Landmarq - Roadskill: Live in the Netherlands
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This British prog band is not exactly a household name in the US, but they should be. Now in their 25th year of existence, the band plays old-school prog as was popular in the early days of FM radio. The instrument line-up is guitar, bass, drums and keys with lead vocals from Tracy Hitchings, who can segue from innocent wonderment to Kate Bush quirky in just a few lines, and who's usual tone lies somewhere in the middle. Landmarq hit a career high with the release of their well-received Entertaining Angels album a while back and every song on this live set is drawn from that effort. Most of the songs are long, giving the arrangements plenty of time to shift gears, and most are driven by Uwe D'rose's guitar playing. D'rose never gets into histrionics but he does riff like crazy, playing sinuous slide on "Mountains of Anglia," leading the band into a rhythmic groove for "Turbulence," getting jazzy on "Thunderstruck" and playing an appropriately delicate intro on "Walking on Eggshells." Keyboards man Mike Varty has a chance to shine on "Strombrewing," his own instrumental composition that he plays on electric piano. For her part, Hitchings adds the storylines to the music with her gently evocative singing, dancing around between verses and occasionally leaving the stage during a long instrumental segment. Clocking in at about 90-minutes, the film presents great music with minimal chatter, and while it's not easy to pick just one highlight the three-part, nearly 17-minute Entertaining Angels centerpiece "Calm Before the Storm" will likely take its rightful place in the book of epic prog classics. Roadskill comes as a CD+DVD set; the DVD contains two songs not found on the CD.
Landmarq - Roadskill: Live in the Netherlands
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