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One really nice thing about collecting Frank Zappa recordings is the overwhelming majority of them sound very nice. Perhaps that is a testament to Frank's demanding nature, that everything sounds tuned and balanced, I am sure he would not have been indifferent to the stage sound and what exactly his audience was hearing out front. This is why I am confident that you will enjoy every one of the shows in this collection, all recorded from the audience and some even rivaling soundboards in terms of overall enjoyment. A really great recording should transport you to the event, and most of these do just that. I really enjoyed hearing this excellent band Frank put together for this tour, a band that included one Steve Vai, and the chemistry between the two guitarists frequently meant you were in for some real fireworks. 14 CD's worth of fireworks, to be precise. Frank Zappa 1981 Can Disc 1 Hartford Civic Center Hartford, CT November 6, 1981 1. Zoot Allures 2. Band Intro 3. Montana 4. Easy Meat 5. Cosmik Debris 6. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus 7. Society Pages 8. I'm a Beautiful Guy 9. Beauty Knows No Pain 10. Charlie's Enormous Mouth 11. Fine Girl 12. Teen-Age Wind 13. Harder Than Your Husband 14. Bamboozled by Love Disc 2 1. Sinister Footwear 2. Stevie's Spanking 3. Cocaine Decisions 4. Nig Biz 5. Drowning Witch 6. What's New in Baltimore? 7. Möggio 8. Strictly Genteel 9. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 10. Whipping Post Disc 3 Alladin Theatre Las Vegas, NV October 7, 1981 1. Crowd Noise 2. Black Napkins 3. Band Intro 4. Montana 5. Easy Meat 6. You Are What You Is 7. Mudd Club 8. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing 9. Dumb All Over 10. Heavenly Bank Account 11. Suicide Chump 12. Jumbo Go Away Disc 4 1. Envelopes 2. We're Turning Again 3. Alien Orifice 4. Teenage Prostitute 5. Flakes 6. Broken Hearts Are For Assholes 7. The Blue Light 8. Tinsel Town Rebellion 9. Yo' Mama 10. Crowd Noise 11. Strictly Genteel 12. Dancin' Fool 13. The Illinois Enema Bandit Disc 5 Centennial Hall, University of Arizona Tucson, AZ October 9, 1981 EARLY SHOW 1. Chunga's Revenge 2. Radio Station Rap 3. Band Intro 4. Montana 5. Easy Meat 6. Society Pages 7. I'm a Beautiful Guy 8. Beauty Knows No Pain 9. Charlie's Enormous Mouth 10. Fine Girl 11. Teen-Age Wind 12. Harder Than Your Husband 13. Bamboozled by Love Disc 6 1. Band Intros 2. Sinister Footwear 3. Stevie's Spanking 4. Cocaine Decisions 5. Nig Biz 6. Goblin Girl 7. The Black Page 8. Dancin' Fool 9. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee? Disc 7 LATE SHOW 1. Black Napkins 2. Band Intro 3. You Are What You Is 4. Mudd Club 5. The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing 6. Dumb All Over 7. Heavenly Bank Account 8. Suicide Chump 9. Jumbo Go Away 10. Envelopes 11. Drowning Witch 12. What's New in Baltimore? Disc 8 2. Möggio 3. We're Turning Again 4. Alien Orifice 5. Teenage Prostitute 6. Flakes 7. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 8. The Blue Light 9. Tinsel Town Rebellion 10. Yo' Mama 11. Strictly Genteel Disc 9 Johnson Gymnasium Albuquerque, NM October 11, 1981 1. Treacherous Cretins 2. Band Intro 3. Montana 4. Easy Meat 5. Fine Girl 6. Teen-Age Wind 7. Harder Than Your Husband 8. Bamboozled by Love 9. Sinister Footwear 10. Stevie's Spanking 11. Cocaine Decisions 12. Nig Biz 13. We're Turning Again Disc 10 1. Alien Orifice 2. Teenage Prostitute 3. Flakes 4. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 5. The Blue Light (with lines from "Jazz Discharge Party Hats") 6. Tinsel Town Rebellion 7. Yo' Mama 8. The Dangerous Kitchen 9. Whipping Post 10. Strictly Genteel 11. Doreen 12. Goblin Girl 13. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee? Disc 11 CU Events Center, University of Colorado Boulder, CO December 6, 1981 1. Zoot Alures 2. Band Intro 3. Drowning Witch 4. What's New in Baltimore 5. Moggio 6. We're Turning Again - Alien Orifice 7. Teenage Prostitute 8. Montana 9. Easy Meat 10. A Pound For A Brown 11. Cosmik Debris Disc 12 12. Suicide Chump 13. Jumbo Go Away 14. Envelopes 15. Dancin' Fool 16. Sinister Footwear 17. Stevie's Spanking 18. King Kong 19. Sharleena 20. Strictly Genteel 21. The Closer You Are (with "Johnny Darling" snippet at the end) Disc 13 Cobo Arena Detroit, MI November 25, 1981 1. Treacherous Cretins 2. Band Intro 3. Cosmik Debris 4. Montana 5. A Pound for a Brown on the Bus 6. Joe's Garage 7. Why Does It Hurt When I Pee? 8. Sharleena 9. Envelopes 10. Drowning Witch 11. What's New in Baltimore? 12. Möggio Disc 14 1. We're Turning Again 2. Sinister Footwear 3. Stevie's Spanking 4. Cocaine Decisions 5. Nig Biz 6. Doreen 7. Goblin Girl 8. The Black Page 9. Broken Hearts Are for Assholes 10. Tryin' to Grow a Chin 11. Strictly Genteel 12. Bobby Brown 13. Camarillo Brillo FZ ends show because someone throws a nickel at the stage -
Audience 8.8 - The sound on this gets progressively better during the 1st song to the end due to the sound engineer dialing in the mix. Once it is set, the show cooks. This is a beginning to end recording, meaning you get every little moment of this evening, practically just travelling back in time to the evening of the gig then sitting in the crowd as the band does their thing. Nice! Angel Budokan Tokyo, Japan 15th Febrary 1977 Disc 1 01. Prelude Theme From Ben Hur 02. Introduction - The voice from heaven 03. Tower 04. She's A Mover 05. Big Boy (Let's Do It Again) 06. Telephone Exchange 07. Piano Solo 08. Long Time 09. Cast The First Stone 10. Keyboard Solo 11. Cast The First Stone (reprise) 12. Pressure Point 13. Chicken Soup 14. The Fortune Disc 2 01. MC 02. The voice from heaven 03. Can You Feel It 04. On The Rocks 05. MC 06. Anyway You Want It 07. The voice from heaven 08. Rock & Rollers 09. Guitar Solo 10. Feelin' Right 11. MC 12. Vocal Solo 13. You Are My Sunshine 14. White Lightning 15. Drum Solo 16. White Lightning 17. Ending MC 18. The voice from heaven Frank DiMino - Vocals Punky Meadows - Lead Guitars Gregg Guif fria - Keyboards Barry Brandt - Drums, Percussion Mickey Jones - Bass -
Audience 8.7 - A VERY powerful recorded sound coming out at you like a hurricane. Thankfully this tape holds together, although it sounds like it’s going to tear apart any second – it’s quite a frantic recording if I can describe it that way. You are like placed in front of the mains, and surprisingly you can hear everybody, especially Klaus who sounds BRILLIANT as does the entire band. Really cool stuff here from a band who is at their absolute peak, and right before MTV began taming them. Donnington Park, Castle Donnington August 16th, 1980- Lovedrive
- Don't Make No Promises
- Loving You Sunday Morning
- We'll Burn The Sky
- The Zoo
- Always Somewhere
- Pictured Life
- Robot Man
- Another Piece Of Meat
- Can't Get Enough
- Loving You Sunday Morning
- The Zoo
- Another Piece Of Meat
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Audience 8.7 - Even though this recording does not feature a full and rounded spectrum of lows to high, it is very clear and resides mostly in the middle range EQ-wise. So, it’s most welcome to lovers of VDGG because there’s just not a whole lot of high quality recordings out there. This one is one of those that grows on you and sounds better and better the more you listen…get it! Van der Graaf Generator Marquee Club London, England 1976-08-12 Disc 1 01. -The Undercover Man - Peter talks 02. -Masks 03. -Arrow 04. -Still Life 05. -Wondering 06. -Peter talks - La Rossa Disc 2 07. -Childlike Faith In Childhood's End 08. -When She Comes 09. -Meurglys III - The Songwriter's Guild 10. -The Sleepwalkers 11. -A Place To Survive Peter Hammill: vocals, guitar, piano. keyboards Hugh Banton: organ, bass Guy Evans: drums David Jackson: sax, flute -
