A CONCERT FOR THE PEOPLE (BERLIN)

I bought this live CD blindless a few years ago. I had the memorable souvenir of their magnificent "Live '74" still in my mind and said to myself : this can not be bad. Of course, when you look attentively to the songlist there is little to expect. Most of the tracks come from the average "XII" and the awful "Turn Of The Tide".

Fortunately we'll get some the good ones from "XII" like "Berlin" and "Nova Lepidoptera". While the studio version from "Hymn" and its awfull orchestrations could just bored me to death, I have to say that while played life, it turned out to be very pleasant. It is again the case here (as it was on "Live Tapes").

Two great songs from their earlier repertoire will also boost this live album : "Mockingbird" of course (I guess BJH played this number at each live set since "Once Again") as well as "Child of the Universe" from "Everyone". But I am afraid that four great tracks can hardly make a great live album.

BJH was extremely popular in Germany in those days. They could have released a wonderful live album, but therefore they should have played some more older songs, which was probably not the mood of the day. To date, this the poorest BJH live. Songs like "Loving Is Easy" and "Life Is For Living" are totally out of purpose on a live release. And we are lucky that no tracks from the disgusting "Eyes Of The Universe" album are featured.

Two stars. This one would have been a great EP.