THE NIGHT WATCH

Released in 97 a few years after the four CD box set the Great Deceiver, I waited quite a long time to decide between those two, not being able to make a choice. Then came a stroke of lucking scoring this for next to nothing. This was therefore not a choice, but an opportunity, dictated by lady luck and mister chance;-).

The interesting fact about this live release is that it is taken from only one night at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 73 just after the release of the SABB album, and the sound is simply fantastic. If most of the first disc is concentrating on SABB tracks with one improv from that album, the second disc is definitely more axed towards L'sTIA and gets my preference. Lovely to hear Exiles and Talking Drum live, as well the two tile tracks. Two improvs are also including still drawn from SABB tracks and unfortunately lack the impact and energy of USA's Asbury Park. However the first disc ir IMHO weaker because of a greater presence of weaker tracks (IMHO) like Book Of Saturday and Lament. The obligatory Schizoid Man being just average.

I still do not know, if I have made the right choice, but I think that as a fanatic, the ultimate choice is to ALSO get the Great Deceiver box-set.