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Transatlantic - Kaliveoscope - a rant.


Nick C

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Sigh...much as I like Transatlantic, and have all their albums (apart from the Morse demos) this is getting a tad predictable now.

 

SMPTe

LIVE IN AMERICA

 

Bridge Across Forever

LIVE IN EUROPE

 

The Whirlwind

Whirld Tour - LIVE IN LONDON

Too Much is Never Enough -LIVE MANCHESTER / TILBURG

 

Kaleidoscope

KALIVEOSCOPE - LIVE in some other godforsaken prog stronghold (that'll be Tilburg then!) 9 months after the studio release, oh yeah the same gig in Cologne is on here too.

 

 

I dunno .... do you see a bit of a pattern here? Studio album - live album or in Whirlwinds case TWO live albums. How many will they release for Kaleidoscope ...3 live albums?

 

 

Nope my gripe is the release schedule which is getting as predictable (and cynical? or is that clinical??) as their music somewhat these days...step back from the super long songs guys, your shorter songs say so much more and are tons better than your "epics" from the last two studio albums - which are all beginning to sound the same - just prog stodge, a real pea souper of boring endless predictable solos, passages that sweep and eventually reach that all important, inevitable climax towards the end of the song, with the expected highs and lows peppered throughout - you need to re-evaluate what your trying to say rather than do what is expected of you in 20-30-40-50-60 mins!

 

Anyway back to the release schedules - there's the endless choice of formats and limited additions - Jeeeeeez they're getting nearly as good as Yes for recycling the same product (except the music falls far short of the bulk of the Yes catalogue - a couple of later/mid period albums excepted) and this recycling (good for the environment doancha know) isn't counting the Roine Stolt mixes of SMPTe (actually very nice I prefer them to the album) or the aforementioned Nel Morse Transatlantic demos.

 

I can't argue with the price of the packages really - the basic Kaliveoscope £12 for 4 discs, the media book version 6 discs for £30 is pretty good value (although if I DO eventually decide to get it as it would look nice on the shelf...ah now that may be a giveaway right there, would I play it more than once?? Curse my completist ways! - I'll wait until the price drops) ....but it seems to me that quantity is taking precedence over quality. I've noticed a few reviews emerging saying the DVD is pretty badly edited and do I REALLY need the Kaleidoscope tracks live and on top of that pretty much the same concert in a different auditorium in the same package? One disc one concert might be nice for a change.

 

Here's an idea - do a couple of studio albums, maybe 3 or 4 even and THEN release a live album - make it special rather than just the latest studio album released live intermingled with older tracks already released on earlier live albums!

 

 

I know what your thinking...if you don't like it, then don't buy it... in this case I probably won't ... I'm not biting .... yet!

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Just got the box set the other day. It's a very nice package, which is exactly the same as the 'Whirld Tour' box, except with an additional Blu-ray (for those with a Blu-ray player). I can see what you mean by a bit excessive and these types of Box set are definitely for the Completist types amongst us all, hence why they release separate DVD and CD versions for the casual fan, so you can make your choices from them and at £28 for 6 discs, is pretty ok for this package I think. It's a good concert, typical Transatlantic and presumably if you have bought it, you like this sort of long winded, muso Prog that is on offer (personally if i'm in the right mood I love it, but obviously not all the time). Otherwise this is probably the definition of pure tedium to others.

As for the marketing, I kinda like these box sets and Coffee Book editions (12" album size books with loads of pictures etc and all the discs tucked inside the cover) , Toto released a very fine one with their '35th Anniversary Tour Live In Poland' earlier in the year, as did Peter Gabriel with his 'Back To Front' live set, Dream Theater and their 'Live At Luna Park' and the Transatlantic 'Kaleidoscope' studio album was really nice too, with the bonus disc of music and DVD's as well. None were overly priced and for a die hard fan are really nice additions to have. As I said before, as long as they give you a cheaper option to buy the individual CD's or DVD/Blu-rays, then I don't have a problem at all with these, because as you say, you don't have to buy them or go down the most expensive route.

As for Transatlantic releasing a live album from every tour, that is a pretty frequent thing now with a lot of artists doing it, as the record companies know that live albums (especially for the Prog rock boys) are very popular. Bootlegs of shows are always out there, so why not make some money off the back of a tour. Of course us saddo completists with no sense, that have to have everything by a certain artist will buy the product, so as long as demand is there, they will continue to release it.

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Don't make me buy it mate (yet!)....by the way got the Toto eventually after you were badgering me to get it last time you were here...£22 inc postage so couldn't really say no at that price.

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