Thank God for Tom Float and Jim Ott...together they produced classic, music memories!!!

In 1981, as a high school senior, I went to a mini-camp with Spirit of Atlanta at Wake Forest University. At the end, we and our parents all went into the stands to see the corps perform its "Georgia on my Mind" opener. All the band students were psyched, but many of the parents didn't really know what to expect. When the corps turned around for that opening company front, you could the sheer physical impact the sound had on the crowd in the stands. It was like being in a wind tunnel. We were pinned to the backs of our seats. Jaws dropped. I like contemporary drum corps, but I miss that visceral sound the corps of the 80s used to produce.

UN-F***ING REAL!! I remember seeing that show live and just being blown away!! NO electronics, and no gimmicks!!! THIS is what it was, and still SHOULD be!!!

I smile every time I watch this. Might even tear up a bit too. We'll never see anything like this again.

It certainly is! Without a doubt the best nostalgic closer of all time. Even in these modern times.

This is the first drum corps show I ever saw in 1979 when I was 15. I instantly fell in love with drum corps. Spirit of Atlanta 1979 and 1980 were legendary shows with an unforgettable legendary sound. I still think of these two shows and play the LP vinyl records to this day.

When drum corps was still drum corps. Uniforms, not "costumes," bugles, not band instruments, no amplification, no singing, no computers, no keyboards, no giant ridiculous props. Now it's Broadway on a football field. No thanks, I'll take this any day.

I'm glad we played the same closer, concert tune and opening fanfare in 1980. I actually learned my snare music from playing the 1979 record over and over in my college apartment-much to the dismay of my college room mate at the time. I still remember at one camp when it was raining that day. We played a standstill in the gym and if you think THIS is loud, you should hear the Jim Ott horn line and Tom Float drum line in a gymnasium. Say what??? Dennis Johnson- Spirit Snare 1980

You don't get much better drum corps than Jim Ott arrangements with a classic Spirit hornline 💙

I Feel Really Bad For All of The People That Will Never Feel & Hear That Kind Of Raw Musical Power Again 😰.

A summer doesn't pass that I don't remember the MAGIC that was Spirit of Atlanta under Jim Ott's tutelage. Surely they coined the phrase, "Blew Me Away!" because that is exactly what they did. May Jim Ott rest in peace! I was there and it was a wall of sound every bit as powerful as a train. In your face good!!!

I had the good fortune to hear Spirit of Atlanta several times during the 1979 season. I also got to see them at the finals in Birmingham. They were AMAZING!!! A couple of years later I went to a workshop as a young band director and they played, let it be me by forming an arc around us, facing the wall of a school, I have never felt such power even in the loudest rock ‘n’ roll concerts. But even more than the power, was the beauty of the arrangement and the musicianship of the performers. Jim Ott was a master who has never been replaced.

Spirit 79 and 80 are among my all time favorites.

Jim Ott was a master at arranging. He could arrange the middle horns in a perfect harmony with the rest of the horn line. His death was a great tragedy and loss to the drum corps world and he is sorely missed. There aren't many who had his ear for what the music could be.

I'm balling my eyes out.

Thinking of Jerry McEver today, founding member and contrabass, avid Spirit Supporter, one of my best and dearest friends who loved Jim Ott and his years with Spirit. Gone too early.

At once tender yet supremely powerful. Possibly the finest horn arrangement in the history of drum and bugle corps.

I would pay so much to see this live.

Very tastefuly done. I was there. Really enjoyable!

I marched mellophone in a smaller corps that year and was in the audience for finals. You could feel the vibration in the air. The middle horns sang like a 100 piece choir, the harmony generated from this horn section that night was surreal. The arrangement is probably one of the best ever written for drum corps. To sum it up, it was a spiritual experience for me, and no doubt many others that night. It give me chills watching this again after so many years. G Force baby, G Force.

Now THIS is Drum Corps. I'll take this over today's style any day.

I was in this crowd in 1979.. What a great night it was!

