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Soundboard 9.2 -
Soundboard 9.0 -
FM Radio Broadcast 9.4 -
Soundboard 8.8 -
CD1 FM Broadcast 8.8 A little hiss present, and a little “compression” but a good tight sound nonetheless. The Miami 78 is Audience 8.3 With some big hall boom in the kick drum. CD 2 Audience 8.5 Thin in some places, but opens wider as it goes along. Taper possibly moves closer, and sound improves. CD 3 Audience 8.6 A loud, boisterous, beer soaked rock and roll affair with sound quality that I would describe as clear but missing some mid-band punch. It’s nice to have a chronological history sometimes, you get to hear a band just gain more and more confidence (not as if this band ever lacked any). This band’s sound and style really was custom made for these years but after that it dropped off the map. Too bad really, it’s a good time rock and roll music and transcends time. Rockpile Anthology 77-80 Disc 1 Amsterdam, Holland February 14, 1977 01. -Intro 02. -I Hear You Knocking 03. -Down, Down, Down 04. -Back to School Days 05. -Let's Talk About Us 06. -Ju Ju Man 07. -The Promised Land 08. -Annie Is Back/I Need Love 09. -I Knew The Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll) 10. -Heart Of The City 11. -DJ Outro Jai-Alai Fronton Miami, FL May 14, 1978 12. So It Goes 13. Fool Too Long 14. I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll) 15. I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass 16. Down, Down, Down 17. They Call It Rock 18. Ju Ju Man Disc 2 San Diego State University San Diego, CA. August 14, 1979 1 -Down Down Down 2 -So It Goes 3 -Switchbox Susan 4 -Crawling from the Wreckage 5 -Trouble Boys 6 -Girls Talk 7 -Let It Rock 8 -Cruel to Be Kind 9 -Singin' The Blues 10 -Sweet Little Lisa 11 -So Fine 12 -They Call It Rock 13 -Ju Ju Man 14 -Goodnight Disc 3 Unknown Venue Varberg, Sweden February 22, 1980 01. Sweet Little Lisa 02. So It Goes 03. I Knew the Bride 04. Queen of Hearts 05. You'll Never Get Me Up In One Of Those 06. Switchboard Susan 07. Three Time Loser 08. Trouble Boys 09. Cruel to Be Kind 10. Girls Talk 11. Crawling From the Wreckage 12. Singing the Blues 13. Cracking Up 14. Promised Land 15. I Hear You Knocking 16. They Called It Rock 17. Ju Ju Man 18. Let's Talk About Us -
CD issue of an album originally released in 1990. Import from UK, CD is new, never played. -
Soundboard 8.8 -
Delaware 1985 Soundboard 9.3 Nice to hear this period of Trower with a good, punchy board tape that does present a minimal amount of hiss (evident between songs) but other than that not much to complain about. W. Hollywood 1990 Soundboard 9.2 Technically speaking this would rate much higher as it is what one would call a “pristine” board tape. Yes it sounds crystal clear and Robin is literally singing in your ear (a bit much perhaps), but the rating reflects what I personally consider to be a downside of board tapes…the lack of atmosphere and reliance on perfect mix. This was probably mixed for the benefit of what was coming from the stage and not for the sake of the recording being made. It’s a reference tape is what it is. Contrast this to the next show in the set and you’ll begin to understand why I always say a great audience tape beats a board tape. Karlsruhe 2009 Audience 9.5 This show gets a stellar rating because while it is not technically a superior recording (mainly due to the very slight amount of overdrive) it represents most of what I love about great audience recordings. This recording captures the lightning into a bottle so to speak. The fact that there is just a slight bit of overdriven energy (for lack of a more technical term) or lets call it “saturation” for the sake of the audiophiles out there – either way the point is that this recording will get more repeat plays than the board tapes in this set. Robin Trower Three Decades 1985-2009 Disc 1 The Stone Balloon Newark,Delaware,U.S.A. 1985-07-24 01 -Too Rolling Stoned 02 -Into Money 03 -Keeping A Secret 04 -Day Of The Eagle 05 -Bridge Of Sighs 06 -None But The Brave Musicians Robin Trower - Guitar Dave Bronze - Bass & Vocals Martin Clapson - Drums Disc 2 The Roxy West Hollywood CA. March 25th 1990 01 -Intro 02 -Too Rolling Stoned 03 -Rock Me Baby 04 -Sea Of Love 05 -Day Of The Eagle 06 -Bridge Of Sighs 07 -Turn The Volume Up Disc 3 08 -No Time 09 -Ev'ry Body's Watching You 10 -Daydream 11 -Tear It Up 12 -Natural Fact 13 -Little Bit Of Sympathy 14 -The Ring 15 -Extermination Blues THE BAND Robin Trower guitar Davey Pattison vocals Glenn Letsch bass Dee Johnson drums Disc 4 Jack Bruce & Robin Trower Karlsruhe (GER) Tollhaus 2009-02-25 01 - Seven Moons 02 - Lives Of Clay 03 - Distant Places Of The Heart 04 - Sunshine Of Your Love 05 - Carmen (New song, unreleased) 06 - She's The One 07 - We're Going Wrong 08 - So Far To Yesterday Disc 5 09 - Just Another Day 10 - Perfect Place 11 - Bad Case Of Celebrity 12 - The Last Door 13 - Come To Me 14 - I'm Home 15 - White Room 16 - Politician Musicians: Jack Bruce: b, v Robin Trower: g Gary Husband: dr -
