MIND - VOL 2 LIVE

This Swedish band is quite interesting, very hard to categorize. Some albums are mostly Fusion, some are more or less symphonic prog with album concepts and a dash of Canterbury or Camel (e.g. Sagan om den Irländska Älgen; Sagan om Ringen), some are Peter Gabriel-like art rock with vocals (MIND Vol 4), and some, like this one, are somewhere between rock and modern chamber music. This is a live 2-CD, but far from a typical rock live album. In its classical influences I'd compare the music to the Hungarian AFTER CRYING, even if the variety of instruments is not as wide. And on some tracks one could think of modern European jazz on the ECM label. Or think of some art happenings with dance, video art or something: this could be music for those purposes (and actually some pieces originally were too).

So maybe it's no wonder that at least some of this music is... how would I put it nicely, well, not exactly boring, but... too arty-farty for its own good. Background music, as one reviewer put it. There's a lot of material from Bane's previous albums but the versions differ more or less. Of those that I've now heard both versions, I can only say that there's no need for two, whichever is the better one. One thing is sure: the listener can't much feel the extra live atmosphere as on more commonplace rock live albums. In practise this doesn't feel very much live album at all, more like a compilation featuring revised versions and some previously unreleased or hard-to- find material. And even as such, quite one-sided in style. For example no vocals.

Musically this wasn't so delicious as several other Bane albums I've listened to this far. For me this served as a view into many albums new to me (and therefor I would have wanted more informative liner notes in this respect). But on other than musical levels there were many interesting things that this album introduced me into, thanks for the mentioned texts. For example monsieur Cheval who dedicated his life to building a castle with little pebbles, and a house called Junkerhaus (in Lemgo, Germany) which is like a wooden sculpture. I googled an internet page with a video of that house; indeed one cannot decide if its disturbing or charming! A couple of other themes also dealt with architecture and/or eccentric artists.

Otherwise this package looks boring inside and out, as there are so little colour pictures and so much blank space on numerous pages. Was there any band photos at all? Not sure. Anyway, I wouldn't say this is a must for fans, nor a best possible place to get into the band.