This was the best show ever!! I saw this show live in White Water Wi. Everytime I hear this song it bring tears to my eyes! I was in the Spirit Of St. Louis Drum Corps 1963. And now I am a Legendary Drummer from being in Drum Corps. So I owe it all to Drum Corps!!

Spirit was the first Corps that I ever saw perform live and it was this show. Thank you Mr. Ott and Spirit of Atlanta for turning me on to an amazing lifetime of music.

Just found out I still do have goosebumps . thought I lost them over the last 20 years.

I stepped out of my car at Lawrence North HS in Indianapolis in June of 1979 and Spirit was playing this right in front of me in the parking lot. They were rehearsing before their show that evening. I couldn't believe it. I had never heard anything like that before. So powerful and passionate. I was hooked on drum corps and went to Birmingham in August for finals. Two years later I marched Cavies.

This was my 1st show seeing DCI. Fell in love with it. And i got the chance to march with Southwind it 1st year. God i miss it.

I saw this. At the end, the first 20 rows of bleachers had been blown back 30 feet. If you were in person for this from Spirit and Malagueña from Madison, that tells you all you need to know about late 70's drum corps.

I was there-in Birmingham, in 1979-and, like Sophie Tucker, “I will never forget it, you know!”

This is what DRUM & BUGLE is about not 30% electronics

I was there. The performance was phenomenal and the sound powerful and bone-chilling.

This bring tears to my eyes but they are tears of joy, thanks for the memories.

the love of music and emotion was incorporated more back then

Yes, perhaps one of the best closers ever. Certainly one of my favorites!

Mellow power, melodic sticks blew both judges and spectators away in Birmingham, AL.

Bone chilling to this day.

WITH APOLOGIES TO THE DEVILS AND CROWN AND MADISON AND ALL THE GREAT HORN LINES OF DRUM CORPS THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST HORN ARRANGEMENT AND HORN SOUND THAT I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY 40 PLUS YEARS OF WATCHING DRUM CORPS JUST AWESOME I MEAN YOUR RIBS WOULD SHAKE.

Me too. Listening again for the millionth time.

I marched Spirit in 1995, glad to have got to play a G bugle! I miss that sound soo much. I still love the activity but I do not like the use of bflat horns, amplification and other things. Great Vid

Wow.... I had the please of seeing this performance live... not this one but at a small show in South Florida.... The sound here does not do it justice but still got chills remembering it!! Definitely one of the best at the time.

As a member of Santa Clara during the late eighties 1978, and 1979 This was the only corps that made me stop and listen. I applied for entrance after the 79 season and was rejected because of my youth. Believe me though when I say when Atlanta plated we were definitinty distracteed . A member of s Santa Clara we stopped and tolk notice. Georgia on My Mind made me cry .

I was in the band when our director Freddy martin started spirit simply put he was the best of all time we won every contest we went to while he was at south Cobb high school

The reaction of the crowd says is all. This is the BEST closer ever. Unfortunately, this recording does not do it justice.

I never get tired of watching this show and hearing this song, and I've been watching and listening to it for 33 years now. By the way, I love to see the rifles flying up in the air at the beginning of the company front. Nice job, ladies!

I was there.. All the fall. winter, spring, and summer of practices. On the flag line. Can't tell which one now. Somewhere on the left side of the field. God, what a sound. Great drum line, too.

I remember hearing this corps, live, at a Oshkosh, WI rehearsal in 1979. I sat there on that hot sunny day in the stands in total amazement of the sound coming from that brass line! I think" Slimgauger" up there got pretty close when using the term "thick". Then reminding me of how those stadium seats would "hum".. Having lived the years of Madison '74, '75, & '76?? I was really kinda "conflicted" emotionally.. lol Where was this sound coming from and, "how dare they"?? It's kind of hard to put into words the feelings I was having at that moment. But honestly, those were some of them. Madison had always the biggest sound, back then. (I'm trying really hard not to demean those efforts by using the words loud, louder, or loudest..) But, '79 Spirit soared to this amazing, new powerful level! I'll just never forget that afternoon, experiencing that WALL OF SOUND for the first time. It was a real turning point for DCI. I hardly ever write on these things anymore. I just felt it important, in the age of trombones, french horns, & sound equipment etc., that we never forget the efforts kids like the '79 Spirit of Atlanta and so many others, had in shaping what Drum Corps is today. That's it, nobody asked, just my opinion ;) PfB~

