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Audience 8.0 - Rated rather conservatively here, at times it goes a notch or two higher. This recording does capture the excitement of the gig rather well. Frequencies are not squashed, you can play with this. -
Audience 7.8 - Stadium sound all the way. Boomy and loud and CRAZY audience but damn, it’s hard not to love it. The good news here is the drums are defined and not just a sloppy boomy mess, the guitar slices through the mud and lands on your ears in the right spot, then Dave yelps, and does his thing. The end of Hot For Teacher when the drum solo starts the whole place goes bananas. -
Audience 7.8 - I can handle an average audience tape as long as the guitar is clear, and this one thankfully showcases guitar in the mix and man, I am glad because he is TEARING it up here! At times even the mix gets really good and clear, like the taper is maneuvering for better position so this is a strong 7.8. -
Soundboard 8.8 -
Audience 8.7 - A fantastic live atmosphere on this one! I mean, this is a total immersion tape, somebody out there knew how to properly capture a loud rock band once upon a time. -
Soundboard 9.3 - Recently remastered to give a good board tape a much needed kick in the ass. I heard this tape years ago, and I love what was done to bring out the bad-assery this performance was. -
Audience 7.0 -7.3 - Why the funky rating? Because what started out as a dismal audience tape has slowly over the years morphed into a listenable show. Why would you care? Because 1978 shows KILL! If you loved and miss the vintage Eddie Van Halen signature between riff fills that he used to dish out effortlessly, than get this one because later he began relying too much on tried and true signature frills and less and less on inventing killer little hooky lead fills on the spot. This show has them, and you can hear them, and it’s weird because this tape has a very strange dynamic to it where the sound channel down the middle opens up enough to let Eddie’s sound permeate and even float around a little above the din of the bass and kick. So the re-mastering addressed some of that by dropping some of the low and low mid boom and attenuating the upper mids and highs with multi-band compression. It helped a lot. Still kind of rough but actually the show is so interesting and just enough above being not listenable that it will still suck you right in and you will actually play it all the way through. I promise that. I did, without regrets. -
Soundboard 8.8 - A loud board mix, with a little crispiness in the ultra high frequency but what this actually translates to as the show plays is CRUNCH factor which helps liven up what could have been a flat, lifeless board tape. The remastering helped because the levels were kind of low, and the bass needed to be dialed back just a tick, but just that light touch really made this tape a whole point better. Fantastic prime era Halen comin’ out yer speakers like lightning bolts. MUST HAVE!!! -
Audience/Soundboard - The Houston Music Hall tape is a 7.1 quality Audience. but it is a first generation and therefore does represent the best possible source of the concert that kicked off their 1979 tour. The bonus material is all Soundboard including the Bradford, UK. which does rate a solid 8.8 with signs of age, the US festival portion rates 9.7 being from a pristine condition transcription disc. -
Audience 8.4 - I expected more from a post 2000 audience recording, but this one is decend just seems to be toward the back of the hall. You do get all instruments, and mixed properly, with pretty much Eddie and DLR being the clearest and out front. Solos sound good as they seem to swirl around the room giving it a cool atmosphere. The show does seem to get better as it goes, might even boost the rating another .3 for the slight improvement. -
Audience 7.8 - A MAJOR upgrade here folks! This recording used to suffer a horrible low mid range boom and muddiness that killed an otherwise decent tape and really good performance capture. Now, even though it is still roughly an average tape, it is minus that deal-breaking boom/mud in the middle. Apparently, the recording being in stereo, while mastering they found by moving it wider (stereo panning) they got the affected channel muted enough where it was crap sounding, but saved what music was there. It worked wonders. Now this tape is worth your time, so rediscover it today. -
Audience 7.4 - Pretty average recording of a rare gig not seldom traded. The good news for collectors is that it has been remastered to reveal more in the tape (more music that is). It’s just really loud, and it distorts, you have to appreciate that it was recorded at all, now that we know just how scarce these early 80’s recordings are. On the plus side, there are moments where it is much clearer - like the guitar solo and mellower parts. I would recommend this to the collector who focuses on classic DLR era Halen, to have the best version wrapped up in eye-popping packaging. This show is complete, every second captured for posterity. -
Audience 7.5 - Two complete shows from 1984 that see very limited trading and as far as I know there’s been no CD release for either. There is good reason for this – these recordings sucked ass. Unfortunate too, because both gigs are screamers. Now, the good news! Both shows have been re-mastered using the best technology available (whatever they did 35 years ago obviously did not do much) and the results are that you can hear music now, you can hear what Eddie is doing and you can hear the band. No, it is not going to be sonically superior, but it is sonically better than any previous versions, and that is saying an awful lot! Best way to enjoy these is to listen to the original recordings and then pop these discs in, and THEN you will understand the work that went into saving these gigs from obscurity. The packaging on this title is superb by the way. -
Studio Quality 9.5 -
Audience 8.7 - Some harshness on the cymbals, but I’d rather have those highs intact because it is easier to round off than try and crank them up if they don’t exist. -
Soundboard 9.6 -
Audience 8.7 -
Audience 7.9 - Very clear, not exceptionally dynamic but this is very enjoyable! -
Soundboard 8.8 - Good mix, with a lively bass and clean punchy sound with a well balanced left right pan for the live mix. Good stuff -
Pro Soundboard 9.1 - Recorded for broadcast in a studio setting so you know it is going to be really good. Tape is just a touch “aged” in that it is not as bright as you would expect but still darn good. -
Audience 9.7 - Absolutely ripping show in every way. Live sound is bordering on perfection, and it's not even a Soundboard. -
Audience 8.2 - Drums and vocals present, rhythm section just behind them but the recording is not suffering from typical large hall boominess or distortion so it offers a reasonable enjoyment factor to these ears. -
Audience 7.9 - A loud, and immediate sounding tape, almost as if it was recorded yesterday. Really has that vibe, like you can’t believe it was 1978. -
CD 1 - Alkmaar - Soundboard 8.8 / CD 2 - Ashington - Audience 8.0 -
Audience 8.8 - Surprisingly clear and spacious, very enjoyable tape! Glen Cornick .... Bass player for Jethro Tull -
London - Pro 9.0 (BBC) / NY - Audience 6.3 -
Audience 8.6 -
Audience 8.1 - Some of the bite is removed on this recording. The highs are leveled off completely it seems. I mean, the sound is all there, if a touch centered in the mids, but you will find yourself wishing for the crash and dazzle. Still, it is listenable and worthy. -
Audience 8.8 - A stellar audience tape! Good highs, well captured sound that ain’t perfect but sure is nice! -
Audience 8.9 - A very forceful sound, might be front and center of the room, and pretty darn clear too. Wonderful! -
Pro Radio 9.6 - Both shows -
Audience 8.7 - Pretty decent with the only gripe being a lack of stereo sound separation but don’t let that deter you. This is a decent, powerful recording.