The Gig Of The Decade - California Jam 1974
The day music and TV changed forever Under the sunny sky, some of the 70s biggest stars were at their peaks.
From one end of the globe to the other, music festivals went hand in hand with the day's music scene. None other was done more effectively than California Jam.
From one end of the globe to the other, music festivals went hand in hand with the day's music scene. None other was done more effectively than California Jam.
A look at the event.
On April 6th, 1974, the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. ABC Entertainment, along with Pacific Presentations, organized the festival. With the goal of capturing the apex of music and media capitalization. The caljam did just that, indeed. Setting the record for the most tickets sold ever and setting the record for the loudest speaker equipment ever attempted. Months of planning had preceded the jam. The site's construction started weeks in advance. Miles of chain-link fencing had been installed. Hundreds of water fountains and portable toilets were in place. A 45-bed hospital had been constructed in the infield. These things were set up in order to avoid the problems that Woodstock had experienced. A 600-foot length of railroad track was laid across the front of the stage area. ABC installed its own camera rigs and dollies. Overall, three separate stages were set up. They were mobile and rolled on the rail track. One stage was to be permanently set for Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The other groups would switch between the other two. While one band performed, equipment would be set up on the remaining stage for the next group. The idea was to cut the set-up time between bands to almost nothing. Tycobrahe Sound Company from Hermosa Beach, California, combined the touring systems of each band along with extra equipment from Phoenix Sound and Flag Systems. It was reported that a total power of 54,000 watts RMS was used. The stages were set in the western area of the infield for a reason. So, the west bound winds would blow the sound across to the crowd. And the back of the stages would block the wind from going into the microphones. After counting the tickets sold, it was clear there would be more people than originally planned. So, more security, fences, and sound equipment were quickly factored in. A three-man Tycobrahe crew was assigned to each stage for set-up and miking. The morning before the festival, the main system, monitor system, recording system, and TV systems were interconnected for the first time. At first, there was an overall mum coming through the speakers. The first thought was 'all my god'! But luckily, just one of the connectors was wired to ground. And that caused the problem. Shortly after one o’clock in the morning, fans began to enter the gates. At 10 a.m., over 200,000 fans filled the speedway as Rare Earth opened the show. ABC Network filmed the festival with a TV broadcast in mind. While the audio was broadcast on various FM radio stations across the US. Giving it a more overall national experience. Instead of the isolated movie-only filming style of festivals such as Woodstock. All these years later, though, only Deep Purple has released their entire festival appearance. While we have 44 minutes of ELP and four clips each from Black Sabbath and The Eagles. But more on the footage later. Throughout the day, the event went off successfully. To the surprise of most, the event didn't fall behind the set time. Even running early, which plays into Purple's headlining slot. The bands that appeared were :
Rare Earth - Earth, Wind & Fire - Eagles - Seals & Crofts - Black Oak Arkansas - Black Sabbath - Deep Purple - Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Rare Earth - Earth, Wind & Fire - Eagles - Seals & Crofts - Black Oak Arkansas - Black Sabbath - Deep Purple - Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Black Sabbath's Performance.
Black Sabbath planned to go a couple days early and get some rehearsal time in. They hadn't played together since February 1974. The sound crew arrived in America to discover that there was much argument between ELP and Deep Purple. Purple wanted to go on at a specific time. To catch the perfect sunlight and dusk setting. In order to use their rainbow backdrop. Sabbath manager Patrick Meehan also got tired of dealing with all the managers. So, they called off the gig, thinking it would fall apart anyway. Early in the morning, Meehan and Iommi received phone calls from their crew leader, Spock. Excited, he explained all the fans that wanted to see Sabbath. So, on a last-minute flight, they rushed over to the festival. The pressure was more than on them. On a last-minute flight, the band hadn't played together in a while. Playing in front of the biggest crowd they have ever seen. With the cameras more in their eyesight than they had experience. With all that in mind, they put out one of their best, if not the best performances of the 1970s. Thundering out Tomorrow's Dreams loud and proud. Perhaps this would be their best live version ever. But Bill and Tony tend to get a little out of sync halfway through. Ozzy is really fun and engaged with the audience at this show. He seemed impressed with the huge crowd. Commenting, "I've never seen so many people in my life" Their setlist was Tomorrow's Dream, Sweet Leaf, Killing Yourself To Live, War Pigs, Snowblind, Sabbra Cadabra, Jam with Drum Solo, Supernaut, Iron Man, Guitar Solo, Orchid, Sabbra Cadabra (reprise), Paranoid, Embryo, Children Of The Grave. Geezer and Bill just goes off the rails with their headbanging. Ozzy, with his hand clapping and overall crowd interaction, is his definitive live example. In my opinion, Iommi also does his best live imagery. Ozzy gave some comments on the gig in a Melody maker interview. His words went out like it was the most organized thing he'd ever seen. There were no pigs, no one was arrested, and everything had backups so nothing would fall behind. And he was too nervous to get high before the show. Didn't want to f*ck up and piss off the fans.