Soundboard 8.8 - Not without its share of problems, this is a good tape to have. I can’t explain the strange phasing issue, with what sounds like a funky stereo to mono and back again drop out every so often. Needs a good remastering with some multi band compression. Still, it’s a soundboard. -
CD 1 – Aud 8.5 / CD 2- Aud 8.8 / CD 3 – Aud 8.9 / CD 4 – Aud 8.7 / CD 5 – Aud 8.5 -
Audience 9.0 - Right in the pocket! Solid, devastating, loving it! -
Audience 7.3 -
FM Broadcast 9.0 - Great tone on this one, meaty bass! Seattle West Studios aka Sea West Studios Seattle WA. August 13th 1973 KOL FM Broadcast Broadcast date August 19th 1973 THE BAND Robin Trower Guitar James Dewar Bass Vocals Reg Isadore Drums SETLIST 1 -Intro 2 -The Fool And Me 3 -Twice Removed from Yesterday 4 -Lady Love 5 -Daydream 6 -Another Day Another Night (Day of The Eagle) 7 -I Can't Wait Much Longer 8 -Man Of The World 9 -Sinner's Song 10 -Little Bit Of Sympathy 11 -Still On The Air 12 -Kol DJ Jimmy Pitkin -
Sale!
Audience 8.6 - Very close to the mains, and it’s incredibly loud to the point that Robin can barely control his feedback. But the tape holds together, even if there’s some loss of vocal clarity, none of that even matters because after a couple of songs you are so bludgeoned by this devastating guitar/bass onslaught that vocals would be barely noticed anyway.
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Audience 9.5 - Pro recording that will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing. Only one flaw, the vocals are a little buried in this mix until about a quarter of the way into the first song but then they fix the mic problem and its smooth sailing. -
Soundboard 9.0 - Extremely bright, very clear with a highly defined bass although it is not a “low end” bass, just defined. The signal is pushed a little hard, but there’s no distortion present. The cymbal crashes are prominent in the mix to a degree, but get properly subdued during guitar solos. These are nitpicky observations for what is clearly an impressive recording and show. -
CD 1 - Audience 8.8 - Direct into face, a driving and persistent intensity, very clean, very clear. CD 2 - Audience 8.3 - A more open spaced recording where you lose some of the dynamics, and vocals tend to get muffled and placed further back but guitar and drums are prominent and clear…bass is present but not as articulate or deep. A good tape and collectors will be happy to hear it since it is not widely circulated. -
Audience 7.5 - Dirty sounding but actually guitar comes through fine! There’s a little noise in this tape, I am surprised nobody has tried to remaster this fine show. -
Soundboard 9.7 - You won’t miss the 70’s with this raging heavy kick ass Trower show. Is this really from 1985? Could have easily fooled me! -
Audience 8.6 - The number score doesn’t tell the story on this show. The “flaws” here work to the advantage of the listener depending on what you like about live recordings. In this case, it’s too loud, a touch distorted (not distracting at all), and maybe slightly compressed but man, what a show and the recording delivers max energy and excitement. I LOVE this tape! It is absolutely brimming with power and energy. -
This entire set is meant to fill in a collector’s gaps. CD 1 - Audience 8.0 - Thin and distant but you do get to hear everything happening, not muddy, and not echoey, so this has bright spots CD 2 - Audience 7.6 / CD 3 -Soundboard 9.5 / CD 4 - Audience 7.5 / CD 5 - Soundboard 8.8 -
Audience 9.2 - Supremely LIVE and vibrant with maybe the slightest touch of tape noise that effects this absolutely zero because it simply DESTROYS everything, it is so good. -
Audience 7.5 - A warm sound, a tad distant but not too much. Good for a large hall, the sound of the kick drum for instance has a good solid thump that is distinct, and I can hear individual bass notes. Pretty decent! -
Audience 9.3 -
Sale!
