Return Of The Exiles (Halcyon)
Tarrant County Convention Center, Ft. Worth, TX – June 24th, 1972 (evening show)
Brown Sugar, Bitch, Rocks Off, Gimme Shelter, Don’t Lie To Me, Love In Vain, Sweet Virginia, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Tumbling Dice, Midnight Rambler, band introduction, Bye Bye Johnny, Rip This Joint, Jumping Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man
There are several recordings of the Texas concerts from the STP, but this contains the soundboard recording of the evening show in Fort Worth on June 24th. The soundboard recording is incomplete, missing “Happy” and “All Down The Line” and the label didn’t edit in the audience recording, video soundtrack or anything from the Houston show from the following evening as many of the older releases did. Vinyl Gang were the first to release this on Fort Worth Express (VGP-205). It was good but very hissy. Sister Morphine mastered this to reduce the hiss, and other releases featuring this tape include Touring Party 1972 on Rattlesnake (048/49/50), and How’s Your Lungs (Stones Of Fire SOF 8002). Plug In – Flush Out (VGP-259) has “Bitch”, “Don’t Lie To Me”, “Midnight Rambler”, “Brown Sugar”, and “All Down The Line”.
Dragon Slayers (VGP-001) has “Bitch” and “Rip This Joint” from the video soundtrack and Turn The Heat Up! (which is the latest release of this show) on Bad Wizard contains the movie soundtrack in its entirety. Halcyon was able to reduce (although not entirely eliminate) the present hiss and brighten up what is otherwise a well balanced but slightly dark soundboard recording. This is still one of the best documented and best sounding concerts available from this tour and this is definitely another great title by this new label. One of this concert’s claims to fame is the inclusion of the rare Chuck Berry cover “Don’t Lie To Me” but the entire show is fantastic. This comes like the others with very thick inserts with hologram stars in the paper and rare pictures from the tour. The label produced what is probably the definitive version of this soundboard and this is a worthy upgrade that is worth having.
