2014-01-26

Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Historical At An Exhibition (1999)

GENRE: Progressive Rock |  Symphonic Rock
FORMAT: Mp3 (CBR Stereo 320kbps)
SIZE:   283 mb (3% Recovery)


Excellent soundboard recording at Obsas Sanitarias Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - April 05, 1993.



Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are a sporadically active English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and have sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (bass guitar, vocals, guitar) and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion). They are one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock bands.
The ELP sound is dominated by the Hammond organ and Moog synthesiser of the flamboyant Emerson. The band's compositions are heavily influenced by classical music in addition to jazz and – at least in their early years – hard rock. Many of their pieces are arrangements of, or contain quotations from, classical music, and they can be said to fit into the sub-genre of symphonic rock. However, Lake ensured that their albums contained a regular stream of simple, accessible acoustic ballads, many of which received heavy radio airplay. Lake, besides providing vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar and lyrics, also produced the band's first five albums.



TRACKLIST:

Disc 1
01. Opening
02. Tarkus
03. Knife Edge
04. Paper Blood
05. Black Moon
06. Piano Solo
07. Creole Dance
08. From The Beginning
09. C'est La Vie
10. Lucky Man
11. Honky Tonk Train Blues

Disc 2
01. Touch And Go
02. Pirates
03. Hoedown
04. Inst Jam
05. Pictures At An Exhibition (Incl. Drum Solo)
06. Fanfare For The Common Man ~ America ~ Rondo

NOTES:
Emerson Lake and Palmer’s comeback release Black Moon was released in the summer of 1992.  Close to a year of almost non-stop touring followed.  Traveling included their first shows ever in South America in the latter part of March and beginning of April.  For about two weeks they played in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, Brazil.

The final shows were at the basketball arena Obras Sanitarias on April 4th and April 5th.  Two shows were played each night and Historical At An Exhibition documents the second show on the second night in a flawless soundboard recording.  The balance and presence of the music are almost perfect.  The only negative is the audience is pushed very far back but nevertheless this is one of the best sounding ELP titles available.

And since it’s the final show after months of touring, the band pour a tremendous amount of energy and fun into the performance.  After the opening they start the show with a ten minute fragment of “Tarkus.”  The first three sections, “Eruption,” “Stones Of Years” and “Iconoclast” are played before a segue into “Knife Edge.”

Two songs from the new album, “Paper Blood” and “Black Moon” follow before the two long solo sections of the set.  Keith Emerson plays a piano solo lasting several minutes.  He then dedicates ”Creol Dance” to Alberto Ginastera, the Argentine composer whose work “Toccata” Emerson adapted on Brain Salad Surgery.  Since they were playing in his home town it would have been interesting if ELP pulled that out, but it’s complexity means it hadn’t been played in twenty years.

Greg Lake his spotlight afterwards, starting with “From The Beginning.”  He tells the story of living in Paris in 1976 while writing “C’est La Vie.”

The final hour of the show emphasizes the complete band.  “Touch And Go” is a nice nod to the 1980?s Emerson Lake & Powell and is followed by a full version of “Pirates.”  The show ends with the “Pictures At An Exhibition” suite featuring Carl Palmer’s drum solo.

The encore is a long piece starting with “Fanfare For The Common Man.”  Emerson stands out by featuring the old fashioned Hammond organ giving it a late sixties / early seventies progressive rock sound.  Leonard Bernstein’s “America” is played before the segway into “Rondo.”  Emerson plays every snippet of classic and jazz tunes he can think of during the frenzy.

Overall this sounds very close to ELP at an artistic peak.  While the viciousness of their performances in the early seventies isn’t duplicated, there is enough creativity to suggest this isn’t a complete nostalgia  tour but a viable ELP project for the 1990s.  Unfortunately they wouldn’t reach this peak again with health and attitude problems leading to  horrible album in 1994 and breaking up in 1998.  (Maybe, once Palmer joins Lake and Emerson on their current low-key ELP tour things would work again).  The artwork is very clean.  On the front is a photo from the Works tour in 1977 and on the back is a 1992 publicity photograph.  For the ELP collector this is an essential title.

http://www.collectorsmusicreviews.com



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The Beatles - Live At The Hollywood Bowl 23rd August 1964 (2012) FLAC

GENRE:  Rock
FORMAT: Lossless (Flac)
SIZE: 221mb (3% Recovery)


New release from Helter Skelter Label. This is  really the best sounding version of the 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert I have ever heard.
This is specially remastered from the original source tape, and should be a real treat to your ears.




TRACKLIST:

01 Introduction (5:42)
02 Twist And Shout (1:16)
03 You Can’t Do That (2:44)
04 All My Loving (2:14)
05 She Loves You (2:32)
06 Things We Said Today (2:19)
07 Roll Over Beethoven (2:19)
08 Can’t Buy Me Love (2:49)
09 If I Fell (2:30)
10 I Want To Hold Your Hand (3:02)
11 Boys (2:09)
12 A Hard Day’s Night (3:14)
13 Long Tall Sally (4:06)


NOTES:
The 1977 Capitol LP was never  a go-to disc for me. Too noisy. And this refurbished version of just the August 23rd Hollywood Bowl date still suffers from too many screams and too little monitor assistance for the fabs, but it’s still a rather unbelievable document of a rather unbelievable time. The stereo separation is pretty amazing, even if the performances themselves (and the troublesome vocal mix) leave plenty to be desired. Lennon’s deep-seated cynicism – already fully developed by mid-’64 – is still a joy to hear to this day (“The next song we’re gonna do is our latest record… I hope you still remember it”). Plus… you get to hear The Newlywed Game’s Bob Eubanks (credited with putting up the money for the show) introducing “the world’s greatest act.” These recordings have made the rounds before and, frankly, I haven’t bothered to compare them. But, since we’ve posted the others in Helter Skelter’s Back To Basics series, we’re continuing the trend. Check out the archives for Vols. 1-3 (Please Please Me, With The Beatles & A Hard Day’s Night), Vols. 4 & 5 (Beatles For Sale & Help!) and Vol. 6 (Rubber Soul). There’s more Beats in the archives.
http://www.willardswormholes.com



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2014-01-17

AC/DC - Flick Of The Switch Tour Rehearsals (1983) FLAC

GENRE: Hard Rock | Blues Rock | Rock'N'Roll
FORMAT: Lossless (Flac)
SIZE: 162 mb (3% Recovery)


Flick Of The Switch Tour Rehearsals, Los Angeles, CA, October 5 1983.  Excellent Quality



TRACKLIST:

1) Rising Power
2) Flick of the switch
3) Unknown
4) Guns For Fire
5) Unknown
6) Unknown Jam
7) Guns for Fire
8) Guns For Fire
9) Unknown Jam
10) Unknown
11) Talking
12) Dont mess with the Kid




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2014-01-04

ZZ Top - Lewiston 2011

GENRE: Hard Rock | Blues Rock
FORMAT: Mp3 (CBR Stereo 320kbps)
SIZE:  189 mb (3% Recovery)


Recorded live at Lewiston, New York, USA in 08/02/2011

TRACKLIST:

01.  Intro
02.  Under Pressure
03.  Waitin' for the Bus
04.  Jesus Just Left Chicago
05.  Pincushion
06.  I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
07.  Bantar
08.  Future Blues  (Willie Brown Cover)
09.  Cheap Sunglasses
10.  I Need You Tonight
11.  Brown Sugar
12.  Party on the Patio
13.  Just Got Paid
14.  Gimme All Your Lovin'
15.  Sharp Dressed Man
16.  Legs
17.  Crowd
18.  E.  La Grange
19.  E.  Tush




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