CIRCULIVE::MAJESTIK

When Circuline's last album, "Counterpoint" came out in 2016, I gave it a strong 4-star rating for it's powerful songwriting and tight, complex performances. My only complaint was that I felt that Natalie Brown's vocals were so strong and forceful that Billy Spillane's co-lead vocals didn't seem to blend properly.

For this live album, taken mostly from "Counterpoint", with a few track from their debut, "Return", they seem to have overcome this minor issue.

The recording quality is superb. On any system I've played it on, instruments are clear and perfectly blended, and the separation is so well defined that I can close my eyes and feel like I'm front and center in the audience (I listen a lot while I'm driving, so perhaps that isn't one of my best ideas). The vocals are now equally powerful by all vocalists, making these tracks superior (to me) to their studio versions.

The songs, just as on the studio albums, are wonderful, they feature very memorable melodies and lyrics, intersperced with passages of progressive bliss. Brown's voice still reminds me very much of Grace Slick in her prime, but I must say that this music elevates much higher than Jefferson Airplane could ever hope to attain.

Every track is a winner on this set, but I have to mention a few individual songs that stand out. "Hollow", my favorite piece, is a 10 minute epic that goes from a power ballad through many varied passages of prog extravaganza. "Nautilus", featuring Ad Astra's Harold Skeete on bass, is a slinky infectuous funky song that has wormed it's way so much into my brain that I find myself going back to it over and over on my MP3 player. And "Summit" like "Hollow", a 10 minute work, starts as a cool fusion track, and goes through some almost ROI sections before returning to the main theme.

It's been difficult for me to pull this disk out of my car and bring it to my computer to write this review, as I have been listening to it every few days since early summer.