After three studio albums, Karnataka must have thought that it was high time to make a live album, and rightly so. This CD, ‘Strange Behavior’, is the perfect anthology from the repertoire of this symphonic rock band. Actually, this is the album that everyone has been waiting for. Even though the music is still what you imagine it to be, the studio albums were always a bit too clean and polished and even too well produced. People who know and love the band will know what I’m talking about. Luckily, this ‘defect’ can be corrected. On this album, they should sound just like you hear them: deliciously symphonic, but with the necessary rough edges of the guitar. Because of this, the CD has become a real guitar album, but without the endless flim flam that some other guitar albums have fallen prey to. Every guitar lover will agree that the solos, riffs and loops are to die for. Paul Davies knows how to dish it out. This is the ideal mix for the symphonic rock lover: atmospheric and well thought out compositions with the right feel for melody, harmony and song structure and then sprinkled with divine guitar solos, all performed by talented musicians. From a vocal perspective, Rachel Jones, together with Anne-Marie Helder, carries the album to a high level, as well. 

This album is therefore the ticket to the music of Karnantaka for the rest of the world who is not yet familiar with them. There should be a sticker on the CD for those who want to try something new or have been putting off buying it. And that sticker would read: “Caution. The music on this CD could change your musical tastes for the rest of your life.”