Bob Dylan & The Band
Hofheinz Pavillon
Houston, TX
January 26, 1974

Afternoon Show

Bob Dylan & The Band

Most Likely You Go Your Way (And Iíll Go Mine)
Lay Lady Lay
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
It Ain’t Me Babe
Ballad Of A Thin Man

The Band

Stage Fright
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down*
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)*
Loving You (Is Sweeter Than Ever) (inc. cuts out)*
I Shall Be Released*
Up On Cripple Creek

Bob Dylan & The Band

All Along The Watchtower
Ballad Of Hollis Brown
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

Bob Dylan Solo

The Times They Are A-Changin’
Don’t Think Twice, Itís All Right ñ
Gates Of Eden
Just Like A Woman
It’s Alright Ma (Iím Only Bleeding)

The Band

Rag Mama Rag*
This Wheel’s On Fire*
The Shape I’m In*
The Weight*

Bob Dylan & The Band

Forever Young
Something There Is About You
Like A Rolling Stone
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)

* Missing From Source 2

Evening Show

Bob Dylan & The Band
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
Lay Lady Lay
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35
It Ain’t Me Babe
Ballad of a Thin Man

The Band

Stage Freight
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
When You Awake
I Shall Be Released
Up on Cripple Creek

Bob Dylan and the Band

13 All Along the Watchtower
14 Ballad of Hollis Brown
15 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

Bob Dylan Solo

16 The Times They Are A-Changin’
17 Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright
18 Gates of Eden
19 Just Like a Woman
20 It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

The Band

Rag Mama Rag
This Wheel’s On Fire
The Shape I’m In
The Weight

Bob Dylan & The Band

Forever Young

MIA: Something There is About You, Like a Rolling Stone, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)

Source 1:

LB-9326

Evening Show Only

JEMS archive
low gen reel to reel (obtained in the ’70s, likely second gen from master) > Otari 5050 mk2 playback (April 2011) > ADL/Furutech GT40 USB audio device > Peak 6.0 > FLAC

On one interesting shelf in the JEMS archives are tapes of Dylan’s 1974 tour with the Band. Our own S taped the Seattle shows and then drove to Oakland (on a gasless Sunday, he’ll remind you, as this was in the middle of the energy crisis) to record both sets there. After the tour completed, S took out classified ad (which I hope to find some day) in Rolling Stone magazine looking to trade tapes of the tour with others who recorded.

He didn’t collect the entire tour, but he did track down a handful of shows on reel to reel, including this late set from Houston. Given when and how it was obtained, and what S has told me over the years, he got these tapes from people who recorded the shows themselves, so there’s a strong reason to believe this show is legitimately second generation. I assume second generation because the cassette may have been moved to a safety reel, of which this is a copy. Given the duration, it appears the taper was on cassette (gear unknown) and captured just north of 90 mins of the show, conserving tape, as was often the case in those days, by pausing between songs.

As such many of these tracks are joined a second or two in progress, but you still come away with feeling of hearing the entire show. As the recent posts of ’74 tapes has made clear, this tour wasn’t consistently well recorded and there are several shows for which the only circulating recordings are often described as passable, listenable or worse. I would call this one very listenable. Not amazing, but based on input from a few tour experts, better than we have had before. Samples provided. I think it is in upgrade and I’ve been working on it for some time, so the release with the rest of the ’74 tour flood is good timing.

Also, unlike the circulating recordings from Houston per Lossless Bob (and this source is likely to be the same as something previously circulated, just lower gen and possible more complete), the full Band set is here. What’s not here is the encore.

JEMS has the afternoon show on a separate reel from what appears to be the same taper. That will come down the road if folks like this source. Please let me know as these old reels are finicky and I want to make sure people care given the effort it takes.

Butterking for JEMS

Source 2:

LB-9345

Afternoon Show Only

Lineage: Low gen tape > CD > EAC > Flac. The Band sets are from different incomplete tapes.[from lk aud set]

LosslessBob entry: LB-2680. hiss comes up for band sets; in comparison to version “aa” this one has less hiss but the sound seems less natural and very narrow so liked “aa” better; this one is better than first version with less hiss but both have similar narrow sound; good sound [C]; comments at end of show match previous afternoon version “aa”. small gaps between tracks except bigger on band tracks; d1t7 is hardly there as cuts; small analog pop d1t11 2:48.

Fix of LB-2680: Wave Repair 4.9.3 to remove gaps between tracks [at least one non-destructive gap was removed after start of “The Night they Drove…” [where to tape spool/edit is present]. Fixed small analog pop d1t11 2:48 and a couple of others present > FLAC

Source 3:

LB-9357

Afternoon Show Only

Source: Audience
Lineage: low gen reel to reel (obtained in the ’70s, likely second gen from master)>wav>flac
Transfer: low gen reel to reel>Otari 5050 mk2 playback (April 2011)>ADL/Furutech GT40 USB audio device>Peak 6.0>wav
Taping Gear: unknown>unknown
Taped By: Unknown
Transferred by: JEMS
Reel tape and transfer courtesy of the JEMS Archives

Notes:
On one interesting shelf in the JEMS archives are tapes of Dylan’s 1974 tour with the Band. Our own S taped the Seattle shows and then drove to Oakland (on a gasless Sunday, he’ll remind you, as this was in the middle of the energy crisis) to record both sets there. After the tour completed, S took out classified ad (which I hope to find some day) in Rolling Stone magazine looking to trade tapes of the tour with others who recorded.

He didn’t collect the entire tour, but he did track down a handful of shows on reel to reel, including the early and late sets from Houston. Given when and how it was obtained, and what S has told me over the years, he got these tapes from people who recorded the shows themselves, so there’s a strong reason to believe this show is legitimately second generation. I assume second generation because the cassette may have been moved to a safety reel, of which this is a copy. The taper conserved tape, as was often the case in those days, by pausing between songs.

As such many of these tracks are joined a second or two in progress, but you still come away with feeling of hearing the entire show. As the recent posts of ’74 tapes has made clear, this tour wasn’t consistently well recorded and there are several shows for which the only circulating recordings are often described as passable, listenable or worse. This one is really good all considering better than passable and better and more complete than the late show recording in all aspects. It is not a perfect recording by any means but it is a very enjoyable and clear sounding for the most part. Unlike other versions out there this contains The Band’s portion of the set pretty much complete with only Loving You (Is Sweeter Than Ever) cutting out prematurely. We believe this to be an upgrade in sound quality and completeness to all existing circulating copies but you the listener will be the ultimate decider on that (but we do believe you will come to the same conclusion after listening).

Butterking for JEMS