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Audience 8.4 (both shows) - I absolutely love this set. A must for fans. -
Audience 7.8 - Stadium sound all the way. Boomy and loud and CRAZY audience but damn, it’s hard not to love it. The good news here is the drums are defined and not just a sloppy boomy mess, the guitar slices through the mud and lands on your ears in the right spot, then Dave yelps, and does his thing. The end of Hot For Teacher when the drum solo starts the whole place goes bananas. -
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. -
Audience 8.7 - Really loud and up front sound but no distortion makes for a real thrill ride. I love this recording. I think it captures the manic energy happening on stage. Wonderful -
Audience 7.5 - Two complete shows from 1984 that see very limited trading and as far as I know there’s been no CD release for either. There is good reason for this – these recordings sucked ass. Unfortunate too, because both gigs are screamers. Now, the good news! Both shows have been re-mastered using the best technology available (whatever they did 35 years ago obviously did not do much) and the results are that you can hear music now, you can hear what Eddie is doing and you can hear the band. No, it is not going to be sonically superior, but it is sonically better than any previous versions, and that is saying an awful lot! Best way to enjoy these is to listen to the original recordings and then pop these discs in, and THEN you will understand the work that went into saving these gigs from obscurity. The packaging on this title is superb by the way. -
Audience 8.5 - The better of the Japan shows. Clear, in your face, average separation of instruments but Eddie in great form and can hear every note. -
Soundboard 8.8 - A welcomed board tape that I knew nothing of previously before discovering it. It’s fine, it’s not a “pristine” or sterile tape by any means and it does sound…dated a bit but it’s the mighty ‘Halen in all their splendor and it’s great! Van Halen 1979-10-02 Tucson, Az. Convention Center Disc 1 01) Light Up The Sky 3:39 02) Somebody Get Me A Doctor - Drum Solo 6:59 03) Running With The Devil 4:39 04) Dance The Night Away 3:07 05) Beautiful Girls 3:22 06) Dave's Everybody Wants Some Intro 4:43 07) I'm On Fire 3:05 08) Bass Solo 2:05 09) You're No Good 3:01 10) Jamie's Cryin' 4:09 11) Fools Intro - Gypsy Woman Story 2:55 12) Feel Your Love Tonight 6:21 Disc 2 13) Outta Love Again 4:35 14) Ice Cream Man 6:12 15) Ain't Talkin''Bout Love 12:57 16) Eruption 5:11 17) You Really Got Me 10:56 18) Bottom's Up!! 6:31 19) Atomic Punk 1:26 -
Soundboard 8.8 -
Audience 8.7 - Solid! Good presence, great clarity with just occasional moments where maybe someone walks in front of the mic. A nice “live” atmosphere makes for a very enjoyable show. -
Audience 8.4 - I expected more from a post 2000 audience recording, but this one is decend just seems to be toward the back of the hall. You do get all instruments, and mixed properly, with pretty much Eddie and DLR being the clearest and out front. Solos sound good as they seem to swirl around the room giving it a cool atmosphere. The show does seem to get better as it goes, might even boost the rating another .3 for the slight improvement. -
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. -
Soundboard 9.0 - Excellent and rare document of an amazing band at an amazing time of their career.…simply put this is an absolute must have! -
Recorded at Sunset Sound Studios 1980. Outtakes from Women and Children First. Professional studio quality sound. -
Soundboard 9.5 - Wow! Man, this is totally unexpected and will brighten your day (week, or month even!) like nothing else. A brand new discovery and it's a one/two punch with back to back soundboard recordings of Diver Down tour Van Halen, a tour that previously featured a measley two board tapes in existence. Well, it's not a perfect score, but the imperfections are a tiny price to pay for the glorious sounds present here! Each tape in slightly incomplete, but in places that the other show fills in so you end up hearing the music that makes up a complete Diver Down tour setlist. Basically, the sound engineer most likely had to stop rolling in certain spots in order to make tape changes, but all you have to do is look at each nights set list to see how it shakes out, and, thankfully some good editing has smoothed over some of the stops. As I listened, if I hadn't known there were cuts, I probably would not have been the wiser, basically unless you know where the cuts are you won't notice. But, the SOUND man! The sound is great, I really get to hear Michael Anthony's articulate bass playing, and he's all over the place with fills and runs! You kind of lose that detail in most Van Halen recordings. Eddie is just lighting it up as always, but it sounds especially amazing on these two tapes. The interplay is magic, I don't care if the band had their shortcomings personally, with each other, with whoever, it doesn't show on stage. Somebody get me a doctor, I just got double dosed with prime era Van halen soundboards I've never heard before! What an unbelievable find.
