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If you are looking for something new to hold you over
until the next Pink Floyd album that will never come, then
have I got a band for you. RPWL are a German progressive
rock band that began in 1997 as a Pink Floyd cover band,
and have since released five albums of their very own Floyd-inspired
tunes.***
The band's name comes from the first letters of the
original four member's last names. "Oh shit, we're about
to take the stage for our first gig, and we don't even have
a name yet! Somebody think quick!" ***
Okay, so it's not the first time initials were used
for a band name, but at least the guys in CSN and ELP were
already individually famous artists before starting those
bands - and their abbreviations are usually used secondarily.
If only they'd had one more band member with the letter
"O" and then they could have called themselves PROWL. Now
we're talking.***
If RPWL's original music is any indication, these guys
must have been one hell of a good Pink Floyd cover band.
Their sound is still heavily influenced by the Floyd, especially
the later Roger Waters-less period, but they also incorporate
many other styles such as that of early Genesis, The Moody
Blues, and even Coldplay. As I listened to this DVD, I couldn't
but help think that most of the songs would have fit very
nicely on David Gilmour's latest album, On An Island.***
After three years of doing the Floyd thing, RPWL decided
to have a go at their own music and released their 2000
debut album, the audaciously titled, God Has Failed. 2008
saw the release of their fifth studio album, The RPWL Experience,
and a similarly named live album and concert DVD were released
the following year.***
The RPWL Live Experience was recorded on February 17th,
2009 at the Wyspianski Theatre in Katowice, Poland, during
the first annual Progrock Festival 2009. This two day festival
also featured the bands SBB, Shadowland, Tinyfish, Overhead
and DeeExpus - all of which have their own concert DVDs
of the event coming out this year from Metal Mind Productions.***
They open the show with "Hole In The Sky", from their
debut album, and then jump ahead to their most recent album
with the very catchy "Breathe In, Breathe Out". During the
performance, the quirky animated video that accompanies
the song was played on the video screen. RPWL is not the
most exciting band to watch play live, but they certainly
have a very polished live sound.***
The setlist touches upon all five of the studio albums,
and their critically acclaimed 2005 album, World Through
My Eyes, is most heavily represented with five tracks. A
couple of deep covers are also performed, including a late
'60s Syd Barrett song called "Opel". One of the set highlights
was the terrifically bluesy take on Roger Waters' "Biding
My Time", which was a lesser known song that only appeared
on the Pink Floyd compilation album, Relics. Guitarist Kalle
Wallner really gets to shine on this one.***
This DVD is yet another excellent product from the gang
at Metal Mind Productions. The audio is presented in both
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Dolby 2.0 Stereo, and they
sound nearly flawless. The widescreen picture and camera
work was also superb.***
The RPWL Live Experience was my first proper introduction
to this band, and it left me a little underwhelmed. If you
are already a fan of RPWL then you should eat this DVD right
up though, because the performance and production are certainly
both very good. I just may need a few more listens for this
stuff to grow on me. In the mean time, I'll be off watching
my David Gilmour DVDs.
Concertdvdreviews.com
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