IN THE FLESH - LIVE

I have to admit, I did not have 'high hopes' when I first bought this. I soon realized that I was very wrong to prejudge this concert release. I was pleasantly surprised by just how exquisite this 2 CD Live set sounds! Plus, unlike the DVD version of this concert, you can actually appreciate the axework of DOYLE BRAMHALL without having to watch him chewing gum on stage, wearing bad jewellery and a black one piece bell-bottomed suit, while playing his guitar left-handed and upside down!

Whereby WATERS does play a lot of FLOYD tunes here, not all of them were of the 'hits' variety, although there are plenty of those if that's what you are looking for ('Shine On', 'WYWH', 'Time', 'Money' and tons of stuff from "The Wall"). Most rewarding of the less commercially popular songs was JON CARIN's contribution to 'Dogs', as well as the significant back catalogue appearances of 'Set the Controls For The Heart of The Sun' and even a couple tracks from "The Final Cut". Rare stuff indeed!

The solo stuff that WATERS plays, six songs worth, is also quite good. He sneaks in his probably lesser-appreciated material without 'overdoing it' and won't alienate his traditional FLOYD-First type of fan. Although I question the solo songs chosen, the live versions offered of these tunes should be cherished, as they are the only 'official' live releases available of said material.

As stated by other reviewers, the musical performances by WATERS veritable army of virtuoso performers is top notch. The only negative to this record being those traditional GILMOUR-vocalized songs like 'Numb', 'Another Brick' 'Time' and so on, are sung by others. GILMOUR's voice is unique, and these songs do sound different without him singing them, but again musically they are excellent.

At almost 3 hours of music this release offers both the FLOYD and the WATERS fan plenty of bang for your buck. Not as good as FLOYD's "P*U*L*S*E" or "Is There Anybody Out There?", but probably better than "Delicate Sound of Thunder". Recommended.