Excellent
Robert D. Kauffman | Atlanta, GA | 06/07/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I know this CD is not out yet but I was at one of these shows, plus FM rock station KSAN broadcast one of these shows. This was a killer concert, very loud and in your face, plus the Old Waldorf wasn't that large so you had a good vantage point at any seat, and they always had excellent sound for any show performed at this location. You may want to know that there is an Iggy bootleg out there entitled "Heroin Hates You" that was from the LA Radio show that KROQ broadcast just prior to Iggy coming up the coast to San Francisco. I highly anticipate this new CD because I thought the sound was much better from the KSAN broadcast and I hope this is what they tapped to get this new CD out. I hope you like it, too."
Essential!
Stranger | 08/05/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album is amazing...it's the perfect Iggy solo live album that I've longed for since my early 20's...I used to listen to the Iggy LA Ballroom 79 gig on my walkman when going up to London back then, and marvelled at it. The LA recording was a peerless performance, marred only for me by the fact that despite being apparently from an FM broadcast it was in mono. Numerous efforts to trace a stereo recording failed. Later I found a San Francisco 79 FM recording, that was in stereo...but this was marred by speed defects ('wow and flutter'...minute speed fluctuation that gives a 'wobble', particularly to high pitched or keyboard sounds).
Iggy's California Hitch-Hike album here puts all that right : it's taken from the 27th and 29th November shows in San Francisco (immediately before the aforementioned LA gig). I knew the 27th gig had been recorded in high quality but had never heard it til now, and the 29th show recording sounds better than the bootleg recording I had. Thankfully the speed issues are sorted out, and the songs from the 29th (discernible from the very few from the 27th by slightly better sound) are presented in a 'thicker' mix than on the 29th recordings I'd heard. This is good in many ways...Brian James' guitar tended to 'slice' through some of the songs in the mix on the earlier bootleg recordings, and while his solos were good, that overamped guitar sound could become overbearing. Here, the more judicious mix allows the whole band to 'breathe' / be heard when Brian solos (I think the onstage sound mixer had probably been responsible for upping the guitar to the fore in the other recordings, like I say that's been put right here).
The show has amazing performances of Real Cool Time, Take Care of Me, You Really Got Me, New Values, Play It Safe, China Girl...I should point out that it's arguable the contemporaneous songs were stronger performances than their studio counterparts on Iggy's albums at the time. The sound, as implied by the sleevenotes starts ever so slightly rough, possibly due to tape damage, but quickly gets better...it's a powerful sound and show!
Add to that, it's cased in a beautiful elongated slipcase, has a postcard of Iggy and his band, a booklet with sleevenotes, an interview, and many colour and black and white shots from the shows.
This is an essential purchase...as I've gone to lengths to point out, this does make earlier privately circulated recordings redundant...I don't work for Iggy or his record company, I'm just an enthusiast who hopes you'll get this and love it too!"
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1