Soundboard 9.0 - Many people who collect this band’s live recorded works would probably all agree that the 80-81 period is the least favorite, but maybe that is because they never heard this one. This is new to circulation, and it is not without flaws (a few songs fade in, and it is a touch on the “hot” side) but I think it delivers where it counts. I particularly found the drums to be emphasized in a good way, you can feel them, and therefore it lends a heavier feel to the songs, including the seldom played songs they were showcasing from the latest album.

Allman Brothers Band Bell Auditorium Augusta, GA 11/18/1981 Disc 1 1. Jessica 2. Can't Take It With You 3. Straight From The Heart 4. Blue Sky 5. Leavin' 6. Crazy Love 7. Things You Used To Do 8. Midnight Rider 9. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed 10. Need Your Love So Bad 11. Melissa Disc 2 12. Never Knew How Much (I Needed You) 13. One Way Out 14. Southbound 15. The Judgement 16. Statesboro Blues 17. Whipping Post

Audience 8,7 - A distant recording with that unmistakable large stadium natural reverb that makes you sort of imagine where you are as you listen and squint your eyes to see what Lou Reed is doing on stage.  The good news is that everything pretty much is audible, and reasonably clear too. The recording does lack some low end, but is not overly tinny, and drums/vocals are favored in the mix with guitars sort of chiming in just behind. If this wasn’t a clean/clear recording I would say there’s not much use for it but it has redeeming qualities and some charming renditions of some of his most beloved tunes.

LOU REED Stadio Partenio Avellino, Italy 16 June 1980 Disc 1 1. -Sweet Jane 2. -Real Good Time Together 3. -I'm Waiting For My Man 4. -Coney Island Baby 5. -So Alone 6. -Vicious 7. -Walk On The Wild Side 8. -Standing On The Ceremony 9. -Heroin 10. -Growing Up In Public 11. -The Kids 12. -Caroline Says II 13. -The Bed 14. -Sad Song Disc 2 15. -The Power Of Positive Drinking 16. -How Do You Speak To An Angel 17. -My Old Man 18. -Keep Away 19. -Street Hassle (with band intros) 20. -Rock and Roll 21. -Sister Ray The band: Lou Reed - vocals & guitar Stuart Heinrich - guitar Chuck Hammer - guitar Ellard "Moose" Boles - bass Michael Fonfara - keyboards Michael Suchorsky - drums

Soundboard 9.7 - I give this a stellar and glowing review and consider it an absolute must have for any self-respecting ACDC….no, wait, any self-respecting rock music fan. Why?  Because, even though the old tape has an occasional drop out (rarely), it is so fucking electrifying, exciting, and pure that you can’t help but bang your head to it…the entire show!  The combination of the superb live mix that maintains 100% live energy, there’s no mixing the life out of this bad boy, and the amazing performance all contribute to must have status. I love how I can hear Malcolm so distinctly, and even the bass notes come through…but the drums, that insistent rat a tat snare just makes this tape a winner bar-none. The bonus concert on disc two is also a board tape, and it has a different feel to it but it is also amazing. Get it man!

ACDC Austin, Texas, USA Erwin Centre October 11, 1985 *Bonus Tracks: Dallas, Texas, USA Reunion Arena October 12, 1985 Disc 1 01 Fly On The Wall 02 Back In Black 03 Shake Your Foundations 04 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 05 You Shook Me All Night Long 06 Sin City 07 Jailbreak 08 The Jack 09 Shoot To Thrill 10 Highway To Hell 11 Sink The Pink 12 Whole Lotta Rosie Disc 2 01 Let There Be Rock 02 Hells Bells 03 T.N.T. 04 For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) 05 Back In Black * 06 Shake Your Foundations * 07 Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap * 08 You Shook me All Night Long * 09 The Jack * 10 Shoot To Thrill * 11 Sink The Pink * 12 Let There Be Rock * 13 T.N.T. *

Audience 8.7 - Brassy, loud, and guitar dominant recording that delivers where it counts and finds Rory sounding, to my ears, much more rock/metal/grunge even though he features plenty of raw, blues soaked numbers in his set. It’s just that the atmosphere and volume don’t suggest this is a “blues” band blowing through town…I just get the feeling Rory felt the times changing and adjusted accordingly. Either way you parse it, this is high-intensity music, and the recording here really manages to capture that pretty realistically.

