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Soundboard 9.3 - All shows excellent! When you combine brilliant musicianship with highly innovative music at a time when it was still accepted, and toss in a liberal amount of improvisation, you will get Mahavishnu Orchestra. Mahavishnu Orchestra "Three In '73" 1973-08-14 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville IL Billy Cobham - drums Jerry Goodman - violin Jan Hammer - keyboards Rick Laird - bass John McLaughlin - guitar Disc 1 01. -Birds of Fire 02. -Sister Andrea 03. -Hope - Awakening 04. -Open Country Joy 05. -Dream 06. -Celestrial Terrestrial Communters Disc 2 Montreal Forum, Montreal, Canada 13 July 1973 01 -Introduction 02 -Meeting of the Spirits 03 -Miles Beyond 04 -Steppings Tones 05 -Sister Andrea 06 -Dream 07 -I Wonder - Awakening (beginning) Disc 3 Montreal Cont'd 01 -Awakening (Part 2) 02 -Awakening (Part 3) 03 -Awakening (Part 4 - conclusion) 04 -Meeting of the Spirits 1973-11-07 Palace Theatre NY NY 05. Dream 06. Sister Andrea 07. Hope - Celestial Terestrial Commuters -
Audience 8.4 - I would call this a very decent recording, with bass and guitar being pretty defined, which is great because I enjoy hearing distinctive bass notes. The drums are not as well defined, but they are there and come more to the fore during Red House. This is a highly recommended show, and he really pays homage to Hendrix at this gig. Mahogany Rush Winterland, San Francisco, CA March 30, 1975 Band line up Frank Marino : guitar, vocals Jimmy Ayoub : drums Paul Harwood : bass Total Time = 42:46 01 A New Rock-n-Roll 02 Red House 03 Talkin 'Bout A Feelin > Mona 04 Johnny B. Goode 05 Purple Haze -- tape cut @ 1:03 & drop out @ 1:51 -- 06 Star Spangled Banner 07 Voodoo Chile -
Stereo Soundboard 9.6 - A fantastic and interesting tape, the live mix sometimes pans in stereo giving it a unique flavor. The drums and keyboards are placed superbly in the mix, vocals very strong, but it does lack some low end, not that it is thin or too bright, that is not the problem here at all it’s just that I think the bass may have been so loud through the P.A. that it didn’t need to pass through the board feed so you do hear it but it’s not super deep. Still, a great one for the collection and certainly if you like hard psychedelic rock but the kicker here is the appearance on 4 tracks by John Cipollina.
Man Keystone Berkeley, CA August 9, 1976 Disc 1 01. -Let The Good Times Roll 02. -7171-551 03. -A Hard Way To Die 04. -The Welsh Connection 05. -Something Is Happening 06. -The Ride And The View 07. -You Are Out Of Your Head 08. -Born With A Future Disc 2 09. -C'Mon 10. -Many Are Called But Few Get Up 11. -Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You* 12. -A Hard Way To Live* 13. -Romain* 14. -Bananas* * with John Cipollina
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Very hard to find out of print CD. Brand New - Sealed -
