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Anaheim 1981 major upgrade coming / Mike Millard Masters


K.K.VanMalmsteen
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Here is some exciting news on the bootleg front.

Anaheim 1981, recorded by the legendary taper Mike Millard, (https://en.wikipedia...ki/Mike_Millard) will be getting a Major upgrade at some point in the (hopefully) near future.

Legend has long dictated that Mike's collection of master cassettes was either destroyed by Mike prior to his untimely death, or tossed out by his family after.

Fortunately for fans of bootlegs, these legends were not true. The archive of Mike Millard master recordings has been Found, Preserved, and will be Shared.

What that means for the Rush community is a MASTER>DAT upgrade to the finest Moving Pictures Tour recording is on the horizon.

It could also mean that previously unknown Rush recordings made by Mr Millard will find their way out. Apparently there are Many shows never shared by Mike in this archive.

Here are some details I found on a Led Zeppelin community page (some of the most legendary Led Zeppelin live recordings were made by Mike)

 

 

"Mike Millard’s master cassettes, long rumored to be destroyed or lost, have been found. Not all of them, but many, and with them a much more complete picture has emerged of what Millard recorded between his first show in late 1973 and his last in early 1992.

The reason the rediscovery of his master tapes is such a revelation is that we’ve been told for decades they were long gone. Internet myths suggest Millard destroyed his master tapes before taking his own life, an imprudent detail likely concocted based on assumptions that because the master tapes had never surfaced and Mike’s mental state was troubled, he would do something that rash WITH HIS LIFE’S WORK. There’s also a version of the story where Mike’s family dumps the tapes after he dies.

The truth is, Mike’s masters remained in his bedroom for many years after his death in 1994. We know at least a few of Millard’s friends and acquaintances contacted his mother inquiring about the tapes after his death to no avail. But in the early 2000s, longtime Millard friend Rob S was the one she knew and trusted enough to preserve Mike’s work.

 

 

Here’s Rob’s account of how Millard’s master tapes were saved:

 

After Mike left us, I visited his mom Lia occasionally, usually around the holidays. She’d talk about the grandkids and show me pictures. She had no one to help out around the house so I did some minor improvements like fixing a kitchen shelf that collapsed and another time a gate that hadn’t worked for years.

After a few visits, I explained to Lia how the tapes were metal, up to 25 years old already and would eventually deteriorate. She agreed to let me take the tapes and make copies. We went into Mike’s bedroom and it was exactly like I remembered it when I was there years before. I loaded up every tape I could find and went to work copying them. Oldest first, some requiring “surgery.”

Months later when I was done copying, I compared what I had copied to a list Mike had compiled of his masters and realized there were many shows missing. I returned the tapes and asked Lia if we could see if there were any more somewhere else in the house. We went into a back bedroom and found a bunch of boxes filled with more original master tapes. I loaded them up, thanked Lia and left. This was the last time I would see her. I copied the rest of the tapes and stored the masters in a cool dry place until late last year when Jim R. reached out. We had known each other through Mike. After speaking with Jim, and later BK who had tracked him down, I knew their partnership was the “right way” to get this music out to everyone who wanted it, and I’m sure Mike would have agreed.

 

 

Initially, Rob copied a large batch of Millard’s master cassettes to DAT and returned them to the house. The second time around, he was given a large portion of the cassette collection, different from what he had copied to DAT.

The first round of DAT transfers features some of Millard’s most famous recordings of Led Zeppelin, ELP, the Rolling Stones and Jethro Tull. The second traunch of actual cassette masters includes his captures of Yes, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Rush and Pink Floyd.

As exciting as it is to access Millard’s masters of the shows we know and love, there are many new recordings in both collections from artist like Elton John, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Eric Clapton, The Who, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Guns N’ Roses, Linda Ronstadt, David Bowie, the Moody Blues, U2 and more.

Even with an information gap in the mid ‘80s when Millard was surely taping but there is no tape or written evidence as to what he captured, we have now confirmed some 280 shows Millard did record. Of those, there are master cassettes for approximately 100 shows, DATs off masters of another 75 and first generation analog copies for 20-25. Together, that nearly quadruples the number of extant Millard recordings. In the coming months we will release more amazing shows from the recovered treasure, some familiar, some entirely new."

Edited by K.K.VanMalmsteen
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I thought it was already put up on Dime.

No mention of other Rush shows recorded (hopefully there are some as they are being sorted)

A great Signals tour or PEW tour would be great

 

I believe that a new source first gen copy was put up on dime, but this would be a DAT clone of the master recording.

Basically every show by every band that Millard ever recorded will be upgraded by at least 1 gen.

 

As a Zeppelin fanatic, I absolutely cannot wait to hear Listen To This Eddie straight from the master tapes.

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I thought it was already put up on Dime.

No mention of other Rush shows recorded (hopefully there are some as they are being sorted)

A great Signals tour or PEW tour would be great

 

Here is a post from JEMS responding to my question about additional Rush shows.

 

No additional Rush shows I'm afraid. A true first-generation copy of Anaheim 1981 was posted to DIME a few weeks ago. We now have the master tapes' date=' but that show is not likely to move to the front of the queue for awhile given the first gen just got out there.[/quote']

 

So no additional Millard Rush recordings. That's a bummer. A Mike Millard master from the Signals Tour would have been an unbelievable discovery.

But at some point in the future his master of Anaheim 81 will be circulated so I will be patient and look forward to that!

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As a Zeppelin fanatic, I absolutely cannot wait to hear Listen To This Eddie straight from the master tapes.

 

That is already the best-sounding audience recording of a Zeppelin show that I’ve ever heard. Tremendous performance as well (they were rather erratic on the ‘77 tour).

 

A sonic upgrade would be fun to hear, indeed.

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I thought it was already put up on Dime.

No mention of other Rush shows recorded (hopefully there are some as they are being sorted)

A great Signals tour or PEW tour would be great

 

Here is a post from JEMS responding to my question about additional Rush shows.

 

No additional Rush shows I'm afraid. A true first-generation copy of Anaheim 1981 was posted to DIME a few weeks ago. We now have the master tapes' date=' but that show is not likely to move to the front of the queue for awhile given the first gen just got out there.[/quote']

 

So no additional Millard Rush recordings. That's a bummer. A Mike Millard master from the Signals Tour would have been an unbelievable discovery.

But at some point in the future his master of Anaheim 81 will be circulated so I will be patient and look forward to that!

 

Not really all that surprised. We were lucky enough to get that one because Rush was huge that year. A lot of the famous "celebrity" tapers never taped Rush.

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I thought it was already put up on Dime.

No mention of other Rush shows recorded (hopefully there are some as they are being sorted)

A great Signals tour or PEW tour would be great

 

Here is a post from JEMS responding to my question about additional Rush shows.

 

No additional Rush shows I'm afraid. A true first-generation copy of Anaheim 1981 was posted to DIME a few weeks ago. We now have the master tapes' date=' but that show is not likely to move to the front of the queue for awhile given the first gen just got out there.[/quote']

 

So no additional Millard Rush recordings. That's a bummer. A Mike Millard master from the Signals Tour would have been an unbelievable discovery.

But at some point in the future his master of Anaheim 81 will be circulated so I will be patient and look forward to that!

 

Not really all that surprised. We were lucky enough to get that one because Rush was huge that year. A lot of the famous "celebrity" tapers never taped Rush.

 

Lampinski and Rick B out of Chicago are the only other ones that come to mind

 

MM gave us a great tape but of course I really wish he would have went to that PeW show 1980 03 10 Los Angeles Forum too. That recording could really use an upgrade

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