WAKING THE DEAD - LIVE IN JAPAN 2005

This is one of my all-time favourite records. Many of these songs surpass the studio versions. And on this live recording they use a monstrous three mellotrons ! You have to hear this record, it's absolutely incredible. I couldn't belive that it's been almost 8 years between live albums. Both are essential by the way. Of the 11 songs here 2 are previously unreleased, one is from "Vemod" and 4 each from "From Within" and "Gravity". Interesting that between the two live album that we get 6 songs from both "Vemod" and "From Within", while 5 are from "Nucleus" and 4 from "Gravity".

They start with "Monolith" the opening track on "Gravity" which is album they are supporting with this particular tour. Lots of power to begin with and the guitar is prominant. Vocals before a minute. Great rhythm to this one. The mellotron is fantstic before 3 minutes. "From Within" opens with a lot of tension until before a minute when it settles in. Vocals arrive with chunky bass. Cello 2 1/2 minutes in. Relentless drumming as the mellotron rolls in. It turns into a storm after 3 1/2 minutes. A hypnotizing beat goes on and on until a change 6 1/2 minutes in. Vocals are back 7 minutes in. "Kiss Of Life" opens powerfully with mellotron as vocals come in before a minute. This sounds so amazing ! The mellotron is all over this one. "Hole" opens with mellotron that is so moving to me. It settles before a minute with vocals. Kicks back in 3 1/2 minutes in with mellotron. When it settles again it drifts along beautifully until after 10 minutes then it becomes powerful again. Nice.

"SW4" is the only track without mellotron. It has this cool, groovy sound to it. Vocals before a minute, cello follows. A calm 3 minutes in before it gets full again. One of the previously unreleased tracks "Moons Of Mars" is simply three mellotrons creating massive waves for two and a half minutes and blending right into the next song "The Sun Absolute" an instrumental that builds and builds until the dam breaks and the mellotron flows. "Ricochet" is an all time favourite for me. It's so emotional and really it has to be heard to be believed. "Gravity" has lots of atmosphere and i love the vocals before it kicks into gear. Great rhythm when it does though. The guitar is ripping it up before 5 minutes then we get an extended instrumental section that builds to a powerful ending. "This Too Will Pass" is laid back and absolutely gorgeous 1 1/2 minutes in. So moving. It kicks into a higher gear 5 1/2 minutes in. This should be on one of their studio albums. "Sad Rain" from "Vemod" of course ends this record in style. Pure bliss for me. Cello is prominant on this song later on.

They list the actual songs they played in order on those two nights February 25 & 26 in Tokyo. Both nights ended with "Karelia". I wish they had used "The War Is Over" on this album, but that's a minor complaint. Hey maybe they'll use it on their next live one.

This live CD should cement Anekdoten's status as the indisputable best band inspired by the classic "Red" Crimson sound. The performances on this disk recorded before what sounds like a smallish but very enthusiastic audience are, in a word, thunderous, even more dynamic than their studio counterparts. The rhythm section really cuts through, and the bass sound is monolithic. And of course, there are great slabs of mellotron to be heard here. The band also acquits themselves very well as tuneful vocalists. Anekdoten gives a nice overview of their career, and I'm glad they included many songs from the occasionally- maligned Gravity, their best studio album IMO and one of my favourite prog albums. The two new pieces, "Moons of Mars" and "This Too Will Pass" are moody instrumental burners in keeping with the band's later, more spacy work, and well worth the price of the CD alone. All Anekdoten admirers should pick this up ASAP, and even though you may have to look for it, I'd recommend this album as the perfect introduction to this quintessential dark prog band for those who want to try it out. You won't regret it.

The songs of this concert are drawn from the Anekdoten's third and fourth studio albums, which are my ultimate favorites from their discography at the time of writing. Also as the technical quality of this release is fine, and I was able to attend a concert of this same tour in Finland, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm really fond of this live record, which I found as vinyl copy with two LP's and a nice gatefold sleeves.

