LIVE IN AMERICA

With only one album in their back-catalogue, TRANSATLANTIC is releasing a double-CD live album, which was recorded last year in the USA. Four out of five tracks from the debut CD "SMPTe (Stolt Morse Portnoy Trewavas)" (2000) can be found on this live album together with some BEATLES and GENESIS songs. Have they run out of ideas or what? These guys (Neal Morse / SPOCK'S BEARD, Roine Stolt / The FLOWER KINGS, Mike Portnoy / DREAM THEATER and Pete Trewavas / MARILLION) are definitely not known for being lazy when it comes to compose music. Well, don't worry! They are planning a new studio album, which will be released later this year. After listening to this CD a couple of times I'm however glad that they have released it. The magic and energy that are shown is amazing. They are giving new life to the songs from the "SMPTe" album, although the vocals aren't as good as on the studio versions. What make it worth owning though are the BEATLES and GENESIS covers that are purely magnificent. There's also a medley containing one song from each of the main bands of the TRANSATLANTIC members, and it ends with the BEATLES song "She's So Heavy". Although SPOCK'S BEARD, The FlOWER KINGS, MARILLION and DREAM THEATER are some of my favorite bands I don't think that this is an essential live album, but the high quality and all the surprises makes it however recommended.