Appears to be an excellent Audience tape.
When whoever writes the history of this gruppe in whatever time hence they will marvel on those gigs where the power of the band playing live and clicking went before what happened and forgot what happened thereafter.
If any gig approved and supported Smiths decision to bring Bramah back then this is the one. Its a memorable wall of guitar that leads tonight. Suitably dense and fulsome walls of interlocking guitar with CS and MB trading bluesy licks on "Jerusalem" in a tense hyperactive morasse. It may be me but my ears hear a violin player somewhere in here so I guess Kenny Brady is somewhere in the line-up or CS/MB are doing great impressions.
What sticks in the head is the quality of Marcia's keyboard playing and the rock steady groove of Steve's bass especially on "I'm Frank" which has a Spectoresque quality. On my disc there is duplication of "I'm Frank" excluding "Telephone" and before "Butterflies" - somewhat odd.
Anyway "Butterflies" is a tad tired and somehow fails in the context of the rest of the gig, "Hilary" also lacks a bit of oomph but tends to regain some ground ..... Marcia and Si rescue the inner core of the momentum with a great intro and Craig & Martin drive a memorable "Hit the North" into a murky mass of growing Fallnoise/sound.....
"Bill is Dead" is magnificent, epic and heart-rending. Resolutely underplayed by Smith but the band aint having it and produce the prog masterpiece that this tune deserves - Marcia ripping the finest times of Hugh Banton from her Yamaha - sumptuous and sensual - swelling organs and sexy guitars.
Its Monk time next and by god it swings in the best Monk tradition - excellent slinky playing.....the single next played well but a little by the numbers.....completely eclipsed by a memorably nasty version of "Dead Beat" suitably speedy and rocky....followed by intense noise leading into Si's driven intro to Bremen ......manic guitar/violin histrionics from Bramah or Brady...who can tell?
Encore time gives us "And Therein" and a slovenly "Mr Pharmacist" with manic guitar appasionata and then an incredible version of US80s90s"......with an incredibly funky broken down coda
I never tire of this band but on a night like this they exceed my expectations.
When whoever writes the history of this gruppe in whatever time hence they will marvel on those gigs where the power of the band playing live and clicking went before what happened and forgot what happened thereafter.
If any gig approved and supported Smiths decision to bring Bramah back then this is the one. Its a memorable wall of guitar that leads tonight. Suitably dense and fulsome walls of interlocking guitar with CS and MB trading bluesy licks on "Jerusalem" in a tense hyperactive morasse. It may be me but my ears hear a violin player somewhere in here so I guess Kenny Brady is somewhere in the line-up or CS/MB are doing great impressions.
What sticks in the head is the quality of Marcia's keyboard playing and the rock steady groove of Steve's bass especially on "I'm Frank" which has a Spectoresque quality. On my disc there is duplication of "I'm Frank" excluding "Telephone" and before "Butterflies" - somewhat odd.
Anyway "Butterflies" is a tad tired and somehow fails in the context of the rest of the gig, "Hilary" also lacks a bit of oomph but tends to regain some ground ..... Marcia and Si rescue the inner core of the momentum with a great intro and Craig & Martin drive a memorable "Hit the North" into a murky mass of growing Fallnoise/sound.....
"Bill is Dead" is magnificent, epic and heart-rending. Resolutely underplayed by Smith but the band aint having it and produce the prog masterpiece that this tune deserves - Marcia ripping the finest times of Hugh Banton from her Yamaha - sumptuous and sensual - swelling organs and sexy guitars.
Its Monk time next and by god it swings in the best Monk tradition - excellent slinky playing.....the single next played well but a little by the numbers.....completely eclipsed by a memorably nasty version of "Dead Beat" suitably speedy and rocky....followed by intense noise leading into Si's driven intro to Bremen ......manic guitar/violin histrionics from Bramah or Brady...who can tell?
Encore time gives us "And Therein" and a slovenly "Mr Pharmacist" with manic guitar appasionata and then an incredible version of US80s90s"......with an incredibly funky broken down coda
I never tire of this band but on a night like this they exceed my expectations.