For aficionados of the keyboard whiz and raconteur, there’s much fun to be had from these four live sets, housed in repro card sleeves, even though they’re truncated and reproduce some of the original tapes’ downsides – such as crowd chatter. Still, the 10-song Hammersmith 1976 set, despite having apparently been recorded in a cardboard box, contains rousing period highlights, such as the wailing Catherine Howard (in two parts), interspersed with forays into Led Zeppelin and Monty Python. The Realisation is a gargantuan left-turn and The Forest/The Journey pomptastic.
Norwich 1997 boasts better audio quality and features some classy Fraser Thornycroft-Smith guitar, choice Wakeman put-downs (mostly at son Adam’s expense) and some superb playing by the two, including the jaunty Burlington Arcade. Meanwhile, the basic-quality Crystal Palace 1974 recording has period faves from Six Wives and Journey, plus Ying Tong Song Goonishness, while the Preston 1981 two-disc gig is easy on the ear and chock-full of vocal numbers, including the pub-rock The Proles. That stumble aside, it’s a variegated, fan-friendly set.