John Miles Boston 1977 Audience 9.0 - A very well captured document, in fact the entire evening was recorded making for one very special listening experience. Talk about a time capsule! Sound is excellent, putting you right up close and hearing pretty much every nuance of the music. Lovely! Gary Wright Boston 1977 Audience 9.0 - Excellent audio features a great atmosphere and decent, warm, and inviting tones of sound wafting overhead and funneling into your brain. Includes opening act and headlining act, great job by taper! Manfred Mann’s Earth Band Boston 1977 Audience 9.0 - The headlining act for the evening, they did not disappoint! A great capture here, pulls you right into the action, you hear every note in detail…a night to remember! An Evening At The Music Hall 1977 Disc 1 JOHN MILES Music Hall Boston Mass April 2nd 1977 1 -Intro 2 -House on the Hill 3 -Pull the Damm Thing Down 4 -Stand Up (and Give Me a Reason) 5 -Music 6 -High Flyer 7 -Slow Down THE BAND John Miles lead vocals keyboards guitar Bob Marshall bass Barry Black drums Gary Moberley keyboards Disc 2 GARY WRIGHT Music Hall Boston Mass April 2nd 1977 1 -Tune Up 2 -My Love Is Alive 3 -Water Sign 4 -Better By You Better Than Me 5 -Light Of Smiles 6 -She's Her Own Victim 7 -Time Machine 8 -I Don't Know 9 -Phantom Rider 10 -Blind Feeling 11 -Dream Weaver 12 -Are You Weeping 13 -Can't Find The Judge 14 -I'm Alright THE BAND Gary Wright Vocals Keyboards Peter Reilich Moog Bass Richard Baker Keyboards Art Wood Drums Hiroshi Upshur Piano Clavinet Betty Sweet Vocals Lorna Wright Vocals Disc 3 MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND Music Hall Boston Mass April 2nd 1977 1 -Waiter There's A Yawn In My Ear 2 -On The Road To Babylon 3 -Spirit In The Night 4 -Father By Day, Father By Night 5 -Captain Bobby Stout 6 -Blinded By The Light 7 -Instrumental 8 -Drum Solo 9 -Drums and Keyboards 10 -Mighty Quinn THE BAND Chris Hamlet Thompson lead vocals rhythm guitar Manfred Mann keyboards backing vocals Dave Flett lead guitar Colin Pattenden bass Chris Slade drums backing vocals -
Audience 8.7 & Radio Broadcast 9.4 - Both of these are amazing, even the audience tape which is frighteningly intense manages to deliver a wallop. So, let me prepare you best I can, what you know about this band probably comes from their mid to late 70’s FM radio hit singles but my friend this stuff ain’t that…no not by a long shot. This is balls to the wall heavy prog tinged acid rock. There are plenty of moments where you can’t tell where the guitars and keyboards are coming from because they bob and weave almost as one instrument…brilliant! MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND 1972-06-19 Volkshaus Zurich, Switzerland Disc 1 1. -PRAYER 2. -CAPTAIN BOBBY STOUT incl.Glorified Magnified 3. -ASHES TO THE WIND 4. -HAPPY BEING ME 5. -QUINN THE ESKIMO (The Mighty Quinn) Disc 2 GOLDERS GREEN HIPPODROME LONDON, ENGLAND NOVEMBER 20, 1973 01. -Introduction 02. -Mercury, The Winged Messenger 03. -Buddha 04. -Messin' 05. -Father Of Day, Father Of Night 06. -Captain Bobby Stout 07. -Mighty Quinn (The Eskimo) Musicians MANNFRED MANN- Organ/Synthesizer/Vocals MICK ROGERS- Guitar/Vocals COLIN PATTENDEN- Bass CHRIS SLADE- Drums/Percussion/Vocals -
Pinkpop 1984 Soundboard 9.6 - Excellent, crystal clear and surely one helluva great performance make this probably a must have for fans.
Dublin 1985 Audience 8.8 - A really good and spacey recording loaded with crowd ambience, as guitars and synths float just overhead. Drums sound pretty tight here, and vocals are perhaps the most prominent next to keys. Good one!
