When I first heard that United Artists had released a live album of Shirley’s 1974 concert in Japan I was desperate to get it. Not an easy task in those days. It took me a year before I managed to get it along with the 1977 album. It was only June of this year when I heard BGO was going to release the 1974 concert on CD but it seems so long ago. The wait is finally over and I have this superb CD in my hands!!!
First of all this CD, as is usual with the BGO releases, is presented really well. It is housed in a card slip case with the original sleeve design. The back of the slipcase shows a photo of Shirley walking in Japan and the track listing. This photo was on the back of some album sleeves but not all (my copy of the album just has the tracks listed in Japanese). The booklet is really nice and is in both English and Japanese. All the lyrics of the songs are listed in both languages also, just as they were with the vinyl release. There is also a very good article regarding the concert. The back of the booklet shows how some versions of the vinyl release looked. They really have paid attention to detail on this one.
The quality of Japanese vinyl releases was excellent and therefore I expected this CD to sound excellent. I am not disappointed. The sound quality is absolutely superb. It’s crystal clear. Many fans rated this album very highly and I have to say I rate this CD very, very highly. Once again BGO have excelled themselves in the remastering. As soon as I started to play this CD I knew I was in for a treat.
I think there are some great tracks on here. I love ‘Sing’, ‘Going, Going, Gone’, ‘All That Love Went to Waste’ and the super ‘Without You’. The version of ‘This Is My Life’ on this recording blows me away. Fans may not agree but to my mind this is the best live recording of a Shirley concert and this CD release really does it justice. I personally think this is the best release so far from BGO and every fan should buy this. If you haven’t ordered already then do so!!
Once again well done BGO and thank you for this terrific release. Another release from them is planned for next month. Let’s hope they continue to release more of Shirley’s back catalogue in the future.
CLICK HERE to order from Amazon UK
CLICK HERE to order from Amazon USA
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