ARTIST: B-52's
VENUE: World Music Festival, Montego Bay
CITY: Freeport Zone, Jamaica
SET(S): Entire
A-SBD
SSSB Audio Rating: AR1a

LINEAGE: SBD > Festival Master Cassette > D > D > SSSB

other artist(s): Bobby And The Midnites, Jimmy Cliff, Grateful Dead, Gladys Knight & 
The Pips, Ronnie Milsap, Peter Tosh; encore missing; any/all editing, fades, NR, 
hiss elimination, phase shifting/"time smear" correction, jitter elimination, 
EQ were performed using 100% digital processing (24-bit/96 kHz) at Serafin Station 
Studio B [this show was released 07/00]

DISC ONE
Track 01: Party (02:22.510) initial 01:18 removed from my DAT master
Track 02: Give Me Back My Man (05:58.805)
Track 03: Planet Claire (04:02.523)
Track 04: Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can (04:01.242)
Track 05: Lava (04:11.949)
Track 06: Messopotamia (04:02.535)
Track 07: 6060842 (03:41.558)
Track 08: 52 Girl (03:03.142)
Track 09: Dance This Mess Around (04:24.218)
Track 10: Rock Lobster (04:57.641)


COMMENTS:
Aw hell, just get up and dance!  This is what the B-52's are all about!  The engineers 
who made this master were using multiple professional studio cassette decks running at 
twice the usual speed (7.5 i.p.s.), so the initial hiss was minimal to begin with. 
Just a very slight "tweak" with the editing software, and the result: the hiss is 
almost inaudible (-62 dB), and the music was not affected by the noise reduction.

It's great to hear artists and groups who really like to have the "REAL" sound to 
their equipment. Between songs, you hear the typical Fender "buzz" coming from the 
amps, which disappears once the music starts. The energy level has in the ozone, 
the vocals were on the money (although I have to admit I HATE the "screech" during 
Rock Lobster... reminds me of Donna Jean on a REAL bad day! Dont flame me...), the 
mix is a little on the mono side, but nonetheless, it's great from start to finish.  
My master didn't have the final song on it at all, and the first song, "Party", was 
edited out, due to diginoise. I haven't been able to find another copy of this show 
as clean as the copy I has, and it would be unfair to try to "match" two different 
versions.  And rather than cut the song altogether, I chose to leave the clean part 
intact, and work from there.

If you love "Dance Music" in the strict sense, the B-52's knew how to do it right. 
Even on their "slower" songs, they had the ability to make people want to get out of 
their seats and onto the dance floor. If you're ever in a doldrum mood, give this 
show a listen to. I think it will snap you out of it.

Most of the "smaller" acts had less stage time, with Peter Tosh, Weir, and the Dead 
having the bulk of the stage time. The Fest went on much longer than planned, ending 
up somewhere around 3 AM rather than the planned midnight end. But because the crowd 
was very cool overall, there wasn't any real hassles from the authorities about 
shutting the show down on time. It just went on and on.