LIVE IN AMERICA

Transatlantic's two CD releases, Live in America and Live in Europe are about as close as most of us will ever get to seeing/hearing Transatlantic live in concert, especially since Neal Morse left this band and Spock's Beard to concentrate on Christian music. The Live in America CD was recorded during a short tour of the U.S. east coast and it was the 6th show that they had ever played together as a band. The liner notes include a comment by each of the band members regarding the fun that they had playing together, but also the difficulties that they incurred along the way. This tour/concert was in support of their first album SMPT:E and includes 4 of the 5 songs included on SMPT:E. In addition, it includes cover versions of three Beatles songs and a combination of two Genesis songs. Interestingly though, they did not include their cover of Procol Harum's In Held (Twas) In I, which was the 5th song included on SMPT:E. Generally, I am not a fan of bands releasing live albums until after they have released three or more albums and for that I am not entirely thrilled with this CD because it is basically SMPT:E live with some decent cover songs. On the other hand, it is always a goal of mine to have a live version of every song a band does so by releasing this live album after the first album, I have a version of their 4 original songs performed live. (Live in Europe includes 3 of these songs plus 3 of the 4 songs from Bridge Across Forever). All in all this is a very enjoyable listen. It is highly recommended for fans of Transatlantic and each of the four bands that its members came from (as Mike Portnoy called them "their day jobs"). Their studio albums are masterpieces and the live albums are excellent additions to any prog music collection. The only other thing that I can say is that I hope that some day soon Neal gets a message from above to make more music with these guys because Transatlantic music makes the world a better place.