Back in
2020 Cpt Acid released his remaster of the Stones Knebworth 76 concert; his
sources were Hoy August Night (VGP) for soundboard, The Midnight Ramblers in
the Midnight Hour (Tarantura) for audience source, but there was a gap in Stray
Cat Blues, so apart from the Tarantura title was also used Stoned Stones
(Apollo Rec.) to complete it. The reason why EVSD decided to release this set
now is not clear, but sounds like scratching the barrel. Before this many
releases have been called the definitive Stones Knebworth 76 edition, the one
before was Midnight Ramblers in the Midnight Hour (Tarantura TCDRS 50-1,2)
which had a new audience source presenting an almost complete show,
reconstructed with some help from various other audience sources and a short
soundboard, using a master tape of a previously uncirculated audience source
for most of the concert. There were two very brief sections missing from that
compilation: a few seconds between Honky Tonk Women and Country Honk that were not
on any audience source as well as the first few seconds of Nothing From Nothing
which were also missing from the audience tapes. Then in 2025 came The Complete
Knebworth 2 cd (No Label) that claimed to be the definitive complete version,
remastered by Graf Zeppelin. Here the LP version was used as the main source,
gaps filled using the video and multiple audience sequences. Hot August Night
has recently come out twice, showing a reproduction of the original LP
converting the vinyl onto cd, cutting off the pitch instability that was the
biggest drawback of the stereo soundboard. The next thing to do then was to
look for the most complete version of this show. The longest soundboard version
came out on Hot August Night (VGP 146) using the mono video, while the first
audience came out on The complete Knebworth (Shaved Disc TSD 020-21) version;
for tracks like Stray Cat Blues and Brown Sugar was used the Stones Tour Mop Up
LP (Allied Prod. 082). Later was released Hot August Night (SODD 062-3) which edited
the gaps between tracks using the video for the MC before Stray Cat Blues, but
the sound quality of the soundboard part clashed with the rough audience parts,
let alone that hiss was present on the soundboard. On The Complete Knebworth
however the audience parts used to complement the soundboard were reworked using
what came from vinyl using Stones Tour Mop Up but also Stoned Stones (Apollo
Rec. 786) and Look At Me Face (No Label) LPs. A good thing here is that the
usual beeps in You Gotta Move are much less prominent, as well as the issue in
Hey Negrita about 3 minutes into the song.
In few
words in order to have a complete version the soundboard LP sourced has been
supplemented using videos and audience recordings. The end result is a non-stop
recording which is the next best thing to a full release which has been
recently proven won’t happen officially on the new Black & Blue remastered
Deluxe version. The only draw back is that at times Jagger vocals in between
songs have an unrequired echo, when sourced from audience recordings.
Knebworth
76 had come out at first on vinyl album as Knebworth Fair later renamed Route
76 Low Tide & Fair Hits (RSVP 005) on coloured wax, then as Hot August
Night 2lp (DDR Prod. Kneb 876) running too fast and with the same unimaginative
title from Kneb 1976:it wasn’t a hot night at all as Jagger said: “It’s getting
cold right after Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” or “Cold weather” before Hand Of Fate.
Other vinyl albums that portray songs from Knebworth 76 are Look at My Face (No
Label), Stoned Stones Tour Mop Up (Allied Prod. 082), Stoned Stones (Apollo
786) and Everybody s Got To Go (Great Live Concerts RR 786), later released on
compact as well. Talking about silver discs the best is undoubtedly Best of the
Knebworth Fair (Midnight Beat 088) that has a very clear but incomplete soundboard,
then from Japan came out Hot August Night (Hot Lips 004-5) that missed only
Stray Cat Blues taken from the video that surfaced in the 90s, to be found
complete on Hot August Night at Knebworth Fair (Stone Crazy 001-2) that was released
as 3 cds in a large box with an extra disc featuring El Mocambo 77 tracks. Then
later a long digipack was released, called Live Dead Flowers (Black Cat Rec.
30) offering an incomplete performance and Knebworth Fair Complete Recording
1976 Final!!! (Shaved Di 020-1), the worst of the lot with a high generation
tape coming from a video source, again Hot August Night (TAKRL 876) 2 LP with
an incomplete soundboard but with one of the crispest releases before it came
out again as Save Me (RSP), Knebworth 2 cd
(Red Devil 004 1-2-) and then Hot August Night (VGP 146) with a stereo
line recording, thanking Bill Graham for lending the tape (something hard to
believe). Then we got Hot August Night (SODD 062-63) which mixed audience and soundboard
sources in order to get the most complete version of the concert and bypass the
dullness of some soundboard songs that have always been of a higher generation,
not comparable to the best one circulating; in 2012 came out a new audience source
on a cdr called Knebworth 21-08-76 (TRS). On Tour Of Europe 76 Revisited (GFR
227-28) are featured 10 songs as bonus, 3 songs are on Unreleased Live Stones
68-79 (Golden Stars LACS 1034). Other releases have been Hot Stuff (No Label)
and Midnight Ramblers in the Midnight Hour (Tarantura TCDRS 50-1,2).
