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Album cover
Artist: Colin Bass
Title: Live At Polskie Radio 3
Label: Oskar/Kartini
Length(s): 43+50 minutes
Year(s) of release: 1999
Month of review: 06/2000

Line up

Colin Bass - vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Dave Stewart - drums
Emilia Derkowska - vocals
Zbyszek Florek - keyboards
Marcin Blaszczyk - keyboards
Szymon Brzezinski - guitar, acoustic 12-string
Maciek Meller - guitar
Radek Scholl - bass on 6,7 (cd 1) and 3,4,6,7 (cd 2)
Jacek Zasada - flutes

Tracks

Disc 1:
1) Introduction By Piotr Kaczkowski 0.52
2) City Life 5.09
3) Refugee 3.45
4) Hymn To Her 5.30
5) Macassar 6.38
6) As Far As I Can See 6.52
7) Goodbye To Albion 7.17
8) Aissa 6.01
9) Denpasar Moon 4.20

Disc 2:
1) No Way Back 7.39
2) Holding Out My Hand 6.56
3) Burning Bridges 5.00
4) Reap What You Sew 7.21
5) Drafted 4.28
6) Cloak And Dagger Man 4.09
7) Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine 3.22
9) Trying To Get To You 2.04

Summary

I saw them live some time ago on the tour that came after this live show in Poland for radio. At the time I was quite impressed by the concert I saw and I admit liking his album more than for instance Camel's Rajaz.

The music

After an introduction to the band, the band starts off with the familiar tones of City Life from Camel's Nude. The song is quite similar to the original, except maybe for the rather aggressive guitar solo at the end. Refugee, also a Camel track, is a bit bouncy here and not terrible interesting. After the anthemic Hymn To Her we finally get some Bass music. The vocals are a bit off key here at times, especially in the higher regions. The jazzrock interlude brings the piece to life a bit, and of course melodically nothing wrong with this track, being one of the more likable pieces from I Can See Your House From Here (that also includes the monumental Ice). Finally a Bass track, the instrumental opener of the Outcast album called Macassar. It starts out a bit mellowy with some soothing playing on the bass. At first the song strikes me as less blistering as the studio version, but it has its wilder moments. The order of the tracks from the Outcast album is exactly that of the studio album, but with some tracks left out. We continue with the relaxed As Far As I Can See (which was also on single). Accompanied by some bluesy guitar playing this is a relatively subdued track. Again the vocals sound a bit insecure. It shows that this is not the umpteenth concert by the band. Goodbye To Albion is a long folky piece. Well, you can of course read the review of the studio album, because to me the differences are that large. An optimistic singalong track, which I happen to like very much for some reason. As a subject it seems this song might have fitted also on The Harbour Of Tears, because it seems the protagonist is leaving England for some other place. Aissa is a moody one with lots notes on bass and some keyboards in the back. Very sparse, but fortunately the audience is quiet. This album closes with the Indonesian hitsingle Denpasar Moon. Good that someone shows that simple tracks need not be boring and hitsingles are not necessarily trash.

The second disc continues the Bass tracks with No Way Back, the opening of which is a blistering piece of guitar. The final part sounds rather classical. Maybe this part is taken from one of the classical interludes of the studio album that are not on this album. Holding Out My Hand opens bluesily. This track is a bit in the style of As Far As I Can See: slow, subdued, moody. The track has the only progressive keyboards of the studio album. Burning Bridges is also one of the better tracks on the album with its drive and the use of (synthetic) strings. Quite intense. Reap What you Sew is not the strongest of the tracks with its electric country tinge and the repetitive vocal part. Back to the Camel music now with Drafted in which Bass has some problems with the higher regions. We also visit Stationary Traveller again Cloak And Dagger Man. After the quirky Your Love Is Stranger Than Mine we come to the blues rock of Poznan Pie. Not very melodic this track and not very appealling either. Live it may be fun, but for the record, no. The album closes with Trying To Get To You, also the closer of the studio album. An acoustic track that is a little less melodic than we are used to.

Conclusion

The downside of this live abum are the vocals that sound more insecure and sometimes a bit off key compared to the studio album. The fact that there are some Camel tracks on this album does not help me much, because I have the original versions. People knew to Bass I would suggest to go out and buy the studio album. Completists have this album I would suppose, but people who liked the Outcast album and where wondering whether they would buy the live album I can tell that the only Bass track that you gain is the rocky Poznan Pie and this is really something else. The gain of this album is then a bit less than I would have hoped. Maybe a recording of a later concert would have been more appropriate, because in that case the music has had the chance to evolve somewhat. All these more or less negative comments hold more for the merit of these versions, not the merit of the songs, because notwithstanding the fact that the music is quite accessible, the songs are good, in fact it is, however sad it may sound, one of the few albums that I return to at times.
© Jurriaan Hage