Although that re-creation may require a little help or exaggeration to make up for the lack of visual cues and the general excitement of "being there," it probably does not require wrapping the musicians around the listener. A front soundstage, albeit wider than usual, with decent ambience and audience participation across the rear, is probably sufficient. And given that this early ‘70s quad mix was probably mixed from not-very-many multitrack channels, the musical resources of a fairly straightforward rock band are here sorely stretched to fill the 270 degrees or so that this mix attempts.

That being said, this album, originally a double vinyl release, is musically a good record of an important band's work at a particular period in a career that more or less continues to this day. It's a fairly laid-back, bluesy performance with a good feel, and it is only aspects of the quarter-century-old mix that let this album down. Apart from the dubious instrument placement, the transitions between songs are often roughly faded and edited. Occasionally solos (the Hammond in "Stormy Monday," for example) are a bit distant, while elsewhere people leap out too much. But the overall sound is good, and although the audience seems a long way off, they seem to have enjoyed some excellent playing on an album that, musically at least, represents this successfully long-lived band more than adequately.