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Audience 8.5 - Good levels, not the best separation of instruments but it is very live and active, really kind of sounds accurate to what you may have heard if you were sitting center about 20 rows back. -
Audience 7.3 - While not quite as good as the Messina show, this still presents a powerful representation of the live Il Rovescio Della Medaglia. A little of the distinction and separation of instruments not coming through as well but I found plenty to appreciate on this one as well as the other -
Audience 7.6 - Don't confuse this with anything they committed to vinyl back in the day. Not what I would call restrained Italian progressive music here - more like power prog pre-metal heavy riff bashing Italian flavored rock! Killer killer killer. While it is an aud with limited dynamic range due to tape limitations, certainly the power and glory comes across well enough. What a revelation for me to hear this band live. I certainly have a new appreciation for them! Hells yeah! -
Brand New - Sealed -
MOR 1985 Audience 8.6 - A strong recording that gets off to a funky start (at one point a mic jack unplugs and one channel drops but it lasts only a minute). I prefer this to a dry soundboard to be honest. It’s not a perfect audience recording but it sure does deliver on energy and atmosphere! I like it. Tokyo 1987 Audience 8.7 - Nice atmosphere on this tape, and the audio comes through especially vocals and bass actually has a nice round sound to it. Guitars are not super distinct, but thankfully the solos are really soaring above and captured pretty well. I like the snare drum here, whoever was mixing this show really must have had a hard-on for the drummer ha ha! Ratt Monsters of Rock 1985 Donington Park Castle Donington Derbyshire, England August 17, 1985 1. -U Got It 2. -Wanted Man 3. -You Think You're Tough 4. -You're In Love 5. -Lay It Down 6. -The Morning After - Never Use Love 7. -Round And Round 8. -Sweet Cheater Nippon Budokan Tokyo, Japan 1987-05-14 9. -Intro 10. -Looking For Love 11. -One Good Lover 12. -Wanted Man 13. -Back For More 14. -The morning After 15. -Dangerous but Worth the Risk 16. -Lack of Communication Disc 2 1. -7th Avenue 2. -Lay It Down 3. -You Should Know by Now 4. -Guitar Solo 5. -You're In Love 6. -You Think You're Tough 7. -Drive Me Crazy 8. -Slip Of The Lip 9. -Walkin' The Dog 10. -Round & Round 11. -Body Talk 12. -Dance -
Ratt Monsters Of Rock, Pforzheim, Germany 1987.08.30 Tracklist: 01. -Lay It Down 02. -You're In Love 03. -Wanted Man 04. -Sweet Cheater 05. -You Should Know By Now 06. -The Morning After 07. -Dance 08. -Drive Me Crazy 09. -Slip Of The Lip 10. -Walking The Dog 11. -Round and Round 12. -Body Talk Stephen Pearcy - Vocals Robbin Crosby - Guitar (RIP) Juan Croucier - Bass Warren DeMartini - Guitar Bobby Blotzer - DrumsSoundboard 9.3 - A great recording of a great hair metal band (I mean, they could play!) in their prime. I used to brush it off when I was a young man, but now I appreciate great musicians not matter how they dress or act. Good is good. -
Hard blues rock band formed in 1975 in Houston, TX. Featured vocalist BB. Watson who left Houston to pursue a career in Nashville as a C&W singer. He had some fleeting success, eventually came back to Houston and worked with Michael Knust (Fever Tree) and Keith York (Albatross, Rare Breed) for a stint and also attempted to reunite the Rare Breed (those sessions contained on this CD). Rare Breed also featured the guitar of Robert Hampton before he joined Hooker. These are all the known recordings. -
Audience 7.4 - Missing some dynamics but clear and strong. Maybe not from a master source, but it's not as if there are bunches of Rare Birds out there! -
Audience 7.7 and 7.5 - The Gaelic Park show is an outdoor show and the band struggles at times to tune up but it is the better of the two in terms of clarity and sonics, with maybe just a bit of extra treble boost present which puts guitar into the forefront. The Academy of Music gig is not as present and bright but it is perhaps more even, with a broader spectrum of instruments in the mix although guitar is now downplayed. I would say both recordings deliver different characteristics which help the listener get a better sense of the rare live Ramatam experience -
