Ludlow Garage
I often think that recordings of artist serve two purposes if they are live. Firstly as a memento of the show we experienced if we were fortunate enough to be there. Second as a means of communicating to those who were not able to be in attendance to get some idea of what the show was like.
Other than a band like the Grateful dead who cared so much about the quality of their live shows, most performers strive to achieve a comparable sound to that of their studio recordings. Indeed I am sure that the fans of people like B. Spears expect nothing less than to hear their idol perform the songs in exactly the same way as they were meant to be heard on the record. Then there are bands like the Allmans for whom the live performance is the crucial part of their musicianship, jamming, improvising trying to play their very souls and in doing so bringing the audience on board and carrying them to ecstasy.
Having said that there are recording glitches aplenty with live recordings and the sound may be less than perfect but what shines through, loud and clear is the sheer quality and finess of the performance. This is captured here in the equivalent of a home movie of an awesome band. The tracks may have been heard in different versions before but what is important is what happened on that night and how it came across to the audience.
The quality of the recording is not as good as the Filmore but you know what, this is exquisite testimony to a band that shows that they could go out, night after night and continually deliver such high quality, high soulfullnes music.
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