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Sign O’ The Times Tour Aftershow

Quasimodo, Berlin

15th May 1987 (am)

1 CDR

Label: S.I.T. Records

Cat No:  #SIT 030

Running Time: 39:45

Source: Audience Recording

Quality: G

Released: January 2009

*Review*

Mmmmm, where to start. The show itself has been out for some years now, most notably on the Body Heat bootleg and what we have here has been taken directly from that version. The original recording was really not a great example from that year and was one of the worst around, which makes it all the more baffling as to why any attempt has been made to rescue it as it was largely beyond help. So what do we have here then? A new source? A higher generation copy? Neither unfortunately as this (although masquerading as a lossless release) has been sourced from the Body Heat MP3’s and unfortunately that’s not where the problem’s end.

This release now has the dubious honour of actually being worse than the boot it originated from. For a start, the track order has been changed (why?) and, for some unknown reason, the pitch is all wrong so now we have it playing a little faster than it should be. Add to that some distortion and pops that frequently  plague the recording (which weren’t present before) and the fact that there are now horrible gaps between the tracks and you really are starting to look at quite a mess of a release and amateurish to say the least. I can’t find one redeeming feature on this recording and have already consigned it to ‘bootleg hell’ courtesy of the ever useful delete button.

It’s a shame we’ve never had a good quality version of this show as it’s a fine example of the aftershows from 1987. Although still incomplete, this has always contained one of my favourite renditions of ‘Just My Imagination’, a stripped back, piano led version giving it a much more soulful feel than normal and as always, ‘It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night’ is a lengthy and funky gem that always entertains.

I’m all for fan releases especially as we have many, many fine examples of what can be done when love and attention to detail prevail from people doing it just for the love of the music. Unfortunately, there seems to be more and more of these kinds of rushed, half-assed and poorly executed releases flooding the trading community that are doing nothing useful for any self respecting collector, only serving to deceive the fan with wild claims of being ‘remasters’ (I’m sorry, messing with the EQ does not constitute this). This doesn’t appear to be the first release from these guys and may not be a fair example of their output, but based on what I’ve heard here I certainly won’t be tracking down any of the others and this one is most definitely best avoided like the plague.

1. Red House (listed as Instrumental)   2. Body Heat   3. Just My Imagination   4. Housequake   5. It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night