Chicago 1979 Soundboard 8.8 - A little bit on the “ragged” side mix-wise, with strong kick drums and guitar, vocals next. Sound quality is decent due to it being a soundboard but some instruments are placed well behind such as keyboards. It is a high energy sound, a real sonic blast to be sure. Denver 1979 Soundboard 9.3 - A refreshing and bright board tape, mixed well and everything is heard pretty clearly. Keyboards still mixed lower down the chain of command but now I think I understand this idea – while the band is playing it’s simply keyboard accompaniment, and when it’s keyboards time, he’s brought up louder. Works for me. Long Island 1979 Audience 8.7 - A pretty decent tape for this hall, the bass sounds very nice, full and round, guitars are a little back, vocals are present and up front more or less. So, all in all unless you have to have Ritchie blasting full on into your eardrums, which he is during his solo bits, this one will sit nicely in the collection and I even think it will find a repeated listen or two. Rainbow USA 1979 Disc 1 International Amphitheatre Chicago, Illinois 12th October 1979 1. -Introduction 2. -Eyes Of The World 3. -Love's No Friend 4. -Bach Brandenburg Concerto - Over The Rainbow 5. -All Night Long 6. -Keyboards Intro 7. -Lost In Hollywood 8. -Guitar Solo 9. -Beethoven 9th 10. -Keyboards Solo 11. -Drums Solo incl. 1812 Overture 12. -Long Live Rock 'N' Roll 13. -Kill The King incl. Guitar Crash 14. -Long Live Rock 'N' Roll (reprise) Disc 2 Rainbow Music Hall Denver, Colorado 16th November 1979 1. -Introduction 2. -Eyes Of The World 3. -Love's No Friend 4. -Since You Been Gone 5. -Guitar Solo - Brandenburg Concerto - Over The Rainbow 6. -All Night Long 7. -Keyboards Intro 8. -Lost In Hollywood 9. -Beethoven's 9th 10. -Keyboards Solo 11. -Drums Solo incl. 1812 Overture 12. -Lost In Hollywood (reprise) 13. -Guitar Solo 14. -Man On The Silver Mountain 15. -Blues 16. Long Live Rock 'N' Roll 17. -Over The Rainbow Disc 3 Hempstead Calderone Concert Hall Long Island, New York 30th November 1979 1. Introduction 2. -Eyes Of The World 3. -Love's No Friend 4. -Since You Been Gone 5. -Guitar Solo - Brandenburg Concerto - Over The Rainbow 6. -All Night Long incl. Happy Birthday Roger 7. -Keyboards Intro 8. -Lost In Hollywood 9. -Guitar Solo - Beethoven 9th 10. -Keyboards Solo 11. -Drums Solo incl. 1812 Overture 12. -Lost In Hollywood (reprise) 13. -Guitar Solo 14. Lazy 15. -Man On The Silver Mountain 16. -Blues 17. -Long Live Rock 'N' Roll 18. -Over The Rainbow Ritchie Blackmore - Guitar Graham Bonnet - Vocals Cozy Powell - Drums Roger Glover - Bass Don Airey - Keyboards -
Audience 8.8 - This recording is nice and clear, and on the “bright” side of the audio spectrum which is actually very good for those who wish to season the sound with EQ. You can add some low end here and it would make a world of difference because the sound is already good, so anything that can help it is only going to make it even better rather than overdone. Sometimes loud rock concerts in large venues have a low end rumble that makes adding anything to it a risky proposition – this one screams “please add some low end to me”! A great one to personalize, the palate is free to embellish upon. RAINBOW Stockholm, Konserhuset, Sweden September 20, 1976 Disc 1 01. -Interview Swedish Radio 02. -Over the Rainbow - Kill the king 03. -Mistreated 04. -16th Century Greensleeves Disc 2 05. -Catch the Rainbow 06. -Man on the Silver Mountain - Blues - Man on the Silver Mountain (reprise) 07. -Stargazer 08. -Still I´m Sad Ronnie James Dio - vocals Ritchie Blackmore - guitar Cozy Powell – drums Tony Carey – keyboards Jimmy Bain – bass -
Audience 9.6 - Monsterous! Sounds like you are right there, crystal clear and loud. The BEST EVER! -
Audience 7.1 - This tape cannot contain the power of the Rainbow! It sounds overloaded, but there’s music here, if you can get past the sort of mid band rumble. -
Soundboard 9.3 - This tour of Japan has gone down in Rainbow history as being the most fiery performances. Everyone playing superbly, and as always Dio is perfect. -
Soundboard 9.4 - Great recording that gives you stunning detail and clarity with guitar, but here the bass sounds round and brassy and complements the guitar sound. In this mix, drums are also very tight, and the fact that the keyboards are panned to one side while guitar occupies the other really allows for an amazing separation of instruments, cohesive because it is expertly mixed but enough room between to allow the ears to focus on any one particular instrument (but I bet you'll not be able to block Ritchie out because he's living up to all the hype and then some in this one). Rainbow Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA 1981-05-07 Disc 1 101 Over The Rainbow 102 Spotlight Kid 103 Love's No Friend 104 I Surrender 105 Man On The Silver Mountain 106 Catch The Rainbow Disc 2 201 Can't Happen Here 202 Keyboard Solo 203 Lost In Hollywood 204 Guitar Solo - A Light In The Black 205 Difficult To Cure 206 Drum Solo 207 Long Live Rock 'n' Roll 208 Lazy - Woman From Tokyo - Smoke On The Water -
Audience 7.3