THE X TOUR-LIVE

The departure of Neil Morse from the band was a big blow for me. It took me few years to enjoy the new band with Nick D'Virgilio. And with the latest cd X, i had the impression that the band was back on his best moments when Neil was there. I don't know why the "V" cd and the " X" cd are the best for the band, but they should call their next one "XI" to make sure that it's good again!

I was glad that they made a live cd of that tour, and that they played the whole new cd in the first set. No song is weak and i must say that it's as good as any cd of the Neal Morse area. The 17 minutes epic "Jaws of Heaven" is maybe the best song they ever made. "Edge of the in-Between" take you back the the old days with almost some of the same arrangements at some place. "The Emperor Clothes" has a nice acoustic intro with 2 guitars , some straight forward rock and a nice jazzy passage. The first epic "From the Darkness", is where each musicians are letting themselves loose with some heavy passage in the first 5 minutes. Ryo Okumoto on piano is breaking the tempo to a slower pace before getting back to another uptempo passage. "The Quiet House" and "The Man behind the Curtain" are close to what the band did after the departure of Neil. "Kamikaze" is composed by Ryo Okumoto and it's a very nice instrumental song with him up front with some heavy keyboards parts. At the end it sound like Keith Emerson.

The second set contains songs from their past releases, a drum solo and a keyboard solo. This live release contains a Limited Edition of that same concert on DVD. The sound is very good and as the performance. I think it's always more interesting to see the band played, even if there a minimum of visuals here.

This live release is essential mainly for the first set who contains the whole "X" cd. I just hope that i don't have to wait for the "XV" cd to see another great release from the band...