Song Listing:

1. Lilac
2. Electric Sun
3. Sundown
4. Earthquake (Part II)
5. Japanese Dream
6. Fire Wind
7. Virgin Kkiller
8. Free Jam Encore (Improvised)
9. Mutron Jam (Improvised)
10. Red House Blues
11. Icebreaker
12. What is Love?
13. Why?
14. Enola Gay – Hiroshima Today?
15. Angel of Peace
16. Return
17. Cast Away Your Chains
18. Virgin Killer (II)
19. Drum & Percussion Solo
20. Electric Sun
21. Polar Nights
22. Beethoven Paraphrase
23. Hell Cat
24. Dark Lady
25. Midnight Sun
26. Newcastle Jam

Artist:   Uli Jon Roth
Title:    ”Historic Performances, Vol. 1 & 2: Electric Sun Years”
Label:    SPV Records
Release Date:    5/23/2006
Genre:   Rock

Rating:    4.5/5

Written By:   Joe Kaufman (copyright 2006) for PiercingMetal.com

Uli Jon Roth is one of the lesser-known guitar virtuosos in rock music. Gaining prominence in the 70’s with the German rock group Scorpions, Uli fused Hendrixian influences with European Neo-Classical, way ahead of its time. A amazing player with great feel, creativity and emotional content that is not always found in highly technical players. Combining guitar virtuosity with excellent song writing, Uli Jon Roth is very simply a guitarist of the highest caliber.

This DVD collection is a rare glimpse of Uli’s playing with his Band Electric Sun during 1979 through 1983. The video and audio quality is not up to today’s standards by any means and this could almost be considered good bootleg quality, but keep in mind this material was recorded over 20 years ago. The footage was selected from Uli Jon Roth's personal archives and has been made available to the public for the first time.

The sound quality is that of a quality audience recording. There is some audience noise, but nothing that ruins the experience, it just adds to the live feel. This is mostly a live concert DVD. I say mostly, because the first five tracks are live footage with studio recording soundtracks. This was very common in the early days of video as they were meant to be used as promotional videos. All other tracks are live footage from concerts from Amsterdam, Holland in 1980, Mulhouse, France in 1982, and Sweden and the Newcastle England in 1983. Spanning 2 DVD’s that runs 26 selections, the viewer really gets a chance to see Uli work his magic.

While the audio and video quality is lacking, the performances are not. They are powerful, and a very rare example of Uli’s amazing playing in a live context. There just is not much concert footage available. The DVD has some songs from his Scorpions period, and his Electric Sun material along with some interesting improvised jams.

Uli Jon Roth is a player fans of virtuoso guitar should check out. This DVD is a welcome release from an artist with so little live video material available. I Give it a 4.5 of 5 mainly for the song selection, playing and scarcity, more than actual technical video quality.

Official Web Site:   www.UliJonRoth.com