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John Wetton - Nomansland - Live In Poland CD (album) cover

NOMANSLAND - LIVE IN POLAND

John Wetton

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lor68
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Well, by following the whole career by John, you can understand such an uneven music artistic inspiration, above all if you regard of his progressive period with King Crimson and UK for instance; and then listening to his solo albums of the late nineties (note: partially in the recent years as well), you accept the way John chose the commercial music, anyway. Nevertheless the present live production can be "labelled" among the different alternative genres, as for his recent attempt in exploring new music territories, even though quite melodic and anyway listenable, if you regard the likings of the common people...but coming back to the present live, I like to remark the importance of such prog tunes like "In the Dead of Night" by UK, here in a good version and quite listenable for the common listener; then "The Night Watch", a crimson classic that is losing something here, above all by comparing it to the original and the immortal "Starless", whose "incipit" is always melancholic and the development of the plot fine too!! Then I appreciate a sweet ballad like "Emma" and the good arrangement regarding "The Last Thing On My Mind" after the guitar intro of the opener, which is characterized by the typical mood of the most dramatic tones of a few solo albums by John!

"Rendez-Vous 6:02 " instead is lacking the famous solo at the analogic synth (CS80) by Eddie Jobson, cause here it looks like a normal ballad; besides another famous and a bit sad tune entitled "Book of Saturday" ("Crimson" Era) doesn't add anything to the original , but it is an intelligent contribution to this mix between the old stuff and that interesting recent one (except on a few exceptions, like for instance "Suzanne", a bit tepid...).

Not the best live by John, but it's quite worth checking out at least!

Report this review (#533163)
Posted Monday, September 26, 2011 | Review Permalink
SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Symphonic Team
4 stars King Crimson invaded Poland

John Wetton seems to have found many fans in Poland as more than one live album of his have been recorded in that country. The present one was recorded in 1998 and features, in addition to Wetton himself on vocals and bass, a line-up of Martin Orford (of IQ fame) on keyboards and flute, Steve Christy (Jadis) on drums, and David Kilminster on guitar. They form a very tight band.

The set list features many songs that Wetton originally performed with other bands in the 70's and 80's, including King Crimson's Book Of Saturday and Easy Money from Larks' Tongues In Aspic, The Night Watch from Starless And Bible Black, and Starless from Red; UK's In The Dead Of Night from their self- titled debut and Rendez-Vous 6:02 from Danger Money, and Sole Survivor from Asia's self-titled debut. All of these classic songs are very good and they represent Wetton's musical career perfectly. Thankfully, he spares us the tedious Heat Of The Moment this time! Everything is performed very well.

Orford and Kilminster are both allowed their little solo spots which create very nice instrumental interludes between the vocal numbers. Tatras is Orford's piano solo and Bygosh!! is an acoustic guitar number performed by Kilmister. The two men then collaborate on The Birth of Igor. Both are excellent instrumentalists.

The Last Thing on My Mind, Emma, and After All are taken from Arkangel, the John Wetton solo album they were touring in support of at the time. While Arkangel is not a strong album on the whole, these songs are not bad.

This live album is in many ways similar to the excellent Amorata live concert video that I have reviewed previously and given the same high rating. The Amorata DVD (and, as far as I understand, the same concert also on CD called Agenda) features John Mitchell from Arena instead of Kilminster, but many of the same songs are present of both releases. You need at least one of these!

Report this review (#1156593)
Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2014 | Review Permalink

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