Flying Circus - 2022 - A Live History

(76:54; Flying Circus)

Track list:
1. The World Is Mine 8:35
2. Fire (I Wanna Go) 5:42
3. More Than One 6:32
4. Seasons 8:13
5. Carpe Noctem 5:35
6. Derry 3:12
7. Living A Lie 4:33
8. Memphis 6:10
9. The Hopes We Had (In 1968) 7:22
10. Berlin 6:40
11. The Jewel City 6:37
12. Your Liege Forever 7:43

Line-up:
Rudiger Blömer - keyboards, violin
Andre Roderigo - drums, vocals
Michael Dorp - vocals
Roger Weitz - bass, vocals
Michael Rick - guitars, vocals


Prolusion.
German band Flying Circus has been flowing under the radar of way too many people over the years, but it would seem they have had a gradual rise in interest toward them and their material in the last couple of years, something I think is rather well deserved for a band that has been active for as long as these guys have been at it. The live album "A Live History" was released by the band earlier this year, and as far as I can tell it is only available directly from the band, and then only as a free CD where you only have to pay for the cost of sending the CD to you. Which is an extremely generous manner in which to release a live album in my book.

Analysis.
So what do you get then, when ordering this free album? We certainly get a professional production on all counts for starters, with a well designed booklet following the CD and a product that by all measurable standards comes across as professional, and something any label I know about easily would have accepted to release on the general product quality alone.

The music is obviously still the most important bit of such a package, and it is here that this live album will perhaps be a bit divisive for some. This is one of those live albums that comes across as very much true and honest to what the performance was actually like. I can't hear any audible touch-ups in the sound or sound quality as such, and while I presume a bit of work has been done from the sounds captured at the recording venue, this isn't a polished live recording as such. Modern equipment makes such live recordings come across as generally good these days of course, so this isn't a rough and raw live recording of the kind that was and to some extent still is the going trend in certain metal circles for instance, and this sounds much better than most live recordings made in yesteryear due to the technological advantages available to us in this day and age. But inside of that specific context, this album strikes me as a very true and honest live production.

The music itself, for those not aware of the band, is a joyful mix and blend of classic rock, hard rock, with some acoustic rock, world music, folk music and possibly also jazz tendencies thrown in here and there. With everything explored inside of a progressive rock context. The overall vibe is one that comes with associations towards the 1970's, with reference points to be made in the direction of bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Jethro Tull, and for this performance with a few moments that to my mind possibly had a little bit of Camel and Kansas to them too.

On the flip side of the praise, this isn't an album for those that have a desire for live perfection. As stated this is an honest live album. Hence the mix doesn't always sit quite right, the sound is a bit closed in here and there, and curiously enough it is the harder hitting songs that to my ears at least comes across as the least interesting in the mix here. Possibly a case of the sheer energy that was set up for the live performance mix being one that just isn't possible to transfer over to a CD. Live music is, after all, best experienced when it happens. Live. Performance wise there are no real issues to talk about though, this is a seasoned band that know their way around the stage. Probably and possibly not a case of everything being perfectly played note to note, but that is also the charm of a live performance: It is in the minor deviations that comes with a live performance that we also get those moments of true magic that just can't be replicated in a studio setting. As stated: This strikes me as an honest live album first and foremost, and like everything specific in this world that comes with it's own set of strong and weak points.

Conclusion.
Flying Circus is a seasoned band with decades worth of experience as songsmiths and performers, and they have captured all of that on this live album. A production that probably would have been a double album on a label back in the day, as a single CD doesn't have the space for the entire concert. This isn't a finely polished, brushed up and touched up live album though, but much more of a true and honest documentation of how this band came across on stage at the specific performance where this footage was captured. If you like your live albums honest, and enjoy progressive rock with distinct references to 70's hard rock and progressive rock, this is a production that should be of interest. Considering that you can buy it solely for the cost of the postage, at least until the band run out of copies, this is a production that will give you a lot of value for the money too.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, December 2022

Links:
https://www.flying-circus.band/