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Audience 8.6 - The number score doesn’t tell the story on this show. The “flaws” here work to the advantage of the listener depending on what you like about live recordings. In this case, it’s too loud, a touch distorted (not distracting at all), and maybe slightly compressed but man, what a show and the recording delivers max energy and excitement. I LOVE this tape! It is absolutely brimming with power and energy.
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CD 1 - Audience 8.8 - Direct into face, a driving and persistent intensity, very clean, very clear. CD 2 - Audience 8.3 - A more open spaced recording where you lose some of the dynamics, and vocals tend to get muffled and placed further back but guitar and drums are prominent and clear…bass is present but not as articulate or deep. A good tape and collectors will be happy to hear it since it is not widely circulated.
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Soundboard 9.0 - Extremely bright, very clear with a highly defined bass although it is not a “low end” bass, just defined. The signal is pushed a little hard, but there’s no distortion present. The cymbal crashes are prominent in the mix to a degree, but get properly subdued during guitar solos. These are nitpicky observations for what is clearly an impressive recording and show.
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Sale!
Audience 8.6 - Very close to the mains, and it’s incredibly loud to the point that Robin can barely control his feedback. But the tape holds together, even if there’s some loss of vocal clarity, none of that even matters because after a couple of songs you are so bludgeoned by this devastating guitar/bass onslaught that vocals would be barely noticed anyway.
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FM Broadcast 9.0 - Great tone on this one, meaty bass! Seattle West Studios aka Sea West Studios Seattle WA. August 13th 1973 KOL FM Broadcast Broadcast date August 19th 1973 THE BAND Robin Trower Guitar James Dewar Bass Vocals Reg Isadore Drums SETLIST 1 -Intro 2 -The Fool And Me 3 -Twice Removed from Yesterday 4 -Lady Love 5 -Daydream 6 -Another Day Another Night (Day of The Eagle) 7 -I Can't Wait Much Longer 8 -Man Of The World 9 -Sinner's Song 10 -Little Bit Of Sympathy 11 -Still On The Air 12 -Kol DJ Jimmy Pitkin
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Delaware 1985 Soundboard 9.3 Nice to hear this period of Trower with a good, punchy board tape that does present a minimal amount of hiss (evident between songs) but other than that not much to complain about. W. Hollywood 1990 Soundboard 9.2 Technically speaking this would rate much higher as it is what one would call a “pristine” board tape. Yes it sounds crystal clear and Robin is literally singing in your ear (a bit much perhaps), but the rating reflects what I personally consider to be a downside of board tapes…the lack of atmosphere and reliance on perfect mix. This was probably mixed for the benefit of what was coming from the stage and not for the sake of the recording being made. It’s a reference tape is what it is. Contrast this to the next show in the set and you’ll begin to understand why I always say a great audience tape beats a board tape. Karlsruhe 2009 Audience 9.5 This show gets a stellar rating because while it is not technically a superior recording (mainly due to the very slight amount of overdrive) it represents most of what I love about great audience recordings. This recording captures the lightning into a bottle so to speak. The fact that there is just a slight bit of overdriven energy (for lack of a more technical term) or lets call it “saturation” for the sake of the audiophiles out there – either way the point is that this recording will get more repeat plays than the board tapes in this set. Robin Trower Three Decades 1985-2009 Disc 1 The Stone Balloon Newark,Delaware,U.S.A. 1985-07-24 01 -Too Rolling Stoned 02 -Into Money 03 -Keeping A Secret 04 -Day Of The Eagle 05 -Bridge Of Sighs 06 -None But The Brave Musicians Robin Trower - Guitar Dave Bronze - Bass & Vocals Martin Clapson - Drums Disc 2 The Roxy West Hollywood CA. March 25th 1990 01 -Intro 02 -Too Rolling Stoned 03 -Rock Me Baby 04 -Sea Of Love 05 -Day Of The Eagle 06 -Bridge Of Sighs 07 -Turn The Volume Up Disc 3 08 -No Time 09 -Ev'ry Body's Watching You 10 -Daydream 11 -Tear It Up 12 -Natural Fact 13 -Little Bit Of Sympathy 14 -The Ring 15 -Extermination Blues THE BAND Robin Trower guitar Davey Pattison vocals Glenn Letsch bass Dee Johnson drums Disc 4 Jack Bruce & Robin Trower Karlsruhe (GER) Tollhaus 2009-02-25 01 - Seven Moons 02 - Lives Of Clay 03 - Distant Places Of The Heart 04 - Sunshine Of Your Love 05 - Carmen (New song, unreleased) 06 - She's The One 07 - We're Going Wrong 08 - So Far To Yesterday Disc 5 09 - Just Another Day 10 - Perfect Place 11 - Bad Case Of Celebrity 12 - The Last Door 13 - Come To Me 14 - I'm Home 15 - White Room 16 - Politician Musicians: Jack Bruce: b, v Robin Trower: g Gary Husband: dr