THE TIME OF OUR LIVES

This is a very emotional live album. The band new beforehand that this was their last gig at the mythical Astoria. A place where they have played very often. I only went there twice (for John Cale and Kino) and it is a special venue. Full of great souvenirs and concerts. The amounts of great bands (prog or not) that have played there is just amazing.

The band have had some line-up problems already but in 1998 (the year of this release), their lead guitarist had to leave the band under the doctor's orders. An old friend and former band mate will replace him (Julian Hunt). Still, Steve Anderson played at that gig (just listen to the band introduction for "12:02"). But lots of personal pressures will force the band to stop.

There were so many fans reactions that the band decided to play a farewell gig. At the Astoria, on July 11th. And the record label will find a very good opportunity to capitalize on "GLD" (it was Cyclops's best selling band at the time) and released this double CD set in November 1998.

The first CD holds a very good unreleased track : "The Perfect Dream". A long and great neo-prog song. It last for just over fifteen minutes but is at no moment boring. As most of their compositions it is a very melodic one featuring great and atmospheric keys like during the intro (hi "Watchers") and wonderful guitar riffs (hi "Watcher" again). It is the highlight of the first CD.

"And Finally" is of course a great moment as well. Almost all of their last album "Fear" is being played here (only "Usurper" is missing). The interpretation is pretty close to the studio one, but the emotional vocals are probably more effective live than in the studio. This will definitely be the case when the band is getting closer to the end of their concert.

An enourmous feeling raises from the songs introduction. As I have said, everybody knew beforehand that it would their last concert. So when Martin Wilson announces that they have recieved lots of requests to play a certain trilogy in full, the crowd only cheerish. Martin goes on : "We never had the guts to do it. But tonight's the night. Here is the song in full. Here is "The Crime". And here we go for thirty minutes of the greatest neo-prog you can dream of. Another great song of this definite album that holds so many...: "Sliding", " A Modern Day Cavalier", "Battlefield..." etc.

This is a wonderful live album. I have almost never felt such emotion (maybe "Keys To Ascension"). A very good moment indeed : almost two hours and a half of great music. Four stars and an excellent way to discover this very confidential band.