THIS IS WHAT WE DO - LIVE IN POLAND (DVD)

And with those words by way of introduction, Credo launch into an evening presenting their own brand of melodic neo-prog. Like so many great gigs these days, this set was filmed in Katowice, Poland in October 2008. The residents of that town and its environs are surely among the most spoilt prog fans in the world at present, thanks in no small part to some enterprising ventures by the Poland based label Metal Mind Productions.

Despite Credo's long history, they have only released two official albums, "Field of vision" in 1994 and "Rhetoric" in 2005. The latter album is featured in full here, although the tracks appear in a completely different order. Lead singer Mark Colton announces that this will be the last time the album is played in full on stage. Five tracks from the first album are also included, four of which form an extended medley (played for the first time in this way) at the core of the gig. The set is rounded off by a song earmarked for the next album with the working title of "Round and round". This means a running time for the gig of around an hour and three quarters.

Credo's music relies on lush keyboard waves, melodious lead guitar and the distinctive vocals of Colton. He may at times come across as a little like Fish without the face-paint, but any similarities with the music of Marillion are fleeting. Credo have carefully forged their own identify which comes through in a performance of full of maturity and attention to detail.

The filming of the gig is of the high calibre of other gigs filmed by the same production team. I did find though that there was a tendency to overlook the contribution made by bassist Jim Murdoch even on "A kindness", a song deemed to feature him, and keyboard player Mike Varty. The use of a remote control camera which runs back and forward across the front of the stage affords great shots of the band without being intrusive for the live audience. Talking of that audience, the Poles who were privileged to be there are appreciative and polite without ever being over enthusiastic. Colton's attempts at conversing with them or relating stories surrounding the songs largely fall flat due to the language barrier, but he takes this in his stride.

The DVD includes an informative interview with Colton and Varty, who describe the history of the band in detail. Also included are videos of the rehearsals for the gig and a sort of travelogue filmed on a hand held camcorder. Further, two videos of the band performing live at Progfest UK in 1999 and one of them at Summer's End in 2006 are also added. While these are described as bootlegs, which they are in as much as they are filmed from the audience, it seems they were probably done with the knowledge and agreement of the band, since Credo also appear in backstage footage.

An audio only segment is added, which contains the band's first (cassette only) EP release from 1992 plus a live performance from Leeds, UK in 1998.

In all, a well put together package which offers a fine overview of what Credo do.

This British band has a very long pre-history with guitarist Tim Birrell and bass player Jim Murdoch having been playing together since the early 70's. It wasn't, however, until the early 90's that they adopted the name of Credo and released their first studio album, Field Of Vision. It then took them another 13 years to create their second album, Rhetoric. This DVD release features a full live performance of the band filmed and recorded in Poland in 2008. All of the songs from Rhetoric are performed here as well as a substantial number of tracks from Field Of Vision, all but one of which are part of a medley. This release is both backward-looking and forward looking as the history of the band is explained in the bonus interview with vocalist Marc Colton and keyboard player Mike Varty and a brand new song that will appear on the next, yet-to-be-released Credo album is played in the set. As such This Is What We Do - Live In Poland is the ultimate Credo product and for most people this is probably all the Credo you will ever need. The sound and picture quality is impeccable and the DVD contains much extra material.

The music of Credo is hardly original or ground-breaking in any sense and it is fair to say that they are a rather typical British Neo-Prog band in the tradition of Marillion and the like. They don't, however, come across as a band that deliberately set out to fit into a particular narrow subgenre or sound in a specific pre-conceived way, but neither do they come across as a band that set out to bend conventions and start something brand new. Rather they simply seem to want to do their own thing and almost as a matter of coincidence they end up sounding like this. They seem to be happy with what they do and they are not trying to be something they are not. An honest and credible approach in the end, I think. Still, they are struggling to find their very own niche and identity. Singer Marc Colton does sound a little bit like Fish, but not as distinctive as the old Marillion vocalist. They sound a bit like a watered-down and tempered version of Arena without those things that make Arena so special or closer still perhaps is Shadowland in which Mike Varty also plays. The lyrical subject-matters, for example, are much more conventional than those of Clive Nolan and revolve mostly around love, (failed) relationships and emotions of loss, etc. Some of the lyrics are rather self-indulgent and naive.

All of the songs performed are good, but very few of them are above good. It is indeed hard to say something very negative about this music, but it is equally hard to be particularly impressed by it. This is clearly above average, but at the same time it is not very far above average. Credo are certainly competent musicians and passionate performers and this is a highly professional release, perfectly filmed and recorded. If traditional British Neo-Prog is your favourite type of music, you probably cannot go wrong with this fine DVD release. But the classic Prog purists should probably avoid this like the plague.

Good, but hardly essential