Free Boot Generation Catalog # FBG 15 Release Year 2008 2CD Length 63:41 / 56:49 Date/Venue Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, 5th October 1988 Source Audience Recording Quality EX- |
Comments
Fink's
Comments (rates this release 4.75/5.0)
Sourced from the 'Cross The Line In Toronto' release, this is a
nice reworking of a sorely underrated Lovesexy release. The recording really is
impressive considering it predates the digital age, and there are no serious
flaws, problems or glitches which are worth picking up on outside of the
recording being marginally incomplete and fading in/out a few times ('When You
Were Mine' fades out and rejoins at the beginning of 'Little Red Corvette', a
portion of the 'Intermission' interlude is missing, and Sheila's solo fades out
after the 'Transmississippirap') however these are not that big a deal and are
easily overlooked by the recordings sheer quality.
The audience level for the majority of the first 90 minutes is at an absolute
minimum and the crowd only really become more audible from 'Kiss' onwards.
Minimum crowd noise may be a good thing, but they are painfully silent during
Prince's speech in 'Anna Stesia' and it's cringeworthy hearing him plead with
the audience to take his "Lovesexy" message onboard when met by a wall of
silence. One last thing worth pointing out with regards to the recording itself
is a slight change during 'Let's Go Crazy' where it becomes hollow, gritty and
(sounds) concealed - thankfully it lasts 2 or 3 minutes max before returning to
the normal excellence.....which brings me to FBG's handywork.
Considering the recording was so excellent, FBG really haven't had to do
anything major to this release - the tracking has (thankfully) been corrected on
this release, and the recording is definitely more powerful with improved body,
depth and a mean bass improvement. The only shame is the fade between 'When You
Were Mine / 'Little Red Corvette' hasn't been smoothed out or corrected. Great
show, spirited, passionate performance, but alas a very basic show in terms of
song choices with no piano medley. As always the first half of the show is a
fast-paced run-through with 'Blues In C' being the undoubted highlight stretched
out to 8 minutes with some funny interaction between Prince and the crowd.
Closing out Disc 1 is an excellent 'Anna Stesia' with a few spoken lines from
'God Is Alive' added to Prince's speech towards the end - all in all stretching
it out to over 12 minutes long.
Disc 2 is again a great performance, but pretty unsurprising with the 'Take This
Beat' portion of 'I Wish U Heaven' being the only slight change from the norm.
To sum up ; an excellent release of an already excellent release. Certainly the
audio has been kicked up a notch and improved over the original release. There
may be more interesting shows circulating in terms of set-lists, but the
recording itself is up there with the best audience recordings of the entire US
Lovesexy tour. The show is also circulating (slightly incomplete) on video, with
Fullasoul's 'Toronto 88' being the best of the bunch.