Live Sentence [Live] [Import]

Live Sentence [Live] [Import]

Track Listings

1. Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live

2. Hiroshima Mon Amour

3. Night Games

4. Island in the Sun

5. Kree Nakoorie

6. Coming Bach

7. Since You've Been Gone

8. Evil Eye

9. All Night Long

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
No Bonus Tracks.

Tracks:

Overture
Vain, Fluctuating State Of Human Empire!
Thou, God Most High, And Thou Alone
The Fate Of Babylon, I Fear, Is Nigh
Lament Not Thus, Oh Queen, In Vain!
Behold, By Persia's Hero Made
Well May They Laugh/Oh Memory! Still Bitter To My Soul
Opprest With Never-Ceasing Grief
Dry Thoes Unavailing Tears
Be Comforted: Safe Though The Tyrant Seem/Methought, As On The Bank Of Deep Euphrates
Now, Tell Me, Gobrias
Behold The Monstrous Human Beast
Can You Then Think It Strange
Great God! Who, Yet But Darkly Known
My Friends, Be Confident
All Empires Upon God Depend
Oh Sacred Oracles Of Truth!
Rejoyce, My Countrymen
Sing, Oh Ye Heav'ns!

Tracks:

Let Festal Joy Triumphant Reign!
For You, My Friends
The Leafy Honours Of The Field
It Is The Custom, I May Say, The Law
Recall, Oh King! Thy Rash Command
They Tell You True
Oh Dearer Than My Life, Forebear!
By Slow Degrees The Wrath Of God
See, From His Post Euphrates Flies!
You See, My Friends, A Path
Amaz'd To Find The Foe So Near
To Arms, To Arms! No More Delay!
Ye Tutelar Gods Of Our Empire
Let The Deep Bowl Thy Praise Confess
Where Is The God Of Judah's Boasted Pow'r?
Call All My Wise Men

Tracks:

A Singony (Allegro Postillions)
Ye Sages! Welcome Always To Your King/Alas! Too Hard A Task The King Imposes
Oh Misery! - Oh Terror! - Hopeless Grief!
Oh King, Live For Ever!
No! To Thyself Thy Trifles Be
Yet, To Obey His Dread Command
Oh Sentence To Severe!
Oh God Of Truth! Oh Faithful Guide!
You, Gobrias, Lead Directly To The Palace
Oh Glorious Prince!
Alternate Hopes And Fears
Fain Would I Hope
Can The Black Aethiop Change His Skin?
My Hopes Revive
Bel Boweth Down!
I Thank, Thee, Sesach
A Martial Symphony
To Pow'e Immortal My First Thanks
Be It Thy Care, Good Gobrias
Great Victor, At Your Feet I Bow
Say, Venerable Prophet
Tell It Out Among The Heathen
Yes, I Will Build Thy City
I Will Magnify Thee

Customer Reviews:

ISSUE RESOLVED ON THE EUPHRATES.......2005-06-19

One question I might find among the more difficult in my life would be - which is my favourite Handel oratorio? I suspect that my answer would generally be 'the one I heard most recently', and that, as I write this, is Belshazzar. It is a magnificent thing, a heavenly thing. It has taken me longer than it should have to come to an appreciation of what makes Handel the phenomenon - as a genius, as an artist, as a craftsman - that he is, but I am comforted to reflect that no less a genius than Haydn, at the age of nearly 70 gaining a more thorough knowledge of Handel in performance, was driven to say that he felt a mere apprentice. In his sense of how to pace a dramatic narrative, in his instinct for how to use the human voice in song and above all in chorus, in the matchless flexibility and adroitness he displays at word-setting and in the audacity of his melodic and harmonic effects I can think of nobody who can approach Handel on his own terms.

Belshazzar was not a great success at the box-office, although this may have had more to do with difficulties in the casting than because it was deemed insufficiently biblical for oratorio, which seems to have been the fate of Hercules. It seems to me to be perfectly well described as oratorio in other ways too, with (for one thing) the extensive use of the chorus that we find in, say, Samson but not in Hercules. The one passage that cries out for visual effects is of course the apparition of the moving finger itself. Even here the composer can go a long way with sheer power of suggestion, by the strange unaccompanied violin figure creeping upwards and the frightened brevity of the vocal numbers. Otherwise for me Belshazzar is as much an oratorio as Samson is. It has the same librettist too, the crusty and formidable Jennens, who had also collaborated with Handel on Saul and on Messiah itself. Jennens' full text is not provided, but I think if you read the synopsis first and then follow the work from the headlines to each number you will have no difficulty in catching the words, so clear is the enunciation by soloists and chorus alike. As usual, Handel was driven to make alterations to the score for practical reasons. He had been a little concerned about its length, roughly 2 hours and 50 minutes in this performance, but where he wishes to be expansive he gives us full measure - two arias in Act I scene 4 take well over 7 minutes each. The liner-essay (a good one, by Anthony Hicks) goes into the issue of the version of the score used here, and I personally have no problem with it.

I have no faults to find with the performance in any way. Pinnock is an established specialist, the instruments are period instruments and vocal cadenzas at the end of the arias are kept minimal. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, James Bowman and David Wilson-Johnson are tried and trusted Handel singers and at their best here, and Nicolas Robertson and Richard Wistreich in the smaller parts are every bit as good. The part of Cyrus is a soprano part, taken by Catherine Robbin, and when I thought I heard just one touch of strain in `Destructive War' in the final scene she makes up for it instantly in her superb duet with Arleen Auger in the following number. Auger as Nitocris the mother of Belshazzar has the biggest part, and she covers herself with glory all the way through.

The recording is perfect, and when I saw an aria entitled `Destructive War, thy limits know' near the end I felt a sharp sense of irony in the year 2005. Cyrus, Handel, Jennens, you should all have been living at this hour.

Enjoiyable, but lacking, too........2004-08-16

This 3CD set of George Frederic Handel's (1685-1759) "Belshazzar", from Archiv Production, a division of Universal Music, is proof again that transfer from vinyl to tape to disc brings with it improvements in listening that make the purchase a worthwhile addition to anyone's listening library. Written in 1744, "Belshazzar" is an oratorio in the operatic style that is wonderful oratorio, but lacking the true depth one expects to hear in an opera. London opera audiences of Handel's day agreed, as both "Belshazzar" and Handel's other offering of the period in the same style, "Hercules", were not terribly successful. Instead of the scheