Goodbye Summer .
Concert for Bangladesh .
The Oval , Kennington .
9-18-71.
The Who, The Faces,Atomic Rooster, Eugene Wallace, America, Mott The Hoople ,Quintessence ,Lindisfarne, Grease Band ,Cochise .
Last update Jan 2014
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Goodbye Summer . Concert for Bangladesh . The Oval , Kennington . 9-18-71. The Who, The Faces,Atomic Rooster, Eugene Wallace, America, Mott The Hoople ,Quintessence ,Lindisfarne, Grease Band ,Cochise .
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Sound problems plagued almost all the acts, apart from The Who who were using a different PA set up to the rest of the artistes. As a consequence its unlikely that any audience recordings sound all that hot. However , much of the days festivities was recorded for a potential album, but unfortunately this was never released , for reasons - see below.
Inside the Pye studio , note spartan supplies for long suffering crew ©Simon Heyworth I have attached a couple of scans. The photo of me was taken in the Pye mobile during the recording of the Oval concerts. The cans of Pepsi, Coke and packet of biscuits were all that we had to sustain us all day. Nobody could get out to get us any 'real' food. Such were festivals! The photo shows me alongside the 'portable' 3M, 8-track tape recorder. I was assisting Glyn Johns, the main recording engineer of that day. The other photos show the outside of the vehicle, parked alongside the stage. The mixing console was a 24-channel, 8-group, Neve, Series 80. It was one of the most expensive consoles of its day. The tape recorders were 3M, M23, one-inch eight-track machines. Ostensibly they were portable, being in three sections which you can see from the photo, but it took two people to lift each section. In the photo, there is a case of four tracks of electronics at either side of the deck. There was another complete machine at the other side of the vehicle. (I will re-scan the actual photo when I find it.) As you will see, the photo credits are to Simon Heyworth. A year after this was taken he was recording Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. I left Pye and went to work with him at Virgin about six weeks after the photos were taken. I think that we recorded most of it, but there were all sorts of contractual disputes about what could be used for what. Jeff Dexter was inside the mobile for quite a while, checking on all sorts of details for 'his' group, America, hoping to get a good recording. I wonder if he ever got the tapes. We got the microphones in position for the recording of The Who, but, during the first number, Glyn Johns realised that some had been moved well out of position by, presumably, the stage hands. When we tried to get back on to the stage to re-position them, The Who's security people would not let anybody on stage, for any purpose whatsoever. Stage passes meant nothing to them. So, several microphones were not on their instruments. |
The Pye mobile studio. © Simon Heyworth |
Glyn said not to worry because we were there to record what we could, but the recording was not the priority on that day: the concert performance had to come first. Anyhow, by the end of The Who's set, the microphones were all over the place. I doubt that we could have got anything useful from their entire performance. I think we got some good recordings of The Faces, though; and I seem to remember that we recorded The Grease Band but their performance was not very good.
Also, it was not like any of the groups were planning to make a live album of their own from the show. They were there to play at the festival. The live album, if any, would have been a compilation from the day, but that was when all the legal/managerial haggling set in. I don't think that any agreement between the bands was ever reached. However; if the headline act's recordings were unusable, how would you promote it ?
Phillip Newell
Apparently the 8 track recording of the Who was sold at auction to a private collector and is unlikely to ever see the light of day in any official capacity due to its inherent sound issues.
The Who
audience tape- supposedly good quality . However
the copy that we have heard is bleeding awful , really, really drecky !!!!
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The Faces
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Atomic Rooster
A tape of the bands set exists and may be in circulation amongst diehard Rooster fans .We don't know if this an audience or sbd recording, or how long it is- so any new info would be great .
Pete French , vocalist with Atomic Rooster, kindly sent us this info re Roosters setlist -apoligies for taking a year or so to add the info Pete !
I will try to remember the compositions that we played at the Concert, we played:-
Then my personal favourite composition
I hope I got that right , I`m sure I will be corrected by a fan if not!
Incidentaly I have just recorded a new LeafHound album Titled "Unleashed" and I decided to re work and re-record the Rooster composition "Breakthrough" as a compliment to Vincent, but this time it`s a little more rock with guitar instead of the keyboard, I hope you will like it.
I appreciate the fact that you enjoyed us at the show.One of the unfortunate things for me personally was that although I was the only singer which had the pleasure to have played the concerts in the States & Canada with the band, and to have been on their most successful selling album "In Hearing of" I am often forgotten by many of the writers here in England as most of the shows I did with the band were in Europe or abroad.
Still you can`t have it all!
I hope this is of use to you
Kind regards,
Mott The Hoople
Some tracks definitely do exist as aud recordings *
Keep A Knocking ,Walkin' with a Mountain/Rock and Roll Queen *
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