Soundboard 8.7 - A show that factors in to what would become a stellar career over many decades. Pretty much on her own now (no longer paired with Gram Parsons R.I.P.) she started playing in the clubs in the DC area when a producer came to record this show for future reference as he crafted her breakout solo album. Did she know he was at the gig?  Who knows, but she obviously made an impact. Emmylou Harris and the Angel Band 1974-05-08 Red Fox Inn Bethesda, Maryland Disc 1 01 -Hot Burrito #1 02 -Hickory Wind 03 -Shop Around 04 -Honky Tonk Blues 05 -Louise 06 -California Cottonfields 07 -High On The Hilltop 08 -Reconstructed 09 -When Will I Be Loved 10 -God Knows I Love You 11 -Before Believing 12 -Queen Of The Silver Dollar 13 -Someone I Used to Know 14 -Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down 15 -A Song for You 16 -High On The Hilltop 17 -Born Again 18 -Drifting Too Far From Shore Disc 2 01 -Country Baptizin' 02 -That's All It Took 03 -Together Again 04 -Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad 05 -Our Father 06 -Maybe Mexico 07 -Sold it All Away 08 -Instrumental (Jeff Wisor & J.B. Morrison) 09 -Satan's Jewel Crown 10 -Born Again 11 -Country Baptizin'   Angel Band : Bruce Archer - Guitar Mark Cuff - Drums Tom Guidera - Bass Danny Pendleton - Steel Guitar w/ John & Fayssoux Starling, J.B. Morrison & Jeff Wisor on tracks 7-11 (disc 2) {After Gram Parsons's death} Emmy moved back to D.C., where Tom Guidera had also become a country music convert. With pedal steel player Danny Pendleton and two other musicians, they put together the Angel Band and started gigging around the clubs, playing some of the songs she’d performed with Gram. Eddie Tickner made Harris his number one priority and he convinced Mary Martin, an A&R representative from Warner/Reprise Records (the label that had released Parsons’ solo work) to investigate an Angel Band show in a Washington nightclub. Emmylou Harris became a Reprise Records recording artist in 1974; with her daughter Hallie in tow, the Angel Band relocated to Los Angeles to begin work on Harris’s first true solo album. To produce, Martin paired Harris up with Nova Scotia native Brian Ahern, the mastermind behind Anne Murray’s spate of hits in the early 70’s. She brought the quiet Canadian to hear the Angel Band, and he recorded the performance on a hand-held cassette machine to study at home. This sounds better than a hand-held cassette machine recording, purportedly a sound board, but it's not by any means what we think of as soundboard quality by today's standards.

Pro 8.8 - At times this recording gets even better but there are tape problems, what sounds like tracking issues (if this came from a video source), but overall it is very good and was taped professionally for broadcast. The DVD is pro shot, but suffers from age deterioration, tracking issues, color bleed, etc. but in fairness it is a very old video format and those old ¾” umatic tapes either held up or they failed, that these still played is amazing.

Audience 8.1 - Kind of occupies the very middle as far as dynamics go with maybe an emphasis on low end which means this recording at least has balls. It’s clear enough that you hear everything, and I think it successfully captured a marvelous evening.

Audience  8.8 - Very clear but a touch on the compressed side. One thing is, you can totally CRANK this and it performs flawlessly – no break up, and you’ll get that punch and richness. It needs volume , the louder the better.

Audience 7.8 - A touch on the thin side and not especially dynamic, however it is nice and clear to the ears meaning you can hear everything they are doing on stage with good separation of instruments. Very decent just not super dynamic.