review by thomas

When releasing their first live album so far into their career it’s almost unavoidable that one starts rambling ‘bout the setlist/songs on the album. I did this myself; why didn’t they play this or that one? This song they played, what were they thinking? And so on. In the end almost every Tull album up to and including “Heavy Horses” have at least one song on the record, the exceptions being “This Was”, “A Passion Play” and “Benefit”.

They mix the obvious ones with some surprises. Obvious ones are “Cross-Eyed Mary”, “Aqualung”, “Locomotive Breath”, “Thick as a Brick” and “Sweet Dream”. Some of these songs Tull still played when I saw them live in 2001 and they even sound pretty much the same now and then. I can add that I’m not really a fan of the live “Aqualung” or “Locomotive Breath”, they are so run-of-the-mill like done, they really sound like Tull have played them for thirty years on every tour – which I think they have; and the version of “Thick as a Brick” sounds more vital and Anderson less tired on the Madison Square Garden version from the same tour included on the remastered version of the “Thick as a Brick” album. Most of the songs – excluding the acoustic set – are beefed up and heavier than their studio kin.

More to it there are some “new” songs, which in fact are nothing else than disguised guitar and drum solos; the two medleys present on the album are not that interesting either (they consist to the greatest part of British traditionals, the kind they play on the “Last Night of the Proms” or whatever that show is called, in other words completely unknown for us outside the UK).

Now I have complained quite a bit here – on this double album there is of course some good stuff too: “Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll; Too Young to Die”, “Skating Away…”, the acoustic section, “Hunting Girl” to name a few. And a large portion of “Thick as a Brick” works splendidly. To this comes also the entertainment mind of Ian Anderson, he is in great shape with his Pythonesque humour. The sound is fantastic and the band really tight, the “live feeling” is rather good too.

I find this album to be what one expect from a live album; no more, no less.