The Kentucky Colonels Living in the Past: Legendary Live Recordings is made up of tapes from seven different shows in 1961, ’63, ’64, and ’65. Material is from performances at venues in California and New York. Most of the CD is from a ’65 performance, and was originally recorded in mono.

Along with a classic version of White’s instrumental tour de force “Julius Finkbine’s Rag,” this CD has a chilling rendition of “Dark Hollow” featuring Roland and White in a lead duet.

Along with the music, Living in the Past: Legendary Live Recordings includes between-song banter, including some very corny jokes. There’s one introduction by Jerry Garcia.

While the original tapes are not, even for their time, the ultimate in high fidelity, Producer John Delgatto has done a fantastic job eking out every last bit of sound. Bruce Leek and Bob Katz are also to be commended for their work translating these recordings to CD. Except for a few minor tape glitches, the sound is surprisingly consistent and it’s easy to delineate each musical part.

This review originally appeared in VG‘s Jan. ’01 issue.