Audience 8.6 – What this old tape delivers in terms of sonic clarity and atmosphere for such a vintage ZZ Top performance has to rank it at the top of the list of must-haves for ANY collector of this band’s music. Yes, it is nothing short of a revelation, uncovering a lot of the muck, dirt, mud and distortion that most, if not all, of the early and mid ‘70’s bootlegs seem to have present. That is not to say this tape is “excellent” or even “great” as far as how it would be measured in a laboratory, but the lab is your own ear, and your mental tape measure for previous examinations of early Top. What I am saying is, this tape allows you to hear not just Billy’s immense tone, but also the notes played on bass, and they are separate just enough to let you get a bona fide realistic feel for what this concert sounded like – you can sense position, size (of venue), PA, crowd, pretty much all of the elements of a gig in a VERY reasonably well documented way by taper. Some hiccups, nothing major or too distracting and thankfully brief, and some between song hollering near the mic but music comes through without much frustration and man, that tone! Oh, and it must have been a really good night for the guys, they are playing fluidly and in high spirits. Kudos to whoever remastered this gem, or I should say whoever remastered this tape created a real gem.
ZZ Top
Overton Park Shell, Memphis, Tennessee
(Memphis Country Blues Festival)
1971-04-25
Disc 1
1) Every Day I Have The Blues
2) Somebody Else Been Shaking Your Tree
3) Neighbor Neighbor
4) Just Got Back From Baby’s
5) Whiskey ‘N’ Mama
6) Rattlesnake Shake
7) Goin’ Down To Mexico
Disc 2
8) Instrumental Improvisation
9) Memphis Blues
10) Little Queenie
11) It’s My Time
12) Drums & Bass Solo
13) Brown Sugar
14) Jailhouse Rock
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