AMPERSAND

I have to agree with several things Danbo wrote in his review. The most important is this is not the place to start with IZZ. Even still there are some great tracks here starting with the opening which has become on my favorite IZZ songs, Ancient Memory. One of things I love about IZZ is their Beatles influence and they use it well in things like Afraid to be Different and Confusion. The latter is of similar style to Deception off of My River Flows. The Wait of it All is perfect IZZ song with the great fusion like feel on the rhythm with a great vocal on top, nice song. The Bar song an Once Slice to Go are OK but nothing special. The last studio piece is My Best Defenses sang by Laura Meade and backed by Anamarie Byrnes is a great vocal but the underneath part is just piano and is just too spartan. I think they could have held this one back and reworked it for another release.

All 4 live tracks are excellent examples of IZZ live and are worth the price of the album as well. Being that this is a bits an pieces release and should be treated as such this one gets 3 stars. Maybe don't start here but don't be afraid to come back to it.