19.01.1985
USA, New York, The Ritz
The Gene Poole Collection Vol. 28
fair / good Aud.

01. Introduction / The Busy Girl Buys Beauty [2:48] 
02. Like Soldiers Do [3:13] 
03. Richard [4:55] 
04. The Saturday Boy [5:43] 
05. From A Vauxhall Velox [3:16]
06. Island Of No Return [4:49]
07. The Man In The Iron Mask [2:47] 
08. The Milkman Of Human Kindness [2:50] 
09. Between The Wars [3:12]
10. The World Turned Upside Down [2:58]
11. To Have And To Have Not [2:35]
12. A New England [4:55]
13.  A13, Trunk Road To The Sea [1:31]

Total Running Time: [45:35]

FLAC master, 25 January 2020, by elegymart:
Analog audience recording (mono) {recorded by Gene Poole}: unknown mics/recorder > 1983-84 US Maxell XLII 90-minute (Type II CrO2) analog audio cassettes {from the Gene Poole collection} > Sony TC-WE435 (azimuth adjustment) > Roland R05 (24/96) > Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (audio cleanup, convert to 16/44) > SHNtool (fixed SBE) > CD Wave (track splits) > TLH (WAV > FLAC8).
Created this text file.

Band line-up:
Billy Bragg - electric guitar, vocals
Dave Woodhead - trumpet on t04 and t07

Notes:
THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 28
Here's the latest installment of the Gene Poole Collection, a random wellspring of recordings which have recently surfaced. To paraphrase Lou: This is gonna go on for a while, so we should get used to each other, settle back, pull up your cushions, whatever else you have with you that makes life bearable to kick off the new decade...

Some of Gene's handiwork has probably been heard by your very ears before, for the most part via the Stonecutter Archives, but this is the first major unearthing of tapes direct from the legend himself. As promising as that may seem, it's best to let the surprises hit as they are shared. The trade-off to the prolific taping on Gene's part is that the expectations for a perfect track record would be unrealistic and unfair. There will be instances of incomplete recordings, caused by late arrivals to gigs, recorder and mic malfunctions, and other assorted foibles as would befall any mortal taper. There will be times where a master from another source exists which could be superior. For the most part, Gene recorded with a variety and mics and recorders, and many shows suffered from wire dropouts, so that only one channel was extant in the capture. Due warning about the past imperfect given and out of the way, credit should be given where due as well -- for many shows thought lost forever, it's exciting to discover that many of these even in incomplete form have now cropped up.

The transfers, the audio fixes, and the research all have required some lead time -- many tapes had scant info (sometimes just the name of the artist/band, with no date listed for the performance). Needless to say, gear documentation is virtually nil -- if we wait around for that precise detail to be forthcoming, nothing from the collection would probably see the light of day.

This installment presents Billy Bragg opening for Tom Robinson on the second of two nights at the Ritz, if one is to go by Billy's comments -- right before "Richard" he asks the audience who was in attendance the night before to gauge whether he should launch into his Springsteen jokes again.

The source tapes of the prior edition of the Gene Poole Collection, which was Tom Robinson, came from two cassettes, one of which was labeled "Tom Robinson 1/18/85" and the other labeled "Tom Robinson encore" on Side A. Side B of the "Tom Robinson encore" tape was unlabeled, and that is where this Billy Bragg set was found. Although a bit of detective work was involved, one would be led to believe that Gene may or may not have taped Billy Bragg's opening set from the 18th, then taped the Tom Robinson set from the 18th as he has labeled as such, and then he went back to the second night's show and taped Billy Bragg's opening set on the blank side of tape he hadn't used until that point from the previous night of taping. Follow? So now the mystery remains -- did Gene ever tape the Tom Robinson set from the 19th (or the Billy Bragg set from the 18th)? Inquiries have been made.

As for the recording, the sparse instrumentation -- just Billy with his guitar plugged in except for the two instances where Dave Woodhead provides trumpet accompaniment -- cuts through clearly and dare we say Billy's set here is not quite as sleepy as the Tom Robinson set from the night before? Unfortunately, unless Gene has the remainder of this set on another tape which hasn't yet surfaced, what's captured here is the first 45 minutes, as the Side B of the tape simply ran out -- at least it appears to have been cut on the final song of the set.

Enjoy, elegymart

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