The A-side of the album starts up with the dynamic openers of their studio albums, "Monolith" and "From Within" and ending up to "Kiss of Life". Though these dramatic numbers are similar in arrangements as their studio versions, the Mellotron melodies vary creating new harmonies, and the long improvisational passage of "From Within" is interesting to listen. The B-side of the first album has then more darker moods in it, over eleven minutes long "Hole" and "SW4". The first one mentioned builds up from a very dramatic Mellotron intro (saw at Helsinki during this number slow moshing with half-minute hair sweep rates), a beautiful melodic part and a long lingering instrumental sequence leading back to the start mayhem. This is one of my most favorite tracks of the band (along with the final song of this album), suiting as a fine soundtrack for a depression disorder lifestyle. The second number has more worrying feeling in it, having some vocals from Anna-Sofi too.

The second vinyl opens with solemn Mellotron chords painting up improvisational pictures of "Moons of Mars", this vision morphing as instrumental "The Sun Absolute", which gave me associations of tension building sequences from some Dario Argento movies. Then we go back to their fourth album's material, "Ricochet" being another wonderful track full with passion and hope, featuring the nice way of building up moods with contrasting powerful parts with more quiet moments. "Gravity" relies also on very sad and strong melodies, lasting nearly ten minutes in running time. The final side of the album has the most interesting stuff, "This Too Will Pass" which is not released on any studio album, and it is an instrumental tune, sounding quite thoughtfully composed and being very beautiful too. The last number here (and also in Helsinki concert) is "Sad Rain", a really passionate and beautiful number, one of their best ones I think. It was originally written and recorded during the early days of the band, and it was released on the Japanese version of their first studio album "Vemod". I always wondered why it wasn't in broader distribution, as it's just so great composition (though I think it is available as mp3 from their official homepage). Luckily it was included to the repertoire of this tour, and is here available for the audiences.

I liked this later Japanese live recording more than their 1990's double-CD, mostly due in my opinion better songs and more experienced and firmer playing. When I attended a concert of this tour, I had few of my friends with me who are not very familiar with progressive rock, but they liked the show so much that they bought some of the band's albums after the concert. As the avant-garde destruction elements of the band changed to more dramatic and passionate mood buildings with interesting arrangements and space for free playing after the "Morte Macabre" record, which was half-Anekdoten and half-Landberk project, their music should appeal for both fans of prog and the larger audiences of more easier music too. At least here in Finland people are really minor key music fans. If you liked the albums "From Within" and "Gravity", this is a real must in my opinion.

MELLOTRON LOVERS, ON YOUR MARKS!

My two favourite albums from the band equally share four songs on this live album. I can't be more happy with this.

The sound is excellent throughout this record and the whole power of this live set is perfectly rendered. The dramatic and melancholic side of their music is greatly expressed during such brilliant songs as "From Within" and "Monolith".

What has fascinated me with this band (but only after their first two albums) is the extraordinary mellotron work. This is truly remarkable and should appeal all the lovers (to which I fully belong) Of these great sounds. While they are more expected in the symphonic genre, their use here in some harder type of music should just blow you away. Great music, indeed!

But there are absolutely no bad track available here even if "SW4" is probably the weakest of the whole. Powerful music, melodic music, fabulous music ("Kiss Of Life"). And what to say about the fantastic "Hole". Dark, spacey, symphonic. Isn't this the true meaning of eclectic?

There are two unreleased songs available of which "Moons Of Mars". Just listen to the cold mellotron harmonies featured. Just shivering, my prog friends. A jewel of a symphonic piece of art. Brilliant. They could have extended it for (almost) ever. Fascinating, really. Like the gloomy "The Sun Absolute".

To name the highlights would almost signify to name almost each track here. But "Ricochet" definitely belongs to my fave. The melody again is not forgotten and gorgeous mellotron lines add such a grandeur to this great number.

The closing number and only survivor of their early days is fully ITCOTCK oriented. Pure symphony. Do I need to mention anything about the mellotron? No? OK! But by now, I guess that you know what I mean.

