Studio 9.5 - A really detailed, complete set which contains just about everything you ever wanted to hear regarding the pre-Kiss band Wicked Lester. Is it necessary?  I mean, there’s a lot of repetition here, but I have to say it is kind of necessary when you call something complete, you should provide that to the collector and this set does. Quality is great.

Kiss - Complete Wicked Lester Sessions 1971/1972 Disc 1 Electric Lady Studios 18th November 1971 01. Too Many Mondays    [0:03:40.20] 02. Love Her All I Can    [0:02:35.44] 03. Sweet Ophelia    [0:03:06.03] 04. Molly    [0:02:32.12] 05. Keep Me Waiting    [0:03:22.04] 06. She    [0:03:06.41] 07. What Happened In The Darkness    [0:03:10.26] 08. We Want To Shout It Out Loud    [0:02:46.01] 09. When The Bell Rings    [0:03:24.04] 10. Simple Type    [0:02:40.24] 11. She (Take 2)    [0:03:05.20] 12. Molly (Take 2)    [0:02:33.30] 13. We Want To Shout It Out Loud (Take 2)    [0:02:43.42] 14. Too Many Mondays (Take 2)    [0:03:41.08] Electric Lady Studios August 1972 Sessions 1 15. Keep Me Waiting    [0:03:28.12] 16. Love Her All I Can    [0:02:40.72] 17. Molly    [0:02:28.52] 18. She    [0:03:07.43] 19. Simple Type    [0:02:37.73] 20. Sweet Ophelia    [0:03:09.74] 21. Too Many Mondays    [0:04:04.34] 22. When The Bell Rings    [0:03:10.62] 23. Molly (Take 2)    [0:02:25.12] 24. Too Many Mondays (Take 2)    [0:03:59.13] Disc 2 Electric Lady Studios August 1972 Sessions 2 01. We Want To Shout It Out Loud    [0:02:43.14] 02. Keep Me Waiting    [0:03:10.30] 03. Love Her All I Can    [0:02:35.30] 04. Molly    [0:02:29.52] 05. She    [0:03:03.47] 06. Simple Type    [0:02:42.23] 07. Sweet Ophelia    [0:03:01.64] 08. Too Many Mondays    [0:03:38.14] 09. What Happens In The Darkness    [0:03:07.52] Final Album Reel 1972 10. When The Bell Rings    [0:03:17.70] 11. Keep Me Waiting    [0:03:23.47] 12. Molly    [0:02:33.26] 13. Sweet Ophelia    [0:03:06.24] 14. Simple Type    [0:02:43.25] 15. Too Many Mondays    [0:03:44.10] 16. Love Her All I Can    [0:02:35.54] 17. When The Bell Rings    [0:03:25.10] 18. She    [0:03:07.56] 19. What Happens In The Darkness    [0:03:10.60] 20. We Want To Shout It Out Loud    [0:02:49.33] 21. Long, Long Road    [0:04:18.67] Disc 3 Electric Lady Studios Spring 1972 Sessions 01. Keep Me Waiting    [0:03:25.42] 02. Long, Long Road    [0:04:20.25] 03. Love Her All I Can    [0:02:54.69] 04. She    [0:03:09.45] 05. Simple Type    [0:02:48.22] 06. Sweet Ophelia    [0:03:16.64] 07. We Want To Shout It Out Loud    [0:03:10.00] 08. What Happened In The Darkness    [0:03:14.67] 09. When The Bell Rings    [0:03:11.09] 10. Simple Type (Take 2)    [0:02:49.44]

Gainesville 1978 Soundboard 9.5 - A professional straight board feed recording that is as clean and balanced as you’d ever want – but very occasionally there may be a slight tape drop out (rarely), and the sound is almost too good…meaning it could use some ambience and atmosphere but if you only want to hear this as a musical performance rather than event, this is damn near perfect.

