OFFICIAL BOOTLEG - LIVE IN JAPAN

I totally agree this is a powerful album. Although obviously influenced by early seventies (Cross-Wetton era) King Crimson, this dark Scandinavian prog possesses a beauty of its own. Surely it's admirable to use a style from the past as starting point for your own compositions! Anekdoten aren't clones; I don't remember any Crimson tunes with the concerto-like majesty of 'Karelia' or 'The Old Man and the Sea'.

Other differences from 'classic Crimso': (1) Instrumental improvisations are virtually absent; (2) Anekdoten's melancholic lead vocals are strongly reminiscent of early 1980s New Wave bands such as The Cure, Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen.

Dramatic tension is high; the spun-out climax of the last number, Rubankh (Rhubarb?) is unsettling, and when it's all finally over, the twelve or thirteen dedicated Anekdoten-fans in the Japanese audience react with suitable enthusiasm.