STRANGE BEHAVIOUR

"Strange Behaviour" is the debut live album of Karnataka and was released in 2004. It was recorded in November 2003 and it has tracks from the first three studio albums of the band, "Karnataka" released in 1998, "The Storm" released in 2000 and "Delicate Flame Of Desire" released in 2003. So, this is an album that represents the band's first musical era.

"Strange Behaviour" is a double live album with nineteen tracks. The first track "Intro ? Karnataka (Excerpt)", as it name indicates, is an excerpt of the track "Karnataka" originally released on their third studio album "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The second track "Time Stands Still" was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The third track "After The Rain" was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The fourth track "Crazy" was originally released on their eponymous debut studio album "Karnataka". The fifth track "Dreamer" was originally released on their second studio album "The Storm". The sixth track "Heaven Can Wait" was also originally released on "The Storm". The seventh track "The Right Time" was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The eighth track "I Should Have Known" was also originally released on "The Storm". The ninth track "Delicate Flame Of Desire" was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The tenth track "These Dreams Are Over" was never released on any studio album of the band. The eleventh track "The Storm" was also originally released on "The Storm". The twelfth track "Must Be The Devil" was also originally released on "Karnataka". The thirteenth track "Strange Behaviour", which gave its name to "Strange Behaviour", was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The fourteenth track "Everything Must Change" was also originally released on "The Storm". The fifteenth track "Talk To Me", as happened with "The Dreams Are Over", was never released on any studio album of the band too. The sixteenth track "The Journey" was also originally released on "The Storm". The seventeenth track "Tell Me Why" was also originally released on "Karnataka". The eighteenth track "Heart Of Stone" was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire". The nineteenth track "Out Of Reach" was also originally released on "Delicate Flame Of Desire".

The line up on "Strange Behaviour" is Rachel Jones (vocals and percussion), Anne-Marie Helder (harmony vocals, flutes and percussion), Paul Davies (lead guitar), Jonathan Edwards (keyboards), Ian Jones (bass and acoustic guitar) and Gavin John Griffiths (drums and percussion).

"Strange Behaviour" brilliantly presents the band's sound and where all the aspects of the band live performance are present here. So, we have the voice of Rachel. Her voice cuts through the mix like a knife coated with honey and she is in fine form throughout. Bringing freshness to the older material, Anne-Marie's counterpointed harmony vocals brings the material alive. In many cases it's akin to having two lead vocalists. The two singers combine together beautifully. Besides that, the flute work of Ann-Marie provides a new vital colour to many of the old material of the band, which is particularly evident on "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Storm". All this reveals the importance of her presence for the band shines through. Davies' guitar work here is magnificent. The live renditions of the material from "Karnataka" and "The Storm" is brightly changed, at times hard rocking, at times deeply melodic and other times revealing epic sweeps of sound. As we could expect of an album made during the tour to support the band's latest studio project, it presents all tracks of "Delicate Flame Of Desire", except one. They are faithful renditions in the main, but fans of the band will be pleased. Finally, the recording of the instruments is from first class and the band performances are also from top flight.

About the two new tracks, "The Dreams Are Over" is a delicate track with a rousing chorus that sure will to become a favourite song amongst their fans. "Talk To Me" is the first song credited to all six band's members and over the nine minutes of the song there are some excellent musical passages. It provides the inclusion of a shawn, a double reeded musical instrument supposedly developed in Baghdad during the middle ages and performed by Anne-Marie Helder.

Conclusion: If you are a fan of Karnataka you'll be delighted with "Strange Behaviour". It has almost everything that a live album should have. But, if you aren't yet a fan of the band then "Strange Behaviour" is an excellent place to start. It's worthy of the inclusion amongst some of the classic's live albums of the past thirty years. If it hadn't been for the annoying and totally unnecessary inclusion of two bonus tracks tagged onto to the end of the last track "Out Of Reach" (that I didn't realize at the first auditions and that they should have been individually sequenced and informed as part of the live album proper, the silence before these tracks is very enervating and unnecessary), it would have been near perfect. Thus, "Strange Behaviour" is a live album well representative of their entire career, at the time. It became the best and most representative album of their debut line up. So, it became the most representative testimony of that era.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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