Audience 7.8 - Let me first say this: Why did this album get panned so harshly? I mean, even the band expressed some regret over it. Look, I get that Passion Play may not fit with the preconception of what Jethro Tull’s music is supposed to be, but at face value the music and playing is superior. The fault may have been the accompanying stage show, and maybe if I were to criticize one thing about the compositions would be that they relied a lot on overly dramatic minor key shifts way too often. However that stuff does not diminish the overall content and performance of a fine and unfairly panned album. This CD captures a complete performance of Passion Play in pretty good overall quality with some minor issues here and there. Fascinating!

Audience 8.3 - Not that bad really, some hiss present but otherwise it’s worthy of your attention.

Soundboard 9.1 - Acetates and live noticeable wear from the acetates but everything is clearly heard.

Aud 7.7  - Guitar is the dominant instrument on this tape, which features qualities I can appreciate knowing that there is so much worse out there than this. The DVD features a short segment of footage synced properly with the audio so collectors will enjoy that.

CD 1 Aud 8.2 Nice version here, must be a very low gen tape source. CD 2 Aud 8.3 I like this recording a lot, it’s a touch overloaded but you hear a very realistic sound, pretty close to what you may have heard standing close to the mains. Maybe a little bit of tape saturation (not distortion, two different things!), otherwise this one is very fun to hear putting you right in the middle of it all.

Studio quality with some tape hiss 8.7

All Studio Quality 9.7

Audience 8.5 - OK, so the deal here is that the taper seems to be real close to the PA system and his machine is getting bombasted like heck, but the thing is holding up somewhat. Early on, the snare drum is pegging his meters and it’s kind of annoying until he seems to either move a little or dial back the recording levels because it evens out after a couple songs. A very kinetic and wild show and recording that throws you headfirst into the action, a thrill ride of epic proportions I would say. Have fun!