When I listen to drum corps the thing I like the most about them is that I can hear the excitement and the intensity in the sound. Almost all of great recordings we all listen from the mid to early 90's and love are amazing shows - but have a few minor flaws in them. Intonation problems, or a baritone player who just ate a few too many Wheaties. However, I would not trade the intensity of these shows for "perfect" brass performence. I would not give up "almost" offensive sounds for BD 96 or PR 93. It is excitement and pure adrenaline, crecendos that seem to be as loud as they can be, and then somehow get louder, screaming trumpets, and contra hits that almost knock you over, sound that you can FEEL - THAT's why I love drum corps. Perfectly clean mello licks, and chords that sound more like organs than bugles, 10 snares that sound like 1, and perfection makes me come back for more also. However, I would never ever trade a perfectly clean and boring show for an exciting and entertaining show with flaws.
So - perhaps the contras were "almost" offensive in the hit in cannon. But I wouldn't trade that in a second for the energy in the Lords Prayer, or the intensity in the closer. That energy and intensity is what made PR's brassline so good - that is why they made people cry. Not because the contras played perfectly in tune C's.