LIVE IN CONCERT - NEWCASTLE CITY HALL 1974

To describe this as a bootleg is wrong as the tape was off the soundboard and belonged to Blinky.

The sound quality is reasonable good throughout, although not super. Even so what you get is an utterly indispensible live document, of one of Prog's shortest lived super groups.

Of course people are going to draw comparisons with the Nice, and indeed at times there are moments that sound very Nice like. Hardly surprising, But Blinky never played this fast with Emerson, and Jackson's bass playing seems to have come on leaps and bounds in the few years between the demise of the Nice and Refugee.

What a great band, and what a shame we only have this and the studio album to listen to now.

The only minus is Lee's vocals, which were never strong, but are mostly acceptable. Technically Moraz is a better keyboard player than Emerson, although maybe just a little less lyrical. Even so he is awesome on this record, as on the brilliant studio album. The good news is that you can buy a 2 disc version of the recording with the Refugee album, at a very reasonable price.

If you do not yet own this, and are a fan of either the Nice or ELP, then really this should be your next purchase because it is awesome. 5 star music, but I will dock 1 star to take into account the less than perfect sound quality. Even so essential for all fans of symphonic prog.