Audience 9.0 - Solid job by taper to record from a good spot where the sound mix is great, and using good gear he gave us a document that you will be enjoying and playing more than once. The band is in high spirits and put on a good “rock show”. Lovely! Wings Olympia Stadium Detroit, MI 1976-05-08 Disc 1 01. Intro 02. Venus And Mars 03. Rock Show 04. Jet 05. Let Me Roll It 06. Spirits Of Ancient Egypt 07. Medicine Jar 08. Maybe I'm Amazed 09. Call Me Back Again 10. Lady Madonna 11. The Long And Winding Road 12. Live And Let Die 13. Picasso's Last Words (Drink To Me) 14. Richard Cory 15. Bluebird 16. I've Just Seen A Face 17. Blackbird Disc 2 18. Yesterday 19. You Gave Me The Answer 20. Magneto And Titanium Man 21. My Love 22. Listen To What The Man Said 23. Let 'Em In 24. Time To Hide 25. Silly Love Songs 26. Beware My Love 27. Brass Introductions 28. Letting Go 29. Band On The Run 30. Hi, Hi, Hi 31. Soily Band Members: Paul McCartney - bass, acoustic guitar, piano, keyboards, vocals Linda McCartney - keyboards, percussion, piano, vocals Denny Laine - guitars, bass, piano, keyboards, percussion, harmonica, vocals Jimmy McCulloch - guitars, bass, vocals Joe English - drums, percussion, vocals Tony Dorsey - trombone, percussion Howie Casey - saxophone, percussion Steve Howard - trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion Thaddeus Richard - saxophone, clarinet, flute, percussion -
Audience 9.0/8.5/8.7 - All four discs are very good source tapes with the first two discs being the strongest with a sound quality that sits nicely on the ears, very comfortable, albeit slightly further back in the hall than the other two discs. I think the other shows maybe feature a louder, more up front guitar sound, but at the same time are also a bit more crowded in that frequency although at no time is there distortion present. Disc 3 suffers from a little bit of the typical big sound onto little cassette recorder where it’s just not as clear as you wish but at least you can hear what is going on, and it is not what I would call muddy sounding. Disc 4 is decent in the fact that you have a clear guitar, tone is audible which is crucial when you are listening to Leslie West. All instruments audible and distinct but not rising much above a middle to upper 8 rating. All in all, I am pleased at the overall sound quality in this set seeing as how there are not many really high quality audios of this band. West, Bruce & Laing European Conquest Disc 1 Falkoner Center Copenhagen, Denmark March 28, 1973 01. -Don't Look Around 02. -Pleasure 03. -Why Dontcha 04. -Third Degree 05. -Mississippi Queen - West Solo Disc 2 06. -Roll Over Beethoven 07. -Love Is Worth the Blues 08. -Powerhouse Sod 09. -The Doctor 10. -Sunshine of Your Love Disc 3 Circus Krone Munich, Germany April 13, 1973 1. Don't Look Around 2. Pleasure 3. Why Dontcha 4. Third Degree 5. Missippi Queen 6. Roll Over Beethoven 7. Powerhouse Sod 8. Politician 9. Sunshine Of Your Love 10. Audience 11. The Doctor Landwirtschaftshalle Kaiserslautern, West Germany 1973-04-14 1. -DON'T LOOK AROUND 2. -PLEASURE 3. -WHY DON'TCHA 4. -THIRD DEGREE 5. -MISSISSIPPI QUEEN 6. -ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN 7. -LOVE IS WORTH THE BLUES 8. -POLITICIAN 9. -SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE Musicians LESLIE WEST- Guitar/Vocals(Ex-Mountain) JACK BRUCE- Bass/Vocals(Ex-Cream) CORKY LAING- Drums(Ex-Mountain) -
Audience 8.7 - A surprisingly decent tape surfaces from Italy where Genesis found initial acceptance in the early part of their career. Sound is clear for the most part, and the timbre is pleasing to the ear…if I can knock it I would say maybe it is a bit compressed in the middle, so no crispness in the highs nor definition in the low end but it’s not the kind of compression that you get from, say, a video tape. It’s quite good like I said so feel secure if you get it knowing it will be worthwhile. Genesis Palasport Naples, Italy February 6, 1974 Disc 1 1. -Watcher Of The Skies 2. -Drum Improv 3. -Dancing With The Moonlit Knight 4. -Cinema Show 5. -I Know What I like 6. -Firth Of Fifth 7. -The Musical Box Disc 2 1. -More Fool Me 2. -The Battle Of Epping Forest 3. -Supper's Ready 4. -The Knife -
