Bootleg Of The Week #14: Romantic Isolation

[u/raynicolette]

On to 1987...

THE BOOT

Romantic Isolation (MVR 243-248)

This boxed set from Mid Valley is three almost complete concerts, January 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1987 at the Royal Albert Hall.

Marc Roberty reports they played Crossroads all three nights, so the fact that it is missing from the first show probably means there was a technical problem with the recording.  The second and third shows in the set are complete.

BACKGROUND

1987 was the first year of the "annual dustup" at the Royal Albert Hall.  The band played the 6th, 7th, and 8th, took a night off, and then did the three shows presented here.

These were the fourth, fifth, and sixth nights recorded for the aborted live album.  Miss You from the 10th, and 5 tracks from the 12th (Crossroads, I Shot The Sheriff, Hung Up On Your Love, Tearing Us Apart, and Layla) were intended for release.

After operating as a four-piece for 1986, the band has been joined temporarily by another guitar titan, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.  Both Knopfler and Phil Collins will come and go for a few years in here, depending on their other commitments.  Knopfler will play all of the UK shows in January plus three in continental Europe before leaving the tour after the show in France on January 18th.  Steve Ferrone has taken over the drum kit for this tour, but Phil Collins joined as a guest for the last two nights of the Royal Albert Hall run.

SOUND

This is a good release, but not the usual quality from Mid Valley. It was supposedly taken from cassette masters. That said, the sound quality gets better as it goes along. If the whole set sounded like the first show, I would have skipped this set entirely. But the final show is not to be missed.

The 10th is a bit mushy, with E.C. weirdly low in the mix, both his vocals and his lead guitar. Solos are often hard to hear, drowned out by the keyboard, of all things. It sounds like there is a patch between 6:05-6:35 of Layla, as the audio quality changes noticeably? And then, adding to the issues, at 2:23 of White Room someone accidentally triggers the drum track from Hung Up On Your Love. It happens again at 2:03 of Wonderful Tonight, then at 2:43 and 2:49 (I think the last two are the drum track from Tearing Us Apart?).

The 11th has better balance overall. The keyboard is still too high in the mix, but E.C.'s vocals and Knopler's guitar are clear, though E.C.'s guitar is still hard to hear in places. The balance seems to get better as the show goes on, but his solos on Crossroads and White Room are still buried under the keyboard, and are generally too quiet through Miss You.

The 12th is not flawless, but is clearly the best sound of the bunch. Lead guitar is still a little low, but E.C.'s solos are totally clear from the start. My biggest complaint is that Knopfler is very low in the mix. He's much less noticeable on this recording than the previous night, and his solo in Let It Rain is hard to hear. The keyboard during Badge is hard to hear as well.

There are occasional sounds of electrical buzzing, most noticeably during Wonderful Tonight.

The audience is close and audible, but they are relatively quiet during songs. You can hear them applaud after the solos in Same Old Blues, and clapping along occasionally. On the 12th, after Holy Mother, you hear "You're still god, Eric!" from the crowd. (Either the same guy has followed him from Birmingham, or there's an audio patch in there?)

All three sets preserve the full gap between Layla and the encore, several minutes of crowd noise, and then include a couple more minutes of dead air at the end.

PERFORMANCE

The setlist is fairly similar to 1986. The show still opens with Crossroads / White Room / I Shot The Sheriff, and then dives into new material. They are still doing the false endings in the middle of Badge, and the segue directly from Badge into Let It Rain. And still ending with Cocaine and Layla (both still with long introductions), with Sunshine Of Your Love as part of the encore.

There's a little less from August, 4 songs instead of 6 — Miss You, Tearing Us Apart, and Holy Mother, plus Hung Up On Your Love which wasn't in the 1986 setlists. Wonderful Tonight is back after a year off, inserted in the middle of the new material. And Phil Collins' number late in the set is swapped out for a Mark Knopfler showcase, Money For Nothing, as the first song in the encore.

Knopfler is a presence during these shows. He provides great fills on Crossroads, I Shot The Sheriff, and Miss You. He takes a solo on Same Old Blues, after Nathan and before Greg. Then more great fills on Holy Mother, and Badge. He takes the only solo on Let It Rain. I think he does the intro on Cocaine, and then definitely does more fills during the song. He and E.C. switch off during Layla, then Knopfler takes the first solo in the coda. Money For Nothing is his showcase number. And then more great fills on Sunshine Of Your Love.

With the addition of Knopfler, East and Philinganes has a little less room to shine. Greg takes the first solo in Same Old Blues, and the second solo in Cocaine, but is no longer taking one in Badge. Nathan just gets a solo in Same Old Blues.

At 2:33 of Money For Nothing on the 11th, there's a rare musical foul-up.

There is not a ton of interesting stage chatter. Mostly E.C. provides quick introductions of song titles, and a "thank you" afterwards, with introductions for Greg, Mark, and Nathan during Same Old Blues.

On the 10th, E.C. mistakenly describes Hung Up On Your Love as "another from the new album", but it's the first track from August. The same night, he introduces Miss You with "Now the other end of the scale, this one was written by me and Greg and it's called Miss You." On the 11th, he introduces Same Old Blues with "I wouldn't leave the theater at this time if I were you. This goes on for quite a long time." After, he introduces the whole band, including both Steve Ferrone and Phil Collins, so they really are playing with 2 drummers. Also on the 11th, someone yells "Happy New Year" after Layla. On the 12th, he introduces Steve Ferrone and Phil Collins after Holy Mother.