Audio & Video History
Audio : This is one of the most commonly fan traded shows in the band's history. It has been available since 1974! The majority of these trades originate from the soundboard. While some come from the ABC In Concert radio broadcast. Which only half the show was broadcast over the radio. Making it incomplete but also containing poorer quality. It doesn't contain hardly any of Ozzy's crowd banter. You couldn't broadcast foul language over the radio like Ozzy's does. The FM broadcast source comes from a Panasonic reel to reel recording done by Scott Lifshine. There were three professional audio recordings made that day. The Tycobrahe monitor system, the Wally Heider 24-track recording vans, and the ABC-TV videotape trucks. This show has been released under several 'R.O.I.O' names. The most well-known would have to be 'Cannabis Confusion'. This version is the best fan-made, quality-wise. But it is edited somewhat. 'Metal Mass' is the full show but is about B+ quality. Luckily, Wolfsgang's Vaults remastered the audio, and the version on their website is the definitive version. Until WV released the show, there was the question of whether the tape was just a really good audience recording. But WV set that thinking aside. The only complaint about the FM and soundboard sources is that they're too heavy on the high end. And lacking a lot of power on the low end. Geezer is non-audible in each. While these two are copies from a single tape, it is possible that the ABC trucks recorded using multi-tracks. Each instrument and mic have their own tape rolling. After all, they did edit this program for TV. And hearing the TV audio, the low end is better captured. Maybe it's just wishful thinking that the tapes still exist. If you look up this concert at WV it even says that the audio quality is less than stunning.
Update : I've just learned that Seals And Croft gained access to the multi-tracks from ABC. In order to release a live album. But the people involved in Seals And Crofts couldn't come to a deal. So it was scraped. Giving hope to the fact that Sabbath's tapes still exist.
Video : 5-10-1974 at 11:30 p.m., ABC Network's In Concert began broadcasting portions of the festival. On Friday nights every other week, there would be a 30-minute showing. The first episode broadcast was Children Of The Grave. The second episode on 5-24-1974 showed Killing Yourself To Live, War Pigs, and Paranoid. No personal copies of these particular airings are in circulation. During the early 1990s, Mexican television aired black and white versions of the Black Sabbath In Concert show. TV recordings of this made their way into trading. In the late 1990s, some rare collectors were able to get a hold of pre-remastered copies of the TV broadcast. But these were kept in very few hands. The first time most fans were able to see any footage of Sabbath's performance was on The Story Of Vol 1 1970-1078. Which gave us a not so clear black and white view of Children Of The Grave. Along with a clip of Ozzy's interview. Later, when this was re-released in 2002, the color version made its way out. Including more of the interview with Ozzy. Around the same time, the color versions of Killing, Pigs, Paranoid slipped into fan's hands. With nearly perfect picture and sound. The question is: does the complete films exist? For a long time, the answer was up in the air. After all, Deep Purple's entire performance was released on VHS and laser disc. Later on, DVD with extra footage. A couple years ago, someone sent me a copy of a newsletter from the old Black Sabbath fan club where Tony Iommi answered some questions. His interview said the footage does exist, but the audio is bad in certain spots. I also seem to remember an interview I read online where Iommi said it again. But I can't remember what site it was on. In the past couple of years, there has been some most welcomed news on the Sabbath front. A complete 8mm audience film of Tomorrow's Dreams was freely released to the world. A year before that, segments of Sabbath were seen on a behind the scenes 8mm film.
Update : I've just learned that Seals And Croft gained access to the multi-tracks from ABC. In order to release a live album. But the people involved in Seals And Crofts couldn't come to a deal. So it was scraped. Giving hope to the fact that Sabbath's tapes still exist.
Video : 5-10-1974 at 11:30 p.m., ABC Network's In Concert began broadcasting portions of the festival. On Friday nights every other week, there would be a 30-minute showing. The first episode broadcast was Children Of The Grave. The second episode on 5-24-1974 showed Killing Yourself To Live, War Pigs, and Paranoid. No personal copies of these particular airings are in circulation. During the early 1990s, Mexican television aired black and white versions of the Black Sabbath In Concert show. TV recordings of this made their way into trading. In the late 1990s, some rare collectors were able to get a hold of pre-remastered copies of the TV broadcast. But these were kept in very few hands. The first time most fans were able to see any footage of Sabbath's performance was on The Story Of Vol 1 1970-1078. Which gave us a not so clear black and white view of Children Of The Grave. Along with a clip of Ozzy's interview. Later, when this was re-released in 2002, the color version made its way out. Including more of the interview with Ozzy. Around the same time, the color versions of Killing, Pigs, Paranoid slipped into fan's hands. With nearly perfect picture and sound. The question is: does the complete films exist? For a long time, the answer was up in the air. After all, Deep Purple's entire performance was released on VHS and laser disc. Later on, DVD with extra footage. A couple years ago, someone sent me a copy of a newsletter from the old Black Sabbath fan club where Tony Iommi answered some questions. His interview said the footage does exist, but the audio is bad in certain spots. I also seem to remember an interview I read online where Iommi said it again. But I can't remember what site it was on. In the past couple of years, there has been some most welcomed news on the Sabbath front. A complete 8mm audience film of Tomorrow's Dreams was freely released to the world. A year before that, segments of Sabbath were seen on a behind the scenes 8mm film.
Legacy
Pre-event ticket sales went over the 2 million mark. If the planners had had foresight, they could have better capitalized on the growing live recording movement. The 1970s had Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive, Nugent Double Gonzo, plenty of other legendary live albums. But that didn't come to their minds, and no live album deal was struck. However, they learned from that mistake, and California II had a double LP released. Featuring Ted Nugent, Heart, Santana, Aerosmith, Dave Mason, Mohogany Rush, and Rubicon. The second festival didn't capture the same feel or success as the first. Blackmore's stage destruction proceeds most memories and writings of the event. The future of the footage and audio is up in the air. Which aids the specialness and mystique of the sunshine fueled day of music. Will there be another Caljam in the future. One can only ponder over why there were only these two.