Audience 8.7 - Sometimes a recording that may not be rated in the 9's might be passed over out of hand by picky collectors. That would be a huge mistake in this case. These are both unbelievably cool in a variety of ways - and the sound quality is not even an issue. The audio is fine for a super loud British metal band that comes to Texas and plays smallish venues - you can hear everything clearly. I would say that you might not get the wide spectrum, the sound is going to be focused on the middle range of instruments which gives you good guitar/vocal action at the expense of maybe the kick drum, and definition of bass, so who cares? It's not a deal-breaker at all because once you start listening you soon realize how kick ass these shows are. This is the stuff man!  NOTE:  Both of these shows have different dates than the single CD releases found on this site. You won't be duplicating anything, they are different dates for both the San Antonio and Kileen gigs. Judas Priest Taking On Texas Disc 1 San Antonio Coliseum San Antonio, Texas March 23, 1978 01 -introduction 02 -Exciter 03 -White Heat, Red Hot 04 -The Ripper 05 -Sinner 06 -Beyond The Realms of Death 07 -Victim of Changes 08 -Guitar Solo - Genocide Disc 2 Crazy Horse Saloon Kileen, Texas, U.S.A. March 28, 1978 01 - Exciter 02 - White Heat, Red Hot 03 - The Ripper 04 - Sinner 05 - Beyond The Realms Of Death 06 - Victim Of Change 07 - Genocide 08 - Starbreaker 09 - Tyrant

Audience 9.0 - I have to say this is a very good recording if your preference is to really be able to make out the vocals and to hear every nuance of the lead guitar possible. In fact, the sonics tend to favor the upper mid-range and highs, to the extent that I was not enthusiastic about the sound of the snare drum here...but that just shows you how articulate that range is. Is it screechy then? No, it's not that this is chirpy or screechy high at all, but one may want to play with the EQ to bring up more low end maybe...because to my ears that is what it needs. Otherwise, again, this is a VERY clear, articulate (especially upper mid and highs) recording. Black Sabbath Mid-Hudson Civic Center Poughkeepsie,NY. USA 31 May 1989 Disc 1 101. Ave Satani + The Gates of Hell (intro tape) (03:12 min) 102. Headless Cross (06:09 min) 103. Neon Knights (05:27 min) 104. Children of the Sea (06:17 min) 105. Call of the Wild (05:31 min) 106. The Mob Rules (04:03 min) 107. When Death Calls (06:11 min) 108. War Pigs (06:24 min) Disc 2 201. Guitar solo + Die Young (06:45 min) 202. Black Sabbath (08:49 min) 203. Devil and Daughter (04:43 min) 204. Iron Man (04:35 min) 205. Children of the Grave (04:42 min) 206. Encore break (02:01 min) 207. Heaven and Hell (07:39 min) 208. Paranoid + Heaven and Hell (reprise) (04:40 min) Line-up: Tony Iommi (guitars) Tony Martin (vocals) Neil Murray (bass) Geoff Nicholls (RIP) (keyboards, background vocals) Cozy Powell (RIP) (drums)

Audience 8.7 - Many fans of the band, especially those who seek out Lemmy period recordings, look to this one as being easily top 3. It is left here untouched, even though to my ears it could use a volume boost but that can be done on the listener's end so it's not a deal-breaker at all. The recording is notable for being clear, and easy to discern Lemmy's immense power bass lines. I'd never heard it prior, so to me it was a very welcome addition to the collection. Hawkwind Gruga Halle, Essen 8 September 1972 1. Intro 2. Technicians Of Spaceship Earth 3. Born to Go 4. Seven by Seven 5. Brainstorm 6. Electronic no 1 7. The Black Corridor 8. Master Of the Universe 9. Paranoia Dave Brock - guiar, vocals Simon King - drums Nik Turner - sax, flute, vocals Lemmy - bass, vocals Del Detmar - synths

Audience 9.7 - Spectacular, crystal clear and lush sound makes you sink deeply into this one. For some, the Grateful Dead are not easily understood, but this show and this recording can easily be understood as beautiful music played with passion and talent galore. Now, to be honest, this set is missing an important segment, the "space/drums" part is conspicuously absent, but there is still plenty of lengthy workouts to keep you engaged with the psychedelic overtones of a Dead concert as well as the more bluegrass and bluesy numbers. All in all this is one for the history books. Grateful Dead Long Beach Arena Long Beach, CA December 13, 1980 Disc 1 01 Feel Like A Stranger 02 Sugaree 03 C.C. Rider 04 To Lay Me Down 05 Minglewood Blues 06 Ramble On Rose 07 Lost Sailor 08 Saint Of Circumstances Disc 2 09 Deal 10 Scarlet Begonias 11 Fire On The Mountain 12 Playing In The Band 13 Not Fade Away 14 Black Peter 15 Sugar Magnolia 16 One More Saturday Night

Audience 9.2 - Here we have a real treat for those who now realize what we had in our youths with the "Seattle Sound" as epitomized by Soundgarden, a sound that fit the times very appropriately. Now for the kicker: This show not only sounds great but has plenty of fun moments with Chris Cornell and the audience (I think he's a bit toasty on the potent German suds). What I liked most is the live sound here is mixed well for the guitars especially, only Chris gets a bit drowned out during the extreme volume heavier parts but overall it's hitting the sweet spot, at least for me.

Audience 8.5 - -This is a somewhat distant recording, my guess is from somewhere in the middle of the venue. It lacks punch in the middle, definition, and volume in general. In my estimation this one won't get much play except by someone who is not getting enough 1996 tour ROIO's in the o'l collection. Pass if you are a casual fan, collector's who need more 1996 (of which, strangely enough, there's not a preponderence of), you can get this to round out the collection.