@ludwig drumset. Trying to describe the sound in person is kind of like trying to describe the color blue to a blind person, but here goes. The sound wasn't just loud, it was "thick". You could actually feel the vibration in your body, and the metal stadium seats would hum. The stadium itself would reverberate for probably 5-6 seconds after the cutoff (it seemed like forever). I was in a small corps at the time, and got to watch the best all summer for free. My ears would ring for hours after the show. I got to march Blue Devils my last year ('85). Since I played sop (UFLS, thank you very much), the big brass was typically behind me. There were times I couldn't hear myself playing over the bari's behind me.

Nice to see French horns in the brass lineup. Really a distinct sound from the mellophone, and it blends well with the lower brass especially. Kind of like how an orchestral French horn blends equally well with all sections of the orchestra.

I was there and it was very loud but very good!!

This is such a powerful song. So grateful having the opportunity to play this in Jim’s name

man, that is such a great point. Our local HS band uses a bunch of DCI inspired stuff, including a vocal, that is so forgettable that the director felt the need to tell us parents when we should applaud, during a run through for parents. "Parents, now would be a great time to applaud"

"GEORGIA ON MY MIND" Blow me AWAY!

MAN WATCH AND LET IT BE ME AND LISTENING TO IT 43 YEARS LATER I STILL GET GOOSEBUMPS THAT WAS AWESOME GOD BLESS GMOD REST IN PEACE SHAMAN WHAT AN ARRANGER

I didn't get to see Spirit perform this 78-80 but finally was able to travel to Whitewater in 81. Let It Be Me wasn't in the show to start the season, but they added it along with other changes at the mid season break. I didn't know it was coming, back before the internet of course, and I just about peed my pants when they blasted the first chord in prelims. If you helped put Let It Be Me on the field any of those years, staff or member, thank you. A life long memory.

So many memories - this takes me back 35 years to my time "on the field." Thanks for posting!!!

Hauntingly powerful performance! Once in a lifetime! R.I.P. Jim Ott

Your right in one respect Martin but that is what made drum corps much superior to marching band back in the day. We never had any music majors in our drum corps and most of these kids were taught by the corps. That is what made drum corps back then so much fun...the challenge of trying to master those horns. I never had Jim Ott as an instructor but boy I LOVE HIS MUSIC AND ARRANGING !!! I had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up after this show in Denver in '78 !!!

Fantastic arrangement, AND drill. We "borrowed" it that following fall, and won Texas' first UIL State Marching Championship (Round Rock High School).

Not my first time here taking up everyone's time, but it's just that everytime I see these kids performing that program from back in'79 I just automatically have to drop off a comment. Since seeing this show, in person, I've always wondered how Jim Ott taught those kids to project through those bugles and was that the secret that produced that soaring sound over EVERYBODY else on the field at that time? I often think Jim was the first to figure it out. And the impact he would have had on the activity had not it been for that heartbreaking accident. Watching this again made this 63 year old, 260lb old man's eyes start watering, AGAIN, knowing what must have been in every one of those kids minds. Though I have not read any of it, I've heard about discussions from the more recent DCI generations concerning the lack of musicianship, performance quality, brass technique, etc. back in the day. If indeed these conversations are happening, be very careful! And perhaps stop to think for a moment. Think about all the supporters/teachers/members from back then that are reading those comments. Nothing differentiates them from the numbers working the activity today. They all worked the same late hours sewing, cooking, driving, managing, & teaching. If you march or teach today, look around you and remember everything you see, happened the same way 40+ years ago. Except... As a teacher from back then, we scraped & scrounged for kids. I'd run a rehearsal with holes everywhere! 6,7, 10, 12, it always changed. We'd take kids, off the street, they didn't know how to play. They're was absolutely NO community support, anywhere! Recruit, recruit, recruit. Of course we went to the bands. (and I hope you're STILL here cause THIS is it...) But back then, the band directors shut us out! "We weren't serious musicians... Don't go there kids, you'll learn all bad habits! As a matter of fact you'll probably not learn anything. Drum Corps just a waste of time". Year after year after year ALWAYS the same thing. So ya, we struggled. Thankfully, somewhere along the line things changed. Then what I saw happen, I always think about it happening back in my day, the things we could have done... So when I start hearing about people today picking apart some of OUR great efforts back when, (like the one above) I say stop! It's cheap, it's childish, & like how dare you!?! If I ever DO hear it, I'll be All in your shit!!! The kids from YOUR past did their best with what little they had. They worked like you. They sweat like you. They hoped like you. They dreamed like you and sometimes they even cried like you. Do not EVER insult them. They came before you. And they "Held The Fort" for so MANY years! So you could continue on experiencing the greatest youth activity ever! Wow! Sorry for that.. Simply my opinion, nobody asked. PfB~