This is an excellent start to discover two of their albums. The band is not really prolific (only five studio albums in forteen years) but they are very strong on stage and this "Waking The Dead" could well be one of the best live album from the last ten years.

Four stars and a half?

A few months ago I witnessed an Anekdoten gig in Uden (The Netherelands), I was standing in front of the edge of the stage on the left in order to have a perfect look on Anna Sofi Dahlberg playing the Mellotron, what a captivating contrast: her tiny fingers, creating a massive Mellotron sound! In my opinion she often surpasses the best Mellotron-drenched King Crimson moments, what a mindblowing visual and musical experience, goose bumps all the time! That was my second Anekdoten concert, a few years ago I was lucky to see Anekdoten for the first time in my life during their Gravity tour in 2004, this live CD is the Japanese part of that tour.

It's incredible how this Swedish formation turned from a King Crimson cover band into a band with an unique progrock sound, loaded with emotion, tension (between mellow and heavy parts) and dynamics (especially the adventurous rhythm section is an essential part at this point). On Waking The Dead, Live In Japan 2005 you can experience that unique Anekdoten sound in its full splendor: the one moment it sounds heavy and agressive with a thunderous rhythm-section, propulsive guitar riffs and tidal waves of violin-Mellotron (like in Monolith, From Within and Kiss Of Life) or hypnotizing with twanging electric guitar and soaring female-choir-Mellotron (during Hole, the previously unreleased track Moons Of Mars and The Sun Absolute), the other moment you can enjoy slow rhythms with a very compelling atmosphere featuring a melancholical undertone, often embellished with a lush violin-Mellotron sound (Gravity and the previsously unreleased track This Too Will Pass). The final composition Sad Rain (additonal bonustrack on the remastered CD version of their debut album Vemod) is MELLOTRON HEAVEN, strongly evoking King Crimson their most legendary composition The Court Of The Crimson King during the violin-Mellotron- drenched eruptions, goose bumps again! A great end of an exciting, often very compelling concert that can compete with that other awesome live album Official Bootleg Live In Japan.

NOT TO BE MISSED BY ANY SERIOUS TRON-MANIAC!!

I am NOT a fan of live albums, in general, but the previous reviewers of this album were so enthusiastic about this one that I decided to try it (as difficult as it was to procure) as my first Anekdoten disc. (I've been listening to and really enjoying the samples I've been hearing through the web but heretofore hadn't purchased any of their music outright.) I agree with Heptade that these renderings surpass those of their studio recordings--even my fave, "Hole." Every prog-lover should experience the amazing mellotron work of "Moons of Mars" and its sister "The Sun Absolute." Spine-tingling is right!! Everytime I listen to this disc (which I have over fifty times now) I hear new things--nuances and cadences, instrumental subtleties that I'd not heard before (and Anekdoten is, if anything, a group of extraordinary subtlety). There are few groups out there I'd pay to see live at this stage of my life, but this is one of them. I would love to be in a room with the waves of mellotron filling the space, building and building as they echo off the walls. Also, is it my imagination, or has Nicklas Barker's voice/vocals been improving with time/age? An masterpiece of progressive rock music; essential to anyone's collection. Five stars.

Waking The Dead is the second Anekdoten live album. It shows a further growth of their known live competence; especially the vocals have become much stronger since the previous live album. Again there is a mix of known songs from recent albums and a number of gems that are not or hard to find outside this release.

The familiar material is performed truthful to the originals but it benefits from the live adrenaline bonus. The band plays tightly and depending on the occasion either subtle or powerful. The album production is a bit below studio standards but competent enough. The performances are at least as good. Niclas vocals on Kiss of Life are still grating but less so then on the From Within original. Hole is as mesmerizing as it's always been.

