(DVDfull pro-shot)
Queen Mary College 1977
This Place Records TPR DVD 003
(a) RFM TV broadcast ("classic" Rock Masters version):
1. Give A Little Bit
2. Bloody Well Right
3. Lady
4. From Now On
5. Babaji
6. Poor Boy
7. Dreamer
8. Another Man's Woman
(b) BBC4 10Nov06 broadcast:
1. Give A Little Bit
2. Bloody Well Right
3. Dreamer
4. Another Man's Woman
5. Hide In Your Shell
video : PAL, 720x576 (4:3)
audio : Linear PCM 48kHz (a) / mp2 48kHz 384bps (b)
length: 47 minutes (a) / 29 minutes (b)
sources:
- video (a): "Rock Masters" Russian bootleg DVDR dated 2001
- video (b): BBC4 TV broadcast, 10Nov06 (DVB-S)
- audio taken from stereo pre-FM sources (except b5):
a1,a3,a5,a8,b1,b4: WW1 Superstar Concert Series #93-29 CD
a4,a7,b3: WW1 Superstar Concert Series #98-23 CD
a2,b2: WW1 BBC Classic Tracks #93-01 CD
a6: London Wavelength BBC Rock Hour #343 LP
Details:
This release is the result of a team work and would not have been possible without the help and generosity of PaulHarald, who provided most of the pre-FM sources for this project, and Pokermad, who provided the BBC4 rebroadcast from 2006, captured by Joefish. So thanks to everyone for making this project possible!
This concert from Queen Mary College was filmed by the BBC on November 10, 1977, and broadcast on TV various times. The common TV broadcast versions last 47 minutes and contain 8 songs. This common version surfaced at various places, but the best quality I could find for that broadcast comes from a Russian bootleg DVDR, that is most probably directly taken from a digital recording of RFM TV broadcast, or even maybe from the TV station master itself. The video is clear and sharp, there's absolutely no trace of VHS in the lineage.
In late 2006, BBC4 TV rebroadcast a shorter version of the concert, lasting 28 minutes with only 5 songs, but the last one (Hide In Your Shell) was a big surprise because it was never broadcast before, and was not available previously, even in audio format! Joefish did a straight capture from the BBC digital stream, which has perfect video quality (and actually it's difficult to tell which version is better, the RFM TV one or the BBC4 TV one).
The main problem with these TV versions of the concert is that the music was mixed in mono! There's absolutely no stereo separation on every version broadcast by TV.
Since most of the songs of that concert were also mixed in stereo for radio broadcasts and can be found on several (rare) transcription CDs and LP (pre-FM), the purpose of the current release is to present the TV broadcasts with STEREO sound for the very first time!
The audio on this DVD was directly taken from Westwood One pre-FM CDs, with some exceptions:
- Poor Boy was not available in CD format, so the audio used here was taken from a BBC Rock Hour LP.
- On CD, the reprise at the end of Lady was edited out, so the BBC Rock Hour LP was used for this last part of the song.
- All the pre-FM versions of Bloody Well Right (on CD and LP) have 2 edits: one at the end of the keyboard intro, and another during the ending instrumental section with saxophone solo. Therefore, during this song, the audio switches back to the original sound from TV broadcast at these moments.
- Hide In Your Shell was never broadcast on radio, and no stereo mix is available for this song.
It has to be noted that during the audio dubbing process, the original video was NOT re-encoded (therefore, the video of the BBC4 broadcast is still the exact stream as broadcast by BBC4 TV; only the audio soundtrack is different).
To summarise, with the present DVD you have two different TV broadcasts of that classic 1977 concert, in ultimate video quality, with improved soundtrack taken from stereo pre-FM sources! Having seen the original mono TV versions numerous times in the past, I can tell you that with stereo sound, the viewing experience is much more enjoyable. Just sit down, relax, and play it loud!
