Hello Thomas! I'm afraid these are definitely not upgrades and sound worse than versions that are about... Isn't it about time someone compiled a definitive collection??!
Thanks a lot for coming to the rescue with your info, mate! I already suspected that, given how no-noised to death all the BBC tracks appear on the offical releases The Vaudeville Years and Show-Biz Blues. This new release is a complete flop, IMHO. +1 you bet on a definitive dream collection of all of Mac's Beeb appearances as there are PLENTY!
At least there will be some kind of royalties headed the way of Green et al. I can't recall the last time I read about bootleggers paying royalties.
Yes, but think how much better it could be with an official release from Bear's master reels, without compression.
I have now checked the song Before the Beginning and both versions of Only You. They stay in sync with the previously circulating versions, and compared back to back I don't like the remastering at all. It is compressed for sure, and the eq on the untouch soundboard tapes is just so much smoother. Also I found out the reason for the wonky hiss that comes in and goes out. It's the canned audience between the tracks! On the soundboard tapes some of the audience can be heard in between the songs, but here we have some extra audience from some other tape with completely different type of hiss. Annoying and completely unnecessary. Of course the music here is great, although I don't understand why they left All Over Again off! Instead they used versions of the same songs from both included nights. I feel really bad that the music here is released officially this way. I guess the book is nice, but I don't think I want to read anything from the people who call this source "recently found unlabeled tapes".
If that is the case, then people should pick this up sooner rather than later because if there is an issue with licensing (or lack there of), the proper rights holder(s) could file an injunction to stop this release at some point, presuming it is indeed an issue and the owner(s) are aware of it.
I’m one doesn’t yet have this material in any form. Could it be recommended to me despite valid complaints?
Everything here has been available for at least quasi-legal (in the sense that no one has complained about its availability) downloading from the Internet, in better sound quality and 16/44.1 format. Now that this is officially released that may change, so you better look fast
It is prime Peter Green era live material, so it is definitely recommended in that sense, particularly because it has been officially issued.
A shame that this release didn't exactly uniformly delight. I was an FM neophyte in The Late '80s making the rounds at a local platter place and heard what I THOUGHT was Elmore James. When I asked I was floored it was FM. I'd known of its blues period but I was fooled that these were WHITE kids playing. Absolutely the most authentic sounding white blues band ever.
I cannot get over why they felt it necessary to add canned applause on this set?!? Is it to mask sources or just make sure that it definitely sounds like the band weren’t playing to an empty room? Avoid this anyway. Whilst licenced by Sony this was put together by Maxwood Music. Not sure if they have any other releases, but baffling this would get signed off...
I became aware today that there are two versions of the CD set, at least in the UK - I'm not sure this has been stated specifically here. I bought a set from Amazon for about £25 and this is a fat boy CD jewel case. In Fopp today (effectively HMV) they had the set on display in a book style case about one third deeper than a CD size. Both are in fact on sale at Amazon, but I didn't understand why there was a difference in price. I haven't heard this material before except for clips from New Orleans on YouTube, but it is a real shame that Sony have done such a poor job.
Thanx uncle AK! Audience Applause??? That's disturbing. Why not go all the way and sample-in a nice Bullfight. That always goes over well. Is there a List anywhere of the better versions of these? I've been listening to this set today and every time there is applause I cringe...
I've been thinking of picking this up but I already have the Carousel Ballroom & the Warehouse shows among others. So what other shows are on this release?
Yup! "On Epic Records, live at the Anderson Theater - The Yardbirds!" "Rrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
On disc three, Homework, My Baby’s Sweet and My Baby’s Gone are from a New Years Eve bash they were a part of that was filmed for French TV in 1968. Other bands also performed or mimed their performances including The Who, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker and the Small Faces. Getting this gig alone on CD is what’s getting me to buy this set, I’ve watched it on YouTube countless times it is absolutely prime stuff and Jeremy Spencer really shines here. Some more info regarding this gig here: Spend New Year’s Eve 1968 with The Who, Small Faces, Françoise Hardy & Pink Floyd stranger than known: New Year's Eve 1968 "Surprise Partie" with The Who, Small Faces, Booker T, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac... Dawn of the Rock Revolution As for the first five songs on disc three I’m not sure what gig they’re from, but the four songs that come after the NYE gig on that disc are BBC sessions even though they’re listed as demos. On that note, it’s already been mentioned here but it’s a shame whoever put this together decided to add more audience applause to these recordings, it sounds ridiculous especially on the Carousel Ballroom tracks, however it sounds like this wasn’t applied to the Warehouse gig. Nevertheless I’ll still be buying this set, curious about the 40 something page booklet. I might buy the grey market releases of the Carousel and Warehouse gigs that are on Amazon as well though to see if the sound quality is better than this set and what is on YouTube since I’m sure those discs won’t have the fake audience applause added. This set is the only place to get that NYE gig on CD though which I never thought would happen and it does sound better than the audio on the YouTube video, however the fake audience noise is added to these tracks as well even though they got a great response from the audience initially as heard in the video