EXCALIBUR: LE CONCERT MYTHIQUE

Le Concert Mythique is the live recording of La Legende Des Celtes, the first part of Alan Simon's ambitious Excalibur trilogy. The set list is however not identical to the track list of the studio version. Personally, I enjoyed this live album a lot more. Fairport Convention forms the core of the backing band here and Simon Nicol of that band also hands in some very fine lead vocals. Other very good vocal performances here are by Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, Jacqui McShee of Pentangle, and several others. Some numbers are sung in English and others in French. The narration (that in my opinion plagued the studio album) is thankfully not recreated in the live setting. Here the focus is on the mostly very good music which is an appealing mix of Folk, Rock, and Pop, with some Celtic and symphonic elements. The Prague Symphony Orchestra is present, but they are thankfully used wisely and don't overpower the other elements resulting in an overly bombastic sound (which is so often the case when orchestras are involved in a Rock context).

In my review of the studio version I wrote that this first part of the Excalibur trilogy is the least interesting of the three Excalibur albums. But this does not, I think, hold true of this live version. While both versions are enjoyable, the live version appeals to me more and equals Excalibur II and III (which don't exist as live albums as far as I know).

Le Concert Mythique is definitely recommended over the studio version and in addition to the subsequent studios Excalibur II and III