Pleasant but not outstanding live set
Henry R. Kujawa | "The Forbidden Zone" (Camden, NJ) | 06/02/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Rick & Adam went on the road following the WWW and NO EXPENSE SPARED albums. Another nice live set-- Wakeman has never done a bad one. Featured here are 3 songs from WWW, including "Paint It, Black", along with "Eleanor Rigby" from THE CLASSICAL CONNECTION II (so they hit The Stones AND The Beatles!), but oddly nothing from their 2nd "duo" album. In addition there's "the usual stuff" with "Catherine Howard" and "Catherine Parr" from HENRY VIII and suites from KING ARTHUR and JOURNEY. But without any vocals at all, these remind me more of the versions on Rick's underwhelming "GREATEST HITS" package than the originals. When it comes to live albums, I much prefer ALMOST LIVE IN EUROPE (with Ashley Holt on vocals) or THE PIANO ALBUM (with Rick going solo on a piano)."