801 LIVE

I recall that sometime in the eighties, in the record store I managed, I read in one of the mainstream music journals that this album was "thr greatest live album ever recorded". Is that so? Not in my opinion. But for an album like this to garner the praises of one of those industry stooges was quite a feat.

Despite the high praises mentioned above, this is one fantastic album. The band on this night was incredible, led by spectacular performances by the rhythm section of Simon Phillips and Bill MacCormick. The songs are great, nearly all much better than the studio originals. And even the cover songs, The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and The Kinks' You Really Got Me are show stoppers.

My only complaint is that instead of playing the Quiet Son songs East Of Echo and Mummy Was An Asteroid, Daddy Was A Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil (there's a song title for you) in their entirety, they blended them into East Of Asteroid.

I own both the original and expanded editions. While the extra songs Golden Hours and The Fat Lady of Limbourg are good, they are not quite as good as the rest of the album. But I'm not complaining.