ALIVE ON PLANET EARTH

A mix of shame and happiness, this review. I bought it eight years ago from Amazon and ignored it until I accidently found it among my death metal albums. Clearly a mishap during a move to a new flat. So I put these two discs on last week and transferred them onto my MP3 player.

This is the first live album from these masters of neo symphonic prog. A band with a very special flowery Scandinavian take on symphonic prog. I have been listening to (and reviewed) the studio album which Alive On Planet Earth is based on. Their first three albums, in other words. Those are truly great albums and some of the best songs are here in live versions. The opening track There Is More To This World is excellent and it is followed by the equally excellent Church Of Your Heart.

In short; the 115 minutes here are great with their take on Genesis The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway as an added bonus for those of you who only have the studio albums. That song alone is worthy the purchase of this album. Disc 2 also have some excellent tracks. The Flower King being the best one of them.

Alive On Planet Earth is a great live album with the band on top form. I thoroughly enjoy these two discs and the walks to and from my work with this album on my MP3 player. But wherever you do and wherever you are; this album will bring a smile to your face. My only gripe is that this is two gigs instead of one gig. I am by default not a big fan of The Flower Kings flowery hippie sound either. But this is still a great live album and a rather underestimated album too.

4 stars