Journey - Live at Diamond Head Crater, Hawaii (1973) Ex SB

(US 1973-Present)

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One of Journey's earliest gigs recorded on New Years Eve 1973 at the Sunshine Festival, Diamond Head Crater, Hawaii. It was recorded by Don Amick with a Sony 126 cassette deck and two mics mounted on poles, 20 feet apart. 

This live recording was where Journey began and where its reputation was made. This rip comes from a 1st Gen. reel copy of this amazing performance! Note that there was no 'remastering' done to this recording apart from a 6.9 gain boost, cleaning up the cut from original tape flip and adding beginning and ending fades.

There was no re-encoding or compression added. There is some light tape crackle in the left channel on tracks 4, 5 and 6 that was on taper Pat's original reel. This, to me, does not affect the overall quality of the recording, which again is excellent! I personally feel the sound quality is superior to all other complete and incomplete versions of this show out there (see Charge Of The Light Brigade). This is a nice, warm mix with excellent stereo separation. Neal is on FIRE and the rest of the band really cook.

This early incarnation of Journey was definitely into heavy rock and had yet to develop its distinctive fusion feel that was later evident in their first three albums.

If you took away the vocals in 'Your My Girl' you could easily mistaken the band for Mountain, as their style and sound is very similar. The start to Voodoo Chile is alittle clumsy and I'm sure I felt 'Hendrix' stir in his grave when I first heard this track, but it still rocks never the less. Most of the tracks on this album exceed 10mins in length and contain extended guitar and keyboard interplays with underlining bass runs. The inclusion of 'Black Magic Woman' to close the show confirms that Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie were still under the influence of their recent association with Santana. This recording also trades under the name 'Happy Birthday' - indicative of the birth of a powerhouse band that is still producing great music today.

As promised in an earlier Journey post, here is the rip of their infamous live debut, taken from tape at 320kps and includes limited artwork.

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Track Listing

01. You're My Girl

02. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

03. Tonight

04. Storm

05. Pirates of the Caribbean

06. Black Magic Woman
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.Band Members:

Neal Schon (Guitar)

Pete Sears (Bass)

Gregg Rolie (Keyboards / Vocals)

Greg Errico (Drums)

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Journey Link (128Mb) 

New Link 12/11/2024