Enjoy fast, FREE delivery, exclusive deals and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Other Sellers on Amazon
& FREE Shipping
95% positive over last 12 months
+ $3.99 shipping
97% positive over last 12 months
+ $3.99 shipping
90% positive over last 12 months
Usually ships within 3 to 4 days.
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
Two Sides Of A Rainbow
Import
Learn more
- Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
- Learn more about free returns.
- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Frequently bought together
What do customers buy after viewing this item?
- Most purchased | Highest ratedin this set of productsTwelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus Remastered Expanded EditionAudio CD
Track Listings
Disc: 1
1 | Rainbow Jam Electro Jam |
2 | Mr. Skin |
3 | Nature's Way |
4 | Like a Rolling Stone |
5 | Hollywood Dream |
6 | Animal Zoo |
7 | 1984 |
8 | Hey Joe |
9 | Looking Down |
10 | Love Charged |
11 | All the Same |
12 | I Got a Line on You |
Disc: 2
1 | The Encores |
2 | All Along the Watchtower |
3 | Downer |
4 | Turn to the Right |
5 | Rainbow Jam Electro Jam Return |
6 | Stone Free |
7 | Wild Thing |
8 | Rock and Roll Planet (Live Spirit Version) |
9 | Nature's Way (Live Spirit Version) |
10 | Animal Zoo (Live Spirit Version) |
11 | 1984 (Live Spirit Version) |
12 | Looking Down (Live Spirit Version) |
13 | All the Same (Live Spirit Version) |
14 | I Got a Line on You (Live Spirit Version) |
15 | These Are Words (Live Spirit Version) |
16 | Hollywood Dream (Live Spirit Version) |
Editorial Reviews
Digitally remastered two CD edition of Two Sides Of A Rainbow - Live at the Rainbow 1978 by the legendary psychedelic rock band Spirit. The set features the entire concert performed by the band at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 11th March 1978, along with the nine tracks that comprised the US album release Live Spirit in 1979. In March 1978, Spirit undertook a series of shows in Germany and the UK with a line-up of Randy California (guitar, lead vocals), Larry "Fuzzy" Knight (bass, vocals) and Ed Cassidy (drums). The shows performed by the trio were outstanding, but perhaps the most memorable was the set performed at The Rainbow in London. Recorded with the intention of releasing a live album, it was found the multi-track tapes had some problems and so Randy California elected to repair the issues when compiling the single album Live Spirit. Fortunately, a separate recording was made using a feed from the front of house sound desk and from these tapes it has been possible to prepare a record of the band's entire performance on 11th March 1978. Two Sides Of A Rainbow - Live at the Rainbow 1978 has been compiled by Spirit archivist and custodian Mick Skidmore and also features nine newly remastered bonus tracks drawn from the Live Spirit album. This release also features a new essay by Mick Skidmore and has recollections from Larry "Fuzzy" Knight".
Product details
- Product Dimensions : 5.47 x 5 x 0.59 inches; 3.74 Ounces
- Manufacturer : Esoteric
- Original Release Date : 2019
- Date First Available : September 25, 2019
- Label : Esoteric
- ASIN : B07Y4JLPXD
- Country of Origin : Germany
- Number of discs : 2
- Best Sellers Rank: #108,178 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #49,867 in Rock (CDs & Vinyl)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
In my opinion the original versions of this are the best live Spirit album ever, & the best post-original band Spirit album ever. There were 3 slightly different editions: the USA "Spirit Live" on First American (my favorite of the 3), A UK release called "Live" on Illegal with a slightly different track list & slightly different overdubs, & a German release called "Spirit Live in Germany" on a label I don't remember that added a couple tracks from Rockpalast & subtracted a couple others. All 3 albums had slightly different track listings; in a rare occurrence the USA vinyl had the best sound quality. One of the previous Floating World sets said in the liner notes that the 3 different LP's all had different performances, but I don't hear that; I just hear slightly different overdubs & mastering.
In 2000, a UK indie label officially released a cd called "Live At The Rainbow" which included the complete UK album & 2/3 of the USA. It is long out of print & sells for a fortune.
Got it today.
It's exactly what I thought it was: the complete original Rainbow show without overdubs (taken from a sound board cassette), & on my computer the sound from the cassette is more than acceptable.
That's followed by my favorite version of the 3 original LP's, the first complete cd release of the USA Live Spirit First American edition.
The booklet also confirms several suspicions I've long held:
1. The Live At the Rainbow booklet states that the American LP was taken from a Miami Florida show. I've never believed that. The 3 LP's sound too similar. This booklet states that all 3 albums are from the same show, with the differences being track selection (each of the 3 had at least 1 song not on the other 2 & each was missing something from the others) & the American LP being more overdubbed than the other 2.
2. The German LP included 1 track from the Rockpalast show on the same tour.
Also, two things I didn't know:
1. Most of the reason for all the overdubs was that RC was using 2 different guitar amps at the same time, one for general playing & distortion & one for an echoplex. Only the echoplex made it to the multi track tapes (apparently a roadie forgot to turn on a mic), so RC had to overdub ALL his guitar parts. He also "sweetened" it quite a bit at the same time.
2. Another thing I didn't know: 2 of the best songs which were also exclusive to these releases at the time: Rock & Roll Planet & These Are Words are actually studio recordings with added applause. R&RP, TAD, Looking Down & Hollywood Dream are imo RC's last great songs.
