The editing on Live 1969 is very impressive as the tracks from different concerts are seamlessly blended together; however, the pacing is a bit off. The disc builds in intensity for about three quarters of the disc and then the last few songs, while they sound very good and receive an enthusiastic response, make for a rather subdued send-off. I was also surprised by the album length as just under an hour seems rather short for a concert. However, those are minor quibbles considering some people in the intervening four decades never got to hear this album
While the thieves who steal content online are certainly a factor in the woes of the music industry, the weasels involved in the business are culpable as well. How any executive at Columbia could have heard the simple beauty/beautiful simplicity of the opening track “Homeward Bound” made by the voices of Simon & Garfunkel accompanied by a lone acoustic guitar and not know they had a hit on their hands is difficult to ascertain. I will grant that the masters could have been lost in the vaults or there were legal issues that needed wrangling, but without explanation, and the liner notes give none, how on Earth Live 1969 took 40 years to release is unfathomable.
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