LIVE 1972

It would get another halfstar if the sound quality had been better, but this has to do with the tapes so the production cannot be at fault. Recorde at the Mayfield festival, in 72 , this was done after their second album , but strangely only one number is played . The real interest of this album is the four as-yet unreleased original non-album tracks . This coupled with the four bonus track of Harry's Toenail might have made another full album.

Any Use of Living is another of those thought provoking tracks that GNI had in store and could've easily been on their debut. Meanwhile , is another tune of Peter's adventures that we had met in the debut also and was to be the second of a trilgy of songs about Peter's day - unfortunately the third part was never recorded. My Mother is one of the rare places where you can guess that the Goldring twins were of Hebraic faith and comes complete with a strange harmonica solo. The three tracks that belong to the studio albums are well played (less well recoded, though ) but add not much to it. Then comes in the last song recorded at a different gig Aylesbury Friar's club and is of a typical GNI mode.

If you are a fan , this is a must and will easily forget the poor sound and be reminded that since this is probably the only taped concert , they could not choose from 17 or so version and could not tamper with the tapes or dub anything. The fact that this tape is served raw , as-in-concert makes it impressive as to the gift of this band to make good concert.

A big thank you to M@X, God and Doug Larson for sending me this CD as my $ 25 prize draw winner for November 2009.

I am not a fan of this band by default. Their music is a bit too eclectic avant-garde for my taste. But there is no denying that Gnidrolog deserve a lot more attention than they have got so far because this was a great band.

This CD was made on the back of a recording from a festival they did in England. The sound is not great. But this live album has a great raw live feeling and that is an added bonus. The conclusion is that the sound is about right for a live album from Gnidrolog. So I have no complaints here. Gnidrolog live is very energetic and raw. They almost comes across as a blues/hard rock band with their use of saxophone and guitars. There is no hammond organ or keyboards in sight on this live album. Their songs is weird though. Really weird, though very energetic and in your face.

Most of the songs here cannot be found on any of their albums so this is a very good reason to get this album if you liked their two studio albums. Their new songs is pretty good too. This live album also includes an excellent, well the definite version of their classic I Could Never Be A Soldier song. That's the highlight of the album in my view and a very good reason to get this album.

Gnidrolog is not my cup of tea. But I recognice a good band when I see one. Gnidrolog is one of these good bands. I guess I will appreciate them more and more as time goes by. This live album is essential album if you like this band and a good choice if the likes of King Crimson and other ecletic bands is your cup of tea. I like this live album a lot and I am a happy owner of it.

3.5 stars