CIRCUS BRIMSTONE LIVE - BRIMSTONED IN EUROPE

Another "official" bootleg from TFK. It was recorded from different concerts in Europe in April 2005. I just hoped that the audience attending these knew that they would get pure TFK intrumentals (unless, TFK only selected instrumental passages during the mixing at the Cosmic Lodge Studio but I don't think so).

TFK is a band who has generated mixed feelings in my reviews. The side I like the most, is their extremely symphonic music, deeply influenced by Yes and Crimson.

Long instrumental sections, especially the guitar-driven ones, were also able to please me.

Some songs on this album come from Roine's solo repertoire : "Cosmic Lodge" from "Hydrophonia" and "Magic Circus Of Zeb" from "The Flower Kings".

The other ones come from the traditional TFK repertoire : "Astral Dog" (from "Flower Power"), "Circus Brimstone" and "The Man Who Walked With Kings" from "Stardust" and finally "Retropolis".

Needless to say that this album is not accessible to everybody. While "Cosmic" and "Circus" are good (although that some sections during the latter are real poor, when some experimentations take place), "Astral Dog" is extremely hard to diggest : it is extended to almost fifteen minutes of the most boring stuff . A pleasant and quiet moment of relief during "The Man" is more than welcome. My preferred moment of music on this album.

"Magic Circus Of Zeb" features some very emotional guitar breaks. This is how I like TFK's instrumental parts...Needless to say that the drum solo can be skipped without any problem and shouldn't have sit here. The fan were already served with "Bass & Drum Solos" available on the other "official" bootleg "Live In New-York". Very dispensible.

I would have preferred to get a longer version of "Retropolis" which closes the album. To have reduced it to less than six minutes is not fair. This was one of best track from this very good album.

Although this album is dedicated to die-hard fans, I will upgrade it to three stars. It holds sufficient good moments to justify this. If you are quite hesitant with TFK repertoire, just stay away from this album and stick to more conventional ones.