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Stathis N. Panagiotopoulos

Daniel Bengtsson

John Garmland

Hans van der Meiden

Hein Bierman

Fabio Fickle

RicardO

Jerome Niquille in French

Garry Smith saw the show

Horns?! Roger Glover explains

Highlights in Realaudio 3.0

LATO'96 - review

Last week I got LATO'96. I've played it a couple of times, and here's a short review.

Since I haven't been to any of the SM-era concerts, I was quite eager to find out what a DP-show is like these days. If LATO '96 is indicative for the quality of the whole tour, it really must have been something! A while ago I posted my thoughts on a new live album, and stated that I was afraid it would be another CHOHW - nice enough for the trueblooded fans, but not something to impress your friends with. This LATO album turns out to be something that will impress everybody (maybe even your parents).
The sound quality is OK - low and nicely cavernous bass, growling organ but in places too little guitar. Nice clear drums and vocals.
The performance is quite good. In general I favor the older songs (Pictures of Home, Maybe I'm a Leo, When a Blind Man Cries), over the Purpendicular ones: the former sound very fresh and lively, the latter follow the studio versions quite closely. The horns are a nice touch, but not something I would want to hear on every show. The solo spots are quite short, but that's OK with me. You get the general impression of the band and the audience having a very good time - there's some nice stuff in between the songs. Why isn't this album titled Live between the Witches' Legs or something like that?
In all: It's not the new MiJ, but it's certainly worth the money, and not only for passionate collectors. Although I'm not too wild about SM's style of playing, it's obvious that his membership has given the band plenty of new energy. It looks like DP is very much back on track.

Hein