The Town Hall
Birmingham, UK
10th March 2014
Taper 1: Boombox
Location: Row C, seat 20 ~10' back midway between House Left Stack and Centre Stage
Lineage: CA14 Cardioids > CA9200 > Edirol HR-09 (@24/96) >
Cool Edit Pro 2 (edits, volume and downsample to 16/44) > CDWave > TLH > FLAC
Taper 2: Paul44
Location: 3rd row just right of centre
Lineage: Internal Mics > Zoom H2 > WAV > FLAC
Taper 3 : Relayerx9
Location: Main balcony, Row A Seat 9, 20m back from the stage. Fairly centred, right in front of Andy
Lineage: External Sony ECM-MS907 Mic (in 120deg) placed on balcony ledge > Sony Hi-MD MZ-RH10 (Hi-SP) >
USB transfer to PC (WAV) > Soundforge 9.0 (remove clicks x3 and track split) -> FLAC
The Band:
Andy Latimer - Guitar, flute, keyboard, vocals
Colin Bass - Bass, acoustic guitar, vocals
Denis Clement - Drums, bass
Ton Scherpenzeel - Keyboards (replacing Guy Le Blanc)
Jason Hart - Additional keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals
Set 1: The Snow Goose
1 01 Intro 0:52
1 02 The Great Marsh 2:06
1 03 Rhayader 3:16
1 04 Rhayader Goes To Town 5:20
1 05 Sanctuary 3:12
1 06 Fritha 1:35
1 07 The Snow Goose 3:08
1 08 Friendship 1:55
1 09 Migration 3:48
1 10 Rhayader Alone 3:48
1 11 Flight Of The Snow Goose 2:03
1 12 Preparation 3:01
1 13 Dunkirk 5:37
1 14 Epitaph 1:36
1 15 Fritha Alone 1:43
1 16 La Princesse Perdue 4:49
1 17 The Great Marsh 2:26
Total Set Time 50:15
Set 2
2 01 Intro 0:34
2 02 Never Let Go 7:21
2 03 Song Within A Song 7:53
2 04 Echoes 8:05
2 05 The Hour Candle 7:36
2 06 Drafted 4:49
2 07 Watching The Bobbins 7:35
2 08 Intro to Fox Hill 1:32
2 09 Fox Hill 9:32
2 10 For Today 10:58
2 11 Encore Break with Band Introductions 3:48
2 12 Lady Fantasy 14:30
2 13 Outro 1:17
Total Set Time: 85:30
Total Show Time: 135:45 (2:15:45)
Remaster
1. Adjust frequencies in each source/EQ
2. Equalize noise level for each
3. Sync sources
4. Patch missing sections so recordings are complete
5. Combine all three sources to generate stereo field
6. Correct phasing and center sound field
7. Repair clicks, coughs, loud claps and other audience noise during music
8. Adjust dynamics
9. Re-track
Notes
The song Drafted replaces Tell Me for this tour.
The song The Hour Candle is dedicated to Guy Le Blanc.
Illness prevented him from playing during this tour...
http://www.progrockmag.com/news/camel-forced-to-change-keyboard-player-for-tour/
Respectful, quiet audience allowed an excellent recording from all three tapers.
Coughers were present near both front tapers, reduced during remastering.
Soundboard engineer separates some cymbals between left and right stacks...
This can be heard during the quiet section of Lady Fantasy.
This can be appreciated easily during other sections listening with headphones.
All of the music from set 2 can fit on a single CD if set 2 tracks 1, 11 and 13 are omitted.
Photos included with this remaster were included with the original taper sources.
A video recording of Lady Fantasy, shot from the front of the balcony during this performance is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSFa0lbRJdM
Taper Boombox notes
My second Camel show in six months - could it get any better? Well, yes, I think it could! Another packed out venue full of generally respectful music fans come to see Andy Latimer & Co deliver a lesson in how to do a first class show and have a ball doing it. First up was the reboot of 'The Snow Goose', which many thought benefited from the slightly rockier, more classic prog keyboards of Ton Scherpenzeel, standing in for Guy Le Blanc, who is battling serious illness. Ton's keyboards added a different colour again in the second half of Camel favourites, which were slightly tweaked from the Autumn tour - out went Airborn, Tell Me, Mystic Queen, Wait and Never Let Go (For Pete), with only Drafted coming in. So a shorter set than the last tour, but no-one felt short-changed. Andy's playing, as usual, was as wonderful and expressive as his facial gurnings, as ever more than ably supported by Colin, Denis and Jason - and the version of Lady Fantasy to close the night probably stands as my favourite ever. I've also included a small folder of pictures from the night.
Taper Relayerx9 notes
Comparing with last year's gig in Wolverhampton I felt that Ton Scherpenzeel's playing added a 'dreamier' quality to the soundscape which made the gigs quite different. Not any better or worse than Guy LeBlanc, just different.
The Town Hall has a big, high vaulted ceiling and I noticed there were several suspended sound 'squares/baffles' (in clear glass/plastic? see picture) and I felt that the reflections from these contributed to the sound being a little bit 'wooly' at times, at least from where I was sat. This was more prevalent in first set but the sound seemed to settle down more in the second set (at least to my ears). I also felt that the first set was perhaps a little sterile probably due to the concert style, all-seater setting and an audience that seemed quite reserved to begin with (just my personal opinion). Of course, I think this all made for a great recording and it was genuinely a really great gig even if Andy and Colin screwed up a couple of times (lyrics in Lady Fantasy being a good example).
http://fp.io/5m9e1c49/
+Front.jpg)
+Back.jpg)
