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Great live show from influential guitarist...
Having established himself as one of the finest rock and blues guitarists in the world during the late 70s and early 80s, Canadian born Pat Travers spend the tail end of the 80s in the wilderness. This comeback show in his hometown of Toronto was recorded and what a complete stormer it was.
The intimate setting didn't give much room for manoeuvre but the performance is solid, tight, heavy and one of the best live Travers shows I've ever heard.
With twin guitars sharing riffs, licks and solos smoothly, the drums and bass providing some great rhythms, the show opens with the classic 'Snortin' Whiskey Drinking Cocaine', a track that has to be essential listening in anyone's rock record collection.
Travers handles vocals and guitar easily, and has great frontman presence, despite the small stage. And on this performance it's easy to see how he influenced so many other bands (and not just guitarists).
The set also runs through many classics, including 'Life In London', 'I La La Love You', 'Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)' and 'Heat In The Street'.
Well received, well recorded, well videoed. The CD sounds great too (as it did on its original release in 1991), but the DVD (first time the video has been released) has no extras and neither package or press release tell you who the other musicians are. Marks off the that, but the audio track is pretty essential listening.
***½ (DVD) **** (CD)
Review by David Randall
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