LIVE AT THE CAFE 68 (WITH CHRIS JOHNSON)

Recorded live and unplugged in a restaurant. I've done some research on the web as I would like to see some images of that restaurant, but it happened in December 2011, so I'm not sure that it exists anymore.

The playlist is a mix of songs composed in part by Heather and in part by Chris Johnson plus a cover. It's about half and half, but all are from the period when both were in MOSTLY AUTUMN.

For their nature, the acoustic versions don't suffer much for the absence of the other instruments also thanks to the excellent production and, of course, to the superb voice of Heather very well backed by Chris. I'm almost sure to hear a third vocalist but she's not mentioned in the album notes. It may probablybe Chris, whose voice is sometimes high-pitched.

Some non- Mostly Autumn songs are present, too. "Magpie", by Chris is a great song and surely one of the album's highlights. "Out Of Season" is another good one. The style is not much different from the best Mostly Autumn. For "best Mostly Autumn" I mean the songs in which Bryan Josh is not too self-indulgent. I must say that I haven't paid much attention to the authors of the songs of the Mostly Autumn albums before, so I haven't realized how a good songwriter Chris Johnson is. Other non MA song is "The Dogs"

The country cover of "Dear Someone" by the American duo Rawling-Welch is surely good for a pub, but it's the less interesting song for prog-eared listeners. Not bad anyway.

The album features also an excellent version of Mostly Autumn's masterpiece "Evergreen". This is the only song where Bryan's guitar is effectively missing. It's still a masterpiece, but without the guitar solo it's like giving up to Gilmour on Comfortably Numb (something that Roger Waters usually does, unfortunately).

So, if you are a Mostly Autumn fan, or even if you just like Heather's singing, this is a sort of must-have. What I personally have liked a lot is the live mood. You can feel like being in Cafe 68 wherever it was, so grab a pint of bitter ale and enjoy