This newish 6 CD set may be had for a reasonable sum, and I’m sorely tempted.
BUT, and it’s a big one, I can’t find any information about the quality of the recordings. I know these are gigs from USA radio perfomances, but I would like to know if they are just captured FM streams (i.e. quite possibly pretty shitty really) or pre-FM masters sourced from the radio stations responsible (i.e. quite possibly rather excellent).
I have a few FM radio broadcasts of ‘ver Dan, and some are a LOT better than others, while some of them are unfortunately compressed to buggery, as the techies say.
Does anyone here have any better idea about the provenance and quality of these recordings?
fentonsteve says
I have some similar live Talking Heads CDs. Some are dodgy FM capture to cassette tape, some are master tape quality (there’s one from the show before what became Stop Making Sense).
I wouldn’t be surprised if some enterprising soul, worried about the potential for future CD rot, had “backed up” the whole lot online by now. If you know where to look, for research purposes.
yorkio says
And I would’t be too surprised if that’s where they came from in the first place.
Vincent says
There are ample bootlegs of ‘ver Dan on SugarMegs and elsewhere, and doubtless FLAC versions if you can perceive the quality difference (I can’t). I love ’em, but the tours have become interchangeable, with only half a dozen different tracks amidst the standards, sad to say. Walter Becker added a louche charm which Don Fagen, though a great wit, plays down.
dai says
At about 2.67 pounds per disc it is probably worth a punt.
SteveT says
I am tempted too – not heard ‘Everyone’s gone to the movies’ live which is intriguing – hope they nail the drum parts which sound pretty complex to a non musician.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I’m going to pass on this set I think; some of your comments above echo my own suspicions. And besides, right now there’s the gorgeous motherlode of Mike Millard boots that’s floating about on the ether, of which I’ve only scratched the surface so far, and I have a load of them coming down the line to listen to!
Jaygee says
These radio broadcast sets are always a bit hit and miss, but with six shows for less than the cost of a decent bottle of wine, you’re hardly going to wind up in the poorhouse if all six shows are shite
Vulpes Vulpes says
I’d rather have a Gigondas.
Matthew Best says
It’s just three shows.
Freddy Steady says
It won’t be as good as the new ABBA album.
Matthew Best says
I can’t figure out the other two shows, but CDs 3 and 4 appear to be the bootleg called “Summer of 93”, which is a soundboard recording, though I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that this (or the other two come to think of it) were actually “made for broadcast on American FM radio”. They are just board recordings made for the band. As such they will be as good (or as bad) as that sort of recording normally is – no audience noise to speak of, and no mixing other than that done on the night. Nothing like as good as the recently released official live albums by the modern version of Steely Dan.
Edit: You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqTowt9cLxg
(go to 14′ 40″ to hear Drew Zzing’s amazing solo on Bhodisattva!)