CHANCE FOR A LIVE TIME

I would consider this album as the first KAYAK true live album because it has everything: there were gigs performed and recorded, and there were audience involved. Yes, you are right, "Eyewitness" was the band first live recording but it missed essential elements of "true" live records: the gig and the audience. "Eyewitness" was recorded to remark the end of the band in 1982. A sad story. This album was recorded live fro a set of "Close To The Fire" Tour in 2000: Rotterdam, Utrecht, Leeuwarden, Hrdenberg and Enschede, Holland. Wel well well . I truly envy on people who had a chance seeing the band performed the gigs. What a wonderful nights they might have. I cannot imagine that, my friends . Yeah, kayak has been in my life since I heard and fell in love with their wonderfully crafted tune "Woe and Allas", sometime in mid 70s, that has become my lifetime favorite. Even until now, whenever I heard this song, it crunches my heart. It's killing me man!

As I have reviewed a lot of Kayak albums in this site, I would not repeat reviewing them, musically, in this live record. I'd rather comment on how the live itself has provided us with a sort of musical quality different than studio version. I could only assure you that this live act is really an excellent performance. It's definitely true for those of you who like Kayak's music. You don't need to love the band's music, just like it - and you would enjoy their music. For me personally, Kayak music is not something that I consider a true "prog" music. But their music is definitely not a typical pop rock vein. I enjoy Kayak music for a change, usually, having listened to complex music such as The Tangent, Island, Somnambulist, Gentle Giant, etc. It's a relaxing music, I would say. Forget about prog nature, even though I know that there are some elements that constitute a prog nature of their music.

All tracks that come from "Close To The Fire" album were performed excellently by the band. For my listening observation, this live set is much more dynamic and more rocking than the studio version. All musicians contribute their best in this live show. There are seven tracks coming from "Close To The Fire" album. The other 11 tracks coming from their classic albums. One thing that makes me happy, despite the new album, is their performance of classic hits like "Mammoth","Periscope of Life", and "Wintertime". I especially like "Wintertime" that is performed nicely in this album. My favorite classic "Starlight Dancer" that has a killing melody at intro part is also featured in this CD.

I don't think there is no human being that dislike "Anne". Yup, the band fetures also this song in here. Again, I cannot imagine how would I feel if I were in the crowd watching these guys perform this live. For sure, I would sing a long during the show! "Merlin" - hey, tell me who the guys on earth don't like this tune??? "Ninianne" - another excellent shot.

I think, you should enjoy yourself. It would not be a regret at all to own this CD yourself. If you like Kayak and live music, this is for you man! But if you don't like live albums, forget it - just buy their terrific studio albums. Highly recommended. Keep on progging! Progressively Yours, GW - Indonesia.

Close to the fire, but not quite there

After a long absence from the music scene, Kayak came back in the year 2000 with the excellent Close To The Fire. This album was very different from their earlier albums - more Symphonic Prog as opposed to Pop Prog - and it is by far my favourite Kayak album. The present live album was recorded during this period and relies heavily on material from Close To The Fire with no less than seven out of the album's 12 tracks making it into the set list. While this is a lively and energetic live performance, I strongly prefer the studio versions on which Andy Latimer from Camel made a guest appearance (Ton Scherpenzeel, the keyboard player and leader of Kayak, was a member of Camel in the 80's). Just like the studio album, this double live CD is bookended by the brilliant Close To The Fire title track and the excellent Full Circle - two songs that I love. These songs function excellently as opener and closer respectively, but not all of the best songs from that album are here. They do play Two Wrongs (Don't Make A Right) which was a the weakest song from Close To The Fire, but they sadly don't play the wonderful Frozen Flame.

The rest of the set is made up by classics from the early 70's to the early 80's the best of which are Merlin and Niniane (Lady Of The Lake) both originally released on the Merlin album in 1981 (and later featured on the misguided and overblown 2003 re-make Bard Of The Unseen). Even here though, the original studio versions are better but the former features a great Rick Wakeman-like keyboard solo from Scherpenzeel (ironic as Wakeman also made a song about Merlin).

I have never been a big fan of the band's 70's albums which are clearly on the Pop Prog side of things. But it is admittedly quite good Pop Prog and the songs chosen for this set are among the band's biggest hits. In the middle of the show (towards the end of the first disc) there is an acoustic set with some songs featuring Scherpenzeel on accordion. These folky acoustic songs remind me a bit of Styx' wonderful acoustic hit Boat On The River.

This is a good career-spanning live album that makes a nice addition to your Kayak collection. They have, however, not been able to capture the sonic quality of the studio recordings. I therefore strongly recommend to go for some of the band's studio albums first, particularly the outstanding Close To The Fire and the very good but uneven original Merlin (the first half of which is great).