Audience 8.8 - Very nice live sound, slamming kick drums, great vocals, guitars slightly more behind but overall a lovely recording and the best of this tour so far.

Soundboard 9.0 - For those who want to know what Bruce Springsteen was about before he went all FM friendly singer songwriter, look no further than this hard and heavy hard rock jam fest from 1971. I do not like Bruce, I think he’s kind of a big douche, but damn you have to give him props because he is a rock and roll survivor and this early stuff smokes.

Audience 8.4 - Some tape hiss present, and recorded from maybe midway back in the hall but if you turn up the volume a bit, this actually is very decent quality. Having relatively low recording levels means, essentially, they were conscience of overloading and distortion so they protected against that. You can turn the volume up as loud as you can stand, and it sounds better and better!

FM Radio Broadcast 8.6

Audience 8.5 - Recorded by French radio, so you would think maybe soundboard or at least multiple stage mics right?  Naw, this sounds almost like a bootleg, a REALLY good bootleg recording, but the old reel to reel tape shows signs of degredation…still this is quite good with some flaws here and there.

Audience 8.7 - A higher rating would be possible if there were some more bottom end on this one, but it is very clear and bright and just perfect for a remastering project. If you love Yes, go for this one.

Multiple sources used to make up this first volume of the 70’s series. * The first is a really cool 1967 show that is professionally recorded in an amateur fashion. So, yes, a pro recording but whoever engineered it was slow on the uptake, levels are peaked, the mix is funky, oh well, it could have been much better but for a super early Spirit show this is PURE GOLD and the surprise is how jazzy they are here. * The second disc comes from another early gig (1969) from Seattle and is Audience 8.3 for the clarity but has some hiss, and is not exactly hi-fi but you can hear everything very nicely and clear, pretty much, maybe vocals are a little buried but that is all. * Disc 3 is the continuation of the previous plus begins the Chicago 1975 gig (Disc 4) which is Soundboard 8.8 and has lovely atmosphere, and I think it is in stereo, or at least the way it is panned, mimics a stereo effect.

Pro Soundboard 9.3