BEYOND CONTROL LIVE

The live performances of Osiris as of entering the 90's decade became even more rare, until in 1993 the band made a short break.A few years later though they were discovered by the management of the veteran Prog label Musea, which eventually reissued the whole back catalogue of the band, making them more famous to the public.While collecting the tapes for the reissues, a live cassette of the band from 1991 came to the attention of the members.This meant to become the fourth CD of Osiris on Musea, released in 2002 with the title ''Beyond control live''.The crew performing at the Diplomat stage in Bahrein were brothers Mohammed Al-Sadeqi (guitars, vocals), Nabil Al-Sadeqi (drums) and Sabah Al-Sadeqi (lead vocals) along with bassist Ali Khonji and keyboardists Nader Sharif and Abdul Razzak Arian.

Soundwise the album was recorded live on a single tape recorder with no effects or outer interventions and for such an amateur case this one sounds pretty cool, although in several parts some of the bass lines and drum parts sound a bit buried.This would be just a collectable live record by Osiris, if it weren't for the unreleased tracks contained in here and never made it to a regular album of the band, making some sort of a must-have for lovers of the band.''Medley from tales of the divers'' is a highly symphonic potpourri from a never released 80's concept work by Osiris, coming also as a potpourri of 70's and 80's Prog wiith CAMEL-esque organs and guitars next to MARILLION-esque odd synth lines and featuring also decent vocals and some big symphonic keyboard grandieur at the latter part.''Until we meet'' is yet another hidden pearl of Osiris' repertoire, opening with some very atmospheric synths and piano lines in the vein of SOLARIS and slowly developing into a melodic, instrumental Prog Rocker with definite Neo Prog colors, especially displayed during the tireless electric solos.''Ones upon a time'' (was that a mispelling on purpose?) reminds me actually of Italian's ATON'S and ABISSI INFINITI, it's very romantic and melodious Prog Rock with light symphonic overtones and alternations between laid-back and harder textures, containing good breaks, tempo changes and some PENDRAGON-like atmospheres in the instrumental moments.Last unreleased track is ''Bird of prey'', typical of Osiris' stylings with nice CAMEL-like guitar and keyboard flashes and a fiery rhythm leading the way.The rest of the tracklist, ''Reflections'', ''Wasted'', ''Lost and found'' and ''Fantasy'', represent all three studio efforts of the band and come as a pretty nice selection of songs.

Sound quality is between average and pretty decent, music of Osiris is somewhere between decent and simply fantastic as always.Thus ''Beyond control live'' is followed by a warm recommendation, an underground effort of quality Prog Rock with symphonic textures...3.5 stars.