Rory Gallagher The Stone Palo Alto, California May 17, 1985 Disc One 01 - intro - Double Vision 02 - Bad Penny 03 - band intros - Off The Handle 04 - Moonchild 05 - Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut 06 - I Wonder Who 07 - Tattoo'd Lady 08 - Mississippi Sheiks 09 - Big Guns Disc Two 01 - Out On The Western Plain 02 - Seven Days 03 - Philby 04 - Follow Me 05 - Shadow Play 06 - My Babe 07 - All Around Man - Bullfrog Blues - Roll Over Beethoven - Route 66 Rory Gallagher Group; May 1981 - 1991: Rory Gallagher - guitar, vocals Gerry McAvoy - bass Brendan O'Neill - drums Mark Feltham - harmonica

Audience 9.4 - I love these tapes that make you feel you are in very small area with the band, like sitting at a little table having a cocktail as the band plays just feet in front of you. That is what this tape feels like, and the separation of instruments is delicious, with your ear hearing this show as if you were right there (meaning there is a stereo separation going on, a real one).  So buckle up, because you are going to feel as though your actually at this show, it’s that good.

Frank Zappa Dortmund, Germany 5 May 1988 Disc 1 01. Instruments Check (1:07) 02. Intro (1:08) 03. The Black Page #2 (7:03) 04. Band Introductions (2:00) 05. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing (3:08) 06. Alien Orifice (4:23) 07. Who Needs The Peace Corps (2:47) 08. I Left My Heart In San Francisco (0:36) 09. Outside Now (7:10) 10. Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue (7:59) 11. Bamboozled By Love (5:26) 12. Zoot Allures (6:25) 13. Cosmik Debris (4:51) 14. Stolen Moments (10:10) 15. Stick Together (1:54) Disc 2 16. My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama (3:38) 17. Willie The Pimp (2:58) 18. Montana (4:05) 19. City Of Tiny Lights (10:07) 20. Pound For A Brown (11:30) 21. Cruising For Burgers (9:19) 22. Instruments Check (0:25) 23. Dancin' Fool (3:29) 24. Whippin' Post (5:47) 25. I Am The Walrus (3:46) 26. Strictly Genteel (6:25) 27. Watermelon In Easter Hay (5:43)

Audience 9.3 - This is, to my ears, sort of a return to the edgy hard rock of Taste. The distorted guitar (wonderful tone!) and punchy rhythms really hint more to his very early period and are ideally suited for the mid 80’s where maybe pure, raw blues was not as widely consumed as before. This show, and recording, really highlight the gut punch effect where straight forward guitar/bass/drums is the formula that works.

Rory Gallagher Oldenwaldring, Schaafheim Germany 18. Juli 1987 Disc 1 01. -Announcement            0:41 02. -Ansage - Moonchild            7:04 03. -Double Vision            7:37 04. -I Wonder Who            12:09 05. -Nadine                9:58 06. -Walkin' Blues            6:04 07. -Continental Op            9:57 08. -I Ain't No Saint            8:25 Disc 2 09. -Out On The Western Plain        6:08 10. -Want Ad Blues            5:34 11. -Tattoo'd Lady            5:50 12. -When My Baby She Left Me        7:23 13. -Shadow Play            7:15 14. -Bad Penny                4:28 15. -Bullfrog Blues - Dizzy Miss Lizzy    7:57 16. -Messin' With The Kid        4:50 17. -Knock On Wood - La Bamba        8:02 18. -Long Tall Sally            4:30 19. -Don't Start Me Talkin'        3:35 Track 01 - 18 Schaafheim Track 19 Mainz, Sendezentrum "Tele Illustrierte" 13. November 1987 1.Gen/TV (He plays live in the show)

