Bob Dylan – Santa Monica, CA (11/18/79)

Bob Dylan
Civic Auditorium
Santa Monica, CA
November 18, 1979

Regina Havis Monologue
I’ve Got My Ticket, Lord
It’s Gonna Rain
Do Lord, Remember Me
Look Up And Live By Faith
Hold My Hand, Oh Lord*
Oh Freedom
This Train
Gotta Serve Somebody
I Believe In You
When You Gonna Wake Up
When He Returns
Man Gave Names To All The Animals
Precious Angel
Slow Train
Covenant Woman
What Are You Doing With Your Heart? (Helena Springs)
Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking
Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)
Solid Rock
Saving Grace
Saved
What Can I Do For You?
In The Garden
Band Introduction
Blessed Be The Name
Pressing On

*Source 1 Only

Source 1: LB-11759
Mike Millard first gen via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Vol. Five
Recording Info: AKG-451E microphones > Uher CR-240 cassette recorder

JEMS 2014 Transfer: first-generation reel copy (3-3/4 IPS) made by Mike Millard for SG > Otari 5050 mkII azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96) capture > pitch correction > iZotope RX MBIT+ resample 16/44.1 > Peak Pro XT (volume smoothing / edit / index) > xACT 2.21 > FLAC

Source 2: LB-1819
Offmaster copy of audience recording by Legendary Taper E, complete with the songs by the
backup singers. Apparently a different source from “Madmen Running Loose”, which lacks all
the “girls'” songs. (The “Gospel Project” mentions the “rumored” existence of this
complete recording of the concert; obviously it was not just a rumor.)

More info from JEMS Source
JEMS is pleased to release the fifth in a series of recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin in and around LA circa 1975-77. For further details on how these tapes came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS’ history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=500680

Installment No. 5 jumps ahead 17 months but a world apart, as Dylan has converted to Christianity and taken to the road with a set of all new gospel-tinged material, completely ignoring his musical past in deference to his enlightened present.

The Gospel Tour, as it is known, began November 1 at the Fox Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, where Dylan kicked off a 14-night residency. This concert in Santa Monica was the first show that followed the Warfield run and opening night of four in the Los Angeles area. Other than going electric, I would posit there is no other moment in Dylan’s career that reverberated like this seemingly out-of-nowhere shift into what might best be described as a musical tent revival with Bob himself as preacher and soul saver. And because of that, the Gospel Tour is divisive: For some fans, it was the jumping off point; for others, they climbed aboard the slow train coming.

Dylan’s on-stage dialogue at times sparked confrontations with an audience that, by and large, wasn’t sure how to reconcile what they were seeing and hearing with all that came before it. I didn’t see the Gospel Tour in person; my first Dylan show was still six years away. As such, the radical shift that took place in 1979 doesn’t have the same impact for me when revisited in hindsight. On its own merits, the Gospel Tour offers richly satisfying performances and a focused Dylan who was leading the crusade every night.

And talk about a set list that challenged his audience. Dylan didn’t perform a single song from his back catalog, instead filling the set with all eight songs from Slow Train Coming; another seven from its companion, Saved, which would be released the following year; the still unreleased “Blessed Be the Name”; plus several gospel numbers performed by the show’s back-up singers: Regina Havis, Helena Springs and Mona Lisa Young.

To our ears, Millard nails it this night. As usual, he’s close to the PA with a quiet crowd around him, and the AKGs + Uher yield a great pull in his capable hands. It is a pleasure to listen to. Samples provided.

Lossless Bob has six entries for this show which tie back to two underlying recordings. In this case, Millard’s tape does match the complete recording from which the bootleg Live By Faith was derived. So instead of an uncirculated source, we have an upgrade, and while the bootleg and circulating copies are very good, we think you’l find this fresh-first generation transfer from reel sharper and cleaner, with less hiss in the quiet parts and more detail in the louder parts.

If you’d like to learn more about Mike the MICrophone, the links below offer a glimpse of his story.

Millard’s Wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Millard

The best article written about Millard has been deleted from the original website but is reprinted here:
http://www.classicrockforums.com/forum/f6/led-zeppelin-official-thread-6185/index164.html

Thanks again to WG for finding the tapes and to SG for providing JEMS with another fascinating chapter of taping history. Also, JEMS continues to depend on mjk5510 for his skilled assistance in getting these recordings into your hands. He is a vital part of the process at this point.

Here’s to the late, great Mike the MICrophone and to finding more lost tapes.

BK for JEMS