Tribute To Brad Delp (Tarantura TCDB-1-1,2)
Budokan, Tokyo, Japan – April 19th, 1979
Disc 1: Opening, Rock & Roll Band, Shattered Images, Brad Delp mc 1, Peace Of Mind, Feelin’ Satisfied, Brad Delp mc 2, Don’t Look Back, The Journey, More Than A Feeling, A Man I’ll Never Be, Smokin’, keyboard solo, Smokin’, guitar solo, Blues, Foreplay/Long Time
Disc 2: Encore opening, Something About You, Party, Television Politician, audience, Don’t Be Afraid, ending se / mc
Tribute To Brad Delp from Tarantura features a previously unreleased show from Boston’s second night in Tokyo on April 19th, 1979. The band played three nights in Tokyo and both the first and final nights have been available for a few years now. The first night from April 18th has been most recently issued on silver disc from Zion on The Hottest Band In A Galaxy that also contained a bonus DVDR of the Giants Stadium 1979 video that has been featured no less than four times lately. The April 20th show was first released on CD in 1994 on Cherry Blossom Tour, JFK followed in 1999, and finally both the 18th and 20th were released on CDR from Masterport in 2000 as Tokyo Day 1 and Tokyo Day 3 respectively. Also as I write, Trial is set to release a 4CDR set titled First Encounter covering both the first and final nights from Tokyo with the label promising a new master for the 18.
The recording sounds nice and bright with some minor upper end distortion and sounds like it was taped fairly close to the stage. This is definitely the best recording from the three nights in Tokyo being much punchier and clearer than the other tapes. The set list was the same for all three nights, made up of the first two LPs (minus two songs from each) along with the unreleased “Shattered Images”, “Television Politician” and blues jam “This Time”. The performance by the band sounds really great tonight with good sounding vocal harmonies as well. “Smokin” contains the usual extended arrangement featuring a guitar solo and Tom’s pipe organ solo and Tarantura indexed these separately on the disc.
Tarantura has the entire show on disc one for continuity perhaps and chose to place only the four encores on disc two so as a result disc two is only 25 minutes. The audience claps throughout the encores but they are not overcome by it like with the tape from the 18th. The music is still loud and clear over any audience interruption. The recording is virtually complete with no cuts during songs and as a document is a very important release filling in the missing night in Tokyo. Tribute To Brad Delp is a class production from Tarantura with arguably the best sounding audience recording from the original line-up and is a title well worth seeking from the Mr. Peach archives. (WGPSEC)
1 Comment
“More Than A Feeling” was the first song I fell in love with and this Tarantura release (got second edition) instantly brought me back to those strong 1970’s feelings about Boston. Another amazing Peach recording with separation, ambiance and the full concert experience, which was excellent. Maybe we’ll see other Peach recordings from Boston’s 1979 Japan cherry blossom tour. Only time will tell.