NJ based power pop prog band 3RDegree have put together a smashing record of their recent reunion shows. Including 2 CD's and a DVD, The Reunion Concerts is a clever juxtaposition of two live performances and insightful band interviews. If you've heard the band before, after spending some three hours with this set, you'll feel like you actually know them.
"At Home," is just that—the band, clearly enjoying the hell out of themselves after a long layoff—kicking back in front of a small group of friends/family in a living room for an acoustic set. Don't let the "A" word fool you, though: it sizzles. Drawing on material from their 1st 2 releases as well as their latest album, the thoughtful yet thoroughly enjoyable Narrowcaster, there's also some new material. Some selections re-visited and re-arranged, some brightly polished, and some just plain belted out, "At Home" is a fine set and a wonderful peek at this complex yet accessible group of guys who are equally "at home" in 4/4 or 13/16 time.
Speaking of 13/16, where better than "At NJ Proghouse" for a full-bore, amped up reunion show? It's the Spring of 2007, and The Jersey Boys let loose among a crowd of special invitees with a high-octane performance, and it's here in hi-def for those of us that couldn't make it. The singular venue in Metuchen really is a house, and it's intimate setting is aptly captured for DVD here. The band sails through past & present selections from their 3 albums and more, including some nail-biting technical arrangements (check out "Apophenia"--my goodness), as well as ethereal ones ("Scenery").
Those familiar with 3RDegree's catalog like myself who had never seen them live are in for a treat—the band is razor sharp in performance—and in many ways, in wit (check out the interviews); there's even some humor thrown in. Just when you thought Jethro Tull had the market cornered on Prog humor...
Anyway, this is a great live package, highly recommended.
Track Listings
1. Black Orchid (acoustic)
2. Home In The Clouds (acoustic)
3. Why Me (acoustic)
4. Cautionary Tale (acoustic)
5. Elsewhere (Sarah Mclachlan cover)
6. A Work Of Art (acoustic)
7. A Man (acoustic)*
8. The Art Of Being Alone (acoustic)
9. The World In Which We Lived (acoustic)
10. Stardust (acoustic)
11. It Works (acoustic)
12. Doesn't Quite Belong (acoustic)
13. Ladder (acoustic)
14. Young Once (acoustic)
15. Scenery (acoustic)
16. Done It Again (acoustic)
17. I (acoustic)
18. Human Interest Story (acoustic)
19. Top Secret (electric)
20. Ladder (electric)
21. Free For All (electric)
22. Apophenia (electric)
23. Peel The Paint (Gentle Giant cover)
24. 13 (electric)
25. Human Interest Story (electric)
26. Stardust (electric)
27. It Works (electric)
28. Live With This Forever (electric)
29. Cautionary Tale (electric)
30. Home In The Clouds (electric)
31. Done It Again (electric)
32. Young Once (electric)
33. Scenery (electric)
34. I (electric)
25. s/b (electric)
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