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King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents... Review
07/13/2005 5:38 AM, AMG
An October 14, 1977 concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Harry Rabinowitz. The group had already done a live album with a 30-piece orchestra from Carnegie Hall, but this performance is, in some respects, better. The older songs are a curiosity, with "Can You Understand" performed in a version more expansive (the horns of the RPO add a lot) but less taut than the original recording. "Carpet of the Sun" is similarly broadened from the studio original, but is lacking the bite of the original. But the "Song of Scheherazade" finally comes into its own here, in a performance superior to either the studio original or the Carnegie Hall version -- the piece acquires some stature here, and is played and sung with more passion and feeling than any previously released rendition, though it also seems more pretentious and bombastic than ever as well, dating from a time when progressive rock's reach exceeded its grasp. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
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