FLAIRCK & ORKEST

A live album with the best and worst of Flairck.......... sort of.

Two songs, each around 26 minutes long. The first song Anders dan Andersen include female vocals and is pretty muzak-like. Nothing much is really happening here and there is hardly any dynamics. The symphony orchestra also drowns out Flairck and makes this a real snore-fest. Which is a recurring theme when a symphony orchestra and Flairck meets. Flairck's trademarks and most positive features is being drowned out and eradicated from the sound. The reason why I like Flairck is because of their dynamic music. Only in glimpses, we get any dynamics here. The female vocals are good, but the orchestra kills everything in sight here. Next song, please.

The excellent Flairck song Gevecht met de Engel is the next one out.......... to be sent to the slaughter. The slaughter is being done by this symphonic orchestra which kills everything great about this song. It is a comprehensive slaughter because it is only during the last four minutes the DNA profile of this song becomes visible. Only the cover artwork tells me that this monster really is Gevecht met de Engel. The final four minutes are great though. Why ? Because Flairck is let loose here and their well known dynamic sound is given space to flow freely. Too little, too late in my view. This album is not a disaster. But can we get Flairck back now and not Flairck taken hostage by a symphony orchestra ? I remain unconvinced about the idea of mixing classical symphony orchestras with other genres. This album is a good example of a match made in hell. You can safely avoid this album.

2 stars