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Audience 9.5 - Easily one of the best, if not the best, audience recording of the US leg of the 1988 Tour. If you have to pick one, I would always point to this one for that reason but also because it is a great show and features a special guest or two (Adam West and son Dweezil), but I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Frank Zappa 25-Mar 1988, Nassau Colisseum, Uniondale, NY Frank Zappa's Band: Paul Carman - alto saxophone Walt Fowler - trumpet Bruce Fowler - trombone Mike Keneally - guitar, keyboards, vocals Ed Mann - percussion Robert Martin (Bobby) - keyboards, vocals Kurt McGettrick - baritone saxophone Scott Thunes - bass Chad Wackerman - drums Ike Willis - guitar, vocals Albert Wing - tenor saxophone Frank Zappa - guitar, vocals Eric Buxton - monologue, Guest Brother A. West (Brother A. West) - monologue, Guest Dweezil Zappa - guitar, Guest w/ Dweezil Setlist: disc 1 01 -Black Page #2 02 -Ain't Got No Heart 03 -Love Of My Life 04 -Inca Roads 05 -Sharleena 06 -Who Needs The Peace Corps 07 -Dickie's Such An Asshole 08 -When The Lie's So Big 09 -Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk 10 -Sofa 11 -Packard Goose Medley 12 -The Torture Never Stops Medley I Disc 2 13 -Theme From Bonanza - Lonesome Cowboy Burt 14 -The Torture Never Stops Medley II 15 -City Of Tiny Lights 16 -A Pound For A Brown 17 -Brother A. West 18 -Texas Motel Medley 19 -Peaches En Regalia 20 -Stairway To Heaven (w/Dweezil) 21 -I Am The Walrus 22 -Whipping Post 23 -Bolero 24 -America The Beautiful Notes: First Time played: Brother A West Last Time played: Brother A West America The Beautiful (Samuel A. Ward, Katherine Lee Bates) -
Audience 8.8 - Back in the cassette tape trading days, many tapes would be passed around containing the Mick Taylor period and those were the ones I most gravitated towards. A lot of those shows I have never listened to again since the cassette days for fear they would still sound so weak…but this one has blown me away, literally. It is not the old multi-gen, hissy and muddy clusterphuck like so many of those audience recordings were, this one is really pretty friggin’ good. Not perfect, but VERY damn good. THE ROLLING STONES Boston Garden Boston, MA July 18th 1972 THE BAND Mick Jagger vocals harmonica tambourine Keith Richards electric guitar vocals Bill Wyman bass Charlie Watts drums Mick Taylor lead guitar Nicky Hopkins Keyboards Bobby Keys saxophone Jim Price trumpet SETLIST 1 Announcement 2 Band Intro 3 Brown Sugar 4 Bitch 5 Rocks Off 6 Gimme Shelter 7 Happy 8 Tumbling Dice 9 Love In Vain 10 Sweet Virginia 11 You Can't Alway's Get What You Want 12 All Down The Line 13 Midnight Rambler 14 Band Introduction 15 Bye Bye Johnny 16 Rip This Joint 17 Jumpin' Jack Flash 18 Street Fighting Man 19 Honky Tonk Woman 20 Closing Announcement -
1977 Soundboard 9.0 (various sources) - The goal was to assemble the best and most complete version of this legendary gig. They have done that with this. It’s way better than you remember it being (aside from the tracks pulled from Love You Live). 4th & 5th March: Toronto, Canada, El Mocambo Tavern Note: Soundboard recording was made by Eddie Kramer. 01. Route 66 02. Hand Of Fate 03. Crazy Mama CUT. 04. Mannish Boy 05. Crackin`Up 06. Dance Little Sister 07. Around And Around 08. Worried About You 09. Let`s Spend Night Together_completed 10. Band Intro 11. Little Red Rooster -
