DEAD - LIVE IN TRANSYLVANIA

Recorded a quarter century or more after the Island records heyday of AMAZING BLONDEL, this is nonetheless the recommended live album from the band named for the minstrel of Richard the Lionheart. It draws from the period universally regarded as their peak, from 1969-1973, while incorporating a couple of samples from their 1997 reunion effort "Restoration", and stars all 3 of the original band members. The production is crystalline and the trio is in top form. As in their other live releases, they tend to stick with simple reproduction of studio work, but this time they offer a variation on the medley theme, where several "two for the price of one" offerings demonstrate their dexterity and imagination. This is best illustrated on "Sailing", which morphs pleasantly into "Young Man's Fancy" as a single track, both initially housed on the purple album, and they do similar with "Shepherd's Song" and "Weaver's Market", which originally bookended the band's halcyon days, Another triumph is a newish arrangement of the sublimely simple and ageless tale of clandestine love "Under the Greenwood Tree", which pays respects to but deftly alters the original. While AMAZING BLONDEL were never the most exciting of studio or live bands, "Dead...Live in Transylvania" checks in with a still warm pulse and a gentle soul.