Steel Mill - 1971-01-23 - Asbury Park, NJ (SBD/FLAC)

(Soundboard FLAC)

Bruce Springsteen (Steel Mill)

January 23, 1971

The Upstage

Asbury Park, NJ

Source: Soundboard

Taper/Label: Unknown

CDR --> EAC --> TLH --> Flac

01. Sweet Melinda

02. Oh Mama

03. Guilty

From Brucebase:

One show, double bill, with Steel Mill headlining and National Debt opening. This was advertised as the final Steel Mill gig and current evidence supports this, including Springsteen noting this fact at D'Scene earlier in the week. The dissolution of Steel Mill was amicable. Apparently Bruce had informed members in December, prior to a Christmas trip to California, of his desire to explore other musical directions. Speaking of his brief, 5 month (September 1970 - January 1971) Steel Mill tenure, vocalist Robbin Thompson has commented: “it was a strange thing. No one really knew why I was in the band….but about half way through I knew the band, as it was, wasn’t going to last, especially me.”

The above-mentioned partial setlist is taken from a very good quality soundboard recording that is now in circulation. This material has yet to appear on any mainstream CD boot. The audio features continuity between songs and marks the first ever appearance of any Springsteen audio from The Upstage. These three songs are culled from early in the set and may possibly be the show’s opening three numbers. This is also the first time a rendition of “Sweet Melinda” has surfaced in nice sound quality. The remainder of the show has not surfaced.

The text below is copyrighted to Jeannie Clark Fisher. Many thanks for all her help. Jeannie played The Upstage the night after the show listed above.

The Upstage, Asbury Park, NJ, 1-24-71

"The Upstage Coffeehouse was a great place – small and intimate with a listening crowd. I remember climbing the stairway that led to the tiny backstage area. The stage itself was compact, but didn’t discourage the musicians on hand to jam at times on my solo sets – Bruce, Garry Tallent, Vinnie Lopez, Steve Van Zandt, “Southside” Johnny Lyon, and my good friend, the late clarinet/sax player, Terry Loughran. I sang and banged on the old, out-of -tune upright piano or strummed my Martin guitar, while Tinker taped the music onto his reel-to-reel recorder. (I still have the original tape of the show on January 24th. The band, “Odin”, with their lengthy, spacey, instrumental, acid-rock music, played that night, also.)"

Songs: “Feel Like A Woman”, “Back Here”, “Livin’ In The Country”, “You Ain’t Goin’Nowhere”, “The World’s A Sad Place”, “Black Skies”, “No One’s Lesson But Your Own”.

Bruce Springsteen (Steel Mill) - 1971-01-22 - Asbury Park, NJ (AUD/FLAC)

(Audience FLAC)

Bruce Springsteen (Steel Mill) 
The Upstage 
Asbury Park, NJ 
January 22, 1971 
(Previously Un-circulated) 
(The penultimate Steel Mill show) 

Transfer: Cassette Master > Reel > CDR > EAC Rip > .wav files > Peak Pro XT (subtle tweak / edit / re-index) > xACT 2.37 > FLAC 

01 Dancing In The Street > Honky Tonk Women > Proud Mary 
02 Oh Mama 
03 Goin' Back To Georgia 
04 He's Guilty (The Judge Song) 
05 Changing Children 
06 Train Ride 
07 I Gotta Be Free > Turn On Your Lovelight 
08 Run Shaker Life 
09 Public Service Announcement 
10 Resurrection 

Known Faults: 
-Beginnings of most songs cut 
-Resurrection: end cut 

Fate, serendipity, happy coincident or simple good luck...whatever you want to call the emergence of a 46 year old previously uncirculated recording that has been remarkably preserved for almost 5 decades, one thing is for sure, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to 2 Bruce fans on a recent excursion to Asbury Park that stumbled onto a historically important find. 

First off, a little about the discovery, taking a trip to Asbury Park for the Light Of Day show, JL member "DGPIRL" and Bruce fan "TAD" took an Uber to dinner before the show. As will happen in Asbury Park, "TAD" decided she'd ask about the driver's local connections to the area after finding out he was a life long resident. Of course the conversation turned to Bruce and the driver mentioned his brother had taped one of Bruce's last Steel Mill shows and he had a copy he listened to in the car. Not knowing for sure if this was something brand new and after a bit of back and forth haggling, "DGPRIL" struck a deal to purchase the CDR's, the driver only agreed after he was reminded he could get another copy from his brother. 

Guessing he had at least made a deal for a low generation Steel Mill show but still not knowing if it was something brand new or not, data files were forwarded to me for research. Based on the set list and the inclusion of "Train Ride" with Robbin Thompson providing lead vocals, I was able to narrow the date down to between October 1970 and January 1971 and to my surprise it appeared to be a brand new un-circulated show. What are the chances after 46 years two fans would come across a brand new show during a random Uber ride. Still not 100% convinced and with further detailed research needed, I sent the files to Pete at Brucebase to ensure it was not an already circulating show and to see if it could be specifically dated with a high level of certainty. 

So how did we arrive at January 22nd, first clue comes from the driver stating it was his brother that taped the show and it was one of Steel Mill's last. 
In addition, Pete helped identify a number of clues in the recording itself. 
Our biggest indicator of the date comes towards the end of the show when the band gives a 90 second stage announcement, I believe Robbin is talking and comments about the importance of the club as the only place where they can play and jam, not necessarily with Steel Mill, and it needs to stay open. This is clearly referring to The Upstage. In addition, Bruce comments about Danny Federici's legal issues that arose from the incident at the Clearwater Swim Club in Atlantic Highlands in September 1970, and his subsequent guilty plea that took place sometime in November. 
You can read more about that incident here: 
https://brucebase.wikispaces.com/1970#110970 
Finally, mention is made there will be a jam session later in the night and that the band will be playing tomorrow night as well and we know that Steel Mill's last show took place on the 23rd. 

The set is very similar to the January 18th set at the D'Scene, it is possible this show is complete or one or two songs could be missing. At the beginning of the announcement from the stage, the next to last track, you can here a conversation amongst audience members wondering if they will play one more song, so that would confirm that "Ressurection" is most likely in the encore spot. Bruce comments during the PSA from the stage that after the show there will be a jam, there is also a comment by someone, probably a club employee, from the stage after "Run Shaker Life" to stick around for the jam session coming up. So unless the taper decided not to tape certain songs this is likely the complete show though it is possible there was a second encore. 

This is the only extant near complete audio of Springsteen playing at The Upstage, an historically important club to the Asbury Park music scene and an historically important audio document of Asbury Park's most famous musician playing there. In addition, it is only the second audio that has surfaced of Bruce playing at this legendary club. The first being 3 songs from the soundboard of the following night and last Steel Mill show. 

For an audience recording in the era, the recording is very good, close to the stage with overall good clarity. There is some swooshing sound to the highs, normally I might attribute this to too much eq applied but based on the lineage (cassette > reel > CDR) it is likely in the recording itself. Samples provided. 

The taper tuned off the recorder between songs therefore many of the beginnings are missing, fade ins and outs were already applied by the taper, I did clean the transitions up a bit. 

Thanks go out to "DGPIRL" for recognizing the possibilities and the MVP of the story "TAD", without her initial curiosity this recording may have never found its way to us 46 years after it's taping. And finally, to Pete (Brucebase) our resident expert helping nail this one down.