MARILLION 1984/85 Disc 1 Pinkpop Geleen, Netherlands 11 June 1984 01- Intro - Punch & Judy 02- Assassing 03- Script For A Jesters Tear 04- Jigsaw 05- Incubus 06- Cinderella Search 07- Fugazi 08- Garden Party 09- Market Square Heroes Disc 2 SFX Centre Dublin, Ireland 4 Sep 1985 1 -Emerald Lies intro 2 -Script For A Jester's Tear 3 -Incubus 4 -Chelsea Monday 5 -The Web 6 -Market Square Heroes 7 -Pseudo Silk Kimono 8 -Kayleigh 9 -Lavender 10 -Bitter Suite Disc 3 1 -Bitter Suite cont - Heart Of Lothian 2 -Waterhole (Expresso Bongo) 3 -Lords Of The Backstage 4 -Blind Curve 5 -Blind Curve cont 6 -Childhoods End? 7 -White Feather 8 -Fugazi 9 -Forgotten Sons
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Audience 8.8 - Excellent recording for the time period when it seemed most audience tapes sounded very flat and tinny. This one is pretty dynamic but for one fault (not tapers fault). The PA system, while good, did not give vocals enough clarity. During quieter passages, yes, but in louder parts (most of the gig) it’s sort of indistinct, but audible and not buried (just not real distinct). I mean, he’s totally audible is what I am getting at, but for some reason I can’t make out anything he’s singing about (is this par for the course with Marillion?). BTW the Genesis comparisons are accurate! Marillion Rock City Nottingham, England 30 Mar 1983 Disc 1 1 Script For A Jester’s Tear 2 Garden Party 3 Three Boats Down From The Candy 4 The Web 5 Charting The Single Disc 2 6 Chelsea Monday 7 He Knows You Know 8 Forgotten Sons 9 Market Square Heroes 10 Margaret -
FM Broadcast 9.3 - This recording is a little hot, it’s slightly overloaded mainly in the upper mid to high band to the point of slight sizzle on the cymbals…but because it’s so clean overall, with good mid and low end, that seems to be mitigated as the ears adjust. So, it’s great, yes a fine FM broadcast, but in the pantheon of FM broadcasts maybe the engineer got a little excited…OR maybe it’s not the case but more a situation where, when taping from a radio source, you sometimes get artifacts (might be static interference, might be signal compression, might be a whole range of things) and here you have some in the form of slightly overloaded high end. Don’t let it dissuade you though…it’s still great stuff.
Marillion The Chance Poughkeepsie, NY. 02.10.1987 Disc 1 01 The Thieving Magpie (La Gazza Ladra) 02 Slàinte Mhath 03 Assassing 04 White Russian 05 Incubus 06 Sugar Mice 07 Fugazi 08 Hotel Hobbies 09 Warm Wet Circles 10 That Time Of The Night (The Short Straw) Disc 2 11 Misplaced Childhood (Part 1) 12 radio 13 The Last Straw 14 Incommunicado 15 radio 16 Garden Party 17 Market Square Heroes (incl. “My Generation” and “Let´s Twist Again”) 18 radio
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Tilburg 2008 Audience 9.3 Taper right in the sweet spot with good gear means you will absolutely love this recording. Bold and striking, the guitar is distinct, vocals perfect, and everything else forming a backdrop without being lost. Wowsers! Tilburg 2009 Audience 9.5 This ladies and gentlemen is the proper way in which to capture a live recording. Now, the fact that it is a progressive rock band with multiple sonic textures and loads of dynamics means you have to work a little harder to make sure you a. set up in a good spot, b. use professional gear and c. know how to use the gear. This, if done correctly, is the result. A SPECTACULAR RECORDING which is a must have even if you don’t know who Mars Volta is, and if that is the case, why not start here? Stunning. The Mars Volta 2008-03-06 013 Tilburg The Netherlands Disc 1 01. -A Fistful of Dollars [01:44] 02. -Roulette Dares (The haunt of) [18:00] 03. -Viscera Eyes [09:20] 04. -Wax Simulacra [03:52] 05. -Goliath [12:44] 06. -Ouroborous [16:53] Disc 2 07. -Tetragrammaton [17:07] 08. -Agadez [15:14] 09. -Cygnus ... Vismund Cygnus [30:28] 10. -Aberinkula [05:42] Disc 3 11. -Drunkship of Lanterns [18:58] 12. -Asilos Magdalena [06:46] 13. -Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore [06:04] 14. -Day of the Baphomets [14:07] Disc 4 2009-12-07 013 Tilburg The Netherlands 01. -A Fistful of Dollars [02:10] 02. -Son et Lumiere & Inertiatic ESP [05:51] 03. -Cotopaxi [04:44] 04. -L'Via L'Viaquez [09:59] 05. -Goliath [07:53] 06. -Mexican flu speech [01:12] 07. -Eriatarka [15:05] 08. -Since We'Ve Been Wrong [05:55] 09. -Cicatriz ESP [23:47] Disc 5 10. -Halo of Nembutals [05:38] 11. -Miranda [05:11] 12. -Teflon [05:43] 13. -Viscera Eyes [08:09] 14. -Bass solo [02:20] 15. -The Widow [4:00] 16. -Roulette Dares (The haunt of) [10:27] -
