LIVE IN NEW ZEALAND

On the back cover it says "Live in New Zealand November 24th 1976".The vocalist also mentions between songs that their new record("Nooks") would be released in 2 weeks. I would loved to have been at this concert with all this spacey, drifting music laden with mellotron. What we have here is 3 songs from their debut record,with the last 3 songs being covers.

"Raga" begins with faint guitar sounds and synths before cymbals and mellotron arrive. It slowly builds.Waves of mellotron after 3 minutes along with a pleasant beat. Guitar gently plays in this laid back tune. "Butterfly Sky" is such a good track with lots of synths and mellotron as the drums slowly beat. Vocals come in early. The soundscape is dreamy and the vocals are sleepy. Some beautiful guitar after 3 minutes. "Rainbow Bridge" opens with synths as the sound builds with guitar and drums. A mellotron storm blows in. It calms right down 2 1/2 minutes in as fragile vocals come in. Just a gorgeous sound as the mellotron flows. Bass and drums come in as the sound starts to build again. Vocals are sung with passion after 3 1/2 minutes. The tempo picks up a minute later with synths in tow. A drum/bass melody leads the way for a couple of minutes when guitar joins in. After 8 minutes it's pretty much the drummer playing around with no real melody right to the end of the song.

"I Fall Apart" is a Rory Gallagher song. There is no mellotron in this one. The song is so sad and beautiful. Gentle guitar as vocals, bass and light drums come in. A tasteful guitar solo follows, and it is so heavenly. Great sound 4 minutes in. "Pink Floyd Medley" is next. They cover the last 4 songs of "Dark Side Of The Moon" beginning with "Us And Them". They are very faithful to the originals with the difference being that "Us And Them" is drenched in mellotron ! Very cool. These guys do an outstanding job with this including the guitar work. The final track is a cover of "Whole Lotta Love" made famous by LED ZEPPELIN of course. My first thoughts when hearing this is who the heck are these guys ? It doesn't sound like the same band ! The heavy guitar, the loud and rough vocals. Unreal. They even do the experimental sounds section to perfection. This band is amazing and yes they can rock with the best of them if they want to. Check out the freaking guitar solo 7 minutes in !

A nice little snap shot of how great this band was in a live setting.