THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS: THE BEST OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK - LIVE FROM THE KING BISCUIT VAULTS

"THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS: The Best of Progressive Rock Live From The KING BISCUIT Vaults" is one of the many releases from the famous American syndicated radio show THE KING BISCUIT FLOWER HOUR that broadcast on Sunday nights from 1973 to 2007. While encompassing everything from B.B.King and Bruce Springsteen to Billy Squier, the show covered more than its share of progressive rock bands as well.

This release is basically a sampler pack highlighting some of their progressive releases with two tracks each from a total of six artists which include Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Dixie Dregs, Renaissance, Gentle Giant, Rick Wakeman and Greg Lake. These tracks are simply taken off each artist's retrospective full live album released on the King Biscuit label.

This is a rather strange mix of company here indeed and i can never fully recommend these kinds of samplers unless you are utterly clueless about progressive rock in general and really just want to sample some of the greats at their prime. I would steer the prospective listener to simply acquiring the entire "King Biscuit Flower Presents" album for the artists of choice. For example of these i actually own the Gentle Giant album from which "Proclamation" and "Experience" emerged and can highly recommend that album as a whole.

I doubt any serious progger would track this down but all the performances are top notch so if you happen to find it at a decent price it is by no means a bad album. It's just not what i'd call the least bit essential either so my 3 star rating is simply a reflection of the compilation itself and not the contents of the music although i can't say that the ELP tracks are my top pick for inclusion nor are those of the Dixie Dregs. The inclusion of Greg Lake covering King Crimson tracks as if they were his own rubs me the wrong way as well, but as i stated, everything is performed extremely well and well worth a listen if you happen to find this jumping into your stereo system.