Audience 9.5 - Brilliant! A great small venue atmosphere and it sounds fresh and exciting like it’s actually happening…live!Marshall Crenshaw Bottom Line New York City, NY February 18, 1986 Early Show 01 Yvonne 02 There She Goes Again 03 Worryin’ Kind 04 My Favorite Waste Of Time 05 Our Town 06 Monday Morning Rock 07 One More Reason 08 Mary Anne 09 Right Now 10 The Distance Between 11 Little Wild One (No. 5) 12 Rockin’ Around In N.Y.C. 13 Gimme Some Truth 14 Reet Petite 15 Cynical Girl 16 Someday, Someway 17 Whenever You’re On My Mind
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Birmingham 1976 Pro Radio 9.5 - Obviously this should be excellent quality seeing as how it was recorded for British Biscuit radio broadcast. Well, yeah, it’s really good!
Dallas 1981 Pro Radio 8.9 - Sounds maybe a gen or two down (but no tape hiss) or perhaps just the age of the tape this was recorded on as it was presumably tapes off the air. Still, it’s very good and I am sure with some EQ touches could really bring more of the highs out.
Marshall Tucker Band Disc 1 The Odeon, Birmingham, England November 29th, 1976 1 -British Biscuit Intro 2 -Long Hard Ride 3 -Searching For A Rainbow 4 -Can't You See 5 -This Old Cowboy 6 -Fire On The Mountain 7 -Take The Highway THE BAND Doug Gray lead vocals percussion Toy Caldwell lead electric and acoustic guitar steel guitar Tommy Caldwell bass guitar backing vocals George McCorkle electric and acoustic guitar banjo Jerry Eubanks flute alto baritone and tenor saxophone backing vocals Paul Riddle drums Disc 2 Wintergarden Theater Dallas, TX March 15th 1981 1 -K.B.F.H. Intro 2 -It Takes Time 3 -See You One More Time 4 -Tell The Blues To Take Off Tonight 5 -This Time I Believe 6 -Take The Highway 7 -Fire On The Mountain 8 -In My Own Way 9 -Ramblin' 10 -This Ol' Cowboy 11 -KZAM THE BAND Toy Caldwell Guitars Steel Guitar Background Vocals Doug Gray Vocals Jerry Eubanks Flute Saxophone Keyboards Background Vocals Paul Riddle Drums Background Vocals George McCorkle Guitar Franklin Wilkie Bass Background Vocals -
Studio 9.2/9.6 - Not a lot to complain about here except maybe just the little bit of tape hiss (unremarkable). I found it interesting to hear the early takes because on some of the tracks it really shows less of the Southern influence and more of the psychedelic influence (listen to their cover of Evil Ways). Marshall Tucker Band "The Lost Demos" (1968-1971) Studios-Greenville, SC 1971 01. -Can’t You See (demo) 02. -See You Later I’m Gone (demo) 03. Southern Woman (demo) Muscle Shoals Sound Studio-Sheffield, AL 1971 04. -Cookin' (demo) 05. -Ramblin' (demo) 06. -Take The Highway (demo) 07. -Hillbilly Band (demo) Southeastern Music Corporation 1968 08. -It’s A Rainy Night In Georgia 09. -In A Moment (I Can Tell If You Love Me) 10. -Evil Ways (Santana) -
New York 1968 Soundboard 8.7/8.5 - This is a strange old tape, don’t get me wrong I am very happy to get to hear it, but it is a tale of two tapes…to my ears. It’s starts off, the first few tracks, as a relatively “clean” board feed, perhaps an AM radio live broadcast even, because it has that sound to it – like if you were listening to a radio broadcast with headphones (and took the headphones off slightly). Then, the tape changes to what I have to believe is another source, and one that is considerably more raucous and menacing. I can’t even say for sure the second part is a board, might be, but my guess is an on stage reel to reel recording (possibly done by John Sinclair?). It’s ok for what it is, both “sources” are welcomed into my personal collection since there’s so little of the live five out there.
