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Audience 9.1 - Every now and then you get a tape you knew nothing about and it just blows you away. This is one such. Epic performance for starters, but it’s also got a great, lively energy and a totally in-the-pocket sound. The whole band is inspired, the songs just sound incredibly fresh, every solo is a thrill, and the crowd seems to be aware that they are witnessing an inspired concert performance. -
Soundboard 9.4 - (Early and Late Show) - Both sets are predominately 9.4 Soundboards with occasional audience sources patched in for completeness. Both shows are highly enjoyable too. Good guitar tone, and good mix! -
Audience 8.8 - A tape that showcases a great guitar tone that soars above the audience with a nice biting attack. The rest of the music is slightly behind it and not as clear but whoa when the guitar is jamming this one RULES! Get it! -
Soundboard 8.6 - Starts off rough but quickly things improve and soon a really bright, vibrant tape emerges. Might be a touch too much high end here, but I interpret that to mean this must be a low gen source. Most everyone is going to dig this, add it to the collection for sure! -
Audience 8.7 - A good, solid audience tape that has been remastered nicely to showcase what was already decent sound, bringing out the life and helping with some clarity. You can tell there was once some tape noise or background noise once but this sounds really good now. From what I understand, it is a very rare tape. -
Soundboard 9.7 - GREAT mix here, very bright and lively recording that will please everyone. -
Early Show - Audience 8.8 - Superb for an audience tape really, the only real flaws are some lack of low end depth and instrument separation but it’s not a deal breaker at all. Late Show - Soundboard 9.7 - So good, I mean it is as if they recorded it for official release. Great mix, great fidelity. -
Soundboard 8.8 -
Audience 8.6 - A tape that starts off pretty rough and then gets better and better until it is quite good and clear, especially nice when you consider that it has taken the better part of 40 years to start getting half decent ZZ Top live recordings. -
Audience 8.4 -
Soundboard 8.6 -
Audience 8.2 - I’m probably being overly critical, I find this tape on the “harsh” side, meaning it is strong in the higher end, almost brittle. The good news is that having all your highs intact you can add filters and EQ and season to taste without losing anything in the process. -
Soundboard 9.4 -
Audience 9.8 - Complete 2 hr show with some killer guitar from the master himself. This is a must have for any collector (one of my fav's) with classic song selections at the Performing Arts Centre in New York. -
Audience / Soundboard / FM - This is a very special Halloween Marathon from 1981, with perfect clarity and sound balance. Another outstanding performance in NYC. -
Audience 8.7 - If you took any audience tape from 1983 with an 8.7 rating, this show would still sound better because for some reason, I guess maybe it’s the microphones or something, but recordings made in the 70’s have more of a warmth, a more natural texture and quality to the sound.