Van Halen The Centrum Worcester, Massachusetts 22 October 1982 Disc 1 01 Intro 02 Romeo Delight 03 Unchained 04 Drum Solo 05 The Full Bug 06 Runnin' With The Devil 07 Jamie's Cryin' 08 Little Guitars 09 Where Have All The Good Times Gone! 10 Bass Solo 11 Hang 'Em High 12 Cathedral 13 Secrets Disc 2 14 Drum Solo II 15 Everybody Wants Some!! - Dave Talks 16 Everybody Wants Some!! (Reprise) 17 Dance The Night Away 18 Somebody Get Me A Doctor - I'm So Glad 19 Dave Acoustic Solo 20 Pretty Woman 21 Guitar Solo 22 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 23 You Really Got Me Disc 3 The Centrum Worcester, Massachusetts 24 October 1982 Disc 3 01 Intro 02 Romeo Delight 03 Unchained 04 Drum Solo 05 The Full Bug 06 Runnin' With The Devil 07 Jamie's Cryin' 08 Little Guitars 09 Where Have All The Good Times Gone! 10 Bass Solo 11 Hang 'Em High 12 Cathedral 13 Secrets Disc 4 14 Drum Solo II 15 Everybody Wants Some!! - Dave Talks - Everybody Wants Some!! (Reprise) 16 Dance The Night Away 17 Somebody Get Me A Doctor - I'm So Glad 18 Guitar Solo 19 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 20 Bottoms Up! 21 You Really Got Me 22 Happy Trails 23 You Really Got Me (Reprise) -
Audience 9.2 - Surprisingly clear and vibrant..and very live sounding with LOADS of that atmosphere, you know, where you can hear people taking a huge toke and hacking immediately after. This was the last show of 1974 for Van Morrison, and he threw out a few rarely played numbers. Van Morrison Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, CA November 16, 1974 Disc 1 01 Intro 02 Naked In The Jungle 03 Wild Children 04 Bulbs 05 Into The Mystic 06 Help Me 07 Cul De Sac 08 I Believe To My Soul 09 Listen To The Lion Disc 2 10 I've Been Working 11 Take Your Hand Out Of My Pocket 12 Twilight Zone 13 Moondance 14 Brown Eyed Girl 15 Gloria Jerome Rimson on bass Peter Van Hooke on drums Peter Wingfield on keyboards -
Audience 9.1 - Recorded with equipment that sounds like it was well beyond the standard consumer grade stuff. Nice and warm, capturing the band close, with some nice detail, and the atmosphere is palpable. I mean, quite literally this recording is a time machine – you seem to be physically transported to 1974, to this small venue in Boston (actually Cambridge, a suburb of Boston). Very nice! VAN MORRISON & THE CALEDONIA SOUL ORCHESTRA Harvard Square Theatre Cambridge, Ma. USA March 14, 1974 Early Show 5:30pm Disc One 48:07 First Set - Acoustic 01. -Ballerina 02. -Astral Weeks 03. -Streets Of Arklow 04. -Madame George 05. -Brown-Eyed Girl Second Set - Electric 06. -Ain't Nothin' You Can Do 07. -These Dreams Of You 08. -Warm Love 09. -I Believe To My Soul 10. -What's Up Crazy Pup 11. -I've Been Working Disc Two 43:20 01. -Moondance 02. -The Funky Hinkle 03. -Domino 04. -Caldonia 05. -Caravan 06. -Gloria 07. -Cypress Avenue David Hayes - bass Van Morrison - vocals, guitar, sax, harmonica Jim Rothermel - sax, flute Dahaud Shaar - drums James Trumbo - keyboards Ralph Wash - guitar