HW: Live '79 Complete

[Alasdair Macdonald]

On 18 Jan 00, at 5:19, Marshall Wood wrote:

> Hi - I bought this on Sunday (US$25)  and I was just about to post the
> same thing!  No way am I going to buy 10 crappy sounding Collector's
> Series releases just to get that free release - which is probably just
> as crappy.
>
> I had the choice of this and the Glastonbury 1990 CD - would I have
> been better off with that one?

Well, I guess the Glastonbury CD would have been cheaper, and it
has the added bonus of someone asking the taper if they have any
Rizlas, and lots of dogs barking. I would say it is easier to listen to.

The real question here is why are HW / Voiceprint issuing this
material, when there *must* be better available. And, so far as Live
'79 Complete is concerned, why was the source in such bad
shape?? The treble is massively phased, and there are several bad
edits and / or jumps. This suggests shoddy mastering, as well as a
multi-generation source tape.

The CD package may say "Collectors Series" but it does *NOT*
say "Official Bootleg". A flyer I collected from the November shows
does say "Official Bootleg". Given that I bought Live '79 Complete
in HMV, I suppose any newbie could have bought it - and I suppose
that experience would put them off HW / Voiceprint for life. *That*, I
guess, is my problem with this package. (And it makes me very
wary of the remaining releases).

Last night I was trying to think of any other commercially released
material that I may own of such substandard quality. I couldn't
think of anything. Today's e-mail has kindly reminded me that there
are comparably awful releases, also by HW (the Dave Anderson
stuff). I still can't think of anything so poor by any other band. What
is the lesson here????

I think Live '79 Complete (which admittedly I almost slightly
enjoyed, in parts) must have been recorded using a baked bean tin,
a piece of string and a Roadrunner - style "Acme" magnet 6 feet
tall. A rusty baked bean tin.

Anyway, the booklet is nice.

Alasdair



--
Page me online: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/1573250
Send me E-mail Express direct to my screen: 1573250 at pager.mirabilis.com

alimac at netcomuk.co.uk (Alasdair Macdonald)