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Audience 8.8 - Well here it is folks, the BEST early vintage ZZ Top recording to ever surface. We already gave up a long time ago that the band would dig into their archives for us, but now it’s been completely left up to the fans to provide the early documents…and for better or worse they have (mostly worse). After all this time a tape has surfaced that presents a powerful early testament to the rocking blues power of ZZ Top before they “made it” to the FM bigtime. The hits were already in the repertoire, but only hinting at the massive success to come. This is the REAL DEAL – a clear, loud, balsy tape from very early in the bands career. ZZ Top Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA December 5, 1973 01 Thunderbird 02 (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree 03 Chevrolet 04 Waitin' For The Bus 06 Jesus Just Left Chicago 06 Gonna Ride Away (?) 07 Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers 08 I Just Got Back From Baby's 09 Rattlesnake Shake 10 La Grange 11 Let's Go Get Stoned + Mellow Down Easy -
Soundboard 9.0 - The unmistakable emphasis in this mix is the percussion (and to a lesser extent keyboards) but that makes for an interesting take on this one…you are forced to reckon with the powerhouse engine room for once, and with no regrets either. It’s still a good recording, and everyone else is there but you will know who’s taking the stage in the mix here. Santana Circus Krone Munich, Germany April 20th, 1971 Carlos Santana (g/perc/vo) Neal Schon (g) Gregg Rolie (kbd/vo) David Brown (b) Coke Escovedo (perc) Michael Carabello (perc) Jose "Chepito" Areas (perc) Michael Shrieve (ds) 1 -Incident At Neshabur -5:12 2 -Taboo -5:08 3 -Jungle Strut -5:46 4 -Toussaint L'Overture -6:17 5 -Evil Ways -4:41 6 -Samba Pa Ti -3:45 7 -Black Magic Woman - Gypsy Queen -6:01 8 -Oye Como Va -4:13 9 -Savor-3:59 10 -Jingo- 4:45 11 -Soul Sacrifice -13:11 12 -Gumbo -5:18 13 -Se A Cabo -2:06 14 -Treat 9:19 -
Radio Broadcast 9.2 A touch of hiss present, but other than that this is a pleasant and airy recording. Electronic music with an atmosphere that would convince you otherwise. Excellent! Isao Tomita Hammersmith Odeon London, England 01 Introduction 0:50 02 Dawn (from Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2) (Ravel) 4:29 > 03 Snowflakes Are Dancing (Debussy) 2:14 > 04 Clair de Lune (Debussy) 5:58 05 Synthesizer Sounds Demonstration (narrated by Bob Walker) 10:54 06 Arabesque No. 1 (Debussy) 4:10 Firebird Suite (w/Michael Reeves on piano) (Stravinsky) 07 Part 1 - Intro and Dance Of The Firebird 5:18 08 Part 2 - Round Of The Princesses (Khorovod) 5:12 09 Part 3 - Internal Dance Of King Kastchei 4:01 10 Part 4 - Berceuse and Finale 7:39 -
Soundboard 9.3 - This is, for me, a real revelation. I never knew anything of this band outside of their lone smash hit “My Sharona”, which incidentally happens to hearken me back to a very specific time and place of my youth when this song blasted from every radio every 10 minutes. Listening to this show, I am stunned at how excellent the band is, and how good ALL of the songs are. How they remained pigeonholed and forgotten as another 1 hit wonder it just amazes me because they should have been more than that. I could not stop playing this once I started…I was on board for the whole ride and will do it again! THE KNACK THE FORUM INGLEWOOD, CA 1980-03-30 01. Baby Talks Dirty 02. Your Number Or Your Name 03. Oh Tara 04. The Hard Way 05. I Want Ya 06. Mr. Handleman 07. End Of The Game 08. Hey Little Girl 09. Tell Me You're Mine 10. Good Girls Don't 11. Heartbeat 12. Can't Put A Price On Love 13. Hold On Tight And Don't Let Go 14. Come A Little Bit Closer 15. Frustrated 16. (She's So) Selfish 17. My Sharona 18. (Havin' A) Rave Up 19. Not Fade Away 20. We Love You -
