Avalon Ballroom San Francisco 1966 1

Sound quality for this unreleased vintage live Quicksilver Messenger Service CD definitely could've been better - but considering the age of this live recording, I thought that 'Live At The Avalon Ballroom' deserved a three-and-a-half star rating. Thoroughly enjoyed the jamming - their (apparently) live standard "Mona" as well as the interesting-sounding "If You Live, Your Time Will Come", "Dandelion", the wailing "Codeine" and the show's closer "Pride Of Man". Line-up: Gary Duncan - guitar, David Freiberg - bass & vocals, John Cipollina - guitar, Jim Murray - guitar & vocals and Greg Elmore - drums. Others have commented that this specific QMS live offering is like a good quality bootleg. I would go with that.

Since Amazon has both the October and November shows reviews merged, I've written reviews for both by date which are sold separately.9-9-66:First, about the sound quality: it's on par with an audience recording for the time but a fairly good one as everything sounds fairly balanced. If you're expecting a professional recording or a soundboard, you're going to be very disappointed but if you've listened to a lot of boots, then the quality won't shock you too much and the performance is good. The band line up at this time was: John, Gary, David and Greg with Jim Murray who left shortly before the band recorded it's first album.The disc itself starts out with a radio spot advertising who's going to be playing at the Avalon Ballroom that weekend. the show starts with Stand By Me which is NOT the Ben E. King song but a song written by Dino Valenti. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You sounds like one of the better versions and Hamilton Camp's Pride Of Man is very strong. Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightning is delivered in fine fashion as is Buffy Sainte-Marie's Codeine. Gold And Silver is cut short here but the disc ends with a nice Hoochie Coochie Man. Combined with the radio ad, this release actually comes across a bit more successful as a historical document. Listen to the radio ad and then imagine yourself at the Avalon Ballroom that weekend.10-28-66:This show has somewhat better sound quality as it is a soundboard although it does also have problems and isn't what you'd call "pristine".The show opens with a band introduction as the band jumps into a smoking version of Mona that has some knockout playing. Jim takes over for a take on Mose Allison's If You Live Your Time Will Come. The following Smokestack Lightning is it's usual powerful self. Dandelion and a cover of Del Shannon's Runaway are pleasant surprises while Buffy Sainte-Marie's Codeine and Hamilton Camp's Pride of Man are both very well done.

'Classic' Live QMS 1966

Of the thousands of CD`s I own this is perhaps the worst. The recording quality is so poor it is painful to listen to. Don`t waste your money on this disservice to a fine old group.JT

don't waste any money on this, the sound quality is so poor,that even as a real lover of the messenger service I can't listen to this.since the playing time is short enough they could easily put 2 on one CD,(as far as part one concerns)altough the playing of the QMS is not that badthis is just an attempt to cash in on old San Francisco nostalgia.Very disappointing.

normally I don't bother rating music,because there can be many reasons to dig certain music,like old time memories,but this whole overpriced series is a crying shame,soundwise it's terrible,it sounds like it was recorded by someone in the audience holding a microphone down in his pocket.only for compulsive completists,others better stick with the official releases.

Though historically interesting, these pretty low-fi live recordings won't bring you much listening pleasure I'm afraid!

Well, he asked to be corrected, and his analysis deserves it. The cd sound is excellent, again on a Hot Wacks standard. And the band plays good, and listening is a pleasure. Everyone can enjoy this cd. No Valenti here. The cd time is short, just a little more than 32 minutes.By the way, the last five songs on this cd were previously issued in 1987 on the QMS bootleg from Living Legend, "Live In San Francisco". Surprisingly, the bootleg's songs sound brighter despite advertised remastering on the "Live at the Avalon, September..." cd.

In the nineties, a Roxy Music photographer with a classically English name had a cd shop in Hoboken, where he sold Roxy stuff and Manzanera's personal label output. But most dear to his heart was his QMS section, probably the most complete QMS bootleg collection in the world (the statute of limitations excludes any possible copyright liability now). Here he found a guitarist even better than Manzanera, and a great band which he tactfully declined to compare to Roxy. Parts of this cd, at the Avalon in October 1968, are evidence for his opinion on QMS.The sound is much worse than that of the other 4 QMS cds (which sounded excellent) in the Bear/Voiceprint series. So this record should be limited to QMS fans. Anyone else will deservedly feel ripped off. Maybe the cover should have had a warning label on it. About 39 minutes long, the sound quality actually varies considerably---with Hot Wacks Bootlegg standard as a guide, from poor (like on Dandelion) to good (some parts of Mona as well as Codeine) to very good (most of Mona, Runaway and Pride of Man). But given a damaged tape, the playing on four songs verges on and then seems to surpass the extraordinary: parts of Smokestack Lightning, a Mona that in parts sounds like an electronic Velvet Underground attack, the greatest cover I have heard of Del Shannon's Runaway, and the best version of Frieberg singing Pride of Man. "If you Live" appears, and in very good sound, and is sung well, but seems to not really belong in the QMS repertoire; it seems like filler.If you are not a QMS fan, it is unrealistic to expect that you will enjoy the cd. Therefore, in fairness two stars. Well, maybe three. For fans, more stars apply. By the way, the cd series' covers designed by Mark Wilkinson are just about the best I have seen; but the notes do not go beyond standard rock band descriptions of QMS, and seem therefore pretty unhelpful. Mr Gaiman did a fine job issuing the series. I understand his problem in deciding whether to issue Avalon, October 1968, and am glad he did.

sorry, ich gebe allen Tonträgern von Quicksilver Messenger Service 5 Sterne.Die Tonqualität ist in diesem Fall nicht das gelbe vom Ei, muss ich allen zustimmen.Ich sehe diese Band immer noch durch die "Rosarote" Brille und bin immer sehr Froh wenn wieder mal eine Aufnahme von QMS auftaucht.trotzdemviel Spass

Leider eine sehr miese Überspielung von ursprünglich sehr interessanten Aufnahmen aus dem Avalon Ballroom. Meine alten privaten Aufnahmen von diesem gig sind merklich bessere Qualität und näher am master: Also Finger weg von dieser qualitativ fragwürdigen Veröffentlichung!