Jethro Tull Victoria Hall Staffordshire, England (Stoke On Trent) March 3, 1972 Disc 1 01. -Thick As A Brick Disc 2 02. -Cross-Eyed Mary                           03. -A New Day Yesterday                      04. -Aqualung                      05. -Wind-Up                       06. -Guitar Solo                           07. -Locomotive Breath                         08. -Hard-Headed English General 09. -Wind-Up (reprise)                     

New York 1968 Soundboard 8.7/8.5 - This is a strange old tape, don’t get me wrong I am very happy to get to hear it, but it is a tale of two tapes…to my ears. It’s starts off, the first few tracks, as a relatively “clean” board feed, perhaps an AM radio live broadcast even, because it has that sound to it – like if you were listening to a radio broadcast with headphones (and took the headphones off slightly). Then, the tape changes to what I have to believe is another source, and one that is considerably more raucous and menacing. I can’t even say for sure the second part is a board, might be, but my guess is an on stage reel to reel recording (possibly done by John Sinclair?). It’s ok for what it is, both “sources” are welcomed into my personal collection since there’s so little of the live five out there.

Hollywood 1971 Audience 8.6 - Despite the lowish rating, this is very listenable. The main issue for me, and hence the low quality rating, is the drop off in the vocals. It’s not out front of the mix enough, but then, guitar (and bass) is the highlight so maybe that’s not so bad!  Overall, I think if you love this band, this old tape is going to make you happy. One may wonder if a modern re-mastering would help this show come to life and the short answer is “maybe”, because it sounds like this one is already teetering on the edge of the bandwidth and to attempt sonic shenanigans might push it off the cliff.  I’d like to hear an expert give it a try though.

MC5 - Flyin' With The Five New York 1968 Unknown Location Disc 1 1. -Teenage Lust 2. -It's A Man's Man World 3. -Black To Comm 4. -Ramblin' Rose 5. -Kick Out The Jams 6. -Come Together 7. -Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa 8. -Born Under A Bad Sign 9. -Shakin' All Over 10. -I Want You Right Now Disc 2 Hollywood, CA. Unknown Location Sept. 9th, 1971 1. Sister Anne 2. Baby Won't Ya 3. I Want You Right Now 4. Tonight 5. Looking At You 6. Ramblin' Rose 7. Kick Out The Jams 8. Black To Comm

Studio Quality 9.5 - The average rating here in the mid 9.0’s because except for the occasional minor hiss, this material consists of professionally recorded, live in studio sessions. Good to have it all in a well constructed collection like this.

Faces BBC Collection

Studio Quality 9.3 - Is this actually the album/albums that George wanted to be released posthumously?  Probably not, but certainly they are based on the idea he had for his “Leg End” finale. Good stuff and interesting to listen to!  BTW the text on the back cover is rather difficult to read so best to use this information and save yourself from the squinty-eyes!

George Harrison Legend Of A Leg End Vol. 1

St. Austell 1980 Audience 8.4 - In the pantheon of early Maiden live recordings this one is far from the worst, in fact I would say it’s worth a good listen because one thing is a grimy, muddy old tape and another is a relatively good tape that is NOT muddy but maybe does not have a wide dynamic range…and I’ll take the latter every time.

Reading 1980 Soundboard 9.4 - A short but awesome recording that every Iron Maiden fan should have.

Iron Maiden Cornwall Coliseum St. Austell, England 1980-05-31 "Iron Maiden Tour" Disc 1 01. Intro (The Ides Of March) 02. Sanctuary 03. Wrathchild 04. Prowler 05. Remember Tomorrow 06. Killers 07. Running Free 08. Another Life 09. Drum Solo 10. Transylvania 11. Strange World 12. Charlotte The Harlot Disc 2 13. Phantom Of The Opera 14. Iron Maiden 15. Drifter 16. I Got The Fire Reading Festival Reading, England, UK 1980-08-23 17. -Prowler 18. -Remember Tomorrow 19. -Killers 20. -Running Free 21. -Transylvania 22. -Iron Maiden Lineup: Paul Di’Anno - vocals Dave Murray - guitars Dennis Stratton - guitars Steve Harris - bass Clive Burr - drums

Radio Broadcast 9.2 - Great gig here, in really nice quality with just very minor underlying signal noise (so you know it’s a radio broadcast). But the show itself is a barn burner!