Audience 8.3 - Limitations with the microphone is probably what prevents this recording from blossoming as it sometimes seems like it wants to do. You can hear it, for instance, during some of the passages, but I think the overloading of the bass crowds out the guitar a bit too much (although you can hear guitar, just not in a clear and detailed manner). Drums and keyboards dominate with a very insistent, pulsing bass undercurrent throughout. Does that count this out? Not at all, due to the disparity of live BJH recordings, I think this one is worth exploring. The compositions and playing make up for the limitations on the tape. Barclay James Harvest Greens Playhouse Glasgow, Scotland 1972-11-19 01. -Medicine Man 02. -Mockingbird 03. -Summer Soldier 04. -Galadriel 05. -After the Day 06. -Dark Now My Sky -
Soundboard 8.8 - OK, so yeah this board tape is extremely clear but it suffers from the sterility of most board tapes, and when the band is ACDC, you really need that electric atmosphere a rowdy audience provides. I also found this tape kind of missing some “guts”, but, if you want to hear everything, all guitars and drums, vocals (including backing vocals), then you can’t miss with a clean board tape that allows everything to be present. AC/DC B'ginnings Club Shaumberg IL Broadcast Live on WJKL, Elgin IL 1978-09-14 1. -Intro 2. -Live Wire 3. -Problem Child 4. -Sin City 5. -Gone Shooting 6. -Bad Boy Boogie 7. -Rock and Roll Damnation 8. -The Jack 9. -Dog Eat Dog 10. -Rocker 11. -Let There Be Rock -
Audience 8.8 - At first my thought was that this was a recording for a broadcast because even though it sounds like an audience recording, that may just mean that the station used room mics to capture the concert. What tipped me off to the fact that this is indeed just a really good audience tape is the clapping near the mic after the songs. AC/DC Palladium, New York, NY August 24th 1977 1. -Live Wire 2. -Shes Got Balls 3. -Problem Child 4. -The Jack 5. -High Voltage 6. -Whole Lotta Rosie 7. -Baby Please Don't Go THE BAND Bon Scott lead vocals Angus Young lead guitar Malcolm Young rhythm guitar backing vocals Cliff Williams bass backing vocals Phil Rudd drums -
Radio Broadcast 8.8 - A most welcome discovery! Insanely cool hearing this band play live in the USA. The material is compelling, the band is tight and very convincing although they needed some work on their stage banter ha ha! Very cool indeed! Epitaph Agora Cleveland, OH (WMMS-FM) 1973-10 01 Introduction 02 Fresh Air 03 Outside the Law 04 Big City 05 Early Morning 06 Reflexion 07 Stop Look and Listen 08 Who Do You Love -
FM Radio Broadcasts 9.6 - Excellent as always – sound and performance. Prince Tracks 01-04 1985-03-30 Syracuse - Carrier Dome Tracks 05-10 1990-07-22 Madrid - Estadio Vicente Calderon 01. Let's Go Crazy 02. I Would Die For U 03. Computer Blue 04. Little Red Corvette 05. 1999 06. Kiss 07. Purple Rain 08. Take Me With You 09. When Doves Cry 10. Baby I'm A Star -
Audience 8.6 - Not a bad tape at all, and seeing how there’s now all of what, one known live tape of this band I would say that is kind of cool. The band? Well they are in their final incarnation here, and playing is very loose and experimental…but honestly they needed to ditch the flautist as he contributes not only nothing, but he’s in the way. Let the guitarist do his thing ‘cause he seems to be able to turn on the switch and lay down bursts of awesome psychedelic insanity. Dzyan Esslingen, Germany 1974-07-14 01 The Road Not Taken 02 For Earthly Thinking 03 Unknown Title 04 Unknown Title -
Audience 8.7 - This recording is better than it has a right to be, after all it is in a big stadium, early 70’s so the gear, if it doesn’t weigh 80 pounds, has to be cheap crap…but, dang it this sounds cool! Granted, instrument separation isn’t great (it is good enough), and it isn’t super close up, but all that still does not detract from how stompin’ this is. Great fun! Humble Pie Orlando Sports Stadium Orlando, FL. 12-16-1972 1. -Tuning Up - Intro 2. -Up Your Sleeve 3. -C'mon Everybody 4. -Honky Tonk Women 5. -I Wonder 6. -Hallelujah I Love Her So 7. -I Don't Need No Doctor 8. -Hot 'N Nasty 9. -Roadrunner -
