A parcel arrived containing a CD-R of what is entitled ‘Live from Oz’. On the back of the enveloppe in a handwriting which gets close to that of a surgeon I could locate the name of Derek Sherinian. The ‘leopard’ man himself had taken the trouble of burning me a copy of a hot steaming night in june 2001 at the Corner Hotel, Melbourne, Australia. Mixed by Simon Philips this collection mainly contains material from the “Universe” album, the long Atlantis suite from Derek’s solo album “Planet X” and solo spots from the three icons of Planet X. The most interesting track however is the first song on this album ‘Ignotum per ignotius’ which was a teaser for new things happening on the then upcoming new Planet X album “Moon babies” so it’s always nice to hear a brandnew track in order to know ‘wot’s cooking’ in the Hollywood Hills !  

Whilst this little gem has been doing it’s fair amount of rounds in my CD-player the album finally gets a well deserved official release sporting exactly the same tracklisting and material. Out on the ‘home of prog’ label Inside Out, the album perfectly illustrates the strength of the Planet X formation which has now become Derek’s absolute priority. The one thing that strikes me though is the fact that the title for the brandnew track has now changed from ‘Ignotum per ignotius’ into ‘Ignotus per ignotium’. As I’m not a specialist in this field I leave it up to the experts to decide what the difference is. From a musical perspective though it’s a perfect combination of all the right ingredients mixed into a concoction which can only be described as Planet X. Whereas one would think it’s down to drums and guitar to keep the basics and have keyboardplayer Derek Sherinian shine througout this album, you’re wrong as Derek is mainly there to keep the rock beast howling at all time without having to go over the top with incredible solo’s. When you think of solo’s then chances are they will come courtesy of Tony MacAlpine such as during ‘Inside black’. As someone who has been part of the travelling circus around superstars such as Kiss, Alice Cooper and Dream Theater, Sherinian knows he has a role to play which doesn’t necessarily give him the authorisation to get out of the obscurity and absorbe all the spotlights. So he’s constantly laying foundations together with the powerful drumming of his buddy Virgil Donati. Together they already deliver a full sound giving an enormous space for MacAlpine to do whatever he wants. Just take ‘Dog boots’ as a fine example with guest Dave La Rue grabbing some attention on bass as well.