OFFICIAL BOOTLEG - LIVE IN JAPAN

ANEKDOTEN´s best era is well documented in this double live record. The start of the set with Karelia announces a concert where there´ll be lots of distorted guitars and mellotrons, joined by the perfect rhhytm section of Peter Nordins and Jan Erik Liljeström. Songs from their first two albums, with slight variations from time to time: Wheel (one of the slowest moments of the record, with the sweet ballad Thoughts in Absence) is played without the horn arrangement, and turns the middle section into a floating keyboard atmosphere; an extended version of Rubankh that grows into a heavy dark mellotronic attack accompanied by the great cello of Anna Sofi Dahlberg (unfortunately, her great cello playing seems to be set apart in their current records, so it makes this live recording even more valuable). In this record also appear Slow Fire and Groundbound as a preview of their next record, but here are much more furious and energic than in studio (it doesn´t happen, for instance, with Nucleus, which sounds as brutal as in the studio record). I listened with great surprise the two improvised instrumentals, Road to Nowhere and the outstanding Tabatah, hard jamming with a brutal ending that shows the great talent, risk and innovation they had those days (Peter Nordins´ Magma T-Shirt seems to announe what was going to happen).

One of the best live records ever. 5 stars, no doubt about it. The creativity, musicianship, originality and energy displayed in this record deserves teh highest rating. A must for any prog lover.