George Harrison All Things Must Pass Sessions Studio Quality 9.6 - All volumes are excellent. George Harrison - All Things Must Pass Sessions Volume 3 01. Nowhere To Go - Thanksgiving Session, November 1968, with Bob Dylan 02. Nowhere To Go - demo 03. Pete Drake's Talking Steel Guitar - outtake, Early Mono Remix 04. Pete Drake's Talking Steel Guitar - outtake, 1982 stereo remix 05. Plug Me In - RS1 06. Plug Me In - RS2 07. Run Of The Mill - Acoustic demo, 1970 08. Run Of The Mill - Basic tracks with scratch vocal 09. Run Of The Mill - Vocal and keyboard overdubs onto basic tracks 10. Run Of The Mill - Horn overdubs onto basic tracks 11. Run Of The Mill - RS1, False Start 12. Run Of The Mill - RS2 13. Tell Me What Has Happened To You - Acoustic demo 14. Wah Wah - (demo) 15. Wah Wah - Take 3, Backing tracks, Early stereo remix 16. Wah Wah - Take 3, Backing tracks, RS1) 17. What Is Life - Backing tracks with guide vocal 18. What Is Life - Guitar and piano overdubs onto backing tracks 19. What Is Life - Horn overdub onto backing tracks 20. What Is Life - Backing tracks, Take 25, RS1 21. What Is Life - Early stereo remix 22. Window, Window - Acoustic demo, 1970 -
Soundboard 8.8 - A very old sounding tape that received a recent “facelift” giving it some more punch while reducing tape noise (without compromising any high end). What you end up with is another very good early performance (whilst the band was still doing some Pretties For You numbers) in very good quality. I never get tired of the early Alice Cooper stuff, even if I still don’t understand “Sun Arise” ha ha! Alice Cooper Paramount Theatre Seattle, WA, USA July 10, 1971 01 Intro (1:37) 02 Sun Arise (5:07) 03 Caught In A Dream (2:49) 04 I'm Eighteen (5:32) 05 Is It My Body (8:14) 06 Second Coming (2:40) 07 Ballad Of Dwight Fry (7:33) 08 Black Juju (9:50) Vincent Furnier (Alice Cooper) - Lead Vocals, Harmonica Glen Buxton - Lead Guitar Michael Bruce - Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals Dennis Dunaway - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals Neal Smith - Drums, Backing Vocals -
Audience 8.4 - They should call this tape “Noise In The Attic” ha ha! Actually, I am being very tough here, it’s a bright tape, it favors high end but is not too screechy…I just need more low end personally. That being said – vocals are in the front here, followed by Joe Perry, so that is crucial to this being a worthwhile listen. Taper has to hide his gear once or twice, so you occasionally hear the inside of his coat. Not too many 1975 period tapes out there, I am thankful for this one…you will be too, especially when the coast is clear and taper brings the mic back out (makes for a really refreshing audio moment!). Aerosmith Hara Arena Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. May 24, 1975 1. -toys in the attic 2. -S.O.S. (too bad) 3. -somebody 4. -sweet emotion 5. -lord of the thighs 6. -dream on 7. -walk this way 8. -no more, no more 9. -write me 10. -same old song and dance 11. -train kept a rollin' (with drum solo) -
Studio and Live Various Sources 9.0 - All sources used appear to be from low gen tapes and broadcasts, I did not hear anything that sounded worse than what I remember…but some of this stuff I’d not heard before so I have to go on assumptions. I like this set very much though, and so will you. The Velvet Underground "Caught Between The Twisted Stars" 4 Volumes Vol. 4 1. Searchin' ("Swan Mix" 09-67 Mayfair Recording Studio, NYC) 2. Lady Godiva's Operation (Mono Mix, 09-67 Mayfair NYC) 3. The Gift (Wembley 6-06-93) 4. Run Run Run (Hilltop Rock Festival, Ringe, NH. 8-02-69) 5. What Goes On (Live 1968) 6. Guess I'm Falling In Love (NYC 04-67) 7. A Short Lived Torture Of Cacophony (NYC 1965) 8. Black Angels Death Song (Bataclan Club, Paris 1-29-72) 9. The Biggest, Loudest, Hairiest Group Of All (Bataclan 72) 10. A Distant Mirror -
Studio and Live Various Sources 9.0 - All sources used appear to be from low gen tapes and broadcasts, I did not hear anything that sounded worse than what I remember…but some of this stuff I’d not heard before so I have to go on assumptions. I like this set very much though, and so will you. The Velvet Underground "Caught Between The Twisted Stars" 4 Volumes Vol.3 1. Sweet Sister Ray (La Cave, Cleveland, OH. 4-30-68) 2. Sister Ray (Boston Tea Party 3-15-69) 3. Hey Mr. Rain (Wembley Arena, London 6-6-93) 4. Heroin (La Cave, Cleveland, OH. 4-30-68)