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Audience 8.8 - Tapers used good gear, because even though they sound middle of the venue somewhere, it is a strong capture giving nice depth and clarity. So, loads of headroom and atmosphere, a bit far back, but strong, clear, with depth all in all very nice. For those who do not know, this band is an offshoot of Roxy Music featuring Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno (Simon Phillips on drums).
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Sale!Soundboard 8.7 - Some hiss present, but otherwise it’s a good board tape.
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Sale!Soundboard 9.3
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Soundboard 8.8 - This is a revelation. I had this tape for years and it was marred by annoying distortion in the low frequencies. This remaster cures a lot of that, and consequently you get a much more enjoyable and fun experience out of this show. You have to appreciate this band, when back in the day we rebelled against it because we hung onto our Rush, Zeppelin, Floyd and Van Halen but this music is a nod and a wink to the 60’s garage groups, just done in a ‘modern” setting. Kudos to The B52’s for having originality and humor too. Luv it.
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Audience 7.8 - Thin to win, well yeah it’s kinda like that because though it is not exactly booming hi fi, it does allow one to appreciate this man’s guitar wizardry at a time in his career where you can literally hear him transitioning out of hard psyche rock into blues rock. Not a lot of Taste live recordings out there, this is a complete show, it’s worth having.
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Audience 8.6 - This is hard to rate because the recording is both good and bad at the same time, depending on how you like to get your music delivered into your ear. Why? Because it is separated, one side gets vocals and the other side gets massive guitar, with drums going across both speakers…and I LOVE it! But, you may not, it depends I guess on your taste.
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Studio and Live - Excellent source material used, especially the studio stuff. The June 10, 1979 performance is perhaps the weakest tape here but one can still hear all the action from the stage even if it sounds a little far back. Fans consider the Accolades set to be a classic piece, it’s easy to hear why.
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Audience 8.4 - Some tape hiss present, and recorded from maybe midway back in the hall but if you turn up the volume a bit, this actually is very decent quality. Having relatively low recording levels means, essentially, they were conscience of overloading and distortion so they protected against that. You can turn the volume up as loud as you can stand, and it sounds better and better!
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Audience 8.5 - Taken from the master source, this high energy show reveals a band on the rise. Captured from the balcony, the sound is pretty much what came from the house P.A. system and is, as could be expected, insanely loud and therefore not clear and distinct but certainly forceful and once the ears adjust, is pretty realistic. Coming from a master source, it is free of tape noise and other artifacts.
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Audience 8.7 - Actually not bad but it’s very close to the main PA and thus loud and noisy. There’s an annoying frequency somewhere between the mid and high that needs to be compressed. At first I thought this was a soundboard, it might be mistaken for one. It’s so close to the speakers, I mean this recording puts you in the front row. I do like it despite my concerns.
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CD 1 - Soundboard 8.6 - Sounds very low gen but the tape seems somewhat compressed, but very clean, and thankfully can be turned up loud without breaking up. CD 2 - Soundboard 8.6 - A lot like disc one, occasional phasing on one or two tracks, but again it is pretty clean and a mix that reveals how good each player is in this band. CD 3 - Soundboard 8.4 - A step down from the first couple of discs but it has a little more brightness to it, and a little more noise and a strange sort of echo on the guitar which does not bother me, it is just different than the other discs. All in all, collectors will find much to like here.
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Audience 8.8 - This is a really nice one, pretty atmospheric without being reverby and hollow and the live sound mix is pretty right-on. The sound separation here presents itself as what feels like stereo to me, whether or not taper used two mics I do not know but it does sound like it. The band is really hot!
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Audience? Hard to tell if this is an audience or soundboard, it is really good. If it is audience, then it was done very close to the mains but no distortion at all, but I doubt that because there is very precise stereo panning on some of the effects (such as intro to 2112). If it is a soundboard, it is a good one because it allows some bleeding in of the crowd and atmosphere.
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Audience 7.5 - What saves this is a rich bottom end that is surprisingly warm without overt boominess. Guitar is present but sometimes hides behind the noise. Sound tends to come in and go slightly out in a wave like fashion but it’s subtle. Sometimes this gets clear and decent and then sometimes it seems to be brittle and cluttered in the lower end of the midrange. The rating is pretty accurate. It’s not atrocious – it’s for collectors though.
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Audience 8.2 - Not the very best capture of the tour so far but at least it has plenty of room to add your own flavoring. It's a recording that does need a masters touch to bring out the detail but that being said I did enjoy the show and found I adjusted to the recording. A good audience with room for improvement but worth picking up, complete the collection, and love the artwork!