13. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Elton John-Live At Central Park: 9/13/1980) (Soundboard) скачать в хорошем качестве

13. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (Elton John-Live At Central Park: 9/13/1980) (Soundboard)

After losing in the Reg Strikes Back debate, I am forced to upload shows from late 1998 that have Elton in rough voice and a drummer that can't tell the difference between a snare drum and a tom tom. While I will honor my punishment, I need to upload one show outside of late 1998 and get the debates on Youtube first! This is the recently-surfaced soundboard recording from Elton's legendary Central Park concert and this is so much better than the video sources. The mix is much better (you can properly hear Richie Zito and Tim Renwick's guitars) and the sound quality is fantastic! This soundboard source was originally around 98% complete ("Rocket Man" and "Imagine" had cuts) but I filled in the gaps with audio from two video sources (making this show 100% complete)! Although this concert is well-known and good in its own right (the soundboard highlights the fantastic musicianship) there are many better 1980 shows than this one. The improved quality and mix highlight Elton's roughness on his voice (which was noticeable on the video) and this show isn't the best for his voice (although it's still pretty good overall). It sounds like Elton either caught a slight illness (maybe the flu) or has general vocal fatigue from going all out early in the tour. Either way, this doesn't detract from the performances too much and this show is still enjoyable! Now... onto the songs! "Love Lies Bleeding" isn't the best version as Elton sounds rough throughout the entire performance (although the guitar work is wonderful), "Tiny Dancer" is one of the weaker prime live versions as Elton sounds rough on the bulk of the song (1984 is where it's at), "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" has generally good vocals but there are better versions, "All The Girls Love Alice" has some rough spots by Elton but the performance is excellent musically (Dee Murray slaps his bass during the instrumental outro and the guitar work is great), "Rocket Man" has good vocals, great instrumental work, and a great improv section that "honkycabbit" will love, "Sartorial Eloquence" is a great version, "Philadelphia Freedom" has Elton not hitting some higher notes as clean as other versions (plus he flubs the lyrics) but the performance is generally good, "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" sounds good with Elton changing the lyric at the end to "What do I sue when lightning strikes me," and both of Nigel's songs ("Saturday Night" and "All I Want Is You") sound great (especially in the soundboard quality)! "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" is a fun version but Elton sounds rough-around-the-edges, "Harmony" is mostly sound but Elton hits a bum note during the last chorus, "White Lady White Powder" is a classic performance, "Little Jeannie" sounds nice, "Bennie And The Jets" has Elton going all-out on the song but the third chorus sounds extremely rough, "Imagine" sounds awesome, "Ego" is a fun version with Elton changing the lyrics ("tell them POOFS sent me") and being silly with the phrasing, "Have Mercy On The Criminal" has Elton sounding a bit rough throughout but he does nice phrasing and hits two C5s, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" has Elton sounding rough on the higher notes (especially in the verses and choruses), "Your Song" is one of the funniest versions ever as Elton laughs throughout the performance (the duck costume) and quacks randomly, and "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance)" ends the show with a fantastic performance! ENJOY!!!