Friday 28 May 2010

Kayak - Chance for a LIVEtime (2001)

Tracklist:
1. Close to the Fire
2. Crusader
3. When Hearts Grow Cold
4. Mammoth
5. Wintertime
6. Periscope Life
7. Sweet Revenge
8. See See the Sun (Acoustic)
9. Anne (Acoustic)
10. Anybody's Child (Acoustic)

1. Two Wrongs (Don't Make a Right)
2. Forever
3. Merlin
4. Niniane
5. Chance for a Lifetime
6. Starlight Dancer
7. Ruthless Queen
8. Full Circle

Chance Wasted – 3/10

What better way to celebrate a successful comeback is there than to release a live album where the fans can enjoy the classics mixed with the new songs and a good live ambience? It would also be the first REAL live album by the band and definitely something to look forward to. That’s exactly what I thought when I got this double-disc album from the store after managing to decrease the price, which was a good thing, since this is not something you’d want to waste much money on.

Kayak is a great band, with great and unique vocalists, but this live album just doesn’t capture it. The first thing you’ll notice immediately is... where is Max Werner? During the tour Werner was backed up by ex-VanderBerg singer Bert Heerink, and halfway he left the band and Heerink fully replaced him as the singer of Kayak. He doesn’t sing awful, not at all. But there’s something missing as he sings Werner songs. Above all, why not add some material with Werner; there have to be some recordings. It all sounds like one edited piece of pie anyways. And that’s the second problem, which I really dislike at live albums. They once again cut out all the communicating with the audience; the songs aren’t even announced, never! In the liner notes Ton Scherpenzeel so praises playing live with Kayak again and especially mentions the interaction with the audience as one of the highlights. Well show us how you do that then. Don’t fade away after a song; just let Heerink do a speech ON RECORD. This ruins entire albums. Scherpenzeel’s notes add: “This is for you to relive the memory of the tour...” Well, how can we relive it when we are estranged by the singer and we don’t hear audience speeches? There’s no live atmosphere. For all we know this could be Eyewitness Part Two.

Here’s a reason why Kayak should include the speeches, even though they’re in Dutch. Not only do they give the impression we’re listening to a live concert and not a studio LP with clappings, but also do they show how Kayak interacts with the audience. I’ve been at Kayak concerts and the speeches and talks are mostly funny and very nice to hear. So far I’ve heard only one live album by this band that understands what a live release needs, but the other joy I had to have from bootlegs. Recommended? No way. No wonder this abomination has been out of print, no one ever listens to it.

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