ICEBERG EN DIRECTE

I must admit it seems strange to me to release a live album that is only 35 minutes long, but apparently they only wanted to release the live songs that weren't on any of their studio albums. So we get three long tracks.This was recorded live in Madrid and released in 1978. It doesn't measure up to the studio albums "Coses Nostres" or "Sentiments" but there's enough here to warrrant a low 4 star rating in my opinion.The guitar and keyboards are the focus as usual with this band and they certainly do not disappoint on this one.The album cover appeals to me as well.

"Oh ! Un Anec Simfonic Ones" is the almost 18 minute opener.The home crowd can be heard cheering wildly as the album starts. It then turns quiet as the guitar comes in followed by bass, drums then synths.This actually reminds me of BRAND X here. A calm after 2 1/2 minutes as the piano leads.You can hear the crowd cheering in the background.The sound builds and this does sound pretty amazing. Love the guitar. Another calm with synths before 7 1/2 minutes as the crowd noise becomes evident once again. It builds and we get some ripping guitar 8 1/2 minutes in then it's like the song ends but then they start up again with a different melody before 10 1/2 minutes.This is more laid back.It settles more 12 minutes in then the guitar starts to light it up 13 1/2 minutes in. It settles back again 15 1/2 minutes in.Great tune !

"Canco Per Qualsevol Orquestra" has a bit of a funky rhythm to it. Piano before 2 minutes then the guitar leads. Piano is back as they take turns leading.

"Histories" is the almost 11 minute closer.This actually reminds me most of what I like about this band. Cheering to start then atmosphere with piano to for about a minute, then the guitar and drums kick in hard. Great sound here. Synths to the fore at 4 minutes.The guitar is back after 5 1/2 minutes and he proceeds to rip it up. A calm after 8 minutes with atmosphere then it kicks back in again. It ends before 10 minutes but then they return for a short piece that seems to end abruptly.

Just simply some killer playing on this one and it's cool to hear these new tracks as well.

This is a very odd live album, it consists entirely of songs which were never released in studio version, it is only 35 minutes long and its 4-and-a-bit songs are taken from 5 different concerts in Bilbao, Oviedo, Reus and 2 concerts in Madrid, separated with fade outs. As a consequence it does not provide any feeling of rendering the experience of watching an Iceberg's live concert, and in this respect as a live album it fails. And yet, the music is good enough to give it 3.5 stars which I'm rounding up to 4 to differentiate from the purely 3 stars I give to the following Arc-En-Ciel.

Side A in the LP is by far the best and consists actually of 2 songs which have been merged as a single 18 min track on CD. "Oh, Un Anec Simfonic!" (Oh, A Symphonic Duck!) is the first 9 min section, it starts funky but gradually gets more proper fusion, with good melodic lines. Then the soloing section comes, first with a powerful guitar solo by Max Sunyer but less aggressive than his solos in the album Coses Nostres, followed by the synth solo by Kitflus. At 8:00 it gets soft again showing good dynamics before ending at 9:13 minutes. The second 8:45 section is the song "Ones" (Waves), a great mellower track with nice melodic phrases, alternating guitar and keyboard solos which after a crescendo merge into synchronized soloing, again very good dynamics, reminds me of Brand X. The playing ability of the guys is as impressive as always and the rythmic section terrific, especially the drumming of Jordi Colomer.

Side B is still very good but relatively weaker showing the trend which would continue in Arc- En-Ciel, less melody and more soloing, and a more standard jazz-rock feel and less fusion. "Cancó Per Qualsevol Orquestra" (A Song For Any Orchestra) follows this more straightforward jazz-rock direction, the beginning reminds a bit of the Dixie Dregs, it has good alternating solos of guitar and keyboards but it lacks melody and passion. The last track "Histories" (Histories) is based on a fast drumming rhythm, half samba and half Dixie Dregs bluegrass, it has good structure with a calmer section, crescendo, rhythm breaks, synchronized soloing and coda to the main fast theme, but overall it lacks a bit of inspiration. The album ends very oddly with a fade-in-and-out of some 30 seconds from their track "La Flamenca Electrica" from the album Coses Nostres, one of their best known melodies, but I have never understood what it does here, probably because after listening to 4 tracks which nobody knew before, it serves to remind that we were listening to an Iceberg album.

Very good fusion but less good that their first 3 albums.