L.Sid... ...The Studio Tapes... ................(San Francisco 1991?-1996)

I got a message from Kim Cook saying she had a box of L.Sid tapes, including three funny little ones that she was hoping I could digitize. Kim is the sister of singer, guitarist Markus Cook who passed away from a heroin overdose in 1996, leaving a huge void among friends, family, and the San Francisco music and bike messenger activist communities. I wrote more about Markus and L.Sid... from Mercury to Jupitah in a previous post.

Those little things (they look like tiny VHS tapes) turned out to be DATs, Digital Audio Tapes, a short lived audio format that gained some traction among recording engineers in the 1990s for mixing down analog studio sessions. Unfortunately, they suffer from the same sticky shed syndrome that renders other magnetic tape formats unplayable after a few decades in damp or humid conditions.

The cassettes and DATs were a little sticky and struggled to play in the machines, but I barely managed to get an almost complete digital transfer when the third DAT finally snapped halfway through the last song. What I heard... I think... was L.Sid's almost complete studio recordings! So here, as best as I can guess, are the recordings in what may or may not be chronological order. If you know, please send me the recording dates, track titles, personnel, photos, and any other trivia about these recordings and the various formations of L.Sid.

Thanks to Natasha for the photo!

Earliest Recordings (cassette copy, recording date unknown)
Track 1
Krazy Beat
Track 3

Sonny's Rhumba (DAT master, recording date unknown)
Don't Forget Annette
O-verloaded
Sonny's Rumble
Liz Taylor
Medium Rare Frankenstein
72 Hours

The Decolator Sessions (cassette copy, January 1993)
Basin' With Dave
New Transmission
A Fistful of Kryptonite
Vigilante 435
Track 5
Krazy Beat
Track 7
Sonny's Rumble
Suitcase Fulla Smoke
Medium Rare Frankenstein
Track 11
Track 12 

Natasha, Broiler, Markus, Luigi, Jennie, Jack, Chad

The Final Mix (DAT master, February 1993) Released on cassette as BIKE in 1993.
Side 1
Vigilante 435
Medium Rare Frankenstein
ETA (from the cassette copy because the DAT broke)
Hometown
Chaser
Side 2
New Transmission
A Fistful of Kryptonite
Jupitah
72 Hours
Chaser 

Music Annex (DAT master, recording date unknown) Released on cassette as Out of Town in 1993.
Jack - sax, keys; Jennie - viola, vocal; Markus - guitar, vocal; Luigi - drums; Natasha - tuba; Broiler - bass; Chad - sax
Shadow of Jazz
See Ya
Suitcase Fulla Smoke
Only Because

Pothole (CD compilation 1996)
Sunflowers

In memory of Markus Cook and Luigi Decolator. 

Thanks to Kim Cook for sending me these tapes; truly a treasure from the analog abyss, and a piece of a lost friendship....

Thanks to L.Sid founder and sax player Jack Chandler for permission to share these recordings, and to Rustle Noonetwisting for digging his DAT machine out of the garage for me.

Stay tuned for more from Kim's box of tapes cassettes: Markus and Jack's 1983 Phoenix AZ band Open Market, The Proj, and L.Sid Live on KUSF (in the nude)....