Audience 9.5 - Sparkling, full bodied, warm, and simply breathtaking recording. I don’t think you could do much better if you went out and bought an official live album. Get it! James Taylor Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills, CA May 3, 1981 Disc 1 01 You Can Close Your Eyes 02 Mona 03 Wandering 04 Sweet Baby James 05 Riding On A Railroad 06 How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) 07 Stand And Fight 08 Brother Trucker 09 Hey Good Lookin' 10 Walking Man 11 B.S.U.R. 12 Hard Times 13 It's Gonna Work Out Fine 14 Up On The Roof 15 Fire And Rain Disc 2 16 Carolina In My Mind 17 Millworker 18 Twelve Gates To The City 19 Streamroller Blues 20 I Will Not Lie For You 21 Daddy's All Gone 22 Handy Man 23 Her Town Too 24 You're Only Lonely 25 Faithless Love 26 Your Smiling Face 27 Mexico 28 Country Road 29 Money Machine > Band Intro 30 You've Got A Friend -
Audience 9.1 - A lovely, intimate recording that belies the size of the venue. Of course, this was a different approach Elton John undertook on this tour. I think it works well, the bombast has been toned down and what you get instead is an examination of his music presented to you by the man…I think you will appreciate these songs in this way. ELTON JOHN October 16, 1979 Tuesday Boston Music Hall, Boston, Ma. USA Back In The USSA Tour Disc One 01. -Your Song 02. -Sixty Years On 03. -Daniel 04. -Skyline Pigeon 05. -Take Me To The Pilot 06. -Rocket Man 07. -Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 08. -Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 09. -Roy Rogers 10. -Candle In The Wind Disc Two 11. -Ego 12. -Where To Now St.Peter 13. -He'll Have To Go 14. -Elton's Song 15. -I Heard It Through The Grapevine 16. -Funeral For A Friend 17. -Tonight 18. -Better Off Dead 19. -Idol 20. -I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself 21. -I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) Disc Three 07. -Bennie & The Jets 08. -Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 09. -Mama Can't Buy You Love 10. -Crazy Water 11. -ovation & talk 12. -Song For Guy 13. -Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) - Pinball Wizard 14. -Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On - I Saw Her Standing There - Twist & Shout - Crocodile Rock - Back In The USSA Elton John - piano, vocals Ray Cooper - percussion, vibraphone -
Audience 8.7 - Sound resides somewhere in the mid range and does not feature well defined high end but does have a warm, round bottom to it. The mix does not favor any one instrument, it’s rather even, and all in all the listening experience, while not exceptional in any way, is also not offensive. Genesis Congresshalle Hamburg, Germany October 15, 1981 Disc 1 1. Behind The lines 2. Duchess 3. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 4. Gutenabend Hamburg 5. Dodo/Lurker 6. Abacab 7. Carpet Crawlers 8. Story Of Sarah Jane 9. Me And Sarah Jane 10. Misunderstanding 11. Eine Alle Stucke 12. Firth Of Fifth 13. Story Of A Man On The Corner 14. Man On The Corner 15. Who Dunnit? Disc 2 1. Band Introductions 2. In The Cage - Cinema Show - Slippermen 3. Afterglow 4. Turn It On Again 5. Dance On A Volcano - Drum Duet - Los Endos 6. I Know What I Like -
Soundboard 9.4 - Stunning guitar wizardry on full display, SRV was in the zone and thankfully this board tape is right on the money. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble 1983-10-30 or Oct. 10th 1983 Hollywood Palace, Los Angeles, CA 1. -Testify 2. -So Excited 3. -Pride And Joy 4. -Mary Had A Little Lamb 5. -Tell Me 6. -Love Struck Baby 7. -Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) 8. -Little Wing 9. -Third Stone From The Sun 10. -You'll Be Mine 11. -Rude Mood 12. -Wham -
