LIVE ARCHIVE 05

Part of the Live Archive series, the present release features an acoustic performance recorded in 2005. The first disc of this two disc set features the solo part of the show with Steve alone on stage with his acoustic guitars. The second disc contains the second set of the evening when Steve is joined on stage by his brother John on flutes and Roger King on keyboards. While both sets are pleasant I much prefer the second trio set over the opening solo set as the latter is much more diverse and varied both instrumentally and in terms of tempos and styles. The focus is on Classical music, but they inject a bit of Jazz and Folk here and there as well as Classical adaptations of a some Genesis songs and a few similarly adapted numbers from Steve's Rock albums.

There is overall a significant overlap with the set list featured on the Hungarian Horizons DVD released a couple of years earlier. Though I prefer that DVD which doesn't split the show into a solo part and a trio part, there are a few nice surprises here not featured on that DVD. The most notable is After The Ordeal originally from the Selling England By The Pound album which is the highlight of the show for me. Other nice numbers include Andante In C (aka Tales From the Riverbank) Jacuzzi, Bacchus (including the flute solo from Firth Of Fifth), Hands Of The Priestess, Hairless Heart, Second Chance, Kim and Walking Away From Rainbows.

Good, but not essential