The 1967 UCSC Dorm Tape, by The Unknown Dorm Singer

The 1967 UCSC Dorm Tape

by The Unknown Dorm Singer

supported by

brooklynboy A real mystery, this one. A folk singer passing thru town gets recorded by a UCSC student in his dorm. Nobody can identify her. Not earth shaking in terms of discovery but the woman had a damned fine voice/guitar style and it's a fascinating song selection. Yeah, not unlike lord knows how many other folkies passing thru at the time, but this got captured to tape and it's a wonderful snapshot of a place and time. A lovely folk gem for a buck.

KAT What shouldn't be lost in the novelty and intrigue of this mystery is that Jane Doe is legit. Her lovely voice and spare, elegant play yield an authentic brand of highly listenable acoustic folk.

rob Here's something I didn't know how much I wanted - aural documentation of the Summer Of Love. I'm so glad someone was there to hit the record button on this. The woman singing must be in her 70s now. I hope she's still singing.

bkg77 The Unknown Dorm Singer has been identified as Carol Duke (later of Marvin Gardens). For more information on the almost decade long search to discover her identity, visit the Steve Hoffman Music Forums.

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1.	The French Girl 03:05	buy track
2.	I Still Miss Someone 02:10	buy track
3.	Red Velvet 02:37	buy track
4.	Gospel Ship 01:14	buy track
5.	Bring It On Home To Me 02:27	buy track
6.	Let The Good Times Roll 02:05
7.	Like A Baby 03:04
8.	Hangin' Round 01:32
9.	Lonely Girls 01:53
10.	Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues 04:33
11.	(a variation of) Buddy Bolden's Blues 03:23

about

Notes from original Taper:

This is what I call The Dorm Tape 1967. The facts are simple and frankly taught me a lot about simplicity in recording (and later, photography). I heard a girl singing and playing guitar down the hall in my dorm at UC Santa Cruz. She was hitch hiking through and needed a place to crash. I liked the sound I heard coming down the hall and I decided to try recording her. So I grabbed my reel to reel Sony 350 recorder, a modest piece, and two really crummy dynamic mikes that were part of the kit. I hand held them a foot or so from the guitar and her mouth ( left right more or less) and just let her sing.

She was sitting on a dorm cot and I was standing in front of her monitoring the levels on the Sony while holding the mics. Kind of awkward. My life moved on and now 44 years later(!), I pulled it out, digitized it and decided to add it to the YouTube archive of material from my alma mater. What I learned is that simple ain't so bad: musicality counts for a lot and a lot can be done with simple equipment...and common sense. Hope you enjoy.

(Let me add that the original taper has decided to try to locate this unknown singer/guitarist via social media. He described her as on the road hippie chick, similar in looks and demeanor to Janis Joplin)

Unknown female:
Guitar and vocals

01. The French Girl (Sylvia Fricker, Ian Tyson)
02. I Still Miss Someone (Johnny Cash, Roy Cash)
03. Red Velvet (Ian Tyson)
04. Gospel Ship (Herbert Buffum)
05. Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
06. Let The Good Times Roll (Sam Cooke)
07. Like A Baby (Jesse Stone)
08. Hangin' 'Round (Patrick Sky)
09. Lonely Girls (Sylvia Fricker, Ian Tyson)
10. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Bob Dylan)
11. (a variation of) Buddy Bolden's Blues (Jelly Roll Morton)

Please note, we wish to give this recording away, but are charging $1 only so that it will be added to you collection, and can be viewed and streamed by as many people as possible. Without charing a nominal fee this is not possible from what we understand.

credits

released February 17, 2017

Michael Albov: Taper

Singer: Unknown

Original Equipment: Sony TC-350 reel to reel at 7 ips w/
a twin set of Sony microphones.

Location: Dorm room, UCSC (University of California, Santa Cruz), 1967.

Remastering from original Scotch tape reel reel to 24 bit, 96 Khz by Andre Marc, 2015.

(All files are 24 bit, 96 Khz for download)

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