Live in Tokyo

The exact origins of the performance on this recording remain a mystery, more than 30 years after its release. It was almost certainly not a Tokyo show, nor a performance anywhere in the Far East, which makes the title even more of a mystery — one imagines it just sounded more impressive to somebody than the European venue that it almost certainly was from. What is equally clear, and even more mystifying, in view of the abysmal studio album Bad Dreams that preceded this release, is that Amazing Blondel (or "Blondel," as they'd rechristened themselves after the departure of John Gladwin from their three-man lineup) were still a fine performing unit. When Terry Wincott and Eddie Baird stick to their earlier style and repertory, they can do little wrong — they harmonize beautifully, and the haunt-count on pieces like "Leaving of the Country Lover" and "Young Man's Fancy," mixed with their acoustic playing, is all one could have hoped for. And even when they embrace their more contemporary sound, as on "Love Must Be the Best Time of Your Life" — where they come off vocally like a watered-down U.K. version of England Dan & John Ford Coley — they aren't bad; what this album avoids, that Bad Dreams didn't, was some impossible contemporary music accompaniment that didn't sound natural around these two voices. As it is, uncertain origins and all, this album can be recommended to anyone who liked the Amazing Blondel of 1972 and beyond, and shows what the two-man version of this group could do, probably better than any other record they ever issued. One still misses Gladwin's contribution, and it's a shame that live recordings of the trio didn't surface for decades, but this record is not to be missed by longtime fans.