Soundboard 8.7 - The interesting thing about this particular board tape is that the bass is the “lead” instrument in the mix and thus allows you to hear the sometimes overlooked intricacies and interplay in that regard. I would say that even though I enjoy and appreciate this aspect of the recording, the average fan may lament the somewhat overshadowed guitar and vocals, but these are not issues that nullify a superb performance and decent recording. -
Soundboard 9.0 - A slightly uneven, but kind of a fun sound mix. You get pretty up front drums, very crisp and focused, and then guitar which is also pretty loud, but vocals are a little behind the music (not completely drowned out) and bass hovers underneath like a viper ready to strike. You won’t distinguish the individual notes but you’ll get a menacing rumble. Interesting, and kinda cool actually. February 9, 1975 Caley Cinema, Edinburgh, Scotland Robin Trower w. James Dewar on bass & vocals and Bill Lordan on drums.- Day of the Eagle
- Bridge of Sighs
- Gonna Be More Suspicious
- Fine Day
- Lady Love
- Spellbound
- Too Rolling Stoned
- I Can't Wait Much Longer
- Alethea includes Lordan drum solo
- Little Bit of Sympathy
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Soundboard 9.4 - I love the live mix on this one, it’s not a cookie cutter board mix. One of the best I have heard! -
Audience 8.5 - What this tape represents is an almost uncanny time warp back in time, the sound that the taper captured is amazing – the mix and separation of instruments is what damages an otherwise exceptional sounding tape. With that being said, it’s got a lot to appreciate regardless of the actual music contained herein. For instance, once the soundman dials the mix in better, the music does sound MUCH better and guitar rises slightly higher up front making for a more enjoyable listening experience. The sound of this tape is good, with a punchy upper midrange but not uncomfortable, and roaring “low end” and I say that because while bass is not well defined, it certainly is present in the lower frequencies here. This tape will grow on you, and I promise once you start, and get past the first song (where the live mix is getting dialed in), you’ll find yourself more and more sucked in to it. Robin Trower Long Island Arena, Commack, NY November 19th 1976 THE BAND Robin Trower guitar James Dewar vocals Bill Lordan drums Rustee Allen bass SETLIST 1 -Intro 2 -Same Rain Falls 3 -Lady Love 4 -Bridge Of Sighs 5 -Caledonia 6 -The Fool And Me 7 -Long Misty Days 8 -Too Rolling Stoned 9 -Daydream 10 -Day Of The Eagle 11 -Little Bit Of Sympathy 12 -Messin' The Blues 13 -Rock Me Baby 14 -Goodnight -
Audience 7.0 - Shrill sounding, like recorded on a very cheap cassette deck. Lead guitar does sound decent, and there is a bottom end – but I can’t rate this higher. -
Audience 9.2 - Both of these shows are fantastic, clear, and punchy. This is also a great period for Robin, his playing is mature, muscular, solid every note beginning to end. His recent material is on display here and there which is cool but the old stuff really shines…as always. Robin Trower The Country Club Reseda, CA 1-30-1987 Disc 1 1. Too Rolling Stoned 2. Secret Doors 3. Day Of The Eagle 4. Bridge Of Sighs 5. Passion 6. No Time Disc 2 7. Spellbound 8. Bad Time 9. Rock Me Baby 10. Won't Even Think About You 11. Little Bit Of Sympathy New George's San Raphael, CA 1/27/88 Disc 3 1 Too Rolling Stoned 2 Love Attack 3 Day of the Eagle 4 Bridge of Sighs 5 Second Time 6 No Time Disc 4 1 Take What You Need 2 Rock Me Baby 3 Tear It Up 4 Little Bit of Sympathy 5 Lady Love 6 Into the Flame
