
Wayne on:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/radioapp.htm

states:-
"-GERMAN RADIO Oct. 29, 1975
Taped at Lightfoot's Frankfurt concert, this radio special included stellar performances of Bend In The Water; Don Quixote; If You Could Read My Mind; All The Lovely Ladies; Sundown; The Auctioneer and Canadian Railroad Trilogy."
which are of course the 7 tracks in question
He further says
"BBC RADIO - London, UK - May 17, 1981
BBC played six songs from Lightfoot's October 28, 1975 concert in Frankfurt, Germany in anticipation of his London Royal Albert Hall concert the next evening. Songs included Bend In The Water (twice); If You Could Read My Mind; Sundown; All The Lovely Ladies and Canadian Railroad Trilogy."
he said that because in 1997 having "met" Wayne by email thanks to his postings on the newsgroup alt.music.Iightfoot I had traded with him for 4 hours of assorted GL video and sent him casssette copies of everything I had accumulated over thirty years,including my off BBC recordings. I never said they were all broadcast on May 17th though., so he obviously just assumed that date. I did attend that May 18th RAH concert see:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/810518.htm

I do remember Wayne teling me in an email that he already had some of tha Frankfurt concert. so as he was able to state a date just maybe he had a copy of whatever was broadcast in Germany hence the broadcast might well have comprised only 7 tracks
Just possibly the complete Frankfurt concert recording exists (probably Gord has a copy stashed away togther with a zillion other desirable gems!!)

i actually read all of and followed a lot of that, thanks, john

so it might have been easier if TG just gave me some flac

GL likely won't release those zillion gems (or his This Is It film) until he's exited, stage left...i don't mind the wait at all

[Gord H]

I'm making a rare appearance here.. this is a nice gem to have.. just wish it was a bit longer.. really neat to hear Bend in the Water live.. from a drummer's standpoint I like this microset because I can actually play along with my own drumset and mentally picture myself with the guys on stage :D

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by jj

so it might have been easier if TG just gave me some flac

Actually I jumped the gun there rather because when I first heard about this downloadable set on a blog the link was at that time to a "torrent" on
http://www.tapecity.org
and like many quality torrents the file set was in flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec)format
and I now have the set of 7 flac lossless files that I had then downloaded.I initially assumed that TG had also found that torrent link to the flacs in that blog and had after downloading converted them to mp3s and uploaded them to megaupload.com. A little later when I rechecked the page that the blog linked to the original torrent link had been changed to show two download links for a rar compressed file (now containing the mp3s not flacs after all) at both rapidshare.com and megaupload.com. Sorry for any confusion and any flak generated!!


Three Boeing B17 Flying Fortresses flying through German Flak

[Jim Nasium]

Wow, what a rigmarole to download and play this GEM, great to hear Gordon live at the height of his vocal and songwriting powers. Well worth the effort.

Does this work on a Mac?

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by Music Fan

Does this work on a Mac?

A most excellent question Music Fan, aren't we all?, that may be very easily answered by doing a modicum of googling or bingeing or even yahooing (whatever your fancy is)
For Windows I can thoroughly recommend the miniscule free torrent download/sharing control program µTorrent a.k.a.utorrent.
http://www.utorrent.com
my research on your behalf (and for use in an elementary torrent tutorial that I am working on) led me to
http://www.bittorrent.com/btusers/download/?
where I read:-
"The new BitTorrent 6 for Windows brings together BitTorrent's proven expertise in networking protocols with µTorrent's efficient implementation and compelling UI to create a better BitTorrent client"
and found a link to download a MAC specific version
http://www.bittorrent.com/btusers/do...omplete?os=mac
I cannot test the MAC version for you being as I am by inclination completely Macless!!
but can say that if you as I suspect end up with FLAC fomat files you will have to regoogle to discover what to do with them.
Have fun

[jj]

don't know if any help but i wasn't able to listen/launch this or sugarmegs on my Windows laptop or tower, but no problem with listening on the G6/mac...i don't know how to download this stuff without help of those who have created mp3s for us...i dont know how to download youtube stuff either...i hear you need either need realplayer or to be able to move through John's tutorials effectively and patiently...i've checked everywhere but don't have realplayer nor patience....good luck

Thanks,

I was just wondering, could you get Live from Montreux Switzerland 1976 of a Mac?

Thanks,

I just downloaded 4 GL concerts including this one, Live from Avery Fisher Hall 1977, Live from Chicago 1973, and I & I MMM 1999 from Much Music which I've seen 3 times on tv. Awesome treats

I was just wondering, could you get Live from Montreux Switzerland 1976 of a Mac?

Originally Posted by Music Fan

Thanks,

I just downloaded 4 GL concerts including this one, Live from Avery Fisher Hall 1977, Live from Chicago 1973, and I & I MMM 1999 from Much Music which I've seen 3 times on tv. Awesome treats

I was just wondering, could you get Live from Montreux Switzerland 1976 of a Mac?

Also another one I would like to see if it is downloadable on a Mac is Live From Red Rocks (Colorado)? 1975

I also would like to know if someone knows how to download that on a Mac and what sites would be good for that!

What other Live audio Concerts did I leave out?

[johnfowles]

Originally Posted by jj

I dont know how to download youtube stuff either...i hear you need either need realplayer or to be able to move through John's tutorials effectively and patiently...i've checked everywhere but don't have realplayer nor patience....good luck

I picked up the thinly veiled implied criticism there Jimbo so as soon as possible I will upload a carefully crafted pair of elementary tutorials
I had already written a somewhat long winded torrents tutorial so I will now get on with completing what I now intend to be a bare bones introduction to

1. what Torrents are
2. why they began
3. where and how to find them
4. how to acquire them
5. what they comprise
6. what to do with them

this will in fact consist of things I have already said a few times on corfid but obviously not clearly enough.
because a certain person here recently compained that she had failed to understand "A word" of what I had written in one of my intended-to-be-helpful postings
but because she did not specify which particular "word" was giving her a headache I am resolved to keep the language I use as basic and non techie as possible
Mt second tutorial will cover a pair of easy-peasy and surprisinly simple solutions to jj's dlilemma on how to download and save any Youtube video neither of
which require the installation of ANY software and most certainly not the dreaded RealPlayer program

[T.G.]

I'm far from being a technophobe, but must confess the Bit Torrent phenomenon gives me fits to understand. I generally avoid it and prefer straight downloads. Makes life oh so much simpler.

[charlene]

I know I'm not interested in anything but the simplest 1-2-3 of any download/instructions etc. the how, what, when etc. only confuses me.
All words but the absolute relevant and absolute minimum of them give me headaches..lol
The 'language of computers' for me is truly like reading a page written in chinese/arabic/german et. I am not wired for it..
lol

I'm sure many find it helpful but sadly I am not one of them..not any reflection on Sir John..just a fact about my addled old brain and it's limitations..

[charlene]

AUDIO

Gordon Lightfoot - Germany 1975 (Complete...