Six Of The Best!
Live album aficionado Ross Jennings selects his all-time favourite concert recordings from prog artists old and new, spanning four decades and three continents…
Yes – Yessongs (1973)
“This is Yes at the height of their golden era. I think it’s so nice that it captures that raw essence of them playing live, rather than being too perfect. That’s something Haken can learn from in future – we’re perfectionists whereas sometimes it’s the imperfections that add something.
“The rawness of the quality is one of the things I like about Yessongs, but you can still hear the nuances of the performance and I find the mix well done. Considering it’s an analogue mix, everything is separated and clear. There’s young muscle behind the performance which, understandably, you wouldn’t get from Yes these days, and the album caught something really special.
“A lot of people I’ve spoken to regard this as one of Yes’ greatest outputs. The setlist is flawless and functions as a greatest hits of their early era. I’ve seen Rick Wakeman recently and he’s still a master, but there’s something from that time that’s captured here, something you can’t put a formula to. There’s magic here – I can really hear that.
“You could argue that the album’s aged in terms of sound quality, but you could also argue the other way – you’ll never capture something like this again. It’s timeless.”
Frank Zappa – Broadway The
Hard Way (1988)
“I couldn’t go on Mastermind answering questions about Zappa, but I really appreciate what he did – he’s one of the legends of rock. I absolutely love Broadway The Hard Way. It was played to me during a great time in my life and quickly won a place in my heart as one of my favourite live records. I was in university and discovering lots of new music and collecting this whole database of stuff I love. The music here is so eclectic – it’s comedy, it’s rock, jazz, big band and swing. Sting’s on there doing a cover of Murder By Numbers – I’m a big fan of The Police so that’s cool.
“I was really into the song Any Kind Of Pain. It captures Zappa as I perceive him – this incredible musician, a director of other musicians, and a comedian. It sits quite well next to the other parts of his legacy. I have a lot of his albums but don’t own many of the live ones, and while I’m sure the purists have their favourites, Broadway The Hard Way is the one that spoke to me personally. This is the Zappa album I keep coming back to.”
Pink Floyd – Pulse (1995)
“This was one of my first experiences of getting into music seriously. My dad worked in the exhibition industry and was at Earls Court when Pulse was recorded. He’s not a huge prog fan but it became a big thing for him to see the members of Pink Floyd in the corridors backstage. He bought this on VHS when it came out, and it was a massive influence on the 11-year-old me, and led to me exploring everything Pink Floyd ever did. They played the whole of The Dark Side Of The Moon and a load of other greatest hits.
“I like all of Floyd’s stuff, but I’ve always been more a fan of David Gilmour than of Roger Waters. I love his voice, his guitar tones… that whole Division Bell era was magic for me. The light show and the other visual elements on Pulse were mind-blowing to watch, even on a VHS tape. I made sure we had a copy of the live album itself and that became a staple on our hi-fi at home.
“The music here is incredibly performed. Hearing Dark Side… from front to back was mesmerising, and the extra musicians they brought in enhanced the experience. It’s something that’s never going to happen again and it needs to be cherished.”
Dream Theater – Live Scenes
From New York (2001)
“Without doubt one of my biggest influences, one of the main reasons I’m doing this, is Dream Theater.
This is over three hours of music over three discs. They play arguably their best album, Scenes From A Memory, in full, along with other selections from their repertoire. Charlie [Griffiths, Haken guitarist] was at that show and I wish I’d been there too.
“My CD copy of this is completely weathered: it’s probably the most used disc in my collection. Some guy introduced me and Rich [Henshall, Haken’s other guitarist] to Dream Theater at a rock club and they completely blew me away. I hit HMV the next day and grabbed as many albums as I could.
“John Petrucci’s guitar solo spots always get to me, and there’s a great one before Through Her Eyes. In those days we thought Kirk Hammett was the world’s best guitarist, but John opened a new set of doors. James LaBrie’s vocal solo spot is mesmerising too. He’s a big influence on me, and the stamina he has to pull this show off is impressive.
“Listening to all this complicated music being played so perfectly and passionately is just fantastic. Again, it’s a great entry point for those who don’t know Dream Theater well. They played Acid Rain from Liquid Tension Experiment, who I wasn’t aware of before, so it also introduced me to Mike Portnoy’s extracurricular activities.
“The encore’s A Change Of Seasons, and it’s the end of an incredible, epic night.”
Rush – Rush In Rio (2003)
“I knew about Rush before this but wasn’t heavily into them. Someone lent this to me on DVD – I work visually and that’s just the way
I am – but I quickly went on to buy the album too. Rush probably have better live albums than this – I know Exit… Stage Left is considered the classic – but this is my go-to one. Through Rush In Rio, I really started taking them seriously and got into their back catalogue. There’s just something about their performance on here, and the crowd is just insane. That crowd noise is high up in the mix like nothing I’d ever heard, and it definitely adds something to the experience – it’s part of what makes it great.
“I’ve played in South America and the energy and noise the audiences make is incredible. I don’t know if it’s because they appreciate the music more or if it’s in the nature of the people, but it’s great for musicians to have that energy sent back at you. I’d love to go back there with Haken.
“Rush’s setlist is great here, and there are three discs of it! This is a really good entry point for anyone not quite as into Rush as they should be. I did see them a few times, on the Clockwork Angels tour. I’m really sorry they’ve thrown in the towel, but I’m so glad I caught them at the end of a great era.”
Pain Of Salvation – 12:5 (2004)
“This is a bit of an unconventional one. Pain Of Salvation take some of the best tracks from their first three albums and perform them in an acoustic setting in front of a live audience, à la MTV Unplugged. I’m really not sure what the consensus is among their hardcore fans, but I think they do it really well.
“It’s one of the first albums of theirs that I heard, which is quite strange, and it serves as a really good introduction to their stuff. Any part of Remedy Lane stands out to me – the instrumental Dryad Of The Woods benefits from the acoustic setting.
The mixing on their first album Entropia wasn’t to my taste, but they work in tracks from it on 12:5 and hearing them acoustically made me appreciate that album more.
“It was brave of them to do this, especially in a live setting. Not many bands would dare to try that, but they pull it off. Daniel Gildenlöw has an amazing voice, one of my favourites among the modern prog bands. What an incredible tone he has: passionate, raw and gritty, and that comes across.
“We did an acoustic show in Israel once and it went really well. The crowd was just wild – it didn’t matter how many mistakes we made! It’s definitely something I’d like to do again, and potentially record it. That’d be our acoustic album – another tick off the bucket list…”