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Steve Hackett: Guitar, Vocals
Roger King: Keyboards
Rob Townsend: Sax, Flute, Vocals
Terry Gregory: Bass, Vocals
Gary O’Toole: Drums, Vocals
John Hackett: Flute on “Kim”
Recorded in October and November 2003 in High Wycombe, Stockholm,
Braunschweig, Croydon, Mannheim, Rotherham and Limbourg. |
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It’s a new trend for bands, to release official bootlegs. That way
they want to prevent the sales of bootlegs and also give the fan a
fine collection of gigs. First there was the “Live Archive 70, 80,
90’s” box, containing 4 CD’s, and a fifth that was released
afterwards. The second featured the Nearfest gig of 2002. This “Live
Archive 03” is the third in the series. The “03” in the title has
nothing to do with being the third edition, but it’s the live show
from the 2003 “To Watch The Storms” tour.
As usual, with any of these recordings, I have to say: “It’s a great
album for the fans who witnessed the gig and a great chance for the
fans that missed the tour”. And it really is. The sound is almost
perfect. The setlist is great, with an overview of the career of
Steve Hackett and some of his newest album “To Watch The Storms”.
It’s just a pity that the gig isn’t presented as a complete gig
without any breaks between the songs. I know, this album has been
recorded on 7 different locations, but they should have mixed it, to
present us a continuous gig. Now, it really looses its live feeling
after each track. Also, because of this, I’m missing the band banter
and spoken words by Steve. I know he doesn’t say that much, but now
every single word has been mixed away except the final goodbye.
I
would also have preferred to know which track was recorded on which
location. Only the different locations are mentioned (High Wycombe,
Stockholm, Braunschweig, Croydon, Mannheim, Rotherham and Limbourg).
It’s always enjoyable if you know which song is really from the
evening you witnessed.
All of this was present on the second album from this Archives
collection, the Nearfest show from 2002. Off course, that was one
and the same show, but it feels a lot better to have a continuous
show and to hear what Steve is telling between the songs.
But still, the music on this “To watch The Storms” live show, is
great, as usual with Steve Hackett. Great versions of “Watcher Of
The Skies”, “Kim”, “Every Day”, “Spectral Mornings” and my favourite
live song “Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite”. As on every live album,
there’s a version of “Firth Of Fifth”, but to be honest, I can’t
ever get enough of that one.
These Live Archive albums can only be bought via Steve’s website. (www.stevehackett.com
) and are real collector’s items. |
