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Soundboard 9.3 - Of course it’s great but I am not too thrilled with the sound of the drums. -
Soundboard 8.7 - Raw, unfiltered and killer. Sure, it ain’t perfect, it is a little squishy and compressed but it’s all there, and there’s plenty of headroom if you want to add Equalizer or even some reverb would help. -
Ranges 7.7 to 8.7 - Not a lot out there on this band. After listening you will gain an appreciation for them and maybe compare them to ELP and you could be forgiven for that. Sound quality is not spectacular but neither is it dog shit. I think this music should be remastered because it is excellent heavy prog! -
Soundboard 8.7 -
Audience 8.7 - Clear and bright recording. Point of Special Interest: The official double release of "Strangers in the Night" is composed of 3 different shows and not all of the Chicago, Amphitheater show, like many might think, so you will find some of the same titles on this one that are different recordings. This is the rare 1978 Chicago show in its entirety with nothing left out, hence the title "The Real Strangers in the Night". -
Audience/Pro? 8.7 - It sounds like this is recorded from the audience, but to my ears it sounds like it may be a television audience or in some kind of studio. It sounds like microphones were placed strategically, and there’s no ancillary noises that you would expect from a stealth audience recording. -
FM Radio Broadcast 9.7 -
FM Radio Broadcast 9.3 -
Audience 8.4 -
Audience 8.8 -
Audience 7.7 - Noisy but good, exciting atmosphere. The music seems to move through the audience, the audience responds, it’s kind of cool to hear. -
Soundboards 8.7 - A bit on the thin side with some minor tape noise. Altogether it’s not bad because the sound is clear enough to get every player on stage, and if you have your own Equalizer, you can bring in a little more low end very easily. -
Audience 9.0 - This may have been a radio broadcast but I don’t know. It is Excellent! -
Audience 7.0 - Might not be the highest fidelity, but you can hear all the instruments, each one, so no dynamics here, just enjoy the wild music these guys made back in the day. Historical artifact for collectors. -
Audience 8.8 - Aww yeah! This is the stuff. Great sound! -
Audience 8.2 - A real gem! Someone did a great remastering on this very low generation tape, what used to be a frustrating, muddy mess is now a real treat. Technology has made it possible to breathe new life into the old tapes of yore. -
FM Radio Broadcast 8.5 -
Audience 7.9 - A very loud and almost distorted tape, not quite, but certainly pushed to the max which gives this show an immense feeling of unbridled power and fury. Absolutely intense! I really think you are going to dig this one, I certainly did. -
Audience 7.2 - A bit thin sounding but I could get everything that was happening, and while it is not hi-fi sound, I could equalize and bring out the bottom end a bit. Still decent enough. -
5.1 - Sounds like it was recorded on a cheap old cassette recorder. No low end, squeaky sounding...but, historically significant recording. Bonus tracks sound excellent. -
Audience 7.8 - Not bad big stadium sound, a little muddiness but compared to other 78 audience tape (especially overseas shows) this is one of the best. -
Early Soundboard 8.6 - High energy; it does get a little "hot" as far as the mix but it doesn't detract from the experience of hearing Van Halen in a small club playing their asses off before they hit the big time. Dave is in fine form, as always. A great gig, a very good recording, a great band at a great time. Highly recommended. -
Audience 8.0 - Rated rather conservatively here, at times it goes a notch or two higher. This recording does capture the excitement of the gig rather well. Frequencies are not squashed, you can play with this. -
Audience 8.7 - A fantastic live atmosphere on this one! I mean, this is a total immersion tape, somebody out there knew how to properly capture a loud rock band once upon a time. -
Soundboard 9.3 - Recently remastered to give a good board tape a much needed kick in the ass. I heard this tape years ago, and I love what was done to bring out the bad-assery this performance was. -
