LIVE AT HIGH VOLTAGE FESTIVAL

Few would have realised it at the time, but this live release ended up being a preview of things to come for Spock's Beard, as well as a celebration of their past. Jimmy Keegan had been filling in on the drums for their live shows ever since Nick D'Virgilio had taken over as lead singer following the departure of Neal Morse, though Nick was still serving behind the drum stool in the studio.

For his part, Nick was unable to make this festival appearance (or a Swedish one in the previous month) due to clashing commitments with Cirque du Soliel - which would lead to him officially leaving the band some months after this live show, when he realised that something had to give.

That decision might have been made easier by this show - because stepping into the breach was Ted Leonard of Enchant, who would go on to take the lead singer's spot in Spock's Beard full time. Thus, the Beard not only had someone to cover for Nick for these shows, but were also effectively use this as Ted's audition, testing him out both with their material and in front of the live crowd.

A further point of interested is added by the presence of Neal Morse on the last two tracks. Neal's solo band had been appearing at the same festival, with his set occupying a similar slot to Spock's Beard on the previous day, and he and the band were only too happy to take the opportunity to have a little onstage reunion. He's since had occasional appearances with the band both live and in the studio, but it's always been very clear that this has been as a "special guest" capacity rather than displacing any of the existing band members.

For a keen Spock's Beard fan, then, there's good reason to be interested in this release - but there's some caveats to bear in mind. Unfortunately, the sound on the album isn't what it could be; it clears up by the end, but On a Perfect Day sounds particularly poor. This is a by-product of the process used to record it: Concert Live's schtick is that they're able to record a live concert, burn it to CD quickly, and sell the live recording right to fans after the gig's done. This obviously means there's no real capacity to do overdubs, adjust the mix, filter out the sound of the audience, or otherwise give the recording much love. If you must have a raw recording of the gig, complete with the sort of sound issues you'll often run into in a hurried festival performance, here it is - but I wouldn't say this is especially essential unless you want a souvenir of this crucial moment in the band's history.