Audience 8.7 - Every audience tape has a certain unique “timbre” to it, a quality hard to define – it encompasses distance from source, surrounding ambience, equalization, harmonics, and more. So, this recording is what I would call “very good” but different than other 88 Euro Zappa tapes in timbre. I find this one leaning too far in upper mid band and treble, not irritatingly, but wanted more bottom end. My ears were telling me that is what it wanted…yours may not it is all very subjective. It’s a good recording though. Frank Zappa 19880425 Copenhagen, Denmark Falkoner Theater Set 1: 01. Heavy Duty Judy 03:49 02. band introductions 02:04 03. Packard Goose > 07:41 04. Alien Orifice > 04:19 05. When The Lie's So Big > 03:42 06. Planet Of The Baritone Women > 02:45 07. Any Kind Of Pain > 06:13 08. Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk > 07:30 09. Texas Motel Medley > 09:10 10. Sofa 02:57 01. Torture Never Stops Medley > 19:49 Set 2: 02. Find Her Finer > 02:44 03. Big Swifty > 16:23 04. Bamboozled By Love 06:23 05. Bolero 05:28 06. Peaches En Regalia > 02:58 07. Stairway To Heaven 09:07 Encore: 08. Mr. Green Genes > 03:58 09. Florentine Pogen > 06:40 10. Andy 05:38 11. Inca Roads 09:32 ________ 02:18:49 -
Audience 8.8 - I like these kinds of audience recordings where the taper is kind of close to the speakers yet the sound does not distort. It makes for a very realistic and intense sound, closer to what it would have been like in person, rather than the soundboard feed which is not representative of the sound that came out of the PA system. Also, I like the Jean-Luc Ponty period, the jazzy workouts were sometimes incredibly intense and not necessarily traditionally jazzy, but progressively jazzy. This is one such gig. Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention Palasport Bologna, Italy 1973 08 30 Line-up: FZ, George Duke, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ian Underwood, Bruce Fowler, Tom Fowler, Ruth Underwood, Ralph Humphrey Set list: 01 opening 02 Dupree's Paradise 03 band intros 04 Cosmik Debris 05 preamble 06 Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbecue 07 Kung Fu 08 Penguin In Bondage 09 Dog Meat 10 RDNZL 11 Farther Oblivion 12 encore preamble 13 Brown Shoes Don't Make It -
CD 1&2 SDBRD/AUD Matrix 9.3 CD 2&3 Soundboard 9.5 - A great overview of John’s music contained herein. I admit I wasn’t too knowledgeable of his stuff, I knew his name (he is from Houston, he was just one of our locals) and had numerous chances to see him live…but sadly never did. I should have. This music is pretty basic, but will remind you a bit of Bob Dylan, and will entertain you endlessly with the lyrical wit and story-telling nature of the songs. A bright star, really, a shame that we lost him recently. John Prine 2/22/79 Rainbow Theatre Denver, CO Disc I:- -Spanish Pipedream
- -Often Is A Word I Seldom Use
- -Fish And Whistle
- -Angel From Montgomery
- -Crooked Piece Of Time
- -Blue Umbrella
- -Illegal Smile
- -Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone
- -The Bottomless Lake
- -Dear Abby
- -Sam Stone
- -That's The Way The World Goes Round
- -There She Goes
- -I Had A Dream
- -Living In The Future
- -Iron Ore Betty
- -Hello In There
- -Paradise
- -Please Don't Bury Me
- -Onomatopoeia
- -Sailin' Around
- -Mexican Home
- -Sweet Revenge
- -Souvenirs
- -Saigon
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FM Radio Broadcast 9.2 - Very enjoyable, and tape runs stable and clean so you can blast this at your next gathering of friends (which is soon, hopefully). The bonus material (Kansas City 78) is very good also, an audience recording with nice atmosphere. All of the material in this set is prime era Styx, for me anyway. Styx Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL December 18, 1978 Band line up Dennis DeYoung - vocals, keyboards Tommy Shaw - guitar, vocals James Young - lead guitar, vocals John Panozzo - drums, vocals (passed away July 16, 1996, aged 47) Chuck Panozzo - bass, vocals Disc 1 01 -Intro - Great White Hope 02 -I'm O.K. 03 -The Grand Illusion 04 -Fooling Yourself 05 -Queen of Spades 06 -Acoustic Instrumental 07 -Crystal Ball 08 -Intro - Suite Madame Blue 09 -Renegade (incl. drum solo) 10 -Lady 11 -Blue Collar Man Disc 2 12 -Come Sail Away 13 -Intro - Midnight Ride (incl. guitar solo) 14 -Miss America Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO November 21, 1978 15 Lady 16 Fooling Yourself 17 Suite Madame Blue 18 Come Sail Away 19 Midnight Ride 20 Miss America -
