I don't remember having seen a "track-by-track" review for ELECTRIC FACTORY.
Sure if you have get this AWESOME show you are obviously too busy to write a
review. Me too. And to be frankly, it is difficult to explain WHY and HOW a
show is so great (especially when English is not your mother's tongue :)
I would have liked to just write : LISTEN TO IT. JUST LISTEN TO THE MUSIC.
But for those who do not have this show, here is WHY you must get it...while
you can (before your CD-R rot... before the nuclear apocalypse...
For those who post messages about "CD-R rot" and who seem to be very worried
about that, I suggest that the next Harvested releases are cut on VINYL.
If one day you see two suns in the sunset... even if you have back-up on
three different CD-R, TDK, SONY and MITSUI... there will be no more
electricity... How you will be able to listen to your discs ?... If there
are cut on vinyl, you will just need to have a needle and a paper cone of
ships :-)

After the tragic story, let's talk about THE PERFORMANCE :

Disc 1 :

ASTRONOMY DOMINE : This is a great version of Astronomy Domine. The vocals
are excellent and a bit ragged. Roger is screaming like on Careful with that
Axe... Better than the Ummagumma version (my favorite version being the one
on "Smoking Blues" November 11 & 12, 1970).

CYMBALINE : another great version. Dave's voice is crisp and clear and
excellent. The footstep sequence in Cymbaline is perhaps the longest I have
ever heard. The sound effects are crisp and clear and very loud. The crowd
is absolutely quiet, until the song re-starts and then you can hear
applause. Awesome. The man who has taped this show should be near a speaker
P.A used for the noises effects.

A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS : This version is a raging howl, full of some of the
most bitter, grating and violent noise ever recorded. The opening section
("Something Else") is very long. Applause (obviously :) when Nick start the
drum tape loop from the "Syncopated Pandemonium" sequence (unfortunately his
drum loop is too slow too my taste). These two first parts are a too long
too my taste. It is a bit boring. But it was worth waiting since the
"Celestial Voices" part is truly beautiful. Dave's voice is very good.
Nevertheless, I prefer the '72 versions such as the "Pompeii" or the 22.9.72
from "Bowl De Luna", or the early versions such as the one on "VPRO The Man
& The Journey" Amsterdam 14.09.1969... Or the one which is really GREAT and
that I have just discovered on the brillant M-502 !!! :-))) (welcome back to
vinyl ! :) The sound quality on M-502 is awesome; sometimes as good as the
famous "Smoking Blues" November 21 & 22, 1970. But this is another story.
A review about M-502 will come soon by the way ;-)

The disc 2 is my favorite and is one of the greatest performance from a 70
show ever captured on tape :

INTERSTELLAR OVERDRIVE : I must admit that this tune was not one of my
favorite Floyd song, but this is the BEST version I have heard from this
tune; this is also the longest version that I have heard. Awesome !
All parts are great, especially Rick's part on organ in the middle (which
starts at 9 mn) which I have never heard on another version of IO. Need I
have to repeat that this version is GREAT ? :-)
By the way, Ron, what part of IO do you refer as being the Main theme from
"More" ???
Are you referring to Rick's part on organ ? This is a bit reminiscent of
"More" but not the _exact_ melody...

FAT OLD SUN : a very good version. Dave's voice is really beautiful but he
murders a bit the song (he forgets the lyrics and got them mixed up : too
much grass ??? :-) An excellent solo, and then an awesome jam in the middle.
There is no third part jam on this version, unlike most of the
"classic-extended" '70 and '71 version of FOS with a 3 part jam.

GREEN IS THE COLOUR : Dave's voice is very good and it seems to not know the
lyrics, contrary to the 24.04.70 (= INTERSTELLAR ENCORE) version.

CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE, EUGENE : excellent version. The built-up of the song
is excellent.It makes you flesh creep. The scream is... AWESOME. You know
the Richter scale (from 1 to 7) ??? Well... On the Waters scale (from 1 to
10) I would rate that scream 9 (I would not be there writing this review if
it would have been 10 :-). Perhaps the best scream I have ever heard,
perfectly captured on this tape (loud, clear and deep). It was not an axe,
but certainly a chain saw that Eugene was using that day... Careful with
that chain saw, Eugene... Did you mother ever told you to be careful with
that chain saw, Eugene ? Poor Eugene...

SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN : GREAT version. I know that
Harvested have combined 2 sources for this one, but it is not really
annoying, since if you listen to the music, you do not notice the 2 sources.
Ron had said that the sound quality was lesser good than the rest of the
show, but I don't think so. The sound quality on this song is homogeneous
and nearly as good as the other songs.

THE SOUND QUALITY : A steady EX+ !

This is a truly excellent audience recording from the 1970 tour. The sound
is clean during the whole show. The bass is good and deep. And there is an
EXCELLENT DYNAMIC : no loss of volume, and it does not become satured when
the sound gets louder. But there is a drawback : the crowd and be hear
background during the "low" parts of the songs : the voice and the
instruments are crisp and clear but they sound a bit distant during the
"quiet" parts.
In comparison to the previous release that I have from this show (which was
titled ELECTRIC FACTORY 1970/PHILADELPHIA OVERDRIVE) the sound quality is
nearly identical. Perhaps PHILADELPHIA OVERDRIVE which I had get one year
ago (thank you TimV btw :) was as close as the source that Harvested have
used, if not the same. Well, I don't know...
On PHILADELPHIA OVERDRIVE as on ELECTRIC FACTORY, "Cymbaline" starts without
announcement; and Roger's announcement of "A SaucerfulŠ" and "Green Is The
Colour/CarefulŠ" was already on PHILADELPHIA OVERDRIVE. Therefore, I have
been a bit disappointed since I excepted that the tape used by Harvested
would have more space and chats and tuning between the songs.
However, NOW, on ELECTRIC FACTORY you have the complete show since SET THE
CONTROLS was not on PHILADELPHIA OVERDRIVE; and Harvested have made this
show easier to get.