Radio City or Bust! HRV CDR 019 Finally, a complete high quality recording of this show! The sound is clean throughout, but has quite a bit of dynamic range compression due to being broadcast. Excellent sound overall. Roger's voice is "off" on this night, which causes the pro's and cons set to suffer a bit. The band is just fantastic (that's really what I think), with lots of energy on the older material of the first set. Having said that, Mr. Clapton was missed in spots. I suppose this should be noted; there seems to have been some problem with the broadcast during the first three songs. Some sort of strange phase shifting comes and goes throughout, and disappears during money. I suspect this was some sort of holophonic-pilot-error but who knows. The show was broadcast this way, so don't blame Harvested... :) Two nice bonus tracks- 1) a pre-show interview where Roger demonstrates the stereo hoo-hah of holophonics 2) the 12" single version of 5:01am (The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking) which is quite interesting- different solos from mr. clapton and mr. sandborn! Overall: sound: 9/10 performance: 7-8/10 (the first half is better, imho) yet ANOTHER fantastic Harvested production. Kudos all around. ___________________________________________________________________________ What I like about this show is that it actually, in a musical sense, sounds reaally great! I've got a few roios from Rog's first tour, with and w/o Slowhand. Generally, the band sounded better with EC, but I generally had a hard time listening to them a lot because the arrangments were not too slick, in my book. Now, yeah, Rog was trying to something new, to evolve the sound of his music, and to establish his own identity. But it seemed to be a struggle. But this concert seems to be where Rog's band really got it together - very tight, the arrangments flow, and the soloing is great too. I've always enjoyed Mel Collins in all the work he has done, and he really shines on here, if you like his brand of sax work in conjunction with Rog's material. My only fault would be with some of the really heavy reverb on some of the tracks - must be part of the "Holophonics" stuff. _______________________________________________________________________________ Since this recording comes from Ron Toon's personal tape (from the WW1 live broadcast on March 28, 1985), it can be *certified* as being the *March 28* concert at Radio City Music Hall. In fact, I already had another RoIO CD called "Hitchhiking To Radio City", that claimed to come from the same live broadcast. However, one year ago, there was some discussion about this RoIO, and I think I remember that someone posted an email (on Echoes or private, I don't remember), saying that he was the taper of that show, and that he taped it from audience! After what this guy said, and considering the fact that audience is very loud in this recording, some people (myself included) began to believe that "Hitchhiking To Radio City" was an audience recording. Yesterday evening, I compared the brand new "Radio City Or Bust" with my old "Hitchhiking To Radio City" (with headphones, track by track), and I can say that they come from the same broadcast! Of course, "Radio City Or Bust" has a much better sound quality (Ron Toon's tape is incredibly good!), but the audience noises and the music are exactly the same. Note that the speed is slightly too fast on "Hitchhiking To Radio City". In fact, audience is very loud in the mix, but this is clearly a soundboard recording (I think that they placed some mics inside the hall, to have a "live" feeling during the broadcast). During the first 3 songs, there's some synchronization problem between drums and vocals (or maybe this is due to a lot of music feedback from audience mics, with some delay). Then I played another RoIO CD: "In The Pink". This one is clearly taken from a broadcast too, but the audience is much lower in the mix (music seems a little bit "brither" also), and almost every track from "In The Pink" is *different* from the version of the WW1 live broadcast (not only the mix): some instrumental parts, especially during the solos, are clearly different. The only exception is "Brain Damage / Eclipse", which seems to come from the same performance (there's the same mistake on the guitar at about 01:30), although with a slightly different mix. So, my conclusions are the following... 