• Audience 9.7 - Superb in just about every category, and literally surpasses whatever kind of “perfection” you may imagine you get with a board tape. This is how one should relive a live concert, by listening to a tape made by guys who used excellent gear, sat in the best spot, and were respectful the whole show (in fact the whole audience is). Vibrant, clear, flawless mix, great atmosphere…what else could make this better?  Even the performance is amazing, with great special guests, it’s one for the collection for sure. MUST HAVE!! Zappa Plays Zappa Special Guests Steve Vai & Ray White Yokohama Blitz, Japan 2008-01-23 Dweezil Zappa(Guitar) Scheila Gonzalez(Saxophone, Flute, Keyboards & Vocals) Billy Hulting(Marimba, Mallets & Percussion) Aaron Arntz(Keyboards & Trumpet) Pete Griffin(Bass) Jamie Kime(Guitar) Joe Travers(Drums & Vocals) Special Guests: Ray White(Guitar and Vocals) Steve Vai(Guitar) Disc 1 01. -Eat That Question (11:27) 02. -Cosmik Debris (08:33) 03. -The Illinois Enema Bandit (11:22) 04. -Joe's Garage (05:44) 05. -Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station - San Ber'dino (09:20) 06. -Pygmy Twylite (10:11) Disc 2 07. -Dupree's Paradise - Uncle Remus - Willie the Pimp (38:02) 08. -Andy (06:52) 09. -Filthy Habits (08:35) 10. -Advance Romance (09:45) Disc 3 11. -What's New in Baltimore? (05:08) 12. -Peaches En Regalia (03:49) 13. -I'm The Slime - Echidna's Arf (Of You) (08:59) 14. -City of Tiny Lights (10:07) 15. -Yo' Mama (13:04) 16. -G-spot Tornado (03:24) 17. -Muffin Man (10:00)
  • Audience 9.1 - Taper was very close to the main PA but it does not distort and the sound goes directly to your brain, it does not stop for directions. HOT HOT HOT!! Get it.
  • Audience 8.4 - Another one of those audience recordings that, while being listenable and clear, does not have a great separation of instruments or vocal clarity. That being said, this recording is certainly worth having, because it’s not a pile of muddy crap – it’s very listenable. Features a packed set list too. ZZ Top Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, Binghamton, NY March 8, 1977 Band line-up Billy Gibbons - guitar, vocals Dusty Hill - bass, vocals Frank Beard - drums, percussion Total Time = 01:28:56 Disc One 01 Thunderbird 02 Chevrolet 03 Precious & Grace 04 Waitin' On The Bus 05 Jesus Just Left Chicago 06 Enjoy & Get It On 07 Pan Am Highway Blues 08 It's Only Love 09 Ten Dollar Man 10 Movin' On Down The Line 11 Heard It On The X 12 Balinese 13 Arrested For Driving While Blind 14 Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings Disc Two 15 She's A Heartbreaker 16 Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers 17 Blue Jean Blues 18 Rattlesnake Shake 19 La Grange 20 Mexican Blackbird 21 Backdoor Love Affair 22 Tush 23 Goin' Down To Mexico 24 Mellow Down Easy
  • Audience 8.6 - A tape that starts off pretty rough and then gets better and better until it is quite good and clear, especially nice when you consider that it has taken the better part of 40 years to start getting half decent ZZ Top live recordings.
  • Audience 8.5 - This band, while known as a blues band, played at rock and roll volume. That is why most of their 70’s recordings are either muddy or distorted. This one is creeping up to the very edge of distortion but it does not cross over – it does max out the headroom of the tape though. Look at the rating, it’s a very, very good recording considering the scarcity…and the amazing set list! Come on, if you are a fan, dive into this one!
  • Audience 8.3 - Whenever you come across any 70’s ZZ Top, your instantly going to ask “how does it sound”? because we all know how rough most of them are – but this one reveals layers of the band previously lost in a dense fog of distortion and volume – an articulate bass. Billy’s tone is lovely as ever but only his solos soar above the rhythm section who are LOUD but not distorted. One to pick up!
  • Audience 7.8 - What I like about this tape is that the guitar is not only right up front, but the tone is present, you can hear that lush Les Paul phatness! Not a spectacular mix for the bass and drums but if you want Billy you got him.
