The Birthday Party
Scamps
Oxford
U.K.
1981-11-30

Audience MC > C > digital. (Incomplete)

Nick Cave : Vocals
Mick Harvey : Guitar
Tracey Pew : Bass Guitar
Phill Calvert : Drums
Rowland S Howard : Guitar

Aiwa mic > Aiwa TPS30 walkman recorder > TDK AD-C90 cassette master > AD-C60 cassette (partial) copy
Cassette playback on Pioneer CT-S550S with azimuth correction >
Sony JE530 A/D (44.1k) > Nomad JB3 > .wav > Adobe Audition > .wav >
CDWAV > FLAC frontend > .flac files

Note: The Sony JE530 is a minidisc recorder, however
a pure digital output is available when using it as a
"passthrough" device. Therefore, despite the presence
of a minidisc device in this lineage there is no MD/
ATRAC compression.

I lent my equipment out for the recording of this show.
Afterwards, I borrowed the master cassette and made my own copy, however
I did not have a C90 available, and was only able to copy 30 minutes worth
to a C60. My notes say that I dropped 2 songs - Nick The Stripper and Junkyard.
However, the website detailed below provides a longer tracklisting, with 3
further songs at the end of the show. I believe that our master tape ONLY
included the first 10 tracks, however I haven't seen the master tape in over
25 years, and I haven't been in touch with the original taper for the same
period of time. So I could be wrong ...

See: http://www.fromthearchives.com/bp/chronology.html

Therefore, this recording is incomplete in that:
* Two songs that exist on the master cassette do not exist in this version
* The taper sometimes paused the tape between songs - audible as a brief
high-pitched squeak (due to the primitive pause method on the recorder).
* Release The Bats is cut (on the master, NOT on my C60), and 3 additional songs are missing.

I have no information on whether other copies have been made from the master cassette.

At around 2:15 in Pleasureheads, Nick mentions Oxford.

1. Pleasureheads 3:11
2. Nick The Stripper (missing)
3. Cry 3:23
4. Bully Bones 3:03
5. Junkyard (missing)
6. She's Hit 5:13
7. A Dead Song 2:47
8. Dim Locator 3:00
9. King Ink 5:09
10. Release The Bats // 2:08
11. +Big Jesus Trash Can (missing)
12. +Zoo Music Girl (missing)
13. +Loose (missing)
Total Time (excluding missing songs) : [27:54]

shntool output:
length expanded size cdr WAVE problems filename
3:10.68 33675980 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t01.flac
3:22.58 35769260 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t02.flac
3:02.57 32238908 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t03.flac
5:13.25 55272044 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t04.flac
2:47.12 29487068 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t05.flac
2:59.61 31719116 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t06.flac
5:09.14 54540572 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t07.flac
2:08.05 22591004 --- -- --xx BirthdayParty1981-11-30t08.flac
27:54.00 295293952 B (totals for 8 files, 0.6906 overall compression ratio)

flac fingerprints:
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t01.flac:2dfb7479c39e4bd01e847545b1a45b71
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t02.flac:bc85f784e449987bbe2b6e1ff92dee84
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t03.flac:847ecc3ef9e2640ccaa3ec81da659037
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t04.flac:86bc9979cf9a2393a99f19f3ce4adb86
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t05.flac:f37cb30bfa31f46c0d351162afd83b31
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t06.flac:27647bc3792a86c974f0853feb1a64dc
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t07.flac:2638169aa6836880db952fc5502424b9
BirthdayParty1981-11-30t08.flac:d80c60749b491e3039b32f0ddbae382e


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes regarding a currently circulating recording that purports to be Oxford 1981-11-30:

There does seem to be a recording in circulation that is wrongly identified as being
from this venue and date. Google will turn up a few hits for a tracklisting as follows:
1. King Ink
2. Happy Birthday
3. Guilt Parade
4. Yard
5. Nick The Stripper
6. Safe House
7. Catman
8. Cry
9. Hair Shirt
10. Riddle House
Time 35:59

I would suggest that the most likely venue & date for this show is Sydney 1980-11-28,
for the following reasons:
* According to the information at http://home.iae.nl/users/maes/cave/live/bpgigs.html
the Birthday Party do not seem to have performed "standard" setlists until early 1983.
* From the Sydney show, the first 4 songs, and the final 6 songs match the listing above.
* Riddle House is only listed *once*, for Sydney 1980-11-28, in the gig / song listing
at http://www.fromthearchives.com/bp/chronology.html

I have not heard either the Sydney 1980-11-28 recording, nor the misidentified 1981-11-30
tape, so I can't say for sure. But I think that those who have both recordings should look
into this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------