SONGS FROM TSONGAS: 35TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT (DVD)

For a band that once had a serious dearth of live material, we've had to wait quite some time before the sudden deluge happened, and even after the duff production of Yessongs and the rather mixed bag that was Yesshows, we've had some strange misfires amongst the gems.

However, with Tsongas, they've nailed it. The mix of material is as strange as the disk format, or the irritating song titles that serve no purpose. It's a delight to finally see Sweet Dreams and Every Little Thing, just as it is frustrating to not have Awaken, and something from Relayer would have been nice. Maybe they just wanted to have a bit of fun. That would explain the content of the acoustic set in the middle - Owner of a Lonely Heart translates better than you'd expect, and the amazing blues version of Roundabout is a real show stopper!

Other than Steve Howe's solo spot, which really is more of a filler while the set is taken down, there are none of the customary solo sets - and that's a real pity. Rick Wakeman contents himself with the odd flurry on his MiniMoog, and Alan White has a workout in the tail end of Ritual, where the percussion section is extended, but Chris Squire and Jon Anderson simply don't bother. Yes, the classic solos sequence in Starship Trooper is there, but they've always done that anyway. Its more a matter that The Clap and The Fish are not in the set list than anything else.

For all the oddities, this is a fantastic set, from a band who have been around as long as any, and share a pantheon with very few others for their achievements. Splitting the concert to 2 DVDs, when it clear fits on a single (dual layer) one, is very strange, since the extras and fillers could have easily sat on the second DVD alone. For my own amusement, I created a single DVD combining the two volumes of the concert. Nearly three hours straight through!