A two-fer reissue for two posthumous
Robert Calvert
albums, one -- the 1986
Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
document -- more or less essential, the other,
Blueprints from the Cellar
, of somewhat more limited interest.
was recorded in London in October 1986, shortly after the release of
Calvert
's
Test Tube Conceived
album. Representing less than half of the live show, this set, however, is firmly retrospective, drawing in the main from his solo debut,
Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters
, and the oddly overlooked
Freq
. As such, it goes without saying that the live versions struggle to match their studio counterparts -- both albums, after all, were very much the children of the recording studio, and a scratch band pieced together from various members of
Inner City Unit
simply cannot compete. The recording quality, on the other hand, is more or less excellent, and this remains a fascinating document, both for the chance to experience
's on-stage conversation, and for the ferocious version of
"Working Down a Diamond Mine,"
one of several songs that also appears on the second disc. As its title suggests, the accompanying
is a demo collection, drawing from
's work tapes for the
and
albums, together with a clutch of songs that never made it onto any regular album. He himself had already released these same performances, spread across two fan club cassette-only volumes of Cellar Tapes; two songs are excised from those releases for this CD, but the scarcity of those tapes today renders that all but irrelevant. The music itself is as gripping as only
could be, but little here was not performed better in its finished form, rendering
a must-have for confirmed collectors only. There again, if you buy this package for the live disc, think of this one as a free bonus, and enjoy it for what it is. ~ Dave Thompson