Audience 8.7 All shows appear to have been recorded by the same taper who was diligent to show up to all the Sabbath shows in his town three years in a row. I am impressed with his effort, you can tell he's not an amateur and but for the fact he's not using pro equipment, he most certainly would otherwise have gotten a stellar result. As it is, it's fine but not winning any dynamics awards. What it does deliver is consistent, strong, error-free recordings that you can relax into, and let yourself adjust to what is there because it's certainly not that bad. I started listening to these shows in order to rate them and ended up just letting them play because it's cool to hear this great line-up playing in a far away place away from the glitz and glamour of the metropolis, year-after-year-after-year, and yet deliver a performance no different from one they might have done at, say, Radio City Music Hall or Madison Square Garden.

Audience 8.5 - -This is a somewhat distant recording, my guess is from somewhere in the middle of the venue. It lacks punch in the middle, definition, and volume in general. In my estimation this one won't get much play except by someone who is not getting enough 1996 tour ROIO's in the o'l collection. Pass if you are a casual fan, collector's who need more 1996 (of which, strangely enough, there's not a preponderence of), you can get this to round out the collection.

Audience 9.0 - A big sound here, and I mean it can be asbig as you want because there's just enough headroom here to add volume without fear of too much of any one thing to take away from other frequencies. It's an even sounding mix, with maybe just a little more emphasis on the massive bass/guitar attack. But even then, you still get all the vocals and drums you need...its a well rounded recording giving you sense of venue as one more benefit that comes with audience recordings.

Audience 9.0/9.2 - Two very good captures that convey a lot of information, most notably the popularity of the band at such an early stage of their careers, and that the Japanese used very high quality taping gear and knew instinctively how to stealth record a rock show. This is good for historical purposes in that these recordings always eventually take on much more significance with the passage of time. This is my argument for why artists should relax their stances against "bootlegging" because while your moment may be on the surface a commercial venture, in the long run it is a milestone not just for the artist in their career but in the overall culture and therefore should be, if possible, preserved. End of rant.

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.