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Supertramp - Is Everybody Listening ? - 20-Dec-08 05:41 AM
Very nice music from one of the all-time biggest bands. Captured live in Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1976, the CD is a UK digitally remastered release about the "Crisis..What crisis" tour.

The band gets a good performance in concert. The 12 songs belongs to the Crime of the century (8) and Crisis, what crisis (4) albums. Roger Hodgson in inspired vocals, especially in "If everyone was listening" and "Hide in your shell". Rick in his own way make a great performance in "Just a normal day" and, of course "Crime of the Century". The master of ceremony, like always, is John Helliwell.

Track Listing: School, Bloody well right, Hide in Your Shell, Asylum, Sister Moonshine, Just a normal day; Another man's woman, Lady, Dreamer, Rudy, If everyone was listening, Crime of the century. Includes a nice 8-pages booklet in fine presentation with sleeve notes by Jon Kirkman and photos. The sound quality is suprisignly mediocre, though, given Supertramp's usual attention to sound quality (seems like they considered their concert sound guy, Russell Pope, a member of the band). There's distortion on some of the "louder" passages, which is distracting.

Overall, this is nice, if bittersweet record, since it reminds how good they were when they were good, and how much they're missed today (by me, at any rate).

Ultravox - Revelation - 20-Dec-08 05:25 AM
Ultravox are generally considered as a band of two eras - before Midge Ure joined, and after he joined. This album marked the beginning of a third era as this is the first album of the second era without Midge Ure.

This is a third release of an album, which marked the return of Ultravox in 1993, with just Billy Currie from the original line up. The intervening years have seen this album (and its follow-up, Ingenuity) fade into relative obscurity, though its re-release and the combination CD of both albums may be bringing some renewed interest presently.

This is an adequate collection of rock-pop tunes, with a variety of styles. However, it isn't recognisable as an Ultravox album (Currie's trademark viola/violin is not evident here for instance), so anyone expecting the 80's Ultravox sound may be disappointed. But if you can forget the heritage and listen to this as you would an unknown new band, you may well like this. Technically it is good, with a clean early-90s sound. The songs are often a bit bland, as is the new lead singer's voice, which although versatile is forgettable. Overall there is nothing much to dislike here. Just don't go paying too much for this one.

In my opinion, a little bit underrated and also forgotten album. It has a nice and open production, and full of good pop tunes, like "I am alive", "Revelation", "Systems of love" and "Perfecting the art of common ground".

Ultravox - The Voice - The Best Of Ultravox - 21-Aug-08 08:13 AM
One of well over a dozen Ultravox compilations, The Voice: The Best of Ultravox is an 18-track set that ignores the band's first three albums with John Foxx, containing material from 1980's Vienna through 1986's U-Vox. It's fairly straightforward and sensible selection-wise, though it's a little too fair with the U-Vox era. Though it has just about every song you could possibly want from this phase of the group's existence -- "Vienna," "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes," "The Voice," as well as b-sides such as "Waiting," "Dreams?," "Passionate Reply" and "Monument," -- there are several other sets that handle it just as well, if not better, and with more attractive and detailed packaging.

Camel - Pressure Points - Live In Concert - 08-Sep-07 09:38 AM
I "discovered" Camel in the early 1980's. This CD is a good example of early rock and progressive music of the 80's and comes from a 1984 concert from the tour to support "Stationary Traveler" album. It is 46 minutes long. The sound quality of the album is very good but not perfect. Audience noise is kept to a minimum and almost not existent during the playing. This CD was originally available only in Europe and then went out of print. It has been reissued and should be available now in the US.

Guitarist Andy Latimer leads a six-piece band (notably featuring ex-Kayak keyboardist Ton Scherpenzeel) at the Hammersmith Odeon. The band on this album is mostly the same as Stationary Traveler, including Chris Rainbow, who made Camel sound like the Alan Parsons Project. It also includes appearances by Pete Bardens (the original keyboard player) and Jimmy Hastings (who has played on other Camel records and with many other Canteburry bands).

The complete 7-minute instrumental "Pressure Points" is the highlight of this album. The best tracks are all instrumental: "Captured", "Sasquatch" (played with energy and at a manic pace) and the "Snow Goose" pairing of "Rhayader" and "Rhayader Goes to Town", the last of which includes guest appearances by former Camel members Pete Bardens (the original keyboard player) on keyboards and Mel Collins on saxophone. I think that it is not fair for the band to include "excerpts" from long compositions like the last ones. What you get is the main theme being over played compared to the rest of the work, and that can just get annoying.

Of the songs with vocals, the moody "West Berlin" is very good; ballad "Fingertips" also comes off well, and includes a Collins solo. "Drafted", "Lies", and "Wait" are good songs, though "Lies" sounds better here than on the "Nude" album.

Unless you are a Camel fan, don't feel bad if you can't track down this out-of-print 1984 live album. For great live Camel, start with "A Live Record", and then get "On The Road 1970". If you have to get something from the eighties, then get "On the Road 1982" which is equivalent with this.