VAN HALEN – The Forgotten Shows 1984 (4CD)

Audience 7.5 – Two complete shows from 1984 that see very limited trading and as far as I know there’s been no CD release for either. There is good reason for this – these recordings sucked ass. Unfortunate too, because both gigs are screamers. Now, the good news! Both shows have been re-mastered using the best technology available (whatever they did 35 years ago obviously did not do much) and the results are that you can hear music now, you can hear what Eddie is doing and you can hear the band. No, it is not going to be sonically superior, but it is sonically better than any previous versions, and that is saying an awful lot! Best way to enjoy these is to listen to the original recordings and then pop these discs in, and THEN you will understand the work that went into saving these gigs from obscurity. The packaging on this title is superb by the way.