Artist: Seventh Key
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2005
Rating: 4/5
I never would have guessed that, after just two studio albums, Seventh Key would come out with a “live” album. These guys are really on a roll! They decided to record a show, and the spot that suited them best was right on their home turf, in Atlanta.
The disc features 12 songs played live. The vast majority come from “The Raging Fire” (2004), which the band is clearly extremely fired up about, and only four are from the debut. As an encore, the set list also includes Cold Hearted Woman, which was written back in 1978, when Greer played in a short-lived band called QB1. Storm Rages On, Remember You Well and Love Train are studio tracks that already came out on the band’s debut “Seventh Key” (2001) and its follow-up “The Raging Fire” (2004), but only for the Japanese market. On Remember You Well, Kerry Livgren (ex-Kansas), who recently revived Proto-Kaw, joins the band in the studio.
So how does the band hold up on stage? It’s honestly incredible that a live recording with this kind of precision even exists. The band sounds coherent, rock-solid and relentlessly biting on stage the whole way through. The performance is loaded with energy, and Seventh Key are simply stunning in how tight they are. The set list is excellent, since neither studio album has a dud on it, and the QB1 song Cold Hearted Woman is a perfectly equal match for the otherwise first-rate material. Cold Hearted Woman slots in beautifully after the slightly doomy Winds Of War, which closes the regular part of Seventh Key’s show. Among the tracks, the performance of Forsaken is something special. It wears a completely different outfit, played in an acoustic version with a violin solo in its middle instrumental section.Billy Greer’s vocals are outstanding. Powerful, decisive, melodic, soulful, and the backing vocal lines accompany him brilliantly throughout. The recording is so flawless that you lose the feeling of being at a concert. That’s exactly where the one weak spot of the show hides. The crowd is too quiet. Their turnout was obviously pretty modest. On top of that, there are cuts (pauses) between the tracks, which means the show has been slightly trimmed, and those cuts also take away from the live feel of the recording. The band’s intent was obviously to release just a single album. The space on the disc, with the three extra studio songs included, is used to the fullest.The just-released DVD “Live In Atlanta” fixes this lack of “liveness,” since it has the entire recording of the show on it, with no cuts between tracks.
Like I said, I can’t remember a live sound this perfect. Mike Slamer, who appeared on stage for the first time in 22 years, plays flawlessly! The show is epic, pompous perfection, charged with high voltage that doesn’t let up for a single moment. This is the album for everyone looking for perfection in “live” sound and perfection in stage performance. It’s proof that Seventh Key are building a high status on the “rock” scene extremely fast and without a single misstep. This is the kind of excellence that marks the biggest bands. Time will tell what kind of recognition the guys get from the music-loving masses.
Lineup
Billy Greer – vocals, bass guitar
Mike Slamer – guitar, keyboards, bass guitar
Terry Brock – guitar, backing vocals
David Manion – keyboards
Pat McDonald – drums
Guest musicians:
Johnny Greer – mandolin, backing vocals on 6.
Robby Steinhardt – violin, backing vocals on 6.
Kerry Livgren – keyboards, guitar on 14.
Production
Mike Slamer
Track list
1. The Sun Will Rise
2. An Ocean Away
3. It Should Have Been You
4. Sin City
5. Always From The Heart
6. Forsaken
7. You Cross The Line
8. The Kid Could Play
9. Only The Brave
10. When Love Is Dying
11. Winds Of War
12. Cold Hearted Woman
13. The Storm Rages On (*)
14. Remember You Well (*)
15. Love Train (*)
(*) = bonus studio tracks
Length: 79:50
