THE VERY VERY BOOTLEG LIVE IN LILLE FRANCE 1992

Pendragon release live albums and DVDs fairly regularly, and for good reason: they're a great live act, their songs translate to the stage excellently, and Nick Barrett is a superb frontman.

Unfortunately, this isn't quite captured on The Very, Very Bootleg - perhaps named as such because the band weren't too thrilled with it. It strikes me as something knocked out to bulk out the Toff Records catalogue, to tide the band over until they could release The Window of Life. Don't get me wrong - despite the name, the production values aren't bad at all, and the band don't butcher their songs. It's just that the track selection is bizarre (two songs from Kowtow and nothing from The Jewel? Only two songs from The World?) and the warmth of, say, 9:15 Live simply isn't there - unlike that album, Nick's banter and interactions with the audience simply isn't included. It's good, but it's not great, and if you have The World you have better versions of the best songs on this already.