1) "Radio City Or Bust!" and "Hitchhiking To Radio City" come from the WW1 live broadcast ("Radio City Or Bust" has better sound quality and has the correct speed). This is the March 28 show. 2) "In The Pink" probably comes from a later broadcast, and includes versions from different shows: "Brain Damage / Eclipse" comes from the March 28 concert, other tracks probably come from the 2 other shows at Radio City Music Hall (March 26 and/or 27). Marc-Olivier _______________________________________________________________________ Ok now my unheld-back review: First of all: Sound quality...GREAT!! You can tell due to some background broadcast artifacts that its off radio but once into the show you forget about that. Clarity is awesome though. Welcome To The Machine... Ok the echo thing can go but otherwise this is a great performance. The woo-woos dont get too bad and the music is great. Set The Controls.. Ok the echo is getting rather annoying. Can we Pllllease add just a bit more of that awful 80s flutey thing?? UGGGHHH! Set the controls for kill kill kill! :) I always wished hed just do this simple like the old versions. Seems Roger never was one to learn the value of simplicity in some places. Ok on to the next one... Money... STOP THAT BLASTED ECHO!!!! This was a radio broadcast? Man! it sounds like 3 cds running at once in differnt parts of the house at different speeds. This is a chore to sit through. And rather than woo-woo's this version is all wooooooomoneyyyyeyyeyeyyy....UGHHHHHH I cant take it. I am skipping this track.. If.. Ok now this is beautiful :) very gently sung..very emotional. THIS is what I like about Roger live-not the big production songs but the emotional moments like this :) AND THE ECHO IS GONE NOW! Thank you soundman!! Wish You Were Here...Ok the piano? Uh, different but um it dont do it for me. The way he sings it is so different from the original I love so much. Oh well. Its decent though. Different enough to enjoy but it dont give me chills like Gilmour's voice does when i hear it :) And please kill that extra "OOooooohhh how I wish, how i wish you were here, oooohhhhh". It dont fit IMHO! Pigs On The Wing...Also beautiful. SHUT UP audience! Sung a bit different at the end also :) Final Cut Suite..I like the bomb segue from POTW into this from "..Desert". very cool. Ive always liked this better live. It seems more urgent sung live..and an a nice medley the way he does this all like a bigger song scheme. Gunner's Dream.. At this point Im thinking "Wow if only that TFC concert fantasy had been true". Vocals are excellent on this one especially. Seems he really was into singing this stuff. But damn those whistlers! And that "dreeeeeeeam" part gets me every time :) Now if only PF had played this live as a band. But his band seems to do so well replicating the album sound, yet had to change the rest sooo much! I wish theyd stick closer to the original sounds.. i know they are capable, rather than sound showy to go "This is mine! See I changed it".But enough on that..on to.. In The Flesh...I love his "Silence!!!" bit :) But then this one gets all glitsy and woo-wooey and the drums get all happy bouncy sounding. When he played this on the last tour it had a lot more paranoia sound in the way it was played..I tend to like it that way. But then this song was always ment to be a mockery of sorts right? But his vocals are very good on this one. And his "shooowop shoowop!!!" bit made me die laughing :) But saxaphone? ummm.. and the big wailey rock solo at the end? umm... Nobody Home... Ok then Roger gets serious again :) But that echo from hell is back. About everything in the beginning of this song is echoed sooo loud...ehhhh not too happy bout that. But his vocals are outstanding on this and it has lately become one of my dear favorites off The wall. The extra drums and sax dont bug me too much on here...they seem to be tastefully placed. And his manical laugh in this song adds alot :) Have A Cigar...Why is it everytime I hear this by Roger i think it's "Money For Nothing"? I dont think Ive ever truly enjoyed a live version of this song. Especially this one. and the "Love yooooooooou" woo-woos dont help. Also, why's it always so fast? If he slowed it down to album speed it may come off more strongly i think. To me it always sounds rushed when he does it. And whats the funky solo in the middle--that aint right!! Uggghhh! Wheres James brown to go "wooooooWWWW! Heeeeaaaahhhhyyy!"? Neeeexxxtttt!!! ABITW1->ABITW2...Ok then the "He's that Pink Floyd guy" fans get part two of why they are there. I do always get more pyched for this hearing part one before part 2 :) Drunk people cannot clap on time!!! that is a fact. Part 1..very coool and dramatic as always. To me its necessary to drive part 2 to how it should sound.I like how they substitute cool use of atmosphere in part 1 in place of Gilmours solo rather than replicate it badly :) I never thought Id enjoy ABITW this much out of a disc of Floydian stuff by comparison :) :) I like how Happiest is sung here. It doesnt sound low and jokey like normally it does live. It sounds serious. His band does pretty decent on this one. so that was all in all good for a PF tribute band of musicians led by their furiously disgruntled former frontman.. ok now the real test..what Waters was out to prove... Pros & Cons Set... First of all - i give the man credit. Not just anyone can pull off a second set of a show with stuff hardly anyone really knows... 4:30 Cool Intro..dramatic..very awesome use of effects..great vocals..good guitar! This isnt Clapton at this point right? I give him credit--sounds very close to the album :) 4:33 Oh man!--chills all around. This is my favorite bits on the album. Vocals are dynamic. At this point I want to see what the audience sees! Wait and an added bit?? I dont remember the last bit being there. 