Audience 9.3 - Such a good , clear and powerful audience tape of the fledgling CTA that would later become one of the biggest selling bands of all time. I can recommend this one to just about anyone with even the faintest interest in the band, and/or rock music in general. It’s THAT good. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY Cue Club, Gothenburg, Sweden - December 15, 1969 Setlist Disc 1 1. -Intro - Warm Up 2. -Introduction 3. -Listen 4. -Beginnings 5. -South California Purples 6. -Poem For The People 7. -25 Or 6 To 4 Disc 2 8. -Questions 67 & 68 9. -I’m A Man Encore 10. -Liberation 11. -Poem 58 12. -It Better End Soon The Band: Terry Kath Danny Seraphine Robert Lamm Peter Cetera Lee Loughnane James Pankow Walt Parazaider -
Audience 8.0 – 8.5 This is one of those “right in the thick of it” tapes. Immersed into the crowd, you become part of the experience of the concert along with the tapers themselves. Is that good or bad? In this case it starts off a little shaky and gets better, and better, as the show progresses until at the end you realize you had a great time. Rich Stadium Buffalo, NY 1978-07-04 Disc One 1. Let It Rock 2. All Down The Line 3. Honky Tonk Women 4. Starfucker 5. When The Whip Comes Down 6. Lies 7. Miss You 8. Beast Of Burden Disc Two 1. Shattered 2. Just My Imagination 3. Respectable 4. Far Away Eyes 5. Love In Vain 6. Tumbling Dice 7. Happy 8. Sweet Little Sixteen 9. Brown Sugar 10. Jumpin' Jack Flash -
Audience 8.1 - In the pantheon of ’69 Stones audience tapes, this one ranks as one of the more listenable ones. The recorder levels are low, so some tape hiss comes up at volume, but it is relatively clear, no murkiness (which historically is a sound killer), and you actually distinguish very well the two distinct guitars (but still sometimes can’t tell where Taylor ends and Keith begins (which is kind of what they strove for anyway). Rolling Stones Baltimore Civic Centre November 26th 1969 Set List 01.-Jumping Jack Flash 02.-Carol 03.-Sympathy For The Devil - Hey Jude 04.-Under My Thumb - I'm Free 05.-Midnight Rambler 06.-Live With Me 07.-Satisfaction 08.-Honky Tonk Woman -
Audience 9.1 - This is the surprise tape of 2020. A GREAT sounding tape and awesome performance, and it is completely new to my ears. Fantastic find! Thin Lizzy The Forum Inglewood, CA August 16, 1978 01 Warrior 02 Waiting For An Alibi 03 Still In Love With You 04 Cowboy Song 05 The Boys Are Back In Town 06 Don’t Believe A Word 07 Are You Ready? 08 Me And The Boys -
Audience 8.4 - This tape has been recently surfaced and is not bad at all, however it did receive a “refresh” in the form of a re-mastering which boosted the levels a bit after notching out some noisy mids. It sounds pretty decent, maybe midway back in the venue but hearing pretty much everything especially Mick and Keith which is fine by me. County Stadium, Milwaukee, Wisconsin June 8th 1975 DISC 1: 01. Honky Tonk Women 02. All Down The Line 03. If You Can't Rock Me / Get Off Of My Cloud 04. Star Star 05. Gimme Shelter 06. Mick Jagger speaks 07. Ain't Too Proud To Beg 08. You Gotta Move 09. You Can't Always Get What You Want 10. Sure The One You Need 11. Tumbling Dice 12. Luxury DISC 2: 01. Band Introductions 02. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) 03. Angie 04. Wild Horses 05. That's Life (Billy Preston) 06. Outa Space (Billy Preston) 07. Midnight Rambler 08. Brown Sugar 09. Rip This Joint 10. Street Fighting Man 11. Jumpin' Jack Flash 12. 1975 Tour announcement 13. 1975 News report -