Hard to argue against this being the most powerful hornline ever in DCI. Oh wait, 1980 Spirit of Atlanta after adding Georgia following one of the saddest day in the history of DCI

I used to be one of those corps members who did just that.....got to see all the top corps that way!

My favorite corp/marching band arrangement of all time - and I wrote a few that paled in comparison.

I miss the days of "in your face brass closers".........too much "mind intrinsic shows".

One of the strengths of Jim's arrangements was writing in the natural power range of the horns. That's how you break press box windows...allegedly! :-)

if you don't like this, you don't like drum corps! WOOHOO! AWSOME!

I'm in tears.

Im so proud to know this is iin the history of the corps I'm in.

Back in 1975, I remember Freddy Martin talking about how "Let It Be Me" would make a great show closer. Freddy was always about the music first and he and Jim Ott made this happen. One of the great tragedies I have known was Jim's loss and how it ended a great collaboration. My only regret at having been a woodwind player is that counted me out of being in the original Spirit.

I think the Madison Scouts are the only corps still around who can create audience fervor similar to this video. Of course, that still doesn't come anywhere close to this. Wow. Powerful stuff.

This is our school band's closer. Well somewhat.

My HS marching band performed this arrangement in 1980, and it still sends chills down my spine every time I hear it. Now my son is a band director and I've been trying with no luck to find this arrangement for sale so that I can donate it to them. If anyone has any advice please reply. We'd love to bring this classic back to the field, it deserves more than a quiet death. TIA

Pure DCI

Yeah, they say the Spirit of ATL was serious back in the day. There's the proof. The timpani sounds real good on this also.

12 ppl received minor cuts from falling broken press box glass.....xD

@poochpup34 Beyond a doubt Jim Ott advanced the art of ensemble brass playing, not only with great arrangements, but with great communication with his many excellent brass ensembles. I hope to play contrabass for him in Heaven.

I got to see it too!!

H-O-R-N-L-I-N-E!!!!

Sorry I don’t have any idea where you could get the tv audio broadcast .. I did not realize they had two recordings and that the field DCI video was synced with another field recording.

Got chills and tears hearing this again! Those kids could march! Just try marking time and playing for 13 minutes with a high step and tell me how today's corpsmen are more "athletic". Oh, and one more thing.... THEY DIDN'T NEED ANY ELECTRONICS TO SELL THE SHOW!

And now they run.

@HOTWHEELS I that music education (specifically brass pedagogy) has improved drastically since then.

The signaling devices they are using sound much better that the field brass they use today. The crown response alone should tell everyone that.

Roy, thank you for all your work posting these videos. I noticed this video features the television broadcast audio. Although the quality is not as good as the DCI stereo album recordings, I've always thought the television audio provided a better representation of how the corps really sounded. Wondering if you might know where I could find the television broadcast audio of the 1980 Finals. Specifically, Spirit's "Let It Be Me." The videos I'm finding online all seem to feature the album recording synced to the video, because, well, stereo. Somehow some brass parts heard during the broadcast were omitted from the DCI album recording. Must have been the was the field was miked for the album. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for all these videos!

