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Harmony Factory (Release date 05.07.24)
In the seventies, the double live album was the apogee of a band’s career, and indeed greats like Thin Lizzy, UFO and Peter Frampton all made what most people consider their definitive record that way. So it’s entirely appropriate that the modern day purveyors of all things seventies inspired in Cats in Space have finally released their own double live package.
It also serves as a souvenir of last year’s most ambitious tour yet where they hired theatres and played two sets, and marks the end of one chapter with a change of record label and a new album ‘Time Machine’ on the horizon.
The album faithfully captures the set for that tour, which saw the first half dedicated to a near complete rendition of their biggest and best album yet in ‘Kickstart The Sun’, and the second to favourites across the previous four albums.
A track by track review is therefore not necessary. However a taped intro leads into ‘King of Stars’ with some over the top harmony arrangements like a mixture of Boston, Styx and Queen. A number of the songs sound fuller in live form and guitars heavier notably on the out and out hard rock of ‘Teenage Millionaire’.
Damien Edwards distinguishes himself on ballads ‘Hero’ and ‘1,000,000 Million Miles’ and other highlights include the pomp being regularly dialled up on ‘Goodbye To The American Dream’, plus an extended guitar outro, ‘Kickstart The Sun’ with its harmonies and subtle arrangements and another epic to close the first half in ‘Bootleg Bandeleros’.
Some of the spontaneity of a live performance is captured – you can make out a chant of ‘Dea-no’ after Dean Howard’s instrumental ‘Broken Hearted’ duet with Andy Stewart prior to ‘Scars’, and the occasional dry aside from Damien.
The second disc also opens with a pomp epic in ‘Too Many Gods’ with some harmony guitars between Dean and Greg Hart. ‘Timebomb’ boasts more big vocal harmonies and ‘Marionettes’ featuring a synth solo from Andy, is a perfect example of their epic, retro sound.
As the set wears on it becomes subtly heavier – the riffing on ‘Johnny Rocket’ feels a little more hard edged than its studio counterpart while ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ concludes with a full on rock out with duelling guitars, and the last song and encore on the night ‘I Fell Out Of Love With Rock’n’Roll’ extends to nine minutes as the band jam out.
Everything, from vocal arrangements to guitars, sounds bigger at a Cats in Space live show compared to the studio versions, and this live recording successfully brings those strengths into the light even more sharply. **** 1/2
Review by Andy Nathan
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.
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