Audience 8.4 - A barn-burner gig and maybe one of the best of the tour (recorded, anyway) with some unbelievable jamming. The audio is decent, some mid band clutter was equalized to allow less noise and more music to permeate your space. I think that made the difference with this tape. It’s worth getting and will impress you even more than you might already have been with these guys. Always gave their best. URIAH HEEP Portland Expo, Portland, ME August 19th 1973 THE BAND David Byron vocals Mick Box guitar Ken Hensley keyboards Gary Thain bass guitar Lee Kerslake drums SETLIST 1 -Tune up - Intro 2 -Easy Living 3 -Sweet Lorraine 4 -Stealing 5 -July Morning 6 -The Dreamer 7 -If I Had The Time 8 -Gypsy 9 -Keyboard solo - Gypsy reprise 10 -Drum Solo 11 -Seven Stars 12 -Sweet Freedom 13 -Look At Yourself 14 -Love Machine 15 -Roll Over Beethoven 16 -Blue Suede Shoes 17 -Hound Dog I8 -I Got A Woman 19 -At The Hop - Let's Go To The Hop 20 -Thank you, Goodnight -
FM Broadcast 9.1 (Seattle) and Audience 8.3 (Fresno) - Two very cool shows with the first one taking the cake for fidelity but the second one is a stomper. It is pretty clear with guitar being very good and loud (screaming in fact!) but not at the expense of everything else. It’s lacking maybe some lower end definition and separation of instruments during their jamming parts (might lose some of the drums in there, and keyboards are absent sometimes) but these are not going to bother you when you start listening to this gig because it’s a thriller. STYX Paramount Theater Seattle, WA March 26, 1976 Reel to Reel Master @ 3 AND 3/4 ips KZOK Too High Concert Aired March 19th 1979 THE BAND Chuck Panozzo bass backing vocals James Young guitar backing and lead vocals Tommy Shaw guitar lead and backing vocals Dennis DeYoung lead and backing vocals keyboards John Panozzo drums Disc 1 1 -Intro 2 -Born For Adventure 3 -Lorelei 4 -You Need Love 5 -Suite Madame Blue 6 -Midnight Ride 7 -Rock and Roll Feeling with Guitar and Drum Solos 8 -KZOK sTATION ID Disc 2 Selland Arena, Fresno, CA. August 14th 1977 1. -Intro (2:51) 2. -Put Me On (6:08) 3. -Lorelei (6:35) 4. -Mademoiselle (5:21) 5. -Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (5:38) 6. -Suite Madame Blue (10:21) 7. -Crystal Ball (6:23) Disc 3 1. -Light Up (4:55) (Sourced from Miami 1977) 2. -Come Sail Away (8:42) 3. -Lady (4:27) 4. -Midnight Ride (10:26) 5. -Miss America (6:54) 6. -Born For Adventure (6:20) -
Soundboard 9.1 - Starts off with a channel dropout for a minute then it gets right on track with a good solid sound quality that just lacks maybe a little brightness to it. Little Feat 1973-11-02 Houston, TX Liberty Hall 01. Spanish Moon 08:59 02. A Apolitical Blues 04:03 03. Snakes On Everything 06:43 04. Hamburger Midnight 04:53 05. Sailin' Shoes 05:09 06. Cold, Cold, Cold 04:58 07. Dixie Chicken > 09:47 08. Tripe Face Boogie > 03:01 09. Day At The Dog Races > 04:39 10. Tripe Face Boogie 02:20 11. High Roller 06:30 ________ 01:01:02 -
FM Radio Broadcast 9.6 - Nice to have such a fresh sounding ’73 gig! This is a keeper. Little Feat 19730719 (Late) Denver, CO Ebbetts Field Set 1: 01. intro 02:52 02. Apolitical Blues 03:50 03. Two Trains 03:33 04. Got No Shadow 06:15 05. The Fan 06:06 06. Texas Rose Cafe 04:39 07. Snakes On Everything 06:39 08. Cat Fever 07:06 09. Walkin' All Night 04:15 10. Sailin' Shoes 04:37 11. Dixie Chicken 06:16 12. Tripe Face Boogie 06:30 ________ 01:02:31