3:15 Wow. Never knew Mark Hamill marched DCI.

Beyond a doubt today's B-flat instruments can be played more easily than the old piston-rotor G bugles. To attain the same accuracy on the old G bugles took more effort.

As someone who marched from '72-78, (1st soprano) I must confess that "today's" drum corps shows are in a COMPLETELY different arena. I miss the discipline...not being able to look at a judge without being "ticked", or not even 'thinking' about picking up a dropped rifle. Last week at DCI prelims, I saw countless color guard members from various corps simply 'pick-up' their dropped equipment. And I'm not a fan at all of all the electronics on the field,....of the countless stage props...or the 6 different 'costumes' on members of the same corps. I'm not sure they could even be classified as a "uniform".. or the "singing" during the show...However, I remember when the Garfield Cadets back in the mid '70's were penalized "heavily" for singing "one-word".. ..."AhhMEN" at the end of their closer- The crowd went NUTS...they LOVED it...but it was done with discipline and respect...and it was done "after" the judging gun went off....I have mixed feelings as far as using microphones on the horns today. The whole concept of the entire show being focused on "one theme" is a cool idea, but I feel that there is sooooo much 'theatrics" now, that it's difficult to follow...Maybe that's one reason the scores are so much higher today...Not because any specific corps is better, but because they have soooo much activity in constant motion on the field, it's difficult or almost impossible to judge. Overall, I am saddened by what drum corps has evolved into...However, today's drum corps shows are in a COMPLETELY different arena...I feel they have evolved into more of a combination "theatrical" and marching band performance, than one structured on precision and discipline...and I miss "COMPANY FRONTS"..old school, but still AMAZING!

Do you have the whole show? Anybody? I'd love to see/hear it!!! Please!!!!!

Can anyone who seen this live give me an idea of how loud this really was?

Hey Roy, If You Get The Chance, Would You Please Post Nuttville? Thanks Much!

It is probably me, because I am just old, but I like the old style better than the new. The focus tended to be more on the musicians than the movement of the flag and rifle corps... who suplimented the corps. In Atlanta (a couple of weeks back now) it seemed the most appreciated corps were the ones with more traditional shows, or the ones the audience could understand. Spirit's Las Vegas show was "something", but not what I had expected from them. The BD show was laughable.

Everyone saying this was the peak of drum corps: I appreciate the nostalgia...I do. But arguing that these corps were better than todays is simply stupid. Half-decent HS bands have better drills and marching technique today. Granted, it's an evolution of the activity...but arguing that today's DCI is crap? Come on.

So many players sticking out of the ensemble. Fracked/gacked notes. I do not miss this.

"Best corps of the decade?" In what parallel universe? I'm no huge fan of BD or SCV, but they pushed the activity FAR more in the 70s. PR did nothing better, faster, louder or more superior to anyone in the 70s (or 80s).

There was a time when signs were posted warning that hearing may be affected due to exposure to the horn lines. To me, that speaks of the awesomeness that was/is Spirit.

I'm 18 years old and getting to march my first season of drum corps and I can honestly say I LOVE this stuff better than what we have now. It makes me wish I could go back in time and see the Bridgemen and the Jim Ott brass line with the Ol' Skool Scouts and Blue Devils shows that made sense. I would pay a lot of money to do what they did.

I've watched this video about 40 times and I get chills EVERY TIME I watch it!!!!!!!

Best closer ever. Just when you thought the "big push" was done, they hit you in the face. Over and over!

This is one of Jim Ott's greatest arrangements, and Spirit's performance is one of their finest performances. Wow, what a great horn line. These kids left every ounce of their energy on the field. They performed with passion, power and perfect execution.

My dad was in this show!!! And I will be marching with Spirit of Atlanta this year!!!

In 1978 at a small high school stadium in Park Ridge, still 85 degrees a couple hours after sunset, the end of Let It Be Me was a cool wave of clarity that made time stand still-- ticket stubs fell to the floor, audience members locked eyes, and dove into an ocean of pure blue sound.