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4 CD Label : Ladybird Records Catalogue : #LBCD 012-013-014-015 3Disc Length : 79:32 / 77:28 / 79:15 / 78:43 Venue : Excel Energy Center, St. Paul 17th June 2004 Source : Audience Recordings Sound Quality : EX Year Of Release : 2004 |
Comments
Fink's
Comments (rates this release 5.0/5.0)
Without
doubt this is the best of the 3 volumes in this set by Ladybird. First things
first, the Musicology show is fantastic. Prince's mood is far more energetic and
enthusiastic than the previous nights concert and his performance is scorching.
The highlight of the show (for me) is 'The Question Of U/The One'. His voice is
perfection, his guitar playing is sublime, and the guitar effects to close the
song are....awesome. The aftershow is quality, however the majority of the
tracks are more laid-back instrumentals than previous aftershow versions that
have been played. The real joy of the aftershow lies with 'Beautiful Strange' -
I could write a whole page praising it, it's stunning.
The Times opening set is a nice addition to the set, and adds to the completeness of the show. Finally, we have 'The Combo' (formerly Dr. Mambo's Combo). These guys are unbelievably funky, filthy and SO much fun to listen to. Their set actually rivals Prince's set in terms of listening pleasure. They do a fantastic James Brown impersonation on 'The Payback', and 'Atomic Dog' would make George Clinton proud. The sound quality (as with the other volumes) varies slightly from EX / EX+. To have all this brilliant material is cool enough, but to have it in THIS high quality is amazing.
The packaging leaves a little to be desired (photo-shop job) and
a fold-out poster as opposed to a booklet, but the musical content is so good -
I don't care. Credit where credit is due, Ladybird have knocked me off my feet
with this release. It should be noted that this 12 Disc Set (Vol I, II & III) is
a numbered, limited edition of 1,000 copies.