Side A: 1. Tuning, 2. Jim's Intro, 3. Backdoor Man, 4. Break On Through, 5. Soul Kitchen, 6. You Make Me Real

Side B: 1. Tuning, 2. I Will Never Be Untrue, 3. Request, 4. When The Music's Over, 5. Universal Mind

Side C: 1. Requests, 2. Mystery Train/Crossroads, 3. Build Me A Woman, 4. Tuning, 5. Who Do You Love (false start), 6. Who Do You Love (slightly cut)

Side D: 1. Light My Fire, 2. The Crowd Request More, 3. The Celebration Of the Lizard

If you are familiar with the official Bright Midnight Doors Live Library that has been established and built out over the last 6 or 7 years, this vibrant vinyl release presents The First Aquarius Performance directly from the Bright Midnight double CD and is one of the many shows performed and considered for inclusion on what would be the official Absolutely Live double LP.  Fortunately I have followed along with the string of Bright Midnight titles so I was able to directly compare.  The CD set is about 3.5 to 4 minutes longer than the material presented on the stunning double splash vinyl LP set but this vinyl presentation gets the slight edge in the listening room, providing a more expansive and brighter sound.  It's simply one of the best live Doors recordings available anyway, but the whole vinyl translation really lets it breath and the pristine virgin vinyl pressing is quiet and wonderful.  The album set seems to slightly truncate the ending notes of "Who Do You Love?" at the end of Side C.  I think a portion of the crowd requesting more on Side D is where our producers from Whispering Souls Authentic Vinyl Records chose to edit the recording to fit the vinyl format. 

This stellar package gets the highest quality sleeve treatment utilizing an acid tab art concept with a Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe photo outtake on the front cover and a sillouhette of Timothy Leary as the backdrop for the tracklisting print on the back cover.  The inside foldout panel is a sort of California Desert with Northern Lights landscape type of imagery with an early 1969 press photo of the band dropped in creatively.  The heavy red splash vinyl discs are stored in audiophile-grade clear poly sleeves and simply glow as you slide them out of the LP sleeve pockets and the album jacket gets a heavy duty poly protective sleeve as well.  It's a gratifying and exciting ritual pulling those high quality discs out to place on the platter.  It's an experience and the sonics reproduced on these pressings are stellar.  While this one could justifiably be categorized as another in a string of pirate releases, it's worth your while to track this one down.  It's a flawless vinyl reproduction offered in the classiest manner.  Highlights of the show?  "You Make Me Real" and "The Celebration Of The Lizard"...as if you needed me to tell you that to bolster the recommendation!  This is a fabulous release and is limited to 500 numbered copies worldwide (#21 was spun to review here).