Hollywood 1971 Audience 8.6 - Despite the lowish rating, this is very listenable. The main issue for me, and hence the low quality rating, is the drop off in the vocals. It’s not out front of the mix enough, but then, guitar (and bass) is the highlight so maybe that’s not so bad! Overall, I think if you love this band, this old tape is going to make you happy. One may wonder if a modern re-mastering would help this show come to life and the short answer is “maybe”, because it sounds like this one is already teetering on the edge of the bandwidth and to attempt sonic shenanigans might push it off the cliff. I’d like to hear an expert give it a try though.
MC5 - Flyin' With The Five New York 1968 Unknown Location Disc 1 1. -Teenage Lust 2. -It's A Man's Man World 3. -Black To Comm 4. -Ramblin' Rose 5. -Kick Out The Jams 6. -Come Together 7. -Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa 8. -Born Under A Bad Sign 9. -Shakin' All Over 10. -I Want You Right Now Disc 2 Hollywood, CA. Unknown Location Sept. 9th, 1971 1. Sister Anne 2. Baby Won't Ya 3. I Want You Right Now 4. Tonight 5. Looking At You 6. Ramblin' Rose 7. Kick Out The Jams 8. Black To Comm
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Audience 8.8 - Surprisingly good and clear! I get fine separation of instruments as well, hearing back up vocals, all guitars and drums in a good position and bass is there, not super defined and not boomy but there. Well done taper! Oh, and the performance is unbelievable. Meat Loaf 1978-06-08 Paris - Theatre Mogador Disc 1 01. Great Boleros Of Fire 02. Bat Out Of Hell 03. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night) - Wasted Youth 04. All Revved Up With No Place To Go Disc 2 05. Paradise By The Dashboard Light 06. Johnny B. Goode 07. River Deep, Mountain High 08. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad -
Audience 8.3/8.5 - Despite the low approval ratings of these audio tapes, I have to say I still think they are important to the Megadeth collector for several reasons. There’s just not a lot of recordings from these early periods for some unknown reason, and these shows, having been cleaned up and re-mastered as well as could be done, represent listenable time capsules of perhaps one of the all-time greatest metal band. Megadeth do not get the same accolades as some of the other big metal bands (do I have to mention them?) but I always loved their complexity and sarcasm. I did listen to both of these shows and once my ears adjusted I stuck with it and wrote this review without bias. Average tapes that deserve a place in any collection because of the significance of this band.
Megadeth The Windy City Gigs Disc 1 Metro, Chicago, IL (USA) June 30, 1985 01. -Last Rites - Loved To Death 02. -Killing Is My Business 03. -Skull Beneath The Skin 04. -These Boots 05. -My Last Words 06. -Looking Down The Cross 07. -Chosen Ones 08. -Mechanix 09. -Bad Omen 10. -Encore break 11. -Good Mourning - Black Friday 12. -Rattlehead Disc 2 (U.I.C) Pavilion University of Illinois Chicago, IL 1987-02-12 1. -Intro 2. -Wake Up Dead 3. -The Conjuring 4. -My Last Words 5. -Bad Omen 6. -Rattlehead - Dave's talking about Chicago 7. -Peace Sells 8. -Devil's Island 9. -The Mechanix