Audience 7.3 - Distant and narrow, but seems like a good mastering can fix some of the limitations. Needs a stereo widening and some punch in the mids and highs.

Soundboard 9.3 - Not a pure board, there is some ambiance mixed in from the audience. I think this was a broadcast, it’s quite good!

Audience 8.4 - Good mix, everything clear and strong albeit somewhat one dimensional.

Audience 8.7 - Good strong and clean! Lovely!

Audience 7.6 - Obviously taken from a master tape, it’s a good recording that suffers from some kind of sonic limitation with the mic itself judging by the sort of squashed sound and slightly annoying quality to the timbre. Technically speaking the show is well captured and depending on one’s tolerance to the particular offending frequency, can be quite enjoyable (use an EQ to notch out the bad frequency).

Audience 8.8 - Wonderful and dynamic, a great show!...Selling England.

Audience 7.8 and Audience 6.9 - The second gig is for historical reference as the sound is not great.

Audience 8.6 - A very clear, surprisingly so, open air recording made with what sounds like really decent gear. Every now and then the volume fluctuates but it sounds to me like they are fiddling with the levels, it usually gets back up to proper levels after a second or two and it’s not on every song.

BBC Sessions...As expected, excellent pro sound!

Bracknell - Audience 8.8 - A touch of tape saturation but it’s so clear and loud and energetic you won’t hardly notice. Excellent! ~ Coatham - Audience 8.7 ~ Tampa - Soundboard 8.9

Budokan 1978 - Audience 7.6 - Too much high end, sounds like all the bass was filtered out. Add bass! Mantra Studios 1977 – FM Radio Broadcast 9.0

Audience 8.8 - A very atmospheric recording that gives you an amazing sense of space and proximity to the action. The music has room to move around, so it’s a natural sounding recording and the listening experience benefits greatly. Sometimes at full volume when the band is really cooking, the music gets a little bunched up but the tapers were good with levels so it does not offend and I appreciate that. This is a real gem!

Audience 8.8

Audience 7.8

Audience 8.0

Audience 7.7 - Lots of cool hysteria in the crowd, sound is clear enough to enjoy but still does have that stadium sound with a bit of boom and echo but not too much. It’s good!

Audience 8.5 - A pretty clear and somewhat vibrant with the sound almost kind of travelling around over your head. Keys are the stars of this show as they are front and center in the mix and sound really good. The low end is not very present, it is an upper midrange recording of very good quality.

Audience 8.5 - Strong recording due to the clarity (sounds like VERY low gen).

Audience 7.9 - A very clear recording, it can stand a little fattening up but for 1972 it’s quite decent.

Pro 8.8 - At times this recording gets even better but there are tape problems, what sounds like tracking issues (if this came from a video source), but overall it is very good and was taped professionally for broadcast. The DVD is pro shot, but suffers from age deterioration, tracking issues, color bleed, etc. but in fairness it is a very old video format and those old ¾” umatic tapes either held up or they failed, that these still played is amazing.

Audience  9.1 - Warm, full sound and good stereo too!

Audience  7.8 - What I really like about this show is the sound of the bass, a round, brassy sound and of course played with great power and finesse. The sound field gets a touch crowded at times, but this is really a totally exciting tape with that power of the band really palpable!

Audience  8.8 - Great stereo sound field, wide, clear, and lots of atmosphere. Good show!

Audience  8.0 - Very forceful and loud capture, some taper conversations present, but a very immediate live feeling as if this could have been taped a couple of years ago. Some high frequencies have a squelchiness to them, but when the band is all playing together the audio retains a more comfortable timbre. Overall this is pretty good stuff, and very heady music. I’ve heard people compare them to Pink Floyd, and to be honest I do hear that in some of their compositions, but that is not entirely accurate in describing them. Maybe if you said they were stylistically similar to PF but with a Deep Purplish ensemble approach to the sound, you would be closer.