The first track unique to this concert is the short mellotron gathering Moons of Mars. It reverts to the fascinating cinematic atmospheres of the Morte Macabre project and serves as an intro into one of my favorite instrumental moments from Anekdoten, The Sun Absolute. The second previously unreleased track is This Too Will Pass, a delightful instrumental that investigates the pensive moods of post-rock. The album ends with Sad Rain, an early Anekdoten piece that doesn't appear on the regular album releases and that you shouldn't miss here if you don't have it yet.

I'm not too fond of the live album format but Waking the Dead has got the goods. The performances are excellent and, Sad Rain included, there are 3 rare tracks that are hard or not to be found anywhere else, essential enough to turn this into a 4 star live album for me.

The seventies were not only a golden era for progressive rock but also for live albums with many bands equalling, or even surpassing studio versions of songs on classics such as Made In Japan (Deep Purple), Yessongs (Yes) and All The World's A Stage (Rush) to name three, which of course is only the tip of the iceberg. Since then great live albums have been far less frequent, seemingly often tampered with so much in the studio that they lose the live feel that these great albums exuded and end up just sounding like inferior rehashes of studio versions with added crowd noise. A band that are a rare exception to this rule are Anekdoten who have not only released one great live album but two. Waking The Dead - Live In Japan 2005 is the second of these and was released some seven years after their first (not including the live ep) so no accusations of live album overkill like some bands I could mention can be levelled at them.

Both live albums are essential for the Anekdoten fan as there's no repetition in tracks between them. Where as Official Bootleg focused on their first two albums this one largely concentrates on albums three and four, From Within and Gravity.

Musically Anekdoten are at the heavier end of the prog spectrum, their first two albums in particular had clear King Crimson influences but by the time From Within and Gravity emerged they were displaying much more of their own identity in their sound, the music now more haunting, the riffs less angular and often locking into hypnotic grooves. Check out Hole and The Sun Absolute here for the proof of which there are superb versions. Mellotron lovers will be in heaven as Anna Sofi Dahlberg covers each track in all- encompassing waves. A particularly welcome inclusion is Sad Rain, a song that could have sat easily on King Crimsons In The Court Of The Crimson King album. Until the release of 2009's Chapters compilation the only way fans of the band could own this excellent song was on the Japanese version of their debut Vemod or here. Another bonus is the inclusion of two unreleased tracks, the first being Moons Of Mars, a mellotron only composition which though short forms a nice introduction into The Sun Absolute. The second is This Too Will Pass, another instrumental which while not destined to be an Anekdoten classic is still very worthwhile.

In common with those previously mentioned great seventies live albums the sound here really captures the excitement and feel of a live show; as they explode into Monolith at the start of the cd it's like having a front row seat, such is the power it exudes.

A big disappointment for me is that I've never managed to see Anekdoten live. Thankfully I have this brilliant cd (and Official Bootleg) as more than adequate compensation.

Upon my deliberation of what Anekdoten live release to acquire first I picked the 2005 Waking The Dead Based on the high praise it has received up to this point. I was also somewhat uncertain about the whole Official Bootleg part of the title that was added to the band's 1998 live album (not to mention the hefty $14 price difference), even though the track-list featured there felt much more familiar to me. The set-list here consists almost entirely of the albums From Within and Gravity which I consider to be good but not as appealing to me as their first two albums. I guess that I also wanted to find a new reason to like the second stage of Anekdoten's career therefore I, once again, jumped in head first without any preconceived expectations!

My first reaction was related to the sound quality that wasn't top notch and lacked the punch I was so accustomed to with other live recordings in recent years. Fortunately it didn't ruin this album since the current production softens down the sound making it work surprisingly effective with Anekdoten's luscious and mellow sound. Unlike my own concert experiences of the band where drums and bass always overshadowed guitars and Mellotron this is definitely not the case here and if anything I would say that the complete reversal of that scenario can be observed here.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the studio versions of this material, the live setting did enhance these songs. I was especially pleased with the version the instrumental called The Sun Absolute that not only felt much more atmospheric than it did on From Within but now it was also accompanied by a nice intro Mellotron track titled Moons Of Mars. I happen to be one of the few people who cheaped out and only bought the original version of Anekdoten's debut album Vemod meaning that I haven't actually heard the wonderful bonus track called Sad Rain that was added to the later reissues of that album. This is a mistake that I do regret now that I've heard this gorgeous live take. Fortunately the band did foresee this problem and added a alternate version of Sad Rain on their 2009 compilation album.

