Happy New Year everybody! This has taken a long time and even more hard work than last year’s compilation, but I have finally completed the compilation of the best/most interesting (in my opinion) live recordings from Van Halen’s 1979 World Vacation Tour. The compilation is now on DIME and JTT here (I could definitely use some ratio help at JTT):

DIME: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=551952 (link updated by guitard to reflect new version)
JTT: http://www.jamtothis.com/showthread.php?p=300431

Van Halen
Various dates
Various locations
Various sources
Series name/number: reCOLLECTION 02
Compilation title: World Vacation Tour 1979
Compiled and released: January 2016

DISC 1
Total Time: 47:12
1. Light Up The Sky (March 25, 1979: Selland Arena – Fresno, California) 4:00
2. Somebody Get Me A Doctor/Drum Solo (June 15, 1979: Jaap Edenhal – Amsterdam, Netherlands) 5:01
3. Runnin’ With The Devil (May 1, 1979: Masonic Auditorium – Detroit, Michigan) 4:36
4. Dance The Night Away (May 18, 1979: War Memorial – Rochester, New York) 3:10
5. Beautiful Girls (April 8, 1979: Memorial Coliseum – Los Angeles, California) 3:27
6. On Fire/Bass Solo (July 11, 1979: Music Hall – Houston, Texas) 10:01
7. You’re No Good (May 18, 1979: War Memorial – Rochester, New York) 2:57
8. Jamie’s Cryin’ (June 14, 1979: Vorst Nationaal – Brussels, Belgium) 3:55
9. Feel Your Love Tonight (September 3, 1979: Kyoto Kaikan – Kyoto, Japan) 10:05

FINGERPRINTS
01 – Light Up The Sky.flac:8074e1ec68496193a901c2a4ea7dc384
02 – Somebody Get Me A Doctor; Drum Solo.flac:3dc34651b2eca4b6a705665fb557ff84
03 – Runnin’ With The Devil.flac:48810a83164d5ac10743f1bc1340c3c8
04 – Dance The Night Away.flac:39c01f5196336b699ec7c690204cb190
05 – Beautiful Girls.flac:2aed4c4750138f4ccfb419d53908998d
06 – On Fire; Bass Solo.flac:a81e676db187f2272b01c3bd5305e7d9
07 – You’re No Good.flac:d2fc88dda106e8396c2d8b4f32075e15
08 – Jamie’s Cryin’.flac:d0235c45a23d3003e6fbbeef06d35a3e
09 – Feel Your Love Tonight.flac:15dcefd792c61b0daa459f7524e8d5bd

No errors occured.

DISC 2
Total Time: 60:26
1. Outta Love Again (April 18, 1979: Pacific Coliseum – Vancouver, British Columbia) 4:54
2. Ice Cream Man (September 13, 1979: Budokan – Tokyo, Japan) 7:18
3. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love (September 18, 1979: Northlands Coliseum – Edmonton, Alberta) 10:36
4. Guitar Solo (June 26, 1979: City Hall – Newcastle, England) 7:33
5. D.O.A. (March 25, 1979 Selland Arena – Fresno, California) 5:10
6. You Really Got Me (September 13, 1979: Budokan – Tokyo, Japan) 10:45
7. Bottoms Up! (June 8, 1979: Barton Coliseum – Little Rock, Arkansas) 9:12
8. Atomic Punk (September 10, 1979: Furitu Taiikukan – Osaka, Japan) 4:58

FINGERPRINTS
01 – Outta Love Again.flac:f30e64eea8840291fc17d616c9b51242
02 – Ice Cream Man.flac:d818ae356273d74790c0f40f9ff3528d
03 – Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.flac:a309cfa7ba91c68d63e02dba5cb744de
04 – Guitar Solo.flac:df5f235c41fd0f663c6d3c22f69f26c8
05 – DOA.flac:e0e503fc951fccd6cc8d7bc841517317
06 – You Really Got Me.flac:2e1f604c6d5c8c08333323db37bda154
07 – Bottoms Up!.flac:2ba70ff81ae438f63f0d0d1201b16510
08 – Atomic Punk.flac:02afd8e69fddfe3f4b80775da6ef7831

No errors occured.