Jethro Tull UNICEF Benefit Show Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Santa Monica, CA November 16, 1979 Disc 1 01 - Intro [1:59] 02 - Dark Ages [8:06] 03 - Home [2:50] 04 - Orion [5:13] 05 - Wond'ring Aloud [2:01] 06 - Dun Ringill [2:33] 07 - Elegy [3:59] 08 - Something's On The Move [4:58] 09 - Aqualung [7:53] 10 - Ian Thanks Crowd for UNICEF Gig [0:56] 11 - King Henry's Madrigal - Drum Solo  [6:24] 12 - Heavy Horses [6:16] 13 - One Brown Mouse [3:56] Disc 2 14 - No Lullaby [4:16] 15 - Flute Solo (incl GRYMG-Kelpie-Bouree)  [7:03] 16 - Songs From The Wood [3:50] 17 - Ian Introduces the Band [1:46] 18 - Jams O'Donnell's Jigs [3:45] 19 - Thick As A Brick [7:45] 20 - Too Old To Rock'N'Roll - Cross-Eyed Mary [2:59] 21 - Minstrel In The Gallery  [3:11] 22 - Locomotive Breath - Dambusters March - Hard-Headed English General - Minstrel In The Gallery (reprise) [7:01] 23 - Interview with JT - BBC Lively Arts Doc 1979 [15:56]

Dublin 1974 Soundboard 9.4 - This is a sweet one, it’s early in the new year (a year he would tour extensively during), and he’s in the beautiful city of Dublin, possibly thinking maybe this is how he’ll kick off the ambitious tour, and he just kills it!  I would rate the recording higher but for some sizzle on the highs (cymbal crashes, etc.) that don’t hurt the tape so much as they don’t belong on a professionally made for release recording, if indeed that is what this was for. So, that being said you can still dive into this with the full knowledge that it will live up to the rating and then some!

Limerick 1972 Soundboard 8.8 - Sounds like this originates from TV or local radio and suffers from some compression limitations and occasionally drop outs due to sheer age. It’s still professionally recorded, so it’s got bones to work with and you’ll be able to get into it but because it is made for TV (or radio?) there is interruption for interviews – so you have to take this short piece for what it is. It’s filler for the excellent Dublin ’74 and it is fine in that capacity.

Rory Gallagher Carlton Cinema Dublin, Ireland January 2, 1974 Disc 1 1. -Cradle Rock 2. -Tattoo'd Lady 3. -Hands Off 4. -Walk On Hot Coals 5. -Laundromat 6. -Too Much Alcohol 7. -A Million Miles Away 8. -As The Crow Flies 9. -Pistol Slapper Blues 10. -Banker's Blues Disc 2 11. -Unmilitary Two Step 12. -Going To My Hometown 13. -In Your Town 14. -Bullfrog Blues Savoy Theatre Limerick, Ireland May 11, 1972 15. -I'm Tore Down 16. -Interviews 17. -Laundromat 18. -Interviews 19. -Pistol Slapper Blues 20. -Interviews 21. -Patch Of Grey Cloud (AKA Don't Know Where I'm Goin') 22. -Interviews 23. -Bullfrog Blues

FM Broadcast 9.7 - A stellar sound with this over the air broadcast, no signal degradation, no interference, no compression, just smooth jazz sailing all the way.

Pat Metheny Group Festival International de Jazz De Montréal McGill College Ave. Montréal, Quebec, Canada July 4, 1989 CHOM-FM Broadcast Disc 1 01 Phase Dance  8:06 02 Have You Heard  6:08 03 Every Summer Night  6:57 04 Change Of Heart  7:20 05 Better Days Ahead  5:02 06 Last Train Home  5:11 07 First Circle  8:42 08 Scrap Metal  7:04 09 Slip Away  4:53 10 If I Could  6:19 Disc 2 01 Spring Ain't Here  6:44 02 Straight On Red  8:46 03 Are You Going With Me  8:53 04 The Fields, The Sky  4:17 05 Are We There Yet  9:33 06 (It's Just) Talk  8:15 07 Letter From Home  2:18 08 Beat 70  4:47 09 Minuano (Six-Eight)  9:08 10 Third Wind  9:04 Pat Metheny - Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Electric Sitar, Guitar Synth Lyle Mays - Piano, Keyboards Steve Rodby - Acoustic & Electric Basses Paul Wertico - Drums, Percussion Armando Marçal - Percussion Pedro Aznar - Voice, Miscellaneous Instruments