So IMHO it's not their Live at Leeds, rather their Song remains the same if you know what I mean. Sub par vocals as well - compared to what they were capable of. The sound is incredibly dull and muddy (on CD at least - a bit like Kinks' One for the Road) thus taking away all the sparkle of instrumental groovy energy and there are tons of live performances from the same period that blow this one away easily - just check out YouTube or several easily available boot DVDs (I'm not advocating boots, rather begging to get this stuff released officially!). I'm a huge Bee Gees fan but I think this record is hardly a classic as far as live albums go. If you like the mid 70s Bee Gees Band sound (think "How Deep Is Your Love" etc) then you'll likely love this!Īny other fans of this often neglected classic - I know AudioEnz has been hooked on it since childhood but who else out there digs this live album more than is sensible?!
Throw in some bonus live material from the original show that was not originally released and I might even buy it even though I'm very happy with the original CDs. Rhino need to re-issue this as a matter of urgency - it's criminal that this is unavailable at retail. Mine is a West German pressing (aluminium to the middle - even still has the foam inserts although they are looking pretty dark orange these days!) and the CD mastering credit is to a Tom Ruff - whoever he is he's done a fine job I think it may have driften back in print at some point since but it seems to be out of print again now. Glad I did - it's going for quite a bit more these days! I ditinctly recall feeling that I should grab it as it seemed to be out of print even back then (early/mid 90s). I remeber buying this CD set vividly - it was in the used rack at the local videostore near where i lived and I saw it there for a while before deciding to stump up the £4.99 asking price. Thanks to various upgrades to my hi-fi over the years this thing sounds MUCH better than it used to - I'm at the LA Forum on 20th December 1976 as soon as the crowd noise begins before "I've Got To Get A Message To You" starts up Well, it's even better than I remembered.
Seeing as I was on a big Barry Gibb kick this week (the guy's a genius - "Grease" is surely the greatest comissioned film title track of all time, yes?! - I'm being serious by the way) I decided to pull it out and listen to it in the shower to get more of that mid 70s Bee Gees Band sound that I love so much. I've had this for about 15 years and got into it when I first had it but it's pretty much just been on the shelf for a few years gathering dust.