The Music Will Never Stop 80

Well, that explains what was up with the “TV Concert” tape! I clearly reversed it at some point. Side 2 must have been the original Side 1. It’s a recording of the first episode of “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert,” followed by the beginning of “Attack of the Crab Monsters.” It was clearly made with microphones pointed at the TV, not a line connection, because you can hear me and someone else (maybe Jack Wells) giggling hysterically at the start of “Attack of the Crab Monsters.”

It’s got the Doobie Brothers, Cross Country, and the Rolling Stones, but the Stones aren’t live — online sources say it was just some of their videos, not concert footage at all.

Those sources also say Earth, Wind and Fire were on there, but at first I didn’t notice them during playback. That must have been when I went upstairs for lunch.

But when I went to edit this down, there they were. Earth, Wind and Fire did three numbers while I was getting lunch. They’re there.

So I got five tracks from the Doobies, three from Earth, Wind and Fire, and two (sort of) from Cross Country. That last — there’s one actual song, but first there’s a five-minute thing that’s partly a medley of three of their songs (and I think it uses two different recordings of “In the Midnight Hour,” one live and one off their album), partly introducing the entire band, and partly a sort of backstage glimpse.

I didn’t bother with any of the Stones’ stuff — it’s all off albums I already have, not live versions.

I cut out ads and applause and other crap, and the Stones videos, and wound up with 47 minutes out of the 90-minute show.

I also tossed about twenty minutes of “Attack of the Crab Monsters.”

So that leaves eight more tapes in the stack, and I think I actually already did one of them but put it back to try for a cleaner copy. I’m hoping to get them all done by the end of the year, but that’s probably much too optimistic.