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Volume 2: Audience 8.2 - Sounds like taper attended the first two nights and had different seats each time because this one, while pretty strong, shows a rather overloaded bass signal that does not distort the tape as much as it crowds the sound field in the middle. This places guitar secondary in the mix, and vocals third. Drums sound good. The overall mix is what I would call decent for 1969 audience but not as clear as the first night.
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Aud 8.4 - A very good, clear tape for the time (includes Corn Exchange and Saville Theater 67 both excellent). Only problem is, the taper recorded less than 1 minute on almost every song except for a Red House. Kind of infuriating. (Red House is complete and smokes! It seems this was recorded by someone who interviewed Hendrix, so he probably just wanted small pieces to embellish his interview tape to be broadcast at his college station or something).
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Volume 3: Audience 7.6 - Bass is pumping at the expense of everything else unless the music pauses now and then which makes guitar front and center for a moment. It’s somewhat muddy, but you do hear everything happening, and the ears do adjust. It’s the worst of the three night stand. Good, at times, and worth having nonetheless.
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Aud 7.2 - Thin, like a small transistor cassette deck recording but surprisingly the narrow bandwidth allows Jimi’s guitar to penetrate and come to the center, so you are treated to a Jimi fest on this tape. Lo Fi, yes, but it’s the Jimi show with a cutting guitar sound with that tell tale stadium echo that gives it a nostalgic vibe. I kind of like this tape. Really interesting capture!
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Aud 6.9 - Distant, with only Jimi’s singing and a booming bass audible, except for when Jimi is soloing and then you hear his leads bouncing almost like quadraphonic around the venue. Now, that does add some cool atmospherics, but this tape is for the hard core. Lastly, I can say at least this – Red House sounds much better, and I am sure if someone remastered this tape it would bring out a lot more good stuff so it is salvageable IMHO.
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Aud 6.9 - Not very good, but I think someone has mastered this nonetheless because a lot of the mid band muck is gone, and you can hear Jimi sing! You get his guitar next in this mix, and at times the sun peaks from behind the clouds. I think, if you are a collector, this is of historical importance due to Jimi’s connection with the Southern blues.
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Aud 7.3 – 7.5 - This recording ranges due to the fact that it is a 3 source merge. When it is at a 7.5 or even higher, it is pretty good stuff, like Red House for instance really shines. The weaker parts of the show just lack some definition and clarity but you can hear everything on stage, with some atmosphere too. Overall it is a special show, you get that sense from the bands performance.
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SDBRD 9.0 and Aud 7.8 - What you have here are two big upgrades. The first is a well travelled sdbrd that had problems that were never addressed, but should have been. Mainly, hiss and uneven volume. Those have been fixed here, and the results are spectacular! The second show was not terrible but got little respect mainly because of terrible tape noise. Thanks to modern technology, that has been fixed. Now, this tape is MUCH easier to listen to, even though it still gets cluttered during very loud passages.
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Aud 7.4 - Lo-Fi sound to be sure but the upside is that it’s not a sludge wall of sound mess here. Guitar is reasonably clear and louder than everything else by far as it sort of cuts right through this tapes’ audio spectrum. Drums peak through the haze next followed by distinguishable bass notes, and Jimi is remarkably clear as far as hearing every word he sings. Let your ears adjust to the narrow bandwidth and you are going to enjoy this show a lot more. It has many good qualities to offset a lack of sonics. Less loud songs shine through the clouds.
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Aud 7.5 - A very decent and clear recording from perhaps a little further back in the hall than one would prefer, but guitar is prominent, then drums and bass with Jimi vocals a little bit behind the noise. Also, I am glad the sound has a little separation, enough to discern everything that is going on, so big plus there!
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Aud 7.1 - Here’s an interesting situation, a marginal recording that is clear and audible. How can that be? It’s a transistor cassette deck recording, but the capture is centered, and the band is actually clear, just lo-fi. A recent remastering really brought out some of the music and to my ears lifted this tape out of “curiosity only” and into actual collectable status.