Soundboard 9.5 - Wow! Man, this is totally unexpected and will brighten your day (week, or month even!) like nothing else. A brand new discovery and it's a one/two punch with back to back soundboard recordings of Diver Down tour Van Halen, a tour that previously featured a measley two board tapes in existence. Well, it's not a perfect score, but the imperfections are a tiny price to pay for the glorious sounds present here! Each tape in slightly incomplete, but in places that the other show fills in so you end up hearing the music that makes up a complete Diver Down tour setlist. Basically, the sound engineer most likely had to stop rolling in certain spots in order to make tape changes, but all you have to do is look at each nights set list to see how it shakes out, and, thankfully some good editing has smoothed over some of the stops. As I listened, if I hadn't known there were cuts, I probably would not have been the wiser, basically unless you know where the cuts are you won't notice. But, the SOUND man! The sound is great, I really get to hear Michael Anthony's articulate bass playing, and he's all over the place with fills and runs! You kind of lose that detail in most Van Halen recordings. Eddie is just lighting it up as always, but it sounds especially amazing on these two tapes. The interplay is magic, I don't care if the band had their shortcomings personally, with each other, with whoever, it doesn't show on stage. Somebody get me a doctor, I just got double dosed with prime era Van halen soundboards I've never heard before! What an unbelievable find.
Van Halen The Centrum Worcester, Massachusetts 22 October 1982 Disc 1 01 Intro 02 Romeo Delight 03 Unchained 04 Drum Solo 05 The Full Bug 06 Runnin' With The Devil 07 Jamie's Cryin' 08 Little Guitars 09 Where Have All The Good Times Gone! 10 Bass Solo 11 Hang 'Em High 12 Cathedral 13 Secrets Disc 2 14 Drum Solo II 15 Everybody Wants Some!! - Dave Talks 16 Everybody Wants Some!! (Reprise) 17 Dance The Night Away 18 Somebody Get Me A Doctor - I'm So Glad 19 Dave Acoustic Solo 20 Pretty Woman 21 Guitar Solo 22 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 23 You Really Got Me Disc 3 The Centrum Worcester, Massachusetts 24 October 1982 Disc 3 01 Intro 02 Romeo Delight 03 Unchained 04 Drum Solo 05 The Full Bug 06 Runnin' With The Devil 07 Jamie's Cryin' 08 Little Guitars 09 Where Have All The Good Times Gone! 10 Bass Solo 11 Hang 'Em High 12 Cathedral 13 Secrets Disc 4 14 Drum Solo II 15 Everybody Wants Some!! - Dave Talks - Everybody Wants Some!! (Reprise) 16 Dance The Night Away 17 Somebody Get Me A Doctor - I'm So Glad 18 Guitar Solo 19 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 20 Bottoms Up! 21 You Really Got Me 22 Happy Trails 23 You Really Got Me (Reprise)-
Recorded at Sunset Sound Studios 1980. Outtakes from Women and Children First. Professional studio quality sound. -
Soundboard 9.0 - Excellent and rare document of an amazing band at an amazing time of their career.…simply put this is an absolute must have! -
5.1 - Sounds like it was recorded on a cheap old cassette recorder. No low end, squeaky sounding...but, historically significant recording. Bonus tracks sound excellent. -
Audience 8.4 - I expected more from a post 2000 audience recording, but this one is decend just seems to be toward the back of the hall. You do get all instruments, and mixed properly, with pretty much Eddie and DLR being the clearest and out front. Solos sound good as they seem to swirl around the room giving it a cool atmosphere. The show does seem to get better as it goes, might even boost the rating another .3 for the slight improvement. -
Audience 8.7 - Solid! Good presence, great clarity with just occasional moments where maybe someone walks in front of the mic. A nice “live” atmosphere makes for a very enjoyable show. -
Soundboard 8.8 -
Soundboard 8.8 - A welcomed board tape that I knew nothing of previously before discovering it. It’s fine, it’s not a “pristine” or sterile tape by any means and it does sound…dated a bit but it’s the mighty ‘Halen in all their splendor and it’s great! Van Halen 1979-10-02 Tucson, Az. Convention Center Disc 1 01) Light Up The Sky 3:39 02) Somebody Get Me A Doctor - Drum Solo 6:59 03) Running With The Devil 4:39 04) Dance The Night Away 3:07 05) Beautiful Girls 3:22 06) Dave's Everybody Wants Some Intro 4:43 07) I'm On Fire 3:05 08) Bass Solo 2:05 09) You're No Good 3:01 10) Jamie's Cryin' 4:09 11) Fools Intro - Gypsy Woman Story 2:55 12) Feel Your Love Tonight 6:21 Disc 2 13) Outta Love Again 4:35 14) Ice Cream Man 6:12 15) Ain't Talkin''Bout Love 12:57 16) Eruption 5:11 17) You Really Got Me 10:56 18) Bottom's Up!! 6:31 19) Atomic Punk 1:26 -
Audience 8.5 - The better of the Japan shows. Clear, in your face, average separation of instruments but Eddie in great form and can hear every note. -
Audience 7.5 - Two complete shows from 1984 that see very limited trading and as far as I know there’s been no CD release for either. There is good reason for this – these recordings sucked ass. Unfortunate too, because both gigs are screamers. Now, the good news! Both shows have been re-mastered using the best technology available (whatever they did 35 years ago obviously did not do much) and the results are that you can hear music now, you can hear what Eddie is doing and you can hear the band. No, it is not going to be sonically superior, but it is sonically better than any previous versions, and that is saying an awful lot! Best way to enjoy these is to listen to the original recordings and then pop these discs in, and THEN you will understand the work that went into saving these gigs from obscurity. The packaging on this title is superb by the way. -
Audience 8.7 - Really loud and up front sound but no distortion makes for a real thrill ride. I love this recording. I think it captures the manic energy happening on stage. Wonderful -
Audience 7.8 - Not bad big stadium sound, a little muddiness but compared to other 78 audience tape (especially overseas shows) this is one of the best. -
Audience 7.8 - Stadium sound all the way. Boomy and loud and CRAZY audience but damn, it’s hard not to love it. The good news here is the drums are defined and not just a sloppy boomy mess, the guitar slices through the mud and lands on your ears in the right spot, then Dave yelps, and does his thing. The end of Hot For Teacher when the drum solo starts the whole place goes bananas. -
Audience 8.4 (both shows) - I absolutely love this set. A must for fans. -
Soundboard 8.8 - a rather dusty old tape but oh how glorious it is! So many years later and this unpolished gem finally surfaces! You can tell it's age, sure, but the bones are all here and the band is ferocious. Opening for Black Sabbath, yeah, they had to bring it and history knows the rest. The inclusion of the recently surfaced film footage adds to the excitement of these finds, even if the footage is not the same San Diego show of the same year. Van Halen San Diego Sports Arena San Diego, California December 3rd, 1978 01. I'm On Fire 02. I'm The One 03. Bass Solo 04. Runnin' With The Devil 05. Atomic Punk 06. Drum Solo 07. Jamie's Cryin' 08. Ice Cream Man 09. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 10. Eruption 11. You Really Got Me Bonus Disc Pro Shot film footage San Diego 07-08-78 -
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.
VAN HALEN 1980 World Invasion Tour / Women and Children First San Antonio Convention Center Arena San Antonio, TX August 27, 1980 Disc 1 01. Romeo Delight 02. Bottoms Up! 03. Drum Solo 04. Runnin' With The Devil 05. Dave talks 06. Tora! Tora! - Loss of Control 07. Take Your Whiskey Home 08. Dance The Night Away 09. Women in Love 10. Jamie's Cryin' Disc 2 11. Bright Lights, Big City 12. Everybody Wants Some!! 13. And The Cradle Will Rock... 14. Guitar Solo 15. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 16. Ice Cream Man (Encore) Van Halen: David Lee Roth - Lead vocals, Acoustic guitar Eddie Van Halen - Guitar, Backing vocals Michael Anthony - Bass, Keyboards, Backing vocals Alex Van Halen - Drums