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Soundboard 9.6 - Mixed for a possible live album, these recordings really sparkle and show off the unbridled power of this band on stage. I have to consider this stuff to be essential for ANY collection, not just Mountain/Leslie West fans. Mountain - Live At The Fillmore East Recorded on December 30 & 31, 1970 & January 1, 1971 CD1: 1. Never In My Life 2. Don't Look Around 3. Baby I'm Down 4. Animal Trainer And The Toad 5. Nantucket Sleighride 6. Long Red 7. Blood Of The Sun 8. For Yasgur's Farm 9. Travellin' In The Dark 10. Dreams Of Milk And Honey CD2: 1. Guitar Solo 2. Auld Lang Syne 3. Silver Paper 4. Mississippi Queen Fillmore East, New York City, NY 1971-06-28 5. -Never In My Life 6. -Theme For An Imaginary Western 7. -Guitar Solo - Roll Over Beethoven 8. -Dreams Of Milk And Honey 9. -Silver Paper 10. -Mississippi Queen Lineup: Leslie West - guitar Felix Pappalardi - bass Steve Knight - organ Corky Laing - drums -
Audience 8.7 - This recording is one of those that initially has you thinking “ok, good but not great” but seriously, let it play. It is a LOUD tape, yes, sometimes bordering on distortion in the upper mid frequencies, yes – but when you get to Unchained there are moments where you completely get on board with this one. Trust me. It has a magic element to it despite being a little overloaded. I got sucked into it big time and my ears adjusted after only one song, after that it was tons of fun and the tape is close up and bristling with unbelievable electric energy. In other words – this was a total blast! Van Halen Brendan Byrne Arena Meadowlands East Rutherford, New Jersey November 15, 1982 Disc 1 1. -Romeo Delight 2. -Unchained 3. -Drum Solo 4. -The Full Bug 5. -Runnin' With the Devil 6. -Jamie's Cryin' 7. -Little Guitars 8. -Where Have All the Good Times Gone 9. -Bass Solo 10. -Hang 'Em High 11. -Cathedral Disc 2 12. -Secrets - Everybody Wants Some!! 13. -Dance the Night Away 14. -Somebody Get Me a Doctor 15. -Ice Cream Man 16. -Intruder 17. -Oh, Pretty Woman 18. -Guitar Solo 19. -Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love 20. -Bottoms Up! 21. -You Really Got Me -
Audience 8.7 - A rip-roaring blast of a tape! First thing you are going to think after maybe 1 minute is how dejected Montrose and Journey must have been after following the ascending Van Halen. Man, I felt bad for them and this show happened decades ago! It’s just the sonic equivalent of a shooting star, Eddie is blistering and hits every note with perfection, the bass is detailed and not just a booming thud, drums are OK and DLR is a little behind the band but who cares? The taper did a fine job, some minor hiccups every now and then but thankfully very few to deal with and they don’t last long. I am liking this show and the tape is just fine for its age. A keeper! Van Halen Tower Theater Upper Darby, Pennsylvania March 24, 1978 1. On Fire 2. I’m The One 3. Bass Solo 4. Runnin’ With The Devil 5. Atomic Punk 6. Drum Solo/Little Dreamer 7. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love 8. Eruption/Guitar Solo 9. You Really Got Me 10. Ice Cream Man Notes: Van Halen opening for Montrose and Journey as they made their way out of Southern California. The tour opened in Chicago on March 3. This is the first recording from that tour. -
Audience 8.8 - Very clear and with enough dynamics present to really provide an authentic experience of virtually being there. These kinds of recordings, while technically not considered as excellent (unfairly) due to the measurable fidelity of the audio (in the objective sense) are actually excellent in their own right. This is a well done recording, with the sound “floating” above you and giving you a sense of time and place, of literally being there. Van Halen Fair Warning Tour Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, North Carolina, USA Tuesday August 25th, 1981 Disc 1 01. On Fire 02. Sinner's Swing 03. Drum solo 04. Hear About It Later 05. So This Is Love 06. Jamie's Crying 07. Bass solo 08. Runnin' With The Devil 09. Dance The Night Away 10. Sunday Afternoon In The Park 11. Romeo Delight 12. Everybody Wants Some!! Disc 2 13. Sounds of Summertime 14. Ice Cream Man 15. Mean Street 16. Guitar solo 17. Feel Your Love Tonight 18. You Really Got Me 19. Unchained 20. Ain't Talkin''Bout Love Line-up: David Lee Roth : Edward Van Halen : Alex Van Halen : Michael Anthony. -
