Jefferson Airplane
A Weekend At Winterland (Mr. Sifter Remaster)
10/25/69 - 10/26/69, Hinterland, San Francisco, CA
Tracks split using htdemucs v4, mixed in Logic Pro and mastered using Izotope. This is for anyone who found the extreme stereo separation of this recording distracting (particularly on headphones), I attempted to mix this in a more convention fashion for everyday listening, as these are some excellent Airplane gigs. There are, of course, major limitations with this technology, particularly in the inability to separate the two guitars or individual vocal mics, but the goal was just to create a nice, more complete companion piece to the official 'Sweeping Up The Spotlight' album recorded a month after these shows, the last real flights of the classic JA lineup.
Original notes:
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
25Oct69 & 26Oct69
Winterland-San Francisco, CA
A Weekend At Winterland [ This Place Records TPR CD 006 ]
SBD Recording
Lineage: ???>Qualitybootz>My PC>You
This release combines two consecutive nights at Winterland on 3 CDs.
CD1 and CD2 tracks 1 to 5 are from Saturday October 25, 1969.
CD2 tracks 6 to 9 and CD3 are from Sunday October 26, 1969.
The sources used for this release are superb sounding soundboard tapes
(possibly transferred directly from the master reels), already circulating
in the past. But the present release is different than the previous
circulating versions, because the main problem of the original reels
was corrected (or at least attenuated).
Indeed, the original recordings were made using extreme stereo separation,
with vocals on the left channel only, and rhythm section on the right
channel (the guitars are often left channel oriented, but it changes
sometimes during the recording). While the stereo separation itself was
not a problem, the balance between the two channels was fluctuating a lot,
most of the time with drums too loud compared to the vocals. And even for
a single channel, there were level fluctuations too (the vocals were mixed
much louder than the guitar tracks, resulting in a left channel with very
loud vocals during the verses and barely audible guitar parts during the
instrumental sections).
The purpose of this remaster was to correct all these fluctuations
(between channels and inside each channel) so that the recording can
now be enjoyed with a good and consistent balance between the different
instruments and voices.
As usual, I also tried to clean manually every flaw that could be corrected.
A small missing portion on Eskimo Blue Day (CD2 track 1) was restored.
The intro on Good Shepherd (CD2 track 5) was partially restored too.
Please note that the remastering process did not use any EQ or NR, and that
there was no attempt to have a more "centered" recording. So, the stereo
separation is still extreme, but that's an interesting listening experience,
since you can hear all the details. If you listen only to the right channel,
you have a fantastic example of the strong interactions between Jack Casady
and Spencer Dryden, showing how much powerful and groovy this rhythm section
of the Airplane was. And if you concentrate on the left channel, you can
hear all the subtleties of the vocal harmonies.
Cuesheets are included for those who like to burn CDRs with all the required
text info.
Enjoy!
MOB.
Line-up:
Grace Slick - vocals, piano, organ, recorder
Marty Balin - vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul Kantner - rhythm guitar, vocals
Jorma Kaukonen - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals
Jack Casady - bass guitar, fuzz bass, rhythm guitar
Spencer Dryden - Percussion
CD1:
01. Somebody To Love
02. Young Girl Sunday Blues
03. Wooden Ships
04. Volunteers
05. Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon
06. Uncle Sam Blues
07. Fat Angel
08. Greasy Heart
09. Martha
10. The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil
CD2:
01. Eskimo Blue Day
02. 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds
03. Mau Mau (Amerikon) Jam
04. The Other Side Of This Life
05. Good Shepherd
06. Wild Tyme (H)
07. Greasy Heart
08. We Can Be Together
09. Come Back Baby
CD3:
01. Martha
02. Plastic Fantastic Lover
03. Drifting
04. Itís No Secret
05. The Other Side Of This Life
06. Wooden Ships
07. Eskimo Blue Day
08. You Wear Your Dresses Too Short
09. The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil
