VITAL

This would have 5 stars and over, but it's not essential if you think that Prog ended with ELP's 'Love Beach' and started again with Marillion. If you ever wondered why Prog Rock was/is called progressive start here. This live set could appeal to Clash/Stranglers (excuse moi) devotees as much as to the disconcerned Prog listener, it's a blissfull mess of styles, and if ever anyone thought that the two spectrums (punk/prog) are a universe away from each other simply listen to this. Hammill shouts his soul out and gets his messages across as never before and the band play straight, if forcefully forward and a few of the old songs get a quite a heavy face-lift. Every note played shows why music lives/progresses, though nothing is performed to perfection. You want to hear a version of 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' live, you want to hear it (very) different and here you get it. Slowed down, mutilated, medley-ed and played (almost) without any of the original musicians, an updated, timely version...why? Because Prog was ill (!!!) in these days and only a few recognized it, Peter Hammill (and VdG) among them. VdGG music was always about body,soul and mind and here they actually play it: uninhibited, raw, uncompromising and, yes, punk-ish. The missing piece in your whatever-happened-to-puzzle...listen at your peril, your sanity, your open-mindedness, but listen!