LIVE TAPES

This January I went into hospital to undergo surgery and in those days I had with me this great BJH live album. The right way to spend all that borig time was listen to that music, never too loud, always charming. The sound is very clear and the tracks are all of the Polydor period 1974-1977, the perennial Mocking Bird apart (1971). This last is not the best live version, in my opinion. It's better that strong one from the 1988 album Glasnost, which is also available in The Best Of BJH (1992). My preferite song from the first disc is withot any doubt Child Of The Universe with that exciting opening you cannot find in the original Everyone Is Everybody Else (1974) but only as a bonus track in the Polydor 2003 remastered edition (great re-issues comparable with the 2002 Emi's ones, which are really so well made like also indefatigable and always precise ERIK NEUTEBOOM said). The one I prefer from the second disc is Taking Me Higher, because here you have a different ending (with some drums) than the original track on the Gone To Earth album (1977). The Hymn live version on Live Tapes is not the best you can hear: try the "shouted" live version from the album Berlin: A Concert For The People (1982).

Waiting for the new 2005 remastered edition of the 1974 album Barclay James Harvest Live I will try to find something of Carmen...Erik's review was so enthusiastic!