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Progressive rock fans generally regard Barclay James Harvest as one of the leading lights in the genre, and there is no better way to experience their sound than catching them live. German and Swiss audiences play host to this selection of live tracks from the band. This CD, clocking in at just under an hour, is drawn from the much longer Revival - Live 1999 CD and constitutes a kind of best-of collection of the group's 1970s repertoire as performed in the 1990s -- a little weird that way, but then it's not as though the band made too many official concert recordings at the time. The reconstituted band included essential core members John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme, and the five-man lineup of that era was more than set up to re-create and outdo the group's original versions of the songs performed here, vocally and instrumentally. Lees' "For No One" gets an awe-inspiring performance, filled with soaring vocal and guitar parts, and is worth the price of admission by itself, and "Mocking Bird" (as it is spelled here -- no albums from any two eras seem to spell it consistently as one word or two) gets a performance as delicate as "For No One" is powerful, and the band is strong enough musically to sustain interest across over seven minutes without losing sight of the original composition. They also show themselves capable of handling more modest works nimbly, as on "Harbour." This CD is a good enough showcase for the group's overall virtues so as to make it a decent (if not 100 percent ideal) place for the neophyte to start discovering their work, but it will also pleasantly surprise (if not impress) longtime fans who may have missed the reconstituted band's work. ~ Bruce Eder