Cincinnati 1989 Audience 9.7 - A soaring, elegant recording that captures this event in spectacular quality. Guitars seem to float over your head and wrap around your ears as they seem to pan across the room, drums filling the spaces and adding immediacy. When the audience claps and responds it’s as if it is a part of the show how it blends in and seems so respectful. Overall man this is a frighteningly good recording and performance and is pretty much in the “must have” range IMHO.

Pat Metheny Group 79/89 Disc 1 Spring Jazz Festival Lake Alice Field, University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 1979-03-30 01-Phase Dance (Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays) 7:35 02-Circus Music (Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays) 6:10 03-PM speaks 1:01 04-Unity Village (Pat Metheny) > The Windup (Keith Jarrett) 13:08 05-The Epic (Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays) 14:35 06-Jaco (Pat Metheny) 4:21 07-PM speaks and tuning 0:54 08-San Lorenzo (Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays) 11:08 09-Re-tuning and PM speaks again 1:39 10-Wrong Is Right (Larry Coryell) 7:53 11-American Garage (Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays) 4:43 Pat Metheny, guitars Lyle Mays, piano, synthesizer, electric organ, autoharp Mark Egan, bass guitar Danny Gottlieb, drums Disc 2 Taft Theatre Cincinnati, Ohio September 22, 1989 1. –Phase Dance 2. -Have You Heard? 3. -Every Summer Night 4. -Hermitage 5. -Better Days Ahead 6. -Farmer’s Trust 7. -Spring Ain’t Here 8. -Straight On Red 9. -Are You Going With Me? Disc 3 10. -The Fields, The Sky 11. -Are We There Yet? 12. -Vidala 13. -Slip Away 14. -Letter From Home 15. -Beat 70 16. -Band Introductions 17.  -Minuano (six-eight) Pat Metheny - Guitars Lyle Mays - Keyboards Steve Rodby - Bass Paul Wertico - Drums Pedro Aznar - Voice, Guitar, percussion Armando Marcal - Percussion

Audience 9.0 - A strong recording from what sounds like the center row, maybe halfway back but not as diffuse as you might think for being in that spot. Yes, maybe the guitar and bass aren’t separated the way you would prefer, but this was the sound of Rush in 2015, and on this show it is Geddy’s vocals that receive the most prominence. Overall it’s a very good recording with atmosphere and power.

Rush Air Canada Centre Toronto, On. Canada 2015-06-17 Disc 1 101 - Intro 102 - The Anarchist 103 - Clockwork Angels 104 - Headlong Flight 105 - Far Cry 106 - The Main Monkey Business 107 - One Little Victory 108 - Animate 109 - Roll the Bones Disc 2 110 - Distant Early Warning 111 - Subdivisions 201 - Intro 202 - Tom Sawyer 203 - Red Barchetta 204 - The Spirit of Radio 205 - Jacob's Ladder 206 - Cygnus X-1 Book II - Hemispheres Part I - Prelude 207 - Cygnus X-1 208 - Closer to the Heart Disc 3 209 - Xanadu 210 - 2112 211 - Encore - Mel's Rock Pile starring Eugene Levy 212 - Lakeside Park 213 - Anthem 214 - What You're Doing 215 - Working Man

Soundboard 9.1 - All of this material is soundboard but keep in mind these 60's Zappa boards all have a somewhat "dated" sound quality which is not a bad thing because it creates a sonic time capsule that allows you to feel the vibe of the times. I think some of his audience might have been a little bewildered by what they were seeing and hearing because the reactions are sometimes very telling.

Audience 8.5 - -This is a somewhat distant recording, my guess is from somewhere in the middle of the venue. It lacks punch in the middle, definition, and volume in general. In my estimation this one won't get much play except by someone who is not getting enough 1996 tour ROIO's in the o'l collection. Pass if you are a casual fan, collector's who need more 1996 (of which, strangely enough, there's not a preponderence of), you can get this to round out the collection.