Disk 1 – Venus And Mars / Rock Show / Jet / Let Me Roll It / Spirits Of Ancient Egypt / Little Woman Love – C-Moon / Maybe I’m Amazed / Lady Madonna / Long And Winding Road / Live And Let Die / Picasso’s Last Words / Richard Cory / Bluebird / I’ve Just Seen A Face / Blackbird / Yesterday (60:20)
Disk 2 – You Gave Me The Answer / Magneto and Titanium Man / Go Now / Call Me Back Again / My Love / Listen To What The Man Said / Band introductions / Letting Go / Medicine Jar / Juniors Farm / Band On The Run / Hi Hi Hi / Soily (64:36)
DVD – (2:04:16)
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, Australia, 13th November, 1975.
Originally released on the HMC / TMOQ Gazette, ‘Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne’ (TMOQ / HMC 055)’, itself taken from an upload on to Youtube, this new release by the Goldies label presents the Wings show from the 13th November, 1975 on the long running ‘Wings Over The World’ tour. Over two hours of classic McCartney lead-rock-tracks with a smattering of Beatles tracks included for good measure.
I discussed the tape in length in that review along with its sound. Where the Goldies label have decided to go one better is include a DVD of the show as well – Something that HMC would have struggled to do because of the style of this packaging (Not impossible but certainly less flexible) – The sound is broadly different here than it is there, Goldies have decided to reboot the show as a new stereo remaster – Less bassy on the Goldies release, a little less audience noise, maybe a bit more clinical for my ears (Though I think Macca’s bass lines stand out a bit more) and a wider separation leaving the vocals leaning to the left a bit, but I certainly think it’ll sound better to some listeners, the HMC in comparison sounds a little more muffled – the recording is around 30 seconds longer on the first disk, than the HMC as Goldies include the bands entry on to the stage – Something that HMC saw fit to do away with – I like it but it adds nothing at all musically.
The DVD features two audio options – The remastered stereo version from the CDs and the mono version that HMC used. Through my modest set up, I chose the mono set up first, reasoning that the sound of the stereo would most likely be lost on the volume I was playing it at the time and that was the most natural kind of sound that the Ozzies would have heard on the initial broadcast way back when. The footage is a great multi-angle shot production, looks like a vintage TV broadcast (because that’s what it was) and presents really well on DVD. There are the occasional visible, transitional lines on the screen but these are nowhere near as annoying as the interminable camera flashes from the pit at the front. There are no quick-cuts, the camera-angles are nice and lingering to show the best of the performance, the colours are ripe enough not to look comically over saturated or dull enough to look washed out.
There are no artefacts from the tape or watermarks barring the Goldies logo at the beginning of the show – It’s one of the nicest concert shots I’ve seen – No backstage fluff, no interviews interspersed, the only shots of the audience are the backs of their heads from the rear of the venue showing a panoramic of the stage.
A neat package – I have a little issue with the stereo remaster, maybe but there are elements that I prefer for over one over the other, all in all, I think my preference is for the mono board, twinned with the visuals, that’s the way I’d go. As a complete package, it’s hard to beat.