Audience 9.2 - A lively, airy, and detailed (especially with percussion and vocals) recording. I don’t think they could have done much better than this because the taper position is right in the sweet spot. Genesis Will Rogers Auditorium Fort Worth, TX. 1976-05-07 Disc 1 1. -Dance On A Volcano 2. -The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 3. -Fly On A Windshield 4. -The Carpet Crawlers 5. -The Cinema Show 6. -Robbery Assault & Battery 7. -White Mountain 8. -Firth Of Fifth Disc 2 1. -Entangled 2. -Squonk 3. -Supper's Ready 4. -I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) 5. -Los Endos 6. -It -
Soundboard 9.4 - A beautiful recording, love how it just sounds so natural, it’s a joy to listen to this one! Lou Reed Park West Chicago, IL US Performance date: 1978-04-14 Broadcast date: 2013-03-03 01 Gimme some good times 02 Satellite of love 03 Leave me alone 04 Walk on the wild side 05 Coney Island baby 06 Dirt 07 Street Hassle 08 Sweet Jane 09 Rock 'n' roll -
Radio Broadcast 9.3 - Everything on this disc (includes some bonus material) is fantastic and well worth exploring. Arc Angels Paradise Theater Boston, MA December 16, 1992 Disc 1 01. -Paradise Cafe 02. -Dimples 03. -Carry Me On 04. -The Famous Jane 05. -Good Time 06. -Spanish Moon 07. -Sent By Angels 08. -Always Believed In You 09. -Sweet Nadine 10. -Angel 11. -Shape I'm In Disc 2 12. -Living In A Dream 13. -encore break 14. -band introductions 15. -Looking Back 16. -Too Many Ways To Fall 17. -Too Many Ways To Fall (David Letterman Show - 1993-01-06) Pittsburgh, PA. December 8, 1992 18. -Paradise Cafe 19. -Dimples 20. -Always Believed In You 21. -Angel 22. -Living In A Dream 23. -Too Many Ways To Fall Doyle Bramhall II: guitar, vocals Charlie Sexton: guitar, vocals Tommy Shannon: bass Chris Layton: drums -
Audience 8.8 - A very satisfying recording, with a great snare drum sound and I highlight that because it is often overlooked. Dio sounds clear and if I fault anything it’s maybe Toni’s guitar which is just slightly behind the overall sound coming from the mains but still it’s really not too bad and the solos really come across clearly. It’s a fine live sound all around and is comfortable on the ears. Black Sabbath 1981-01-20 Hammersmith Odeon London, UK Disc 1 101 Supertzar 102 War Pigs 103 Neon Knights 104 N.I.B. 105 Children Of The Sea 106 Sweet Leaf 107 Drums Solo 108 Sweet Leaf (Reprise) 109 Lady Evil 110 Black Sabbath Disc 2 201 Heaven And Hell 202 Iron Man 203 Guitar Solo 204 Die Young 205 Paranoid - Heaven And Hell (Reprise) 206 Children Of The Grave -
Audience 8.5 - A somewhat roughed up old tape with some hiss, and audience members who appear on the tape in their excitement (not too bad) but the music is here man, it’s relatively close to the stage and guitar seemed to be a little back behind the rest except when he used the talk box and it was front and center… very strange! Bass is sitting nicely in the mix (not a boomy sound, pretty defined). I enjoyed listening, especially because Joe was really good, he kept me engaged with this one. I found the audience near taper to be interesting and I enjoyed hearing them on the tape believe it or not. It is a real time capsule! So, all in all, I do recommend to fans because how much Joe/Barnstorm is out there anyway? Joe Walsh & Barnstorm Wollman's Rink Central Park, New York, NY August 11, 1973 01 Meadows 02 Midnight Moodies 03 Tend My Garden - Drums 04 Rocky Mountain Way 05 The Bomber 06 Turn to Stone 07 Funk #49 Band line-up Joe Walsh - lead guitar, lead vocals Kenny Passarelli - bass guitar, backing vocals Joe Vitale - drums, percussion, flute, backing vocals Rocke Grace - keyboards (died July 23, 2020) (aged 68)