I'm pleasantly surprised by Waking The Dead - Live In Japan 2005 and would like to add my voice to the legion of enthusiastic reviews that this live album has received. Even if you're just like me and find it difficult to enjoy the slow but steady shift of direction that Anekdoten has been going through ever since the release of From Within I still recommend giving this one a try. Who knows, maybe it will help us gap the bridge between the two eras of this great band development.

***** star songs: Kiss Of Life (4:44) The Sun Absolute (5:17) Sad Rain (12:04)

**** star songs: Monolith (6:26) From Within (7:58) Hole (11:17) SW4 (6:00) Moons Of Mars (2:39) Ricochet (5:53) Gravity (9:27) This Too Will Pass (7:09)

Japanese people had a wonderful and unique night, I am sure!

One of the things I will always thank to this site, is that here I've known a lot of bands, some great, some just nice, some not really good, and some of them, like Anekdoten, essential to my ears. Fortunately I managed to listen to this band some years ago when my prog knowledge was limited (is still limited, actually) to the big old bands, so when I discovered them, I felt perplexed and excited, because I was listening to something I've never experienced before. Since then, my love for Anekdoten has increased until now I can say they are one of my top 5 bands ever.

A couple of years ago I found and bought this live CD, which was released in 2005, and recorded the same year from a concert in Japan. Now I can say that it is also one of my favorite live albums, because since the first time I listened to it, I felt caught by their music, their intensity and power, their delicate but strong sound, to the point that I have dreamt that Anekdoten came once more to my country (Mexico). I hope they'll do it soon.

This extraordinary four-piece band have managed to create extraordinary music, with a heavy sound but tempered by their distinctive mellotron. What one can listen in this concert, is just a proof of their grandiose ability to gather both, the music and the audience, in one only body, one only world.

"Waking the Dead: Live in Japan" features eleven songs and a total time of 78 minutes. Nine out of those eleven tracks were taken from their previous albums, but "Moons of Mars" and "This too will pass" were unreleased songs that the Japanese could appreciate first than anybody. What I love from this live show, is that since the very first track they put me on the mood and make me enjoy every single second of their music, it is like a long trip divided in nine stories, which will make me smile and feel happy through those 78 minutes.

Here you can appreciate and enjoy songs like "Hole" or "The Sun Absolute" taken from their "From Within" album, "Ricochet" or "Monolith" off their "Gravity" and the mighty and classic epic entitled "Sad Rain" taken from their debut album "Vemod". The heavy sound they create and the intriguing atmosphere offered, may cause you goosebumps, so be ready to experience one awesome, strong and not weak at all concert from this marvelous Swedish band. Put your headphones on, and "let the music do the talking".

Sometimes words are not enough to express what you feel, but well, this live album is unique and remains as one of my gems, I simply love it. Probably my personal favorite moment is when Hole" sounds, at the middle of the song there is a passage that take me to another time and space, I simply open my senses and feel what the music offers. I highly recommend it to any progressive rock fan. My final grade will be five stars.

Enjoy it!

Something about Japan - and perhaps more specifically the experience of stepping onto a Japanese stage in front of an audience of enthusiastic local fans - seems to bring out the best in Anekdoten. As with the earlier Official Bootleg, Waking the Dead captures them in the course of a Japanese tour - this time in 2005 - and just like with that album, the live context and atmosphere really helps bring their music to a level they've only fleetingly been able to capture on their studio albums.

This time around, Anekdoten dip their toes into some almost post-rock-esque sections, especially in their quieter moments, and between that and the setlist of more recent songs this album has enough of a different sound from the preceding Official Bootleg that the two releases complement each other magnificently.