Eye
Records/Purple Underground Catalog # 52/53/54/55/56/57 Release Year 2008 5CD Length 90:38 | 90:38 | 84:10 | 86:51 | 85:22 Date/Venue O2 Earth Tour Various Dates 2007 Source Audience Recordings Quality EX- / EX |
Disc 6
Click here for DVD Details
Comments
Fink's Comments(rates this release
4.5/5.0)
The 7th and final set in this "7 Weeks In London"
collection documenting the London residency of summer 2007. As with the last few
releases by "Eye" Records, this is a combination CD/DVD release, and the DVD is
listed HERE. I keep repeating myself, but I'll say
it once more - the CD's + DVD come packaged together and are part of the same
release - not different, not separate, THE SAME RELEASE all housed together in
one pretty package. The Earth tour shows on this release come from the final 3
of the stint - 16th, 20th and 21st September with the 21st September being
complete, and the 16th and 20th September being highlights. The 21st September
recording is superb, and I think it marginally beats the previous best on the
FreddyG release 'London 21st September 2007'. FreddyG's was excellent, but the
show sounded a little distant, however this "Eye" recording is really
in-your-face powerful, loud and clear, albeit a little heavy.
There is a certain female (why is it always females??) who has a tendency to
scream in places, but for the most part she is rather unobtrusive. The final
show was always going to be a little more special, and whilst the majority of
the set-list is fairly straightforward, the performance is sublime. So
straightforward a set-list that the only real points worthy of note are the
back-to-back duo of 'A Love Bizarre / Pass The Peas' in the opening half of the
show. The sampler segment hold a few surprises, not least the intro to 'The
Ballad Of Dorothy Parker' making it's only appearance in the main show, followed
by 'Irresistible Bitch' with the first verse sung as opposed to the normal
instrumental intro only. The encore is really the high point of the concert with
'When You Were Mine' performed for the one and only time of the entire 21 main
shows. The remainder of Disc 2 contains 37 minutes from the 16th September show
including the NPG's 3 song opening act, and 16 minutes of the piano set from the
20th September show with both recordings being of equal excellence. The disc
then ends with 14 minutes from the NPG/Raiyn aftershow from 21st September (am),
again in pretty stellar quality with zero complaints from me regarding the
recording itself.
Disc 3 opens with the two unreleased studio tracks played by DJ Rashida on 4th
August, both recorded over the PA. The remainder of Disc 3 contains the 17th
September (am) aftershow and it rivals the Sabotage release in terms of
excellence. Sabotage's has a more audible audience, however as good as this Eye
recording is, they have substituted part of Prince's 'Just Like U' monologue
with part from the official release, and the effect isn't great as it returns
to/from the audience recording to the soundboard recording, then back again -
rather wavy and uneven. That being said, it's only a small fraction of the show,
and the rest is free of any problems.
Most people will now be aware that Prince chose to release a large chunk of this
show on the official "21 Nights" book, so it's fairly familiar by now. Leaving
aside the parts he decided to include, it's a shame the performance of 'Nine
Million Bicycles' wasn't chosen as it's a stunner, as is the closing Sly Stone
duo of 'Sing A Simple Song / Everyday People' which is a whole lot of fun. The
release then ends with the final aftershow in the wee small hours of 22nd
September featuring Amy Winehouse and Beverley Knight. Again, the recording is
of a very high quality, but doesn't quite reach the stellar quality of
Sabotage's version on 'The Indigo Chronicles
Chapter 6'. It's loud, the show is clear and very much to the fore, however
the audience are more audible on this release than the Sabotage recording, and
the taper themselves appears to talk and sing during the show - who could blame
him?. 'Baby Love' suffers from some audio problems where the levels used to
record appear to max out leading to a little roughness. These are minor points,
and had the Sabotage recording not been so good, I really wouldn't be too
critical as the simple fact remains that this IS an excellent recording, and is
a credit to "Eye" - however for comparison sake, the Sabotage version is better.
Great show to end the London residency with, and a great recording to bring to
an end this release, and the entire "7 Weeks In London" collection.
The accompanying 15 page booklet is again a very high quality product packed
with detailed set-lists, pictures, 3121.com spy reports and various snippets of
information regarding the shows included. Take everything I've been critical
about above with a pinch of salt as it all comes down to personal taste, and
whether you were in attendance at the shows or not. Personally, even though some
of these recordings may not match the excellence of some others circulating, I
really enjoy this release. It would be a nearly impossible task to have a
release as large as this (and the others in this set) and have the best, most
pristine recordings throughout, and what is here is not below the EX- mark.