START THE FIRE - LIVE

RPWL are a band I really thought i'd dig big time but after being disappointed with a couple of their studio albums I have to admit they just don't do it for me.This particular recording is a double live album from their "World Through My Eyes" tour. In fact the title of this live album "Start The Fire" is a title of one of the tracks off of "World Through My Eyes". Ray Wilson who sang for GENESIS on the "Calling All Stations" album guests on a couple of tracks including a song from that crappy GENESIS record. Unfortunately Weston is not a singer i've ever been fond of but oh well.They do use songs from all three of their studio albums which is good for the fans.

Things start off great with "Sleep" and the spacey intro followed by some excellent guitar. It does settle right down before kicking back in. Excellent start. "Start The Fire" starts off powerfully with guitar playing over top of the strong drum / bass rhythm. It settles when the vocals arrive. Good tune as contrasts continue."Who Do You Think We Are" is mellow to start but it gets fuller. "Day On My Pillow" is a laid back tune before we get two straight tracks with Ray Weston singing. Then we get "The Genle Art Of Swimming" which is better as we get some good bass and I like the guitar playing over top as vocals come in in a reserved manner. I like the power after 3 minutes with the sampled mellotron. One of the better tracks for sure."Trying To Kiss The Sun" is a great way to end disc one.

Disc Two begins with the title track of their most recent album "World Through My Eyes".Then we get some covers which will appeal to FLOYD fans in particular. "Opel" is a solo Syd Barrett tune that is very well done. Quite uplifting for me actually. "Cymbaline" is from FLOYD's "More" album but is stretched to over 15 minutes, the longest song of this recording. I love how laid back and spacey this is. Some good organ runs when it picks up. "Welcome To The Machine" is another FLOYD tribute of course. Man they do this track justice I must admit.Very well done and quite powerful. "I Don't Know" is like a step back into reality from the PINK FLOYD excursions. It's a little out of place here. "Hole In The Sky" fits well as this is quite spacey and psychedelic.

3.5 stars. My best experience with this band yet. I wish Ray Wilson wasn't involved but hey that's just my tastes or lack of it. A good double album regardless.