Soundboard 9.5 - Wow! Man, this is totally unexpected and will brighten your day (week, or month even!) like nothing else. A brand new discovery and it's a one/two punch with back to back soundboard recordings of Diver Down tour Van Halen, a tour that previously featured a measley two board tapes in existence. Well, it's not a perfect score, but the imperfections are a tiny price to pay for the glorious sounds present here! Each tape in slightly incomplete, but in places that the other show fills in so you end up hearing the music that makes up a complete Diver Down tour setlist. Basically, the sound engineer most likely had to stop rolling in certain spots in order to make tape changes, but all you have to do is look at each nights set list to see how it shakes out, and, thankfully some good editing has smoothed over some of the stops. As I listened, if I hadn't known there were cuts, I probably would not have been the wiser, basically unless you know where the cuts are you won't notice. But, the SOUND man! The sound is great, I really get to hear Michael Anthony's articulate bass playing, and he's all over the place with fills and runs! You kind of lose that detail in most Van Halen recordings. Eddie is just lighting it up as always, but it sounds especially amazing on these two tapes. The interplay is magic, I don't care if the band had their shortcomings personally, with each other, with whoever, it doesn't show on stage. Somebody get me a doctor, I just got double dosed with prime era Van halen soundboards I've never heard before! What an unbelievable find.

Audience 8.6 - By all accounts, this is a real find! First, you get a rare tape that only recently has surfaced, and then it's from a poorly documented tour AND best of all it sounds pretty decent! It's just a great day to be a DLR era Van Halen collector.