  • Soundboard 9.6 - A high point of this show is the song "We're Barefootin'", the only known performance of the song. There's the "Crosses Sermon", from none other than Rev. Willie G. and one helluva La Grange Medley too! Great vibe and the crowd is insane. Ahhhh, the good 'ol days! ZZ Top April 15th, 1980 (Deguello Tour) Pine Knob, Claskston, MI 01. -I Thank You 02. -Waitin' For the Bus 03. -Jesus Just Left Chicago 04. -Precious And Grace 05. -Francine 06. -I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide 07. -Manic Mechanic 08. -Heard It On The X 09. -Fool For Your Stockings 10. -Nasty Dogs & Funky Kings 11. -We're Barefootin' 12. -Cheap Sunglasses 13. -Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers 14. -La Grange - Sloppy Drunk - BBQ Medley 15. -She Loves My Automobile (Lone Wolf Horn Section) 16. -Hi-Fi Mama (Lone Wolf Horn Section) 17. -Tush
  • Audience tape of mediocre quality, about a 5.4 rating - maybe, but here's the thing - there are a handful of live tapes of this band from this vintage or thereabouts - until the band release what they have, this is all we will ever get. It's two discs worth of vintage ZZ Top before they made it big - I can deal with the mediocre sound.
  • Audience 7.2 - Not a well defined sound, I think drums are fine with a nice staccato sound. The guitar has a particular bite to it though, I am probably too harsh of a judge here since 70’s ZZ Top recordings are few and far between.
  • Audience 8.6 - What this old tape delivers in terms of sonic clarity and atmosphere for such a vintage ZZ Top performance has to rank it at the top of the list of must-haves for ANY collector of this band’s music. Yes, it is nothing short of a revelation, uncovering a lot of the muck, dirt, mud and distortion that most, if not all, of the early and mid ‘70’s bootlegs seem to have present. That is not to say this tape is “excellent” or even “great” as far as how it would be measured in a laboratory, but the lab is your own ear, and your mental tape measure for previous examinations of early Top.  What I am saying is, this tape allows you to hear not just Billy’s immense tone, but also the notes played on bass, and they are separate just enough to let you get a bona fide realistic feel for what this concert sounded like – you can sense position, size (of venue), PA, crowd, pretty much all of the elements of a gig in a VERY reasonably well documented way by taper. Some hiccups, nothing major or too distracting and thankfully brief, and some between song hollering near the mic but music comes through without much frustration and man, that tone!  Oh, and it must have been a really good night for the guys, they are playing fluidly and in high spirits. Kudos to whoever remastered this gem, or I should say whoever remastered this tape created a real gem. ZZ Top Overton Park Shell, Memphis, Tennessee (Memphis Country Blues Festival) 1971-04-25 Disc 1 1) Every Day I Have The Blues 2) Somebody Else Been Shaking Your Tree 3) Neighbor Neighbor 4) Just Got Back From Baby's 5) Whiskey 'N' Mama 6) Rattlesnake Shake 7) Goin' Down To Mexico Disc 2 8) Instrumental Improvisation 9) Memphis Blues 10) Little Queenie 11) It's My Time 12) Drums & Bass Solo 13) Brown Sugar 14) Jailhouse Rock
  • Audience 8.8 - Well here it is folks, the BEST early vintage ZZ Top recording to ever surface. We already gave up a long time ago that the band would dig into their archives for us, but now it’s been completely left up to the fans to provide the early documents…and for better or worse they have (mostly worse). After all this time a tape has surfaced that presents a powerful early testament to the rocking blues power of ZZ Top before they “made it” to the FM bigtime.  The hits were already in the repertoire, but only hinting at the massive success to come. This is the REAL DEAL – a clear, loud, balsy tape from very early in the bands career. ZZ Top Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA December 5, 1973 01 Thunderbird 02 (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree 03 Chevrolet 04 Waitin' For The Bus 06 Jesus Just Left Chicago 06 Gonna Ride Away (?) 07 Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers 08 I Just Got Back From Baby's 09 Rattlesnake Shake 10 La Grange 11 Let's Go Get Stoned + Mellow Down Easy
  • Audience 7.4 - 8.3 - Don’t let the ratings dissuade you from this one – for one thing, the material is all remastered and sounding as good as possible, which in most cases you will find it sounds better than most of the mid 70’s Top audience tapes out there. The never before circulated 1969 material sounds particularly good, in fact you might be quite astonished at how good it is.
  • Audience 7.8 - This is well worth getting if you want to know what was happening before the big time. Good big hall sound, not overly echoey or boomy at all.

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