Stereo Soundboard 9.6 - A fantastic and interesting tape, the live mix sometimes pans in stereo giving it a unique flavor. The drums and keyboards are placed superbly in the mix, vocals very strong, but it does lack some low end, not that it is thin or too bright, that is not the problem here at all it’s just that I think the bass may have been so loud through the P.A. that it didn’t need to pass through the board feed so you do hear it but it’s not super deep. Still, a great one for the collection and certainly if you like hard psychedelic rock but the kicker here is the appearance on 4 tracks by John Cipollina.

Man Keystone Berkeley, CA August 9, 1976 Disc 1 01. -Let The Good Times Roll 02. -7171-551 03. -A Hard Way To Die 04. -The Welsh Connection 05. -Something Is Happening 06. -The Ride And The View 07. -You Are Out Of Your Head 08. -Born With A Future Disc 2 09. -C'Mon 10. -Many Are Called But Few Get Up 11. -Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You* 12. -A Hard Way To Live* 13. -Romain* 14. -Bananas* * with John Cipollina

Soundboard 9.7 - All excellent, all must haves imho. What you get sound-wise is a rich, deep tone, the Berlin tape in particular which features emphasis on the bass which is massive but detailed. The music here is more progressive than Samba, and Carlos does sometimes resort to familiar guitar runs but he also flashes a lot of other tricks and convinces the listener that he’s not a one-trick pony at all. Best I can tell here is that Devadip Ochestra is a decent attempt to take what Mahavishnu Orchestra did and accent it in different ways. Well done Carlos!

The Devadip Orchestra Disc 1 Deutschlandhalle Berlin, Germany November 8, 1978 01 Swapan Tari 02 Ocean Floor 03 Arise Awake 04 Light Versus Darkness 05 Jim Jeannie 06 Gardenia 07 Jharna Kala Ekeberghallen Oslo, Norway November 13, 1978 08 Swapan Tari 09 Ocean Floor 10 Arise Awake 11 Light Versus Darkness 12 Jim Jeannie 13 Gardenia 14 Jharna Kala Disc 2 Groenoordhal Leiden, Holland November 17, 1978 01 Swapan Tari 02 Arise Awake 03 Light Versus Darkness 04 Jim Jeannie 05 Gardenia 06 Oneness 07 Jharna Kala Carlos Santana: guitar/percussion David Margen: bass Graham Lear: drums Chris Rhyne: keyboards Russell Tubbs: flute/sax

Audience 8.7 - It's not the clearest, deepest of recordings but it is not boomy, muddy, irritating, or ruined by shouting morons either. It gets the job done, and what's more it's one of those shows where another guitar legend just happens to be there and just happens to get on stage and jam at the end...this guitar legend is none other than Jeff Beck so there is that.

Audience 8.6 - By all accounts, this is a real find! First, you get a rare tape that only recently has surfaced, and then it's from a poorly documented tour AND best of all it sounds pretty decent! It's just a great day to be a DLR era Van Halen collector.

Audience 9.4 - I really found this to be a real gem. First, I think it starts with a respectful but enthusiastic Japananese audience and then because of the immaculate source tape. The recording, while maybe light on bottom end just a touch, is crisp and clean and features a flawless midrange. Drums have an extremely "live" feel, you almost just kind of look off to your left and right to make sure a drummer isn't there in your living room!

Audience 8.7 - An excellent 8.7 too! First off let me just say how blown away I am to find a long lost 1978 recording previously un-circulated and in such great shape! Wow man, this is a fantastic find. The sound is pretty beefy for what sounds like an old tape deck, normally you'd expect something either thin as hell or muddy as crap but it's neither. It lacks a little clarity, but it's maybe near the drums and I can tell you guitar sounds clear (maybe a little thin but bass is pretty solid so it picks up the guitar sound a bit) and Ozzy is situated in the middle and can be heard pretty well. A solid tape that will fit nicely in with your collection.