The eBay 198x Demo Cassette

[srb]

Okay folks,

In light of the recent posts in the eBay thread, I have contacted a couple of hipbasers with the news.

Despite my eBay bid of $275US, which was the 2nd highest/2nd last bid in the auction, I obviously didn't win the tape. My plan was to share it, but noticing that the HipTracker bank-account has dwindled, and considering that many people here wanted to contribute to a "group-bid", I thought I'd use the demo tape to raise some money towards the Tracker costs.

Of course, I didn't win it, and I felt sick to my stomach, as was sure I would.

However, 15 minutes after the auction ended, I sent a message to the seller, offering a financial bribe for a copy of the tape before he sent it to the winning bidder. He replied that he would do that for me, and I drove to Pickering on Easter Sunday, and picked up a copy of the tape.

Lets just say, that my offer was more than the $150 he's now selling copies for, but less than the $300+CAD the winning bidder paid.

I was dying to make it public that I had a copy of the tape, reading the posts in this thread. I don't think anybody here can question my integrity in getting recordings out to the public, however this was a different situation, in that I had obtained it by bribing the seller of an official auction.

The last position I want to be in, is to put the seller's integrity into question, having made a copy for me after the auction. I also didn't think it fair to the buyer of the cassette, to have the material freely available online following the hyped auction. It wasn't really my recording to share, even though I had a copy.

I told myself that I wouldn't mention this to anyone, unless I found out that money was being made from the recording outside of the auction, and my purchase. I fully understood when I bought the copy that the seller may sell it to other people, but there was a chance that I could have been a special situation as I had placed an extemely high bid in the auction.

Reading yesterday's posts from Dana, and the following offers of donation from hipbasers, I realized that the seller was still selling copies, and that there was no need for hipbasers to give this guy more money for the recording. I promptly told Dana to not purchase a copy of the cassette, explaining everything here.

Now that this recording is available publically from a source other than the winning bidder, I will plan to release it on the HipTracker, for everyone to enjoy.

It was suggested to me that I try and re-coup the money I paid, but to me, the costs are no different than those incurred by the tapers on the board that spend money putting shows together for others, or those who run the web-sites promoting the Hip.

I have been in contact with Chris, and as my original intentions were to try and raise some money to offset the costs of the HipTracker, I intend to keep on with that plan.

Therefore, I have asked Chris to send me an email, when $150 of new donations to the HipTracker have been accepted, at which point, I'll torrent the demos for everybody. I figure if people are willing to raise money to buy a copy, why not use that same amount towards a service that the community already uses, instead of giving more money to the seller.

Rock'n Roll!

srb

[screw_ball]

Well, then, I'll most definitely be donating some money for the tracker. I mean, I shouldn't need any incentive like this to donate money to such a great site, but I'm poor. Yeah, that's gonna be my excuse.

[chris]

This image will update as we move towards the goal. Thanks to Corby for the ticker!

Click the image to go to the donation page.

[mcwslc]

I’ll go ahead and ask, was the description on EBAY 100% accurate?

[srb]

I’ll go ahead and ask, was the description on EBAY 100% accurate?

I've compared the songs to how they sound to the earliest bootlegs I have, and I can definitely say these songs pre-date Up To Here, but it's hard to say if they pre-date the EP, since there's nothing from the EP on the tape, and the earliest version of a non-album track from the demo, I have on a 1988 bootleg. Comparing Times Are Passing Us By to the 1988-03-03 London, ON show, they sound quite similar, so this is possibly a 1987/8 demo tape. I don't know.

For the songs that end up on Up To Here, a couple sound like they had taken shape, but a few also sound completely different than the released versions. (New Orleans is quite similar, except for an unsteady opening riff, and it includes the extra verse -- check Museum After Dark for the additional verse lyrics)

Quality wise, it's definitely studio, but a fair amount of tape-hiss is prevalent. When I transferred from cassette to the Mac, I applied a light hiss-reduction filter, and cut a little from the high-end frequencies to try and reduce the hiss, but not "muddle" the music. After the recording is released on the tracker, I'll do a higher-end transfer of the cassette for anybody who wants to take a stab at remastering it (already had one offer).

Here's an mp3 sample from the tape.

Times Are Passing Us By

[screw_ball]

Holy Christ, that is amazing. That song is the exact reason why I wanted this tape shared. I currently have 36 cents to my name, but I will be saving up every penny to donate to the tracker.

[dreyfuss]

Great idea SRB, thanks for your efforts in obtaining this, I know a few folks that'll be very happy about this

[Tthip]

I just contributed my $20.
Thanx Scott and Chris.

[chris]

As donations are pouring in, perhaps we could bump this up to cover the cost of tape (srb's $150), as well as the new server upgrade?

Throughts?

[Tthip]

As donations are pouring in, perhaps we could bump this up to cover the cost of tape (srb's $150), as well as the new server upgrade?
Throughts?

I tried talking him into that - but alas, Scott said no.
But I am all for it.

[chris]

Well let's just change the goal to $300 and we'll work on him later.

[hotmetal401]

I'd say this version sounds more like the 1988 Horseshoe recording than the later '88 London version. It's also not the same version that ended up on the Road Apples demos (seriously people, if you have it on tape, get digitalized -- you're killing us here).

SRB, can you post a tracklisting before setting the tape up online?

Cheers,

Pat

[sean.bonner]

I'd say this version sounds more like the 1988 Horseshoe recording than the later '88 London version. It's also not the same version that ended up on the Road Apples demos (seriously people, if you have it on tape, get digitalized -- you're killing us here).

SRB, can you post a tracklisting before setting the tape up online?

Cheers,

Pat

If you're talking about getting the Road Apples Demos digitalized...
The mp3s are here:
http://thehundredthmeridian.com/files/Demos/

[chris]

I'd say this version sounds more like the 1988 Horseshoe recording than the later '88 London version. It's also not the same version that ended up on the Road Apples demos (seriously people, if you have it on tape, get digitalized -- you're killing us here).

SRB, can you post a tracklisting before setting the tape up online?

Cheers,

Pat

Pat... there are details and the track listing here: www.hipfans.com/donate

[srb]

I've changed the Title of the thread to "198x", as it seems '86 may be a bit too early.

Well let's just change the goal to $300 and we'll work on him later.

I'll still plan on releasing the tape at the $150 mark as per the plan. Anything above and beyond can go towards the costs of the tracker.

All I'll ask for is that people with shows that haven't seen the tracker to take the step, and share with the community. That's what we're all here for.