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FIRST IMPRESSIONS
"Well,
it is what it is. Two full gigs pulled unexpectedly out of the
archive ether on a take it or leave it basis. Which is all right
by me. We all know the outcome of the tour, and a lot of us saw
the second of these shows at the NEC (the first is from Stuttgart
three weeks earlier), but it's always good to have them boxed
up and nicely presented - which these are (clearly a decent contemporary
design budget if nothing else, though sad not to see better use
made of the few pics there are). Apart from that (and the fact
that nowhere do they bother to number the tracks - grrr) it would
be hard not to recommend this to the core audience - in other
words us! (Less dedicated fans might prefer to stick with the
edited highlights of "Come Hell Or High water").
The
sound is really sharp and clear, and with the warts (of which
there aren't many) and all approach which most fans prefer (cop
IG missing his cue in "Hush" and then singing "I don't know the
words" - the crowd comes to his rescue!). Presenting as it does
the very last of the Blackmore / Lord era it'll be something of
a reaffirming nostalgia trip for those who haven't gone with the
Mk 7 flow, and in truth we've not heard Blackmore hack it like
this for over a decade now. His gentle picking before "Smoke"
is worth all seven Blackmore's Night albums to me. Gorgeous. Oh
and perhaps the timing of the release might have been a little
more carefully handled."
Simon Robinson
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