Audience 8.3 - Do not let the low rating dissuade you from obtaining this show, because it is actually pretty clear and for this tour probably one of the better auds. It does lean toward low end, in a good way because it does not crowd everyone else out. Eddie is on fire and you hear him well, vocals and bass are solid (vox are a touch behind it all but still right there) so perhaps drums are the weakness but even then I can hear what he’s doing. Once your ears adjust, man this ain’t that bad. Van Halen Monday, April 14, 1980 MECCA Arena, Milwaukee, WI Disc 1 01 -Radio Promo 02 -Intro 03 -Romeo Delight 04 -Bottoms Up 05 -Runnin' With The Devil 06 -Tora Tora - Loss Of Control 07 -Take Your Whiskey Home 08 -Dance The Night Away 09 -Women In Love 10 -Jamie's Cryin' 11 -banter 12 -Feel Your Love Tonight Disc 2 13 -Bright Lights, Big City 14 -Atomic Punk 15 -And The Cradle Will Rock 16 -Light Up The Sky 17 -Guitar Solo 18 -Ain't Talkin' Bout Love -Encores- 19 -Applause 20 -Ice Cream Man 21 -You Really Got Me -
Audience 8.3 - What is happening with this tape is that the bass frequencies are too much for the microphone, and it causes some peaking (not pure distortion, just level peak). On the plus side, it’s relatively open in all the other frequencies, meaning you can actually listen to this show and once your ears sort of adjust to the limitations, it’s not that bad. I would still call this one for hardcore collectors only though, even when there is a shortage of 1979 tapes. On a personal note, I listened to the entire show and liked it, I think it has a place in the collection. Van Halen Northlands Coliseum Edmonton, AB, Canada September 18, 1979 Disc 1 1. Light Up The Sky 6:39 2. Somebody Get Me A Doctor / Drum Solo 4:20 3. Runnin' With The Devil 4:29 4. Dance The Night Away 3:25 5. Beautiful Girls 3:31 6. DLR Talking 5:03 7. On Fire 6:13 8. You're No Good 3:56 9. Jamie's Cryin' 3:21 10. More DLR Talking 3:38 (includes "Eyes of the Night" tease) Disc 2 11. Feel Your Love Tonight 5:14 12. Outta Love Again 6:28 13. Ice Cream Man 7:10 14. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 10:05 15. Eddie's Guitar Solo 8:41 16. You Really Got Me 9:11 -
Soundboard 9.2 - A warm sounding tape, very punchy where it needs to be, maybe if I can complain about anything it would be in the relative sterility of it but that’s a soundboard’s Achilles heel isn’t it ? I’d recommend this to anyone, it is what we like to call “a keeper” for sure! Disc 1 1-1 Subdivisions 1-2 The Body Electric 1-3 The Enemy Within 1-4 The Weapon 1-5 Witch Hunt 1-6 New World Man 1-7 Between The Wheels 1-8 Red Barchetta Disc 2 2-1 Distant Early Warning 2-2 Red Sector A 2-3 Closer To The Heart 2-4 YYZ 2-5 Drum Solo 2-6 YYZ (Cont.) 2-7 Temples Of Syrinx 2-8 Tom Sawyer 2-9 Red Lenses Notes: Live at Neil Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 25th November 1984 [STEREO SOUNBOARD] (noiseless!) The last show of Grace Under Pressure Tour -
Audience 8.9 - Very lively, great atmosphere! Sound is very very good, and the mix that gets to your ears includes everything happening on stage but what I really love is the sound of the drums. Fills the arena yet is pretty tight, with that slight bouncing off the walls effect that gives an almost 360 degree experience. The Who June 11, 1974 Madison Square Garden, NYC disc one: 01 - I Can't Explain 02 - Summertime Blues 03 - Young Man Blues 04 - Baba O' Riley 05 - Substitute 06 - 5 15 07 - Behind Blue Eyes 08 - Tattoo 09 - Boris The Spider 10 - Bell Boy 11 - Dr. Jimmy Disc 2 01 - Won't Get Fooled Again 02 - Pinball Wizard 03 - See Me, Feel Me 04 - My Generation - My Generation Blues 05 - Punk And The Godfather 06 - Drowned -
Soundboard 9.3 - Good separation of instruments, bass is accurate and detailed, guitar crisp and biting, vocals strong and clean. Artist: Led Zeppelin Date: 1973.07.15 Venue: Buffalo Memorial Auditorium Location: Buffalo, New York USA Disc 1 01. Rock And Roll 02. Celebration Day 03. Black Dog 04. Over The Hills And Far Away 05. Misty Mountain Hop 06. Since I've Been Loving You 07. No Quarter 08. The Song Remains The Same 09. The Rain Song Disc 2 01. Dazed And Confused (incl. San Francisco) 02. Stairway To Heaven Disc 3 (Original Soundboard Recording) 01. Rock And Roll 02. Celebration Day 03. Black Dog 04. Over The Hills And Far Away 05. Misty Mountain Hop 06. Since I've Been Loving You 07. No Quarter 08. The Song Remains The Same 09. The Rain Song -
