I have two drives and on my usual one used, EAC with disc 3 had major problems, particularly with reading track 18. It eventually completed with a timing error message but had brief gaps in the audio. Using the other drive, it completed with no errors but several times slowed down to a near standstill and the last minute of the disc took five minutes to complete. I tried Audiograbber and that seemed much better - there were some brief reading pauses but these were only momentary and the output was fine. Doesn't do flac, though. I'll see how the other discs go.

Oh dear. I've got the full 18 and have played it to check. To look at the track listings currently showing (until customer feedback, I assume) in the Cherry Red links above, the two disc set appears identical to discs 1 and 3 of the larger set but clearly they are not, at least for disc 1. I guess that is a copy and paste error on Cherry Red's part.

The tracks are listed in the Cherry Red ad for disc 1 of the 2 disc set so a bit misleading if they are not there. I've got the six disc set and the BBC session is at the end of disc 1, with the same track listing as disc 1 of the two disc set. The BBC tracks are squeezed into the foot of the cd label slightly gapped from the others and a very quick glance could make it look like there are only two bonus tracks 13 and 14. There are 4 BBC tracks 15 to 18.

Arrived in the post this morning.

Oops! Sorry, that wasn't intended that way :)

Really enjoying this one.

I'm sorry that you've felt obliged to respond in this way but I believe that you have read far, far more into my post than was actually there.

I'm not sure what Tourist is remembering as my recall is opposite to his. Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous album was issued in 1978 and was widely panned for allegedly using so much overdub that it was more studio than live. That triggered a debate about the validity of live albums. I can recall Live! In The Air Age being used in at least one review of it as a contrasting example of what bands could achieve by not using overdubs. The box set engineer notes mention that some material could not be used in the original release due to electrical interference noise but modern tech can now filter it out. I think it is still audible in a few places but not at a high level. Also that Blazing Apostles was edited to get it down to a useable length. Anyway, if you listen to the recordings, it's fairly obvious that any perceived need for overdubbing faltering musicianship didn't exist. My only gripe with the original release is that the mix was far less dynamic and engaging than the recordings as they are now revealed. All the visceral quality is back.

@Perfect Monster I saw the Rezillos at Edinburgh, supported by The Valves at around the same time! A friend of mine wanted to interview Faye Fife for the student mag and had been tipped off as to which pub she would be in after the gig. We never did find her in any of the pubs we tried and I don't remember too much after the first few.

Well, I'm just blown away by this boxset. The sound quality is amazing and as for the musicianship, I'm near speechless. I went to the second Leeds concert. At the time, I'd just started going to gigs and I had been hugely disappointed by just how poor some of my favourite bands were live compared to their studio output. Be Bop Deluxe, though - well, just the opposite. Live, they went way beyond their studio material and it was the first time I had experienced that (The next time would be Graham Parker and the Rumour). I can recall being both ecstatic about the performance but also a bit upset leaving the Grand that I would be unlikely to be able to hear Bill's music played that way again. The original album release went some way to compensate. It was good but something seemed lacking, a bit too smooth, perhaps, and I questioned my memory. Well, 44 years later, I can say my memory was fine. The concert material is every bit as good as I remember it.

You know what to do 🙂 The gig I saw at Leeds Grand as a student remains the best live concert I've seen.

No chance yet to listen to all of the huge amount of material but I have snatched a playthrough of the new stereo mix of Electrical Language. What has been done to this? To me, it has smothering mid/upper bass. Hopefully, the other material is up to scratch; it is all beautifully packaged.

Locally, there has been a (hopefully resolved) walkout at a Royal Mail delivery depot over coronavirus distancing issues. 40% down on staff thanks to workers with symptoms, two workers have lost parents and a massive increase in workload. There may be more of these kind of problems elsewhere that are not being reported. I'm just grateful for anything being delivered, late or otherwise.

I have the same email. "Took place on 18th December 2018"!! That's before I signed up with Burning Shed, assuming they mean 2018 and not 2019. It would explain why I'm "not in the group affected".