ARE YOU $ERIOU$???
Richard D. Hodgson | Madera, CA United States | 06/12/2008
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I'm going to begin this by saying that 46 bucks, the price Amazon is currently selling this disc for as of the date of this review, is nothing short of outrageous. Now the review:
For years the market has been flooded with low budget, low quality, low-fi "legitimate bootlegs" of live material from classic rock and roll bands. It's nothing new. And in some cases they're actually worth it. Examples would be the Quicksilver Messenger Service disc "Live At The Kabuki Theatre" or the Airplane disc "Live At Golden Gate Park". Both of these discs have, to be charitable, less than stellar sound quality. In fact it's pretty bad at times. But these releases can be justified by virtue of their historical significance.
Such is not the case here. This disc is a collection of live performances cobbled together from various sources. Nowhere is there any information whatsoever about these tracks or where they came from. No dates, no places, nothing-- effectively negating any historical significance. And the sound quality on most of these recordings is truly lousy. There are some tracks that sound as if they were literally recorded on a cheap battery portable, and in fact, they very well may have been. That's cool for the personal memorabilia of someone who was there, but does it really belong on a commercially released CD?
Most egregious is the fact that there is no legitimate reason for the poor sound qualilty on at least some parts of this disc. Some of the tracks were obviously recorded at the Monterey Pop Festival, and have already appeared on another disc titled "High Flying Bird", released a scant two years ago by this SAME record label (Music Avenue). While it's a recognized fact that the original recordings left something to be desired, "High Flying Bird" has surprisingly decent sound. Someone obviously put some effort into making that release sound as nice as possible given what they had to work with. That is not the case with this disc. A simple "A/B" comparison of those tracks common to both discs quickly reveals the difference. Surely, if these guys have the "HFB" master tapes or even a couple of their own CDs laying around, then they already had a much better source for these tracks. It appears that they just didn't care. Even the liner notes are low-budget; they virtually duplicate those included with the previous disc.
Had it been done right, this might have been an interesting release. Some of these tracks may indeed be hard to find elsewhere. But instead it's a slipshod, poorly produced rip-off intended to be sold to unsuspecting buyers who will think, as I did, that they're getting something of the quality and caliber of "High Flying Bird" simply because it's on the same label. Don't be fooled. If you actually pay 46 bucks for this disc, I guarantee you're gonna feel really ripped off. I do, and I paid less than 10 bucks for mine using a coupon at Borders. Unless you're a rabid completist, take a pass on this one. And whatever you do, don't pay that kind of money for it.
P.S. If you want a really nice Jefferson Airplane "authorized bootleg" recording, I'd highly recommend "At The Family Dog Ballroom", a UK import from Charley Records. It has an extended jam on it with Jorma Kaukonen and "special guest" Jerry Garcia that really cooks. And the sound quality is very good throughout. THAT one's definitely worth the money-- and it ain't anywhere NEAR 46 bucks!"
