EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIVE

1. Dominance & Submission to start, a boosted track with a wicked riff, 8 years since the original track and the slap with the vintage prog organ from the time that wasn't yet; explosive choirs and the riff keeping the momentum, final drum solo to move a little more, prog solo yes, I'm already insisting 2. Cities On Flame for this heavier sound than on the album, I'm thinking of KISS live performances which showed another vision of the band; similar here, a heavy Veteran-style riff, heavy, otherwise the vocals are well screamed; good piano and heavy atmosphere there too and the break that makes you want to have this drum solo, no way after the cinematic spatial floating before its time which lasts, lasts, it's really the typical US hard explosion with the guitar solo 3. Dr. Music follows for the little bluesy rock à la Blues Brothers, easy, catchy with the piano à la Jerry LEE; hard, boogie, BOC 4. The Red And The Black for their three prominent guitars, Eric with his stun guitar, Donald and Allen following closely behind. 5. Joan Crawford for this intro to the 81 album that had just been released, which made me say that there was definitely prog in them; a mix of sounds, a tune inspired by the book Mommie Dearest and a dreamlike psychedelic proggy experience for its tinkering; in short, a stadium track with this classic piano at its finest; by the way, has Joan Crawford really risen from the grave? The captivating track. 6. Burnin' For You arrives and calms the set's ardor a little, an easy track, US hard rock with its guitar solos, the riff that goes well with it. 7. Roadhouse Blues for the main track, one of those that made me want to listen to it, as soon as it's long, it's good. Stadium-style rock, something Americans are fond of, with the piano front and the guitar variations that speak to it; the moment when Allen and Eric put down their guitars to jam together; the moment when the sound is more or less reminiscent of The Doors, well, Robbie Krieger comes along to lay his guitar on top, the connection is quickly found for me, and we have a Morisonian resurgence; in short, proof that BOC was above all a live band.

8. Black Blade with Albert Bouchard on drums who doesn't hold back, the track both soft and strong with the narrated vocals, the catchy riff, and the build-up during the chorus; the prog blood that flows, whatever anyone says, not the symphonic of YES and GENESIS, not the psyche of PINK FLOYD, not that of the nascent prog hard rock, recognized with KANSAS, RUSH, and BOSTON above all, GENTLE GIANT and JETHRO TULL before that. The break with its invasive keyboard followed by the warm organ being the best signature; the vocoder finale, this sound flirting with new wave, the evolution and consecration of this changing early 80s. 9. Hot Rails To Hell, another prog metal intro before its time that makes you dream, inducing a slight disappointment as for the rest, too hard boogie and predictable, always with this wall of guitars held by Joe's bass; a track that finally bores me, why, but because 10. Godzilla arrives with his big feet, the intro that makes you shiver before the start, which has nothing to do with the studio track; the excess is rewritten there, the sound heavier, the tempo heavy like the beast's march; the guitars are more incisive, the rock more punchy; the drift more than the break with the vocals, the drums that swell and will give its solo, the one that resembles those of RUSH with PEART immense; OK, let's get back to our sheep, to our Godzilla. By the time the solo ends, the rhythm becomes apocalyptic, the vocals are in sync and we're about to scream for the monster to come back; what not to do in these concerts!!!! Go Godzilla! 11. Veteran Of The Psychic Wars arrives... the pad, the pad, the pad, the guitar, the progressive expression at its peak with the keyboard in the background which sets the scene; well for those who would have forgotten, one of the emblematic titles of the marvelous 'Heavy Metal', this animated film with the fight against evil, the Loc-Nar with the pedestalization of Taarna this goddess that every man dreams of having at home; well I have it, I ticked the right box; memory of the time worked where I had passed the famous VHS cassette to a midinette intern who had not understood anything about the film; in short, such is life; Veteran remains for me the emblematic title of prog hard rock, the one where the prog spirit comes to interfere in the sound to go into another dimension; where the keyboards reveal the solemn side, where the voice reveals sensuality and homage, where the guitars reveal the frenzy of the break and the evil aspect, go away Loc-Nar; in short, this moment at 3'20'' where the sound slips and enters the progressive world, without borders, without taboos, without restraint; the one that every musician wants to rewrite, recreate and bring to life for his delirious audience; 44 years to this day, the moment when I found my standard prog metal solo; the return to the world of humans for the apoplectic finale, the notes having sucked the air around us; and we wait in amazement for the last pad, slap! 12. E.T.I. (Extraterrestrial Intelligence) follows, the opportunity to look at Eric's glasses again, and to recover from the two previous tracks?, the best live suite on par with the album Life by THIN LIZZY. The three guitars continue their undermining work on a pervasive, invasive, and addictive riff; and then, and then, the bass-keyboard explosion, this saturation that makes you put the effect back on before Donald's solo, as incisive as ever; the kick 13. (Don't Fear) The Reaper comes to put an end to any inclination with the moderate atmospheric power of the final epic title track, as you wish; the soft hard rock AOR, US, UFO track with its hypnotic melody, its 'ah la la'; the sudden break, yes I repeat myself, sends a final energetic, moving melancholic solo against a keyboard backdrop, a bit of silence and the song resumes, the prog blood has just appeared before you but it is so fluid that it takes off again even more frantically for a Dantesque finale. One of the live tracks to own before the end of the world, quite simply, before resuming the entire discography.

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