4:37 I like the use of effect at the intro of this. Also a fave of mine. Vocals are great and even listening you get a feel of the dream atmosphere going on..I bet especially with the quad effects so prominent. And i love how you can hear the scream very loudly on this. 4:39 Greeeeat solo! sure this aint clapton? Its moments like this album that I wish Rog would stick to solo works in concert. He has such emotional urgency singing these songs :) I like the bridging sax solo here. At least on this material the instruments work well :)And more extra stuff :) And more "Oooooh babe!" than you can shake a pig at! 4:41 I like how this is blended into rather than the hard start on the album. Dreams usually segue rather than dramatically change...at least the way I dream :) It helps me take in the story better :) 4:47 Very cool--nice return to the first musical theme again :) Backup singers are very soothing on this.I like how the instrumental passages are lengthened on this album played live. Very tasteful and great solos. 4:50 Then we go fishing. Why? Who knows. Dreams are funny that way :) The blues solo is smokin'! I wish the album segued the way the show did here :) The "F*ck it then!!!!" woo-woo part always cracks me up :) 4:56 Back to the beginning part 2 again or something. Beautiful vocals and sax. 4:58 Very sad song..seems to lose its luster when followed by such as flashy song as the next one. 5:01 Get down get funky! :) Great jamming by the band. This song has always sounded a bit jokey to me, but then maybe its supposed to be. Yoko Oh No!!! 5:06 My emotional high point of this set. Please tell me this one wasnt lipsynced like it was last year. I was so saddened by that. But oooohhh man. this song gives me the chills every time. 5:11 The beautiful coda. That last bit to let you know it was just a dream..or was it? I'm up giving the standing ovation and I'm not even there :) All in all-- he has proved himself. But we had to wait an hour for it. What I cant see is why an encore of Brain Damage. good song but he just gave us a full album pouring with emotion! Id be happy if the show ended there. There was no encore on The Wall live! none needed! it seems to spoil the remaining sparks of memory of the whole piece you just witnessed. My opinion completely of course. BD/Eclipse is played well but so different and again showy sounding? Why? Well the P+C disc will be lodged in the changer for a while. The rest will probably collect dust..except to take it off to see that really nice album art. Seems harvested Cds always have the damn nice artwork :) Even though I have my opinions on this--damn fine work on this Rontoon! You remain the king of the PF Roio! _______________________________________________________________________________ Review : ROGER WATERS : RADIO CITY OR BUST ! (Harvested 019) ­ 2 CDs Rather than a review track by track I will give you my impressions and what are - IMO - the highlights of this show : First, I'd like to say that the drummer is great. This is Andy Newmark, who played 5 years ago before the show on John Lennon's last album, "Double Fantasy", in 1980 and on the last track on the "Final Cut" LP, "Two Suns In The Sunset", and obviously on "The Pros And Cons..." LP. There is a lot of echo on the drums, and that sounds great. "WELCOME TO THE MACHINE" is a great and awesome version, so is "SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN"; the arrangements of these songs are very good and interesting. "HAVE A CIGAR" is a GREAT version. Roger's voice is great. The way is singing the song is FANTASTIC. This is THE BEST live version of this song that I have heard; a better voice than on all the live version that Pink Floyd did from this song during the '74 and '75 tour or the "In The Flesh" '77 tour. It is very interesting and surprising to hear Roger's voice on "Wish You Were Here" and Roger singing "If" 15 years later after the one and only live performance from this song that Pink Floyd did for the BBC in 1970. "Money, "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" are good, but without David Gilmour's guitar, the song are OBVIOUSLY not the same, and therefore a bit disappointing. "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives" would be OBVIOUSLY not the same without Roger's voice too ! :) Roger voice during the "Pros And Cons" set is GREAT. Even if this is not Clapton that played guitar, it sounds very good. "The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking" song is played at a faster tempo. There is a BONUS TRACK : an alternate extended long mix with a different guitar solo and saxophone in the middle of the song "The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hicking". The sound quality is perfect : SUP ! As for THE SOUND QUALITY of the show I must admit that I excepted something a little better considering it is said to be a broadcast; and after having discovered another great Harvested release, KAOS ON THE ROAD, with a perfect sound quality (SUP). You can hear the crowd and there is some background noise, and Roger's voice is sometime too distant too my taste, but it adds to the feeling of being there. I would rate the sound quality : a steady EX+