I've already heard enough to say if you're a Spirit fan, ................. BUY THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Along with the out of print companion piece Live At The Rainbow It's by far THE most essential of all the Spirit vault releases.
______________________________________________________________________________
Sound:
The complete show sound quality is more than fine for what it is: a soundboard cassette tape.
Sound quality comparison on the original LP:
Part of why I was so excited to see this is because I have a memory that my original 70's LP was one of the best sounding live albums I'd ever heard when I first bought it.
While today it's not a bad sounding album by any means, either my memory is a bit off, or else the several hundred plays of the original LP have worn it a bit!
When I first got today's edition, I tossed it on my computer & the USA album section sounded bright/compressed. I was a bit concerned, though I also know my pc stereo isn't the most accurate going, so I did a comparison of the 4 versions I have available to me on my main system:
1. The original USA LP played on a Thorens TD180/Blue Point standard combo
2. The original UK LP played on a Rega RP1/Grado Prestige Green.
3. The Live At The Rainbow CD played on a a Tascam P-10/PS Audio SL3
4. This new Two Sides Of A Rainbow CD played on a Tascam P-10/PS Audio SL3
In general the UK LP had the best soundstaging, but also had a distractingly phasey sound on the top end (also, the bass solo on Looking Down seemed to come from the right channel only on this, while in all 3 other versions it was centered)
The US LP probably did the least amount "wrong", but each other version reproduced some part of the music better.
The original Rainbow cd tended to have better sound on the instruments, but was a bit bright on the vocals.
This new version did the vocals better than the Rainbow cd but instruments were a bit muffled compared to the original cd. Oddly, while it was subjectively quieter in volume than the original cd, it did tend to sound compressed & most disturbingly it lost definition in loud parts.
Makes ya wonder what was used for the source material on each!
Finally I did a peak level comparison on EAC between Rock & Roll Planet USA on the 2 cd's. The older cd shows a peak of 96%, while the new cd shows 98.8%.
Interesting that the cd that is subjectively louder is actually slightly quieter!
1 fyi: There is a bit of tape damage at aprox 6:04 on the USA album version of Looking Down, that I don't remember hearing on Live At The Rainbow or the USA LP. It causes kind of a combination drop out & click.
For those who don't know, Spirit were a group that fell somewhere between psychedelic and progressive. Their heyday was 1968-1971, when they managed occasional hit singles and albums. Then the group imploded, and Randy California and Ed Cassidy, the guitarist and drummer respectively, eventually picked up the pieces and continued on and off for an additional 25 years. By the way, Randy got his name from a certain Jimi Hendrix, for whom he played lead guitar in Greenwich Village in 1966 right before the Voodoo Child became a legend.
Randy was mercurial and not a great businessman, but he soldiered on, creating very interesting and unique albums on a variety of labels with Spirit and as a solo artist before his death in 1997. 'Two Sides of a Rainbow' is a re-release/re-imagining of a live set from 1978 that was released in some form or another two or three times. The problem was that the releases - 'Live at the Rainbow', 'Live in Germany(!?!)', and 'Live Spirit' - all suffered from many obvious overdubs and the occasional studio track included with canned applause added. Even thirty years ago, when I first encountered the set, it was obvious this was a heavily manipulated recording, and a bit disappointing.
This release fixes all those problems. Somehow - described in the excellence-as-usual liner notes - Mick Skidmore managed to correct whatever problems were in the original master tapes and the live set now sounds great. it is the complete concert, including all six encores, and it is without a doubt the best live Spirit from the 1970s and perhaps the best live release from any time in their career.
Plus, as a bonus, the US release has been included, so you can hear the extreme difference (and the two studio tracks) from Randy's original compromised version. So for around $20 you get a two CD set with tons of great live music, finally done fight after 33 years. Personally, I can only say, 'Thanks again, Mick'.
* Randy wanted to create a live album from the Rainbow concert and had both of his amps, each set up with their own effects, mic'ed for recording
* A foolish roadie switched some mic's around and left one of the mic's off.
* When listening to playback Randy was disappointed to find all he could hear was the amp setup with tape echo.
* Randy pushed ahead with the Live Spirit album but did a lot of fixing - to a fault some say - to add the guitar parts back in.
In this beautifully packaged 2-disc set you get the entire concert as it was originally heard with the other guitar amp mixed back into the basic tracks. Disc 2 has six encores and then the music from the original LIVE SPIRIT release that had the overdubs and fixing. The digipak cover includes great photos of each musician. The booklet is well made, contains an essay by Mick and another by Fuzzy. It is full of wonderful photos.
At first I didn't think I would listen to the original release but both have their place. All three, Randy, Cass, and Fuzzy leave it all on the stage. If you LOVE Spirit I recommend you get a copy of this while it is still available.
Top reviews from other countries
The second half of CD2 with the Live Spirit - US release recording is just a bit too over the top in post-production and with what sounds like a huge stadium sized audience tacked on between songs. This is not really quite as essential listening compared to the main Rainbow show, but is still a really good band performance.
Good sleeve notes from Mick Skidmore, the bloke who puts the Spirit CDs together and additional commentary from surviving band member, bassist Larry "Fuzzy" Knight. Nicely packaged tri-fold card sleeve.