Soundboard 8.9 - Always nice to have these, the rarest of things, a great sounding Iron Maiden show from the early days. Bass is slamming on this one, you hear every note! Iron Maiden April 28, 1981 De Vereeniging Nijmegen, Holland LENGTH: 81:46 TRACKS: 01. The Ides of March 02. Wrathchild 03. Purgatory 04. Sanctuary 05. Remember Tomorrow 06. Another Life 07. Genghis Khan 08. Killers 09. Innocent Exile 10. Murders in the Rue Morgue 11. Twilight Zone 12. Phantom of the Opera 13. Iron Maiden 14. Running Free 15. Transylvania 16. Drifter 17. Prowler -
Audience 8.6 - This is just fascinating. They could have easily billed this show as “The Aerosmith Blues Band” or something because they really were all about playing gritty blues and rock. The guitar work is cleaner and very articulate, it’s quite a revelation to hear them when they were really so conscience of the music, the notes, and not the glam. I was impressed with the sound quality too, this is a certain keeper! AEROSMITH University Of Maine Gorham Campus Gym Gorham ME. September 30th 1973 THE BAND Joe Perry guitar vocals Brad Whitford guitar Steven Tyler vocals harmonica piano percussion Tom Hamilton Bass Joey Kramer Drums SET LIST 1 -Intro 2 -Write Me A Letter 3 -Downtown Baby 4 -Somebody 5 -Son Of Shit - SOS (Too Bad) 6 -Dream On 7 -One Way Street 8 -Walkin' The Dog 9 -Pandora's Box 10 -Train Kept A Rollin' 11 -Mama Kin 12 -Make It 13 -Rattlesnake Shake 14 -Thank You Good Night -
Audience 8.1 - Not only is this incredibly important in the Maiden’s history but it’s also very listenable too. That is gotta qualify as a rarity! The band is on another level, I am 100% sure that this gig was important for all of them especially for Bruce being it was his first gig with them. GREAT playing by all I mean really great! IRON MAIDEN 1981-10-26 Palasport Bologna, Italy 1st Concert With BRUCE DICKINSON !! 1. The Ides Of March 2. SANCTUARY 3. PURGATORY 4. WRATHCHILD 5. THE TWILIGHT ZONE 6. REMEMBER TOMORROW 7. GENGHIS KHAN 8. KILLERS 9. ANOTHER LIFE incl.Drum Solo 10. INNOCENT EXILE 11. RUNNING FREE 12. MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE 13. PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 14. IRON MAIDEN 15. TRANSYLVANIA incl.Guitar Solo 16. DRIFTER 17. PROWLER 18. I GOT THE FIRE* *MONTROSE cover Musicians; BRUCE DICKINSON- Vocals DAVE MURRAY- Guitar ADRIAN SMITH- Guitar STEVE HARRIS- Bass CLIVE BURR- Drums -
Audience 9.0 - A wonderfully present, atmospheric tape! I can listen to this all day, it’s a great time for the quirky and symphonic escapades they were launching into with Grand Wazoo. Brilliant! Frank Zappa & The Grand Wazoo Orchestra Deutschlandhalle Berlin (West), Germany 9/15/1972 Disc 1 01 intros [3:38] 02 New Brown Clouds [7:48] 03 Big Swifty [16:38] 04 Approximate [14:57] 05 For Calvin And His Next Two Hitch-hikers [8:03] 06 Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo) [21:19] Disc 2 07 Greggary Peccary Preamble [1:25] 08 The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary Part I [2:59] 09 The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary Part II-III [5:48] 10 Dog Meat [5:33] 11 Improvisations preamble [0:44] 12 Improvisations [1:25] 13 Improvisations [17:37] 14 Blues For A Minute [4:36] 15 Penis Dimension [3:26] 16 Variant Processional March (incl. Regyptian Strut) [3:14] 17 ovations [4:20] 18 tune-up [1:49] 19 Chunga's Revenge [6:04] Total time 131.34 min -
Audience 8.7 - A tape that finds balance even with the somewhat squashed sound, because it is pretty clear regardless. Fills a lot of gaps in my Alice Cooper collection as these Lace And Whiskey tour shows seem few and far between compared to other tours. -
FM Broadcast 8.8 - A terrific slice of power pop played by perhaps the best ever in the genre. All the songs are killer - no filler, a band at the height of their powers. -
PRO STUDIO 9.3 - One of the best I have come across, a great selection of tracks and some I’d never heard before. Excellent!