SPELLBINDER LIVE

Another Heep live album. It is true that they were a good damned live band. This line- up was responsible for a very good one in 1998, namely "Live In Moscow". What was remarkable is that some very old numbers were performed superbly which is of course always pleasant for old nostalgic freaks as I am ...

I must say that it is again the case here. Although we can again not escape from "Stealin" which I still do not like (and I will never do, I'm afraid) some very old numbers make their reappearence in the set list.

Not all of them were great ones. "Devil's Daughter", "Rainbow Demon" and "Lady In Black" could have been easily replaced by "Sunrise", "Sweet Lorraine", "Sweet Freedom", "Tears In My Eyes", "Love Machine" or even ""Something Or Nothing". But some more of their anthems will be released in later live efforts and actually I have recreated my "best of live" of this line-up regrouping my fave ones of the band.

"Gypsy" was already featured as a bonus track on their previous "Live In Moscow". The guitar solo is a bit too much Blackmore oriented ("Made In Japan" era). Box trying to simulate the famous call and response of "Strange Kind Of Woman". On "Made In Japan" the response was done by Gillan. Here, Mick tries to do it with the audience. The result is somewhat mixed to say the least.

Still some great live moments again with "Circle Of Hands"(what a great track), "Look At Yourself" and "Easy Livin" of course. Like for "Live In Moscow" we'll get a new song which, to my knowledge, will never be featured on a studio album : "Words In A Distance". Not bad but nothing memorable either. A hard-rock song like this line-up has produced a lot.

Only one song of the studio work from this line-up ("Bad Bad Man") shows sufficiently that they did not have full confidence with their repertoire.

To complete this short concert and to lenghten it a bit, a song from the "Sea Of Light" sessions has been added. I must say that it should have deserved to have been included on the album. It sounds much better than some album tracks ("Words in the Distance" and "Fires of Hell"). At least, with its inclusion here, this track has not been forgotten.

I have rated almost all Heep live album with three stars and above but this one is a bit sub-par to justify this. Only two stars, I'm afraid.