Herbie Hancock - NDR Studios 1970
The words NDR Studios is starting to become something of a quality stamp for live material, you can nearly expect a minimum A-. This transitional era Hancock live set probably clocks in at something like 2 1/2 hours in total and presents a style totally different from any of his albums. One might say it’s a combo of the end of his Blue Note period and Fat Albert Rotunda, but that wouldn’t really be accurate, as a lot of this is a sidestep. His sound from the Blue Note years is already mutated from Hancock’s experience on the early electric Miles albums. It’s almost too much to handle really, 2 1/2 hours of prime A quality Herbie, most of it totally unfamiliar. This would make an incredible CD!
Frumpy - Kronau, Germany 2/12/72
Too bad this wasn’t NDR either as the sound quality drop is gigantic between these two shows, an A drops to high Cish. Anyone who has heard the Frumpy live album knows exactly what to expect here, except this is a pretty short gig without quite so many longer tangents. Quite good though.
Tammatoys - …within a Dream
As a former player, I get a little weary when bands use the mellotron in such a deadpan background-ish sort of manner and particularly when it’s as anachronistic and 70s progrock-referential as it is on this album. The music is something of a more song-oriented prog rock style, very modern, but mixed in with 70sisms that don’t blend too well. However, it’s also a fairly short release, so it’s not agonizing and drawn out enough to give it a lower grade than an 8 or 9.
Patto - BBC Sessions
This is another long set and now that I remember, I’ve got another Patto live show plugged at the end of disc 2 on this that I probably played as well. It’s a great overview of the band’s career covering both the short, vocal oriented tracks and the long Halsall-laced guitar and vibes explorations. Some great between-song Peel Sessions banter as well. Almost too much to take in even after a couple listens.
Santana - Bandshell, Central Park Free Concert, New York City 8/10/69
I think this is a bit better of a show than I remember from my first spin, which was overshadowed some by hearing the Jefferson Airplane gig that preceded Santana’s set. The Santana show isn’t great quality but it far surpasses the JA show, which I deleted. This is within the same month as Santana’s famous Woodstock gig and it’s very similar, except with more time to stretch out. This is more the case later in the set, with some pretty great firey jams. While I don’t like this era of live Santana as much as I do the shows from a few years later (which isn’t the case with the studio albums), this is a strong example of who they were in 1969.
Grateful Dead - Winterland Arena, San Francisco, CA 6/9/77
File listen on this very strong show, one I’d probably put between an 11 and 12, as I felt the final listen was maybe a bit weaker than I’d previously thought. But that’s mostly set 1 (except for a rather great opening Half-Step), set 2 with all the Terrapin and Blues for Allah material is insanely good.