ALTAMONT COMPLETE

Sound 8.5 Packaging 10 Performance 9 Video

Label: All Sold Out
Source: Altamont Speedway, Livermore, Ca. December 6th 1969.
Format: 2 downlioad cdrs
Running time: 72.09/79.24
Sound / source: Disc One, Tracks 3 (from 0.50)-6, 8(from 1.50-end),9-17 and Disc Two, Tracks 8 (from 0-1..09)-15: Audience electronically reprocessed stereo, Tracks 2,3 (from 0-0.50), 6 (6.03-end), 7, 8 (from 0-1.50 ) and Disc Two, Track 3 (from 2.20-2.49): soundboard mono mp3 sourced, Tracks 4 (from 0.41-1.52), 5 (from 0.28-1.54 ),6,11(from 0.08-end), 15(from 3.05-end), 16 (from 0-1.30, 2.25-2.42 and 3.23-4.03 ): soundboard stereo; Tracks 16 (1.30-2.25 and 2.42-3.22 ): soundboard mono. Disc One, Track 1 and Disc Two, Tracks 4-8 and 9 (from 0-5.00 and 5.18-end): Audience mono, bc by unknown FM radio; Track 16: soundboard mono
Packaging: double slimline jewel case
Features
Video / source

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Review by RICCAR99 More articles by RICCAR99

Track list

Disc One: 1. Sam s Plea (source 5), 2. Introduction (source 4), 3. Jumping Jack Flash (sources 4 and 2), 4. Carol (source 2), 5. Sympathy For The Devil 1 (sources 2 and 1), 6. Sympathy For The Devil 2 (sources 2, 1, and 4), 7. The Sun Is Shining (source 4), 8. Stray Cat Blues (sources 4 and 2), 9. Love In Vain (source 2), 10. Under My Thumb 1 (source 2), 11. Under My Thumb 2 (sources 2 and 1), 12. Brown Sugar (source 2), 13. Midnight Rambler Introduction (source 2), 14. Midnight Rambler (source 2), 15. Live With Me (sources 2 and 3), 16. Gimme Shelter (sources 3, 1, and 2), 17. Little Queenie (source 2).

Disc Two: 1. Satisfaction (source 2), 2. Honky Tonk Women (source 2), 3. Street Fighting Man (sources 2 and 1), 4. Introduction (source 5), 5. Jumping Jack Flash (source 5), 6. Carol (source 5), 7. Announcer (source 5), 8. Sympathy For The Devil 1 (source 5), 9. Sympathy For The Devil 2 (sources 5 and 2), 10. Sympathy For The Devil 1 (source 2), 11. Sympathy For The Devil 2 (source 2), 12. The Sun Is Shining (source 2), 13. Stray Cat Blues (source 2), 14. Under My Thumb 2 (source 2), 15. Gimme Shelter (source 2), 16. Altamont News Report.

The review

This is not a new release, since it was first uploaded on a now defunct torrent site in November 2011 by watchit, including self made minimal covers whose artwork has been created by the same uploader. Altamont is certainly one of the most famous concert in Rolling Stones history which unfortunately has not been considered for any official release on the Stones Vaults series. Apart from the obvious crowd problems, this was a pretty strong performance, the taping of the entire concert must have been, due to the very difficult taping conditions, one of the most heroic recording acts ever made. Many versions of this recording have circulated over the years, including the well-known bootleg The Killer Festival, Altamont 1969 (VGP-113). Possibly the best version of the audience tape currently available is the one that came out some years ago on Altamont Speedway Free Festival TARKL cds: This release attempts to assemble a complete version of the concert from the best available sources, and has also included the lesser/alternate sources for reference beginning with track 4 on Disc Two. This is not a matrix; but rather a selection based on personal taste, considering one track at a time. Where multiple sources have been used, all have been smoothly cross faded together. Let s get a look at all the sources used now in approximate order according to when they began circulating:

Source 1: Gimme Shelter soundtrack, digitally extracted from DVD and down sampled to cd bit rate. This is lossy AC3 audio but still sounds great; other sources have been added to fill edits. This is the reference source for pitch correction. Reassembling Gimme Shelter, Disc One, track 16 proved to be quite a challenge. Note that this source was used for music wherever possible, but Source 2 was used for between songs dialogues in order to better capture what was going on in the crowd.

Source 2: low gen audience recording from an XLII-S cassette. This recording has been used on other bootlegs, but this version is a little better and more complete; it includes the very end of Brown Sugar and the full introduction to Midnight Rambler which were missing on some versions. Allegedly this was recorded by two guys working together in front of the stage. Having gone through a couple different cassettes this is the best one found, unfortunately every version is in electronically reprocessed stereo and so it has been left that way; the very end of Brown Sugar is mono which is probably how it was recorded; as with the previous cassettes this one has been equalized at some point. Side A did sound better so Side B was equalized in attempt to match that. It has been transferred to PC using an Audiophile 2496 sound card, however complete versions of music can be found on Disc Two.

Source 3: unmixed Gimme Shelter soundtrack from original silver boot cd, used to reassemble Gimme Shelter, this is an excellent quality recording but not as crisp as the soundtrack which was better mixed and mastered. Extracted using EAC.

Source 4: soundboard recording from Internet in lossy mp3 quality, which is all that is publicly available; the vocals are a bit loud, apparently the sound man still has the tape.

Source 5: audience recording by unknown FM station from cdr, extracted using EAC. No information other than what can be determined from listening is available: a radio station sent someone to the concert with a hand-held tape recorder. He recorded parts of the concert and then the station broadcasted them shortly afterwards. It has been assumed it was a local station because the taper seemed pretty familiar with the Hells Angels. The tape recorder ran low on power causing speed fluctuations and what s here is all there is. The quality is slightly better than Source 2, except for speed fluctuations; there was a short gap in Sympathy For The Devil 2, which has been patched from Source 2. Note: this seems to have been not recorded by a radio station person; instead it was a fan who brought his tape into the radio station and they played it; the audio could be located on YouTube with a picture of the cassette.
Disc Two, Track 7 is the radio announcer explaining the problems encountered in recording the part of the show he is broadcasting while Track 16 is the audio portion of a TV broadcast (Newswatch) by KRON San Francisco from 12/8/1969 from cdr, extracted using EAC. It does tell the story of the events leading up to the concert, what happened there and the immediate aftermath. It also includes excerpts of the concert from a third audience recording, which sound worse than Source 2 or 5. Someone previously edited the commercials and some more have been deleted too. This track lasts 19 minutes and although not in the greatest fidelity is nonetheless listenable, however that is not a big deal since it mainly consists of talking.
All tracks have been edited, pitch corrected, cross faded, etc., using Adobe Audition. Track splitting by CD Wave and tagging by foobar2000; presented in FLAC 1.2.1, it includes artwork and even blank ones so someone able could use the provided template and create his own artwork with selected fonts), it is believed that the tapers pictured is the one responsible for Source 2. The tape recorder is visible on top of one of the big monitor speakers on several occasions in Gimme Shelter film.
The end result is great with a well balanced sound (even during Hony Tonk Women power outage) and certainly better than the sound of many other underground releases. This is a great job that adds a new dimension to the famous Altamont recording with regards to what has been available over the years.