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EVERGREY: A Night To Remember

Release

Style

This is my first cd review and I must say that it isn’t really easy to start off with a live album. I am however more than happy that Evergrey is the first group I am allowed to review, since it’s one of my favourite ones (if not THE favourite). It’s not that I know them from the start, but I have listened to all of their CD’s a lot.

To start with, the quality of the CD is superb next to some other live albums I’ve heard. You can hear every instrument clearly and I think that’s one of the main intensions. Another intension is the atmosphere of an Evergrey concert. Have they succeeded?

Yes and no: Tom Englund motivates the audience really well, especially in “The Masterplan”, but he doesn’t do it a lot. In fact, there’s not much banter on this disc, while I expect a lot of that on live albums (e.g. Blind Guardian).

Second, I really like the intro. Compared to other live albums, where they always use an intro from one of their studio albums, Evergrey uses an intro which I haven’t heard yet. In the intro, you first hear a child crying (which reminds me of the cover of the “Recreation Day” album). After that, your can finally hear the audience cheering while the music starts. This consists of tinkling bells with a bass drum. This bass drum is part of the tape and isn’t played by drummer Jonas Ekdahl.

Also one particular choice of song surprised me, namely “For Every Tear That Falls” from the “The Dark Discovery” album. I personally think there are better songs on the CD (not that the song is bad, not at all). Also, they didn’t play “The Great Deceiver”. Not that I missed the song (there are enough songs to compensate), but I thought that it was one of the songs they always played live (just like “The Masterplan”).

The band members all play their best and often step away from what they play on the studio albums. One minor point is that Jonas Ekdahl plays metal, even when it’s a very silent song (e.g. “Waking Up Blind”). But the more you listen to this CD, the less it bothers.

As a conclusion, I have always considered live albums as some sort of ‘best of’-CD’s, and this album is no exception. Some ‘crucial’ songs however, such as “The Great Deceiver”, are being left out but that doesn’t really bother, because they’ve got enough good songs. And if you want all of their best songs, then you’ll just have to buy all of their CD’s (they haven’t got a lot of them … yet).

Musicians

Tom S. Englund (guitars and vocals)
Jonas Ekdahl (drums)
Michael Hakansson (bass)
Rikard Zander (keyboards)
Henrik Danhage (guitars)
Guest
Carina Kjellberg (Tom’s wife): vocals on “For Every Tear That Falls”

CD1:
Intro (1:38)
Blinded (4:45)
End Of Your Days (4:38)
More Than Ever (5:17)
She Speaks To The Dead (4:16)
Rulers Of The Mind (5:33)
Blackened Dawn (4:04)
Waking Up Blind (4:05)
As I Lie Here Bleeding (4:42)
Misled (7:24)
Mark Of The Triangle (6:57)
CD2:
When The Walls Go Down (5:28)
Harmless Wishes (4:38)
Essence Of Conviction (6:07)
Solitude Within (5:47)
Nosferatu (5:41)
Recreation Day (7:24)
For Every Tear That Falls (5:22)
Touch Of Blessing (7:18)
The Masterplan (11:13)

Monday Morning Apocalypse (2006)
A Night To Remember 2 DVD (2005)
A Night To Remember 2 CD (2005)
The Inner Circle (2004)
Recreation Day (2003)
In Search Of Truth (2001)
Solitude, Dominance, Tragedy (1999)
The Dark Discovery (1998)

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Last updated: 14/03/2006 .
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