STRANGE BEHAVIOUR

This live album is a very pleasant one. But unfortunately the last one from "Karnataka". Their debut album showed a very solid band putting together a very good pop-prog-folk music almost carbon-copied from "Mostly Autumn". But since I find this band rather catchy, I could only be pleased with what I heard.

Both bands have a great duo vocals / guitar. Rachel Jones / Paul Davies for "Karnataka" and Bryan Josh / Heather Findlay for "Mostly Autumn". To make things more complicated, Anne-Marie Helder (vocals / flute) will participate in the work of both bands, while Rachel will be backing vocalist on "Storm Over London" a live album from ..."MA". Both bands appeared on the same bill as well (i.e. in Rotherham in 2001). Cross-history in a certain way.

IMHHO, their best work was their debut album. So, I'm a bit disappointed with the tracklist of this double CD set since only three songs are featured. Nonetheless, this live set is damned good. To be honest, it is almost comparable with "The Story So Far" from "MA". Same bewitchment for Rachel's vocals for this one as for Heather on "The Story...".

Her tone of voice, so deep, so passionate, so skilled, so ... perfect is just an enchantment. What a pity that she will stop singing with "Karnataka". The future of the band is also very vague if you look at their web-site : still touring under this name but releasing a "debut album" under the name of "Chasing The Monsoon" with a new line-up. Strange and totally unclear.

Anyway, this set is full of nice melodies, very well performed. The whole is maybe a bit lenghty, mellow and too much of the same thing but it is really worth a listen. "After The Rain" is absolutely fantastic (both guitar & vocals) but it is hard to mention an average song because there are none. Another highlight is "The Right Time" and the closing "Out Of Reach".

Just like "MA", some average songs will be turned into good ones thanks to Paul Davies's guitar-work ("Delicate Flame Of Desire") for instance. Over two hours of excellent music. Not a masterpiece but a very much recommended live album. For those willing to enter their catalogue, it is a winner although as I have said in the preliminaries of this review, their best work is their debut album.

I will rate this album with four stars. I'm so in love with Rachel's voice (and look, because on top of being a great vocalist, she is a superb woman as well).