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Brand New - Soundboard - Scorpions taking Tokyo by the balls! This performance was only available as a Laser Disc in Japan and a couple of low quality DVDs in South America. Superb Audio Quality, amazing set list and a hell of a performance! A must for any serious Scorpions fan! -
Audience 9.2 - I would have given this a higher rating but for some occasional volume fluctuations. Minus those, this is a "raise the hair on your back" type of recording. I can't explain it, some tapes just have it, this unquantifiable element, it's a lot to do with the band being recorded as much as it is in how they were recorded, and where exactly the taper sat, and what he used to record - so you take all that and factor it in to what is happening to you as you listen to an event that took place decades ago...that comes to life again and you are right there. As I listened to this, my neck hairs stood up. The Kinks Universal Amphitheatre Los Angeles, CA August 17, 1979 01 Sleepwalker - Tired Of Waiting For You 02 Life On The Road 03 Where Have All The Good Times Gone 04 Permanent Waves 05 Misfits 06 Lola 07 Low Budget 08 (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman 09 Catch Me Now I'm Falling 10 You Really Got Me -
Audience 8.8 - A well made recording that does straddle the fence a bit. There's some narrowness in how well defined the extreme ends are in both low and high end, meaning your middle frequencies are spot-on, clear, and defined but when you get to the real high end it gets crinkly up there. It does not damage the listening experience but could if you really crank up the volume. The taper does some adjusting it seems, as the show progresses it sounds like the tonality, or levels...something changes slightly...I don't know what really happens but sometimes this show is dialed in and sounds really great and then just ever so slightly it gets less defined or maybe it is my imagination. Either way, this is a really decent recording. The Kinks Crawford Hall University Of California Irvine Irvine, CA February 13, 1976 01 Education 02 The First Time We Fall in Love 03 I'm In Disgrace 04 Headmaster 05 The First Time We Fall in Love (Reprise) 06 The Hard Way 07 The Last Assembly -
Audience 9.0 - The only thing keeping this from attaining legendary status is the slight distortion present in a very specific middle to upper band in the frequency range. It's not a deal-breaker, it's in a place where you still get all the richness of the low end and the detail in the high end. The taper obviously used very good gear, so maybe the microphone he used and the location in the venue perhaps limited the recording in a way, because this is still a damn good tape but could have been a bona-fide must have. Emerson, Lake & Palmer Charleston Civic Center Charleston, WV November 23, 1973 Disc 1 01 Introduction 02 Hoedown 03 Jerusalem 04 Toccata 05 Tarkus 06 Benny the Bouncer 07 Take A Pebble Disc 2 08 Lucky Man 09 Piano Improvisation 10 Take A Pebble (Reprise) 11 Karn Evil 9 1st - 3rd Impression 12 Pictures At An Exhibition -
Soundboard 10 - This is a rare "10" perfection rating that is not given out unless and until a recording stops you dead in your tracks and commands your undivided attention. You know it when you hear it, and this is about as good as it can get short of you being placed in the optimal spot at the venue and even then you may not be getting something as good as this! Kansas Live at The Uptown Theatre Chicago, Illinois USA 1980-10-28 & 29 01 - Icarus (6:18) 02 - Paradox (4:20) 03 - Cheyenne Anthem (3:49) 04 - Dust In The Wind (5:59) 05 - Miracles Out of Nowhere (6:50) 06 - Loner (3:03) 07 - Anything For You (4:03) 08 - Don't Open Your Eyes (4:08) 09 - Got To Rock On (3:58) 10 - No One Together (6:07) 11 - Hold On (4:14) 12 - Relentless (9:21) 13 - Portrait (5:43) 14 - Carry On Wayward Son (5:43) The Band: Kerry Livgren - guitar, vocals Steve Walsh - keyboards, vocals Phil Ehart - drums Dave Hope - bass, vocals Robbie Steinhardt - violin, viola Rich Williams - guitar, vocals -
Audience 9.0/9.2 - Two very good captures that convey a lot of information, most notably the popularity of the band at such an early stage of their careers, and that the Japanese used very high quality taping gear and knew instinctively how to stealth record a rock show. This is good for historical purposes in that these recordings always eventually take on much more significance with the passage of time. This is my argument for why artists should relax their stances against "bootlegging" because while your moment may be on the surface a commercial venture, in the long run it is a milestone not just for the artist in their career but in the overall culture and therefore should be, if possible, preserved. End of rant.
