LIVE AT THE PROMS (1970)

A good but not great live recording of the Third-era lineup of Hopper, Ratledge, Wyatt and Dean performing at the BBC Proms - an annual series of classical music concerts put on by the BBC. Apparently this was the first time a popular music group had performed at the concerts, and the Softs acquit themselves well; the concert came hot on the heels of the release of Third, so the sound is more or less exactly the same as the sound on that album. This makes Live at the Proms slightly less interesting a live release than other live material that's been issued, like Noisette, which documents transitional stages in the development of the group's approach from Volume Two to Third, but if you really, really, *really* enjoy Third and want more then you'll find more performances along the same lines here.

A word to the wise: some recent reissues of Third come in a 2CD edition which includes these recordings on the bonus disc, so if you already have a 2CD version of Third, check to make sure you don't own this one already before purchasing.