The discs and digipak are damn good quality for a print to order CD. They're probably the best of that breed out there... not quite studio release quality... but no complaints.
I however can't say I'm really keen on the performance by the band and the guy on the sound board on these recordings. Jason's drumming and Davey's base are both right on and really tight, but I just wasn't feeling the rest after 2 listens. Tim is doing a fine job of playing most of the time, but his guitar levels are too high and sounds like it's coming through entirely different audio equipment than the rest of the band. Graham sounds a little out of it, (can't say I blame him after all the touring and years off before that... but I'm not above saying he just wasn't at his best. I honestly can't tell how Mary was doing because of the stupid decision to put a big, wet, slow release, full volume delay on his mic through almost the entire show - I could never understand more than the first couple of words of each stanza (and I couldn't be sure how much of that was just because I already know the lyrics by heart). There are some good moments in vocals, but both of them were mostly out of key really bad (yes, I know who I'm talking about... but I have heard a bunch of live PWEI recordings where Graham was awesome and have seen Mary perform live about 20 times between 1989 and 2000 and he was always spot on and a true performer.)
I was a little disappointed to hear them fall back on The Incredible PWEI vs. the Moral Majority intro. I like it and it is somewhat traditional... but maybe it's time for something new. There were songs they really pulled of well, like Preaching to the Perverted was kick-ass, Ich Bin Auslander was pretty good, they ripped Can U Dig It, Captain Plastic sounded OK, Oldskool Cool was a jam most of the time and Their Law was laid down with true style and a total jam. Other songs were just spoiled by sounding like they were barely performing along with the back track and seemed flat or were so full of bad vocals or missed cues (again, I know who I'm talking about). I allow for the fact that most live albums are more professionally recorded and come from excerpts from many different shows so they can pick the best, so it is what it is.
Please forgive me, this ARE the only negative things I've ever really ever said about PWEI. I am still very glad to have this and you should all buy it now