LINEAGE

Disc 1

1. Light Up The Sky (March 25, 1979: Selland Arena – Fresno, California)
AUD > 1st gen cass > Sony tape deck > TDK standalone burner > CDR(2 )> EAC(secure/offset) > WAV > FLAC(level 5 )> Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

2. Somebody Get Me A Doctor/Drum Solo (June 15, 1979: Jaap Edenhal – Amsterdam, Netherlands)
unknown gen. cassette > AIFF > soundstudio > SHN > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

3. Runnin’ With The Devil (May 1, 1979: Masonic Auditorium – Detroit, Michigan)
unknown lineage > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

4. Dance The Night Away (May 18, 1979: War Memorial – Rochester, New York)
YouTube – official Van Halen 1979 video > AIFF > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading) > AIFF > FLAC8

5. Beautiful Girls (April 8, 1979: Memorial Coliseum – Los Angeles, California)
Compact Disc (Homemade CD-R) (unknown lineage) > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

6. On Fire/Bass Solo (July 11, 1979: Music Hall – Houston, Texas)
1st Gen Tape > ? > CDR(x) > EAC > WAV > FLAC (Texas II Step 2001 1st Gen Remaster) > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading) > WAV > FLAC > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

7. You’re No Good (May 18, 1979: War Memorial – Rochester, New York)
YouTube – official Van Halen 1979 video > AIFF > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading) > AIFF > FLAC8

8. Jamie’s Cryin’ (June 14, 1979: Vorst Nationaal – Brussels, Belgium)
Trade > CDR > EAC “Secure Mode”>Wave > Traders Little Helper > Flac 6 > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF> FLAC8

9. Feel Your Love Tonight (September 3, 1979: Kyoto Kaikan – Kyoto, Japan)
AM > DAT > CDR > EAC > FLAC > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

Disc 2

1. Outta Love Again (April 18, 1979: Pacific Coliseum – Vancouver, British Columbia)
1stgen > cd-r > SonyTCWE435 > PioneerPDR O4 > CDR > EAC > WAV > Trader’sLittleHelper > FLAC > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

2. Ice Cream Man (September 13, 1979: Budokan – Tokyo, Japan)
Original Source Boot Silver > EAC > WAV > FLAC (Lv8) > Trader’sLittleHelper > FLAC > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

3. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love (September 18, 1979: Northlands Coliseum – Edmonton, Alberta)
Master recording > WAV > FLAC level 8 > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

4. Guitar Solo (June 26, 1979: City Hall – Newcastle, England)
Audience Analog Second Generation > DAT > WAV > Audio Cleaning Lab for ID and tape flip splice only > CDR KRW transfer > EAC > TLH FLAC Level 8 > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

5. D.O.A. (March 25, 1979 Selland Arena – Fresno, California)
AUD > 1st gen cass > Sony tape deck > TDK standalone burner > CDR(2 )> EAC(secure/offset) > WAV > FLAC(level 5 )> Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

6. You Really Got Me (September 13, 1979: Budokan – Tokyo, Japan)
Original Source Boot Silver > EAC > WAV > FLAC (Lv8) > Trader’sLittleHelper > FLAC > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

7. Bottoms Up! (June 8, 1979: Barton Coliseum – Little Rock, Arkansas)
AUD > TDK D-C90 1st gen cass > Sony TC-WE635 tape deck > Sony RCD-W500C standalone burner > CDR(M) > EAC (secure/offset) > WAV > Soundforge Audacity minimal editing > WAV > CDWave > FLAC (level 5) > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

8. Atomic Punk (September 10, 1979: Furitu Taiikukan – Osaka, Japan)
2001 Aces High Sound Production Boot 2CD > WAV > FLAC > [2014 Remaster] > Audacity (speed/pitch correction) > AIF > FLAC > Audacity 1.3 Beta (amplification, crossfading, EQ) > AIFF > FLAC8

NOTES
Upon first listen of the “Reunion” compilation from Mean Street Studios, I immediately fell in love with the concept of coordinating a variety of diversely-sourced live material into a themed anthology with imperceptible song transitions. Van Halen has always been my favorite band and I wanted to pay homage by similarly assembling a series of collected live recordings I could share with fellow fans and listeners.