Judas Priest Japan Tour 1978 Disc 1 Nagoyashi-Kokaido Nagoya, Japan August 3, 1978 1. Intro 2. The Great Gates Of Kiev 3. Exciter 4. White Heat, Red Hot 5. The Ripper 6. Sinner 7. Beyond The Realms Of Death 8. Better By You, Better Than Me 9. Victim Of Changes 10. Diamonds And Rust 11. Genocide 12. Starbreaker 13. Tyrant Disc 2 Festival Hall Osaka, Japan August 5, 1978 1. The Great Gates Of Kiev 2. Exciter 3. White Heat, Red Hot 4. The Ripper 5. Sinner 6. Beyond The Realms Of Death 7. Better By You, Better Than Me 8. Victim Of Changes 9. Diamonds And Rust 10. Genocide 11. Starbreaker 12. Tyrant -
Soundboard 9.7 - Possibly the best live Boston in existence. It just does not get much better Than this. Boston The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA. December 18, 1976 1. Introduction 2. Rock And Roll Band 3. Shattered Images (Help Me) 4. More Than A Feeling 5. Peace Of Mind 6. Something About You 7. Smokin' 8. Guitar Solo 9. Foreplay 10. Long Time 11. Television Politician 12. Don't Be Afraid -
Audience/Soundboard 8.6-9.0 - The majority of the set is very good, audience quality tapes that have a decent enough sound where you can take it easy and not strain yourself trying to hear George rip his leads. I would say the lone exception though might be the Amsterdam tape which is less clear, but even here it's not a trainwreck at all. The board tape from France is good to have, obviously Dokken is clearly the top of the heap when it comes to the 80's "hair" metal bands although I hate to classify them there because they were class musicians first.
Dokken The Important Years 1983-1988 ARCO Arena Sacramento, CA December 28, 1983 Breaking The Chains Tour Disc 1 01. Paris Is Burning 02. Going Down Under 03. Young Girls 04. In The Middle 05. Hit And Run 06. Nightrider 07. George Lynch Guitar Solo 08. Live To Rock, Rock To Live 09. Breaking The Chains Jaap Edenhal Amsterdam, Netherlands March 09, 1986 10. Unchain The Night 11. The Hunter 12. When Heaven Comes Down 13. It's Not Love 14. Into the Fire 15. Lightnin' Strikes Again Disc 2 Chapiteau Reims,France April 25, 1986 01. Unchain The Night 02. Tooth And Nail 03. Into the Fire 04. In My Dreams 05. It's Not Love 06. Alone Again 07. When Heaven Comes Down 08. Lightnin' Strikes Again 09. Just Got Lucky Disc 3 Civic Arena Pittsburgh, PA. June 15, 1988 01. Tooth And Nail 02. Just Got Lucky 03. Burning Like A Flame 04. Into The Fire 05. Heaven Sent 06. It's Not Love 07. George Lynch Solo 08. Mr. Scary 09. Standing In The Shadows 10. Alone Again -
Audience 8.7 - This is a show that just came onto my radar, I can't believe I'd never heard it before. What I was expecting and what I got were two wildly different things...and I mean, it is a good thing. It's a good tape! It also happens to be the gig where the iconic photo of Ozzy lifting Randy was taken, and being able to now hear that show is kind of cool.OZZY OSBOURNE Rosemont Horizon Chicago, Illinois January 24th, 1982 *** "Diary of a Madman" tour *** 01. Intro 02. Over The Mountain 03. Mr. Crowley 04. Crazy Train 05. Revelation (Mother Earth) 06. Steal Away (The Night) 07. Suicide Solution 08. Randy Rhoads Solo 09. Drum Solo 10. Goodbye To Romance 11. I Don't Know 12. No Bone Movies 13. Believer 14. Flying High Again 15. Iron Man 16. Children Of The Grave 17. Paranoid -
Soundboard 9.7 - All excellent, all must haves imho. What you get sound-wise is a rich, deep tone, the Berlin tape in particular which features emphasis on the bass which is massive but detailed. The music here is more progressive than Samba, and Carlos does sometimes resort to familiar guitar runs but he also flashes a lot of other tricks and convinces the listener that he’s not a one-trick pony at all. Best I can tell here is that Devadip Ochestra is a decent attempt to take what Mahavishnu Orchestra did and accent it in different ways. Well done Carlos!
