NEW COLLECTION- last week, my old friend Craig Hilmer visited California from his home in Minnesota. We traded tapes in the 80s and 90s, and got to be pretty good friends. I even shipped out the Marantz PMD430 so he could record a concert that he promoted- Yo La Tengo at Beerland in Austin (he lived there at the time). It had been about 35 years since we hung out, so I made the 3 hour drive to SF. It was nice meeting his wife (Lori) and family friend.

The part that you might care about is that Craig brought a shopping bag full of his master recordings. He taped so many early alternative bands- the one pile I pulled so far has this, The Pogues, 4 R.E.M. shows, Lawrence McMurtry, and Camper Van Beethoven– all from 1988-1989. So this is going to be fun!

When I pulled this one to digitize, I figured it would be one of those echoey college auditorium types of things. Nope, this sounds fantastic! I didn’t need to do much of anything to make it sound better. I pushed the bass a little. That was it.

EDIT: D’oh! This is riddled with errors! Craig promoted a show with YLT at Tacoland in San Antonio, not Beerland in Austin. Also, this is one of 2 or 3 tapes that Craig sent that he did not tape. It was an acquaintance from San Antonio who used a Sony WMD6C.

Thanks Craig!

Recorded by: Craig Hilmer’s friend with a Sony WMD6C
Transfer by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Nakamichi Dragon and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
EQ in Sony Soundforge 10