The theme of this particular compilation is Van Halen’s infamously titled “World Vacation” Tour of 1979. The purpose is to honor and uniquely capture the very essence of the live Van Halen experience as they performed for the first time as headliners. To provide the most expansive possible representation and historical perspective of this legendary time in the band’s history, I have included every song Van Halen performed live on the tour, sourced most of them from a different date and venue, and sequentially positioned them in the same order they were played on location with as indiscernible song transitions as I could achieve.

My desired outcome is for the listener to feel as though they are a member of the audience witnessing the band’s musicianship, personality, and nuance maturing throughout the duration of their second world tour in one all-encompassing show. At conclusion of the last song, I want the listener to feel exhausted, fulfilled, inspired, and excited to take the trip all over again as if they just spent six glorious months following the band around the world.

Happy touring and bottoms up!

*NOTE: Full disclosure, I attempted to use lossless sources for every song but, despite the lossy compression, it would have been criminally negligent in my opinion to disqualify the only known soundboard recordings from the tour just because there is no lossless version of them available (“Dance The Night Away” and “You’re No Good” from the pro-shot 1979 tour video that was never officially released). My apologies in advance that the source is a crappy YouTube video (the only other source I had was again, another crappy 128kbps version) but the sound is actually quite nice. That being said, if someone has a better version, I’d like nothing more than to use it for the sake of preserving the highest quality compilation possible. Please contact me if you have a higher fidelity version!!

**NOTE: This is the original first release of the compilation titled “World Vacation Tour 1979″ that is part of a series of compilations branded as “reCOLLECTION xx” (“xx” referring to the number in the series). With respect to lineage, I have done my best to disclose my limited alterations by adding their descriptions directly after the sources’ original lineage(s) (when available). Most of the audio changes I made involved slightly adjusting EQ, amplification to avoid noticeable volume fluxuations and, of course, crossfading was used at the beginning and end of each track to achieve smooth transitions between songs from different sources.

Having the aforementioned being said, I invite all listeners to offer ideas for improvement. If you have a suggestion for improving the audio of any of the tracks or even have a different source for a song that you think is stronger than what is represented on this collection, I welcome any and all comments.Van Halen – reCOLLECTION 02 – World Vacation Tour 1979

Can anyone dropbox me this…………dude I really enjoyed the 1978 edition and was looking forward to this.

MikeyV

I was going to say…smells like Reunion. I had those songs digitally mastered that were used for Reunion. Took the guy a long time to go through each song and he actually replaced a song or two with his own masters from the same shows I selected.

fletch: I was going to say…smells like Reunion.I had those songs digitally mastered that were used for Reunion. Took the guy a long time to go through each song and he actually replaced a song or two with his own masters from the same shows I selected.

Reunion was definitely the inspiration but this project is much different and far more extensive in the selection of songs, sources, and artwork.

There’s a 1st Gen Masonic Auditorium – Detroit, Michigan May 1, 1979 out there.

Thanks for putting this together.

mrmojohalen: There’s a 1st GenMasonic Auditorium – Detroit, Michigan May 1, 1979 out there.

Thanks for the heads up; I got my version in a trade and it unfortunately contained no text file; I guess it’s possible mine is 1st Gen.

Sweet! Jumped on at JTT – looking forward to giving this a listen. I really enjoyed the 1978 one you did.
Thanks!

Gilligan: Sweet! Jumped on at JTT – looking forward to giving this a listen.I really enjoyed the 1978 one you did. Thanks!

Thanks for using JTT; I haven’t received many comments there compared to Dime; is it seeding ok for you?

Yes, there were 4 seeders and the whole thing DL’d in about 5 minutes. Haven’t given it a listen yet….

Thank you! Any chance we can get this via Dropbox?

Thanks for all of the hard work. Loved the first one. Agree with Mikey and and Dave – can we do a dropbox link again?

Dave: Thank you! Any chance we can get this via Dropbox?

Can you send me a PM? Tried sending you the link but the message won’t send.

Panamaniac: Can you send me a PM? Tried sending you the link but the message won’t send.

PM sent

Sounds great! Thank you Panamaniac.