The Devadip Orchestra Disc 1 Deutschlandhalle Berlin, Germany November 8, 1978 01 Swapan Tari 02 Ocean Floor 03 Arise Awake 04 Light Versus Darkness 05 Jim Jeannie 06 Gardenia 07 Jharna Kala Ekeberghallen Oslo, Norway November 13, 1978 08 Swapan Tari 09 Ocean Floor 10 Arise Awake 11 Light Versus Darkness 12 Jim Jeannie 13 Gardenia 14 Jharna Kala Disc 2 Groenoordhal Leiden, Holland November 17, 1978 01 Swapan Tari 02 Arise Awake 03 Light Versus Darkness 04 Jim Jeannie 05 Gardenia 06 Oneness 07 Jharna Kala Carlos Santana: guitar/percussion David Margen: bass Graham Lear: drums Chris Rhyne: keyboards Russell Tubbs: flute/sax
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Soundboard 8.8 - This is a soundboard that is not without flaws, not serious flaws, but indeed somewhat noticeable ones. So, it’s one of those mixes where guitar sounds at times amazing, up front, and gloriously loud…and at others it seems like it was ran through an on-board processor of some kind and ends up more compressed and lower in the mix. Rock The Nation is cut at the tail end of Ronnie’s solo, and the drum intro for I Got The Fire begins, so that was a little bit of a jarring edit that could have been smoother. Overall this is a tape, and show, that will sit nicely in the collection seeing as how there are so few Gamma sdbrds, or live tapes at all.Gamma Phoenix Theater Petaluma,CA 30-Nov-1980 01 Ready For Action 6:08 02 Thunder and Lightning 5:39 03 Razor King 11:59 04 Rock the Nation 3:47 05 I Got the Fire 3:56 06 Four Horsemen 7:11 07 No Tears 12:32 Davey Pattison: Vocals Ronnie Montrose: Guitars Jim Alcivar: Keyboards Glenn Letsch: Bass Denny Carmassi: Drums
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Audience 9.3 - This is, to my ears, sort of a return to the edgy hard rock of Taste. The distorted guitar (wonderful tone!) and punchy rhythms really hint more to his very early period and are ideally suited for the mid 80’s where maybe pure, raw blues was not as widely consumed as before. This show, and recording, really highlight the gut punch effect where straight forward guitar/bass/drums is the formula that works.
Rory Gallagher Oldenwaldring, Schaafheim Germany 18. Juli 1987 Disc 1 01. -Announcement 0:41 02. -Ansage - Moonchild 7:04 03. -Double Vision 7:37 04. -I Wonder Who 12:09 05. -Nadine 9:58 06. -Walkin' Blues 6:04 07. -Continental Op 9:57 08. -I Ain't No Saint 8:25 Disc 2 09. -Out On The Western Plain 6:08 10. -Want Ad Blues 5:34 11. -Tattoo'd Lady 5:50 12. -When My Baby She Left Me 7:23 13. -Shadow Play 7:15 14. -Bad Penny 4:28 15. -Bullfrog Blues - Dizzy Miss Lizzy 7:57 16. -Messin' With The Kid 4:50 17. -Knock On Wood - La Bamba 8:02 18. -Long Tall Sally 4:30 19. -Don't Start Me Talkin' 3:35 Track 01 - 18 Schaafheim Track 19 Mainz, Sendezentrum "Tele Illustrierte" 13. November 1987 1.Gen/TV (He plays live in the show)
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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
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Audience 9.1 - What a find! This tape exudes raw power, and hearkens back to the original sound and style of the band much more so than what would be just a year and a half later. Does that mean it’s a raw blues rock show? No, but there is a lot of that here, and more than that it’s the TONE of the band. Gritty, mean, raw but tight…fierce! The quality of the tape is VERY good…well worth snagging!Fleetwood Mac Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA April 15, 1973 01 Introduction and Tune-Up 02 The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown) 03 Oh Well 04 Get Like You Used To Be 05 "Land Watch" (Night Watch) 06 Same Old Blues 07 In The Country 08 Rattlesnake Shake
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Pro Recording 9.4 - This is actually recorded from the audience, or the pit, or somewhere within the hall with professional equipment possibly for broadcast or posterity but it is obviously not an amateur job. The dynamics and atmosphere are excellent, and to my ears it just seems like the band wanted to record this gig for whatever reason.
Rick Wakeman November 16, 1981 Guildhall Preston, UK Disc One (70:34) 1) War Games? (10:29) 2) King Arthur Medley (12:10): a) Arthur b) Lancelot and the Black Knight 3) Sea Horses (5:17) 4) Julia (6:11) 5) Three Wives (13:12): a) Catherine of Aragon b) Anne of Cleves c) Catherine Howard 6) The Proles (5:30) 7) Journey to the Center of the Earth - Part 1 (17:45) Disc Two (60:16) 1) Danielle (4:30) 2) The Probe (4:05) 3) Chamber of Horrors (7:03) 4) The Hymn (3:14) 5) Anne Boleyn (29:04) 6) Robot Man (4:57) 7) Journey to the Center of the Earth - Part 2 (7:23) a) The Battle b) Hall of the Mountain King
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Audience 9.7 - Brilliant, clear, deep, good atmosphere, and even though it is pushing the meters it still has some headroom so crank this one up and hear for yourself why I always say a great audience tape beats a soundboard.
Don Henley Pacific Amphitheatre Costa Mesa, CA October 1, 1989 Disc 1 01 Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed 02 Dirty Laundry 03 The End Of The Innocence 04 Building The Perfect Beast 05 If Dirt Were Dollars 06 The Last Worthless Evening 07 Sunset Grill 08 New York Minute Disc 2 09 Shangri - La 10 Hotel California 11 Life In The Fast Lane 12 The Boys Of Summer 13 All She Wants To Do Is Dance 14 I Will Not Go Quietly 15 Band Introduction 16 Desperado