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Audience 7.6 - I rate this highly because I am amazed that the taper got something this decent because it is obvious the gear is amateur and the band is LOUD as all hell. That being said, this should give you a very good idea of what you could have expected seeing this band in the early 70’s. -
Audience 8.8 - Aww yeah! This is the stuff. Great sound! -
Audience 7.0 - Might not be the highest fidelity, but you can hear all the instruments, each one, so no dynamics here, just enjoy the wild music these guys made back in the day. Historical artifact for collectors. -
Audience 7.2 - For the time, this is actually pretty decent. I mean, this band was LOUD, and really there’s no way to properly record on some cheap cassette player. Still, a rare early show, applaud this taper please! -
Audience 8.2 - Above average Audience recording with one very critical feature – contains perhaps the most sinister, gnarliest Hammond organ sound ever committed to tape. Just ferocious, and the band is on fire. Brilliant! -
Audience 9.0 - This may have been a radio broadcast but I don’t know. It is Excellent! -
CD 1 - Audience 7.4 - Strong and loud without the dreaded over driven distorted mess or squashed lo fi sound. Jamming! CD 2 - Audience 7.0 - Tape is a bit over-saturated but even so, you do get everything on the stage in full force (meaning sledgehammer to your skull). -
Audience 8.1 - One of the better early recordings. Get it! -
Audience 8.8 - Very cool, great atmosphere! -
9.5 - Professionally recorded with a mobile truck, open mic direct to reel to reel. Difficult to accurately describe this, you could call it so many things. Uli Trepte was the bassist in Krautrockers Guru Guru, this is what he did after that. I should say “after his brain cells all waved bye bye” because this Spacebox stuff is about as “out there” as “music” can possibly get. -
Soundboards 8.7 - A bit on the thin side with some minor tape noise. Altogether it’s not bad because the sound is clear enough to get every player on stage, and if you have your own Equalizer, you can bring in a little more low end very easily. -
Soundboard 8.8 (4-13-79) -
Soundboard 8.9 (4-3-79) -
Audience 7.7 - Noisy but good, exciting atmosphere. The music seems to move through the audience, the audience responds, it’s kind of cool to hear. -
Audience 8.8 -
Audience 8.4 -
FM Radio Broadcast 9.3 -
Audience/Pro? 8.7 - It sounds like this is recorded from the audience, but to my ears it sounds like it may be a television audience or in some kind of studio. It sounds like microphones were placed strategically, and there’s no ancillary noises that you would expect from a stealth audience recording. -
Audience 8.7 - Clear and bright recording. Point of Special Interest: The official double release of "Strangers in the Night" is composed of 3 different shows and not all of the Chicago, Amphitheater show, like many might think, so you will find some of the same titles on this one that are different recordings. This is the rare 1978 Chicago show in its entirety with nothing left out, hence the title "The Real Strangers in the Night". -
Ranges 7.7 to 8.7 - Not a lot out there on this band. After listening you will gain an appreciation for them and maybe compare them to ELP and you could be forgiven for that. Sound quality is not spectacular but neither is it dog shit. I think this music should be remastered because it is excellent heavy prog! -
Soundboard 8.7 - Raw, unfiltered and killer. Sure, it ain’t perfect, it is a little squishy and compressed but it’s all there, and there’s plenty of headroom if you want to add Equalizer or even some reverb would help. -
Soundboard 9.3 - Of course it’s great but I am not too thrilled with the sound of the drums. -
Audience 8.4 - Very good job here by an astute taper who knew to capture the opening band as well – also featured here! -
Audience 7.2 - Sound not good but artwork is spectacular. For collectors only. -
Audience 7.7 - Lo-fi but surprisingly clear with a good biting guitar tone, and solid bass. Drums kind of buried. -
Audience 9.6 - Hard to tell if this is Soundboard or Audience, it is that good. My best guess is that it is a Pro Audience, very good gear - probably open reel to reel. -
Audience 7.5 -
Audience 8.7 -
Various sources various quality but mostly very good stuff here and overall very good Audio as well. As far as live compilations go, I can highly recommend this one. Probably should be a must own for fans and a good starter for those first discovering them. One of my personal favorites. -
FM Radio Broadcast 8.8 - Typical radio compression present, and some minor breakup during intense segments due to over-saturation but these issues are only minor ones....this is a good recording! -
Soundboard 8.8 - A little tape hiss present but a good board with my only issue being a lack of purity in the mix, somewhat muddy for a soundboard but it has a high rating due to the overall enjoyability. -
Soundboard 9.7 -
Audience 8.5 - A rather intimate sounding capture, maybe a touch thin, but clear and lively. -
Audience 8.8 - Someone snuck in some good gear for this capture. You can just tell the mics are quality, there’s a great stereo pan, a good atmospheric capture. -
Audience 8.6 - A very “live” sounding tape! Excitement, yes indeed (despite modest hiss). -
Pro Radio Broadcast 9.8 -
Soundboard 9.8 -
Audience 7.2 - Kind of flat but surprisingly clear (Portchester auds tend to be notoriously distorted). -
Audience 6.9 - Well, here's the rub: Great band, great time (1971), great place (Bern, Switzerland), but not great recording. I mean, what you really need anyway is the guitar here, and at least you get some of that! The problem is mainly a lo-fi experience but to be fair to this capture you do hear it all on stage. I am too harsh really, I think if you just give it a chance it gets better to your ears. I mean, it's TOAD man! How many live recordings are there? Two? Whatever it is this is still essential. -
Soundboard 8.4 -
Soundboard 9.0 and Audience 8.6 -
Audience 7.3 - A rough document that reminds me a little bit of the Boston 1969 tape. There’s a lot of inherent noise within the bandwidth of the poor old analog tape trying to capture the sheer power of the Who in 1969, but you know it does manage to get enough that you can adjust and start to get into it. It’s raucous, yup, but so was the band! -
Audience 8.9 - A fine recording that seems to originate from John’s side of the stage because guitar, while there, is kind of behind the action which allows you to pay attention to the bass work, and really will surprise you just how much of a second guitar that bass was at times. I also like the slight change of "Can’t Explain" they do here – this is a great show. This is also a very good recording so get it! -
Audience 8.8 - This is a significant recording mainly from a historical sense, but for all the wrong reasons too. Yes it is the infamous gig where 11 people died outside the venue waiting to get in. The band were not informed until after the show, so they play their set oblivious, and it is a fine set. It’s eerie now to hear this knowing what transpired earlier, thankfully it is actually a very fine recording. This is one of those things I have to encourage everyone to check out for all the RIGHT reasons though…but yeah there’s that. -
Soundboard 8.7 -
Soundboard 8.8 - A little wobbly at the start but clears up quickly. -
Soundboard - Most collectors will know of this, and this set does include the partial live performance segment as well. A nice snippet of a good year, 1971. -
Audience 7.2 - A low rating but at least .5 points higher than the original version. Someone did a Remaster which it desperately needed because it was flawed. Mainly, it’s surface noise from the vinyl source (original tape source never located). It wasn’t great to begin with either. If you needed to upgrade this for your collection – get this one .... Bonus is the great artwork and packaging.