Audience 7.0 -7.3 - Why the funky rating? Because what started out as a dismal audience tape has slowly over the years morphed into a listenable show. Why would you care? Because 1978 shows KILL! If you loved and miss the vintage Eddie Van Halen signature between riff fills that he used to dish out effortlessly, than get this one because later he began relying too much on tried and true signature frills and less and less on inventing killer little hooky lead fills on the spot. This show has them, and you can hear them, and it’s weird because this tape has a very strange dynamic to it where the sound channel down the middle opens up enough to let Eddie’s sound permeate and even float around a little above the din of the bass and kick. So the re-mastering addressed some of that by dropping some of the low and low mid boom and attenuating the upper mids and highs with multi-band compression. It helped a lot. Still kind of rough but actually the show is so interesting and just enough above being not listenable that it will still suck you right in and you will actually play it all the way through. I promise that. I did, without regrets. -
Soundboard 8.8 - A loud board mix, with a little crispiness in the ultra high frequency but what this actually translates to as the show plays is CRUNCH factor which helps liven up what could have been a flat, lifeless board tape. The remastering helped because the levels were kind of low, and the bass needed to be dialed back just a tick, but just that light touch really made this tape a whole point better. Fantastic prime era Halen comin’ out yer speakers like lightning bolts. MUST HAVE!!! -
Audience 7.8 - A MAJOR upgrade here folks! This recording used to suffer a horrible low mid range boom and muddiness that killed an otherwise decent tape and really good performance capture. Now, even though it is still roughly an average tape, it is minus that deal-breaking boom/mud in the middle. Apparently, the recording being in stereo, while mastering they found by moving it wider (stereo panning) they got the affected channel muted enough where it was crap sounding, but saved what music was there. It worked wonders. Now this tape is worth your time, so rediscover it today. -
Studio Quality 9.5 -
Soundboard 9.6 -
Audience 8.7 -
Audience 7.9 - Very clear, not exceptionally dynamic but this is very enjoyable! -
Soundboard 8.8 - Good mix, with a lively bass and clean punchy sound with a well balanced left right pan for the live mix. Good stuff -
Audience 9.7 - Absolutely ripping show in every way. Live sound is bordering on perfection, and it's not even a Soundboard. -
Audience 8.2 - Drums and vocals present, rhythm section just behind them but the recording is not suffering from typical large hall boominess or distortion so it offers a reasonable enjoyment factor to these ears. -
Audience 8.8 - Surprisingly clear and spacious, very enjoyable tape! Glen Cornick .... Bass player for Jethro Tull -
Pro Radio 9.6 - Both shows -
Audience 7.4 - Decent for the time and you can hear ever instrument and clearly enough so I think this was remastered. It is a very good 1971 audience recording. It does lack a little depth in my opinion. -
Audience 8.0 -
Audience 8.7 -
Audience 7.4 - Vocals and Guitar are audible above the denseness. Not a clear tape, but surprisingly it is very quiet meaning I believe this is VERY low generation if not from a master source. Decent for 1971, we take what we can get! -
Audience 9.6 - This one is loaded with razor sharp guitar, a gem of a show. -
Pro Soundboard 9.8 -
Audience 7.9 - This tape shows its age but the master source for this CD is actually an old vinyl boot long since lost to the mists of time. Glad to have it, although I think only hard core collectors will really see the value here. That is not to say its dogshit either, because at times its actually very decent, but it fluctuates also back to mediocre, and that may be due to the tapers having to move or hide their equipment. I still like this one, and I think most Sabbath collectors will appreciate it. -
Soundboard - Sounds like it may actually be a close mic’d recording as there is little audience noise and yet there is a sense of the venue and atmosphere in the vocals especially. Very good! -
Soundboard 9.4 - Crisp, with incredible detail on drums, A very tight punchy sound that is quite exhilarating. Wonderful! -
Soundboard 9.0 - Clean and tight but no atmosphere present. Rather dry, but mix is fine, quality is awesome. (late show) -
Audience 8.4 - Pretty darn good for a small club gig with amateur audience recording technique, if indeed it was done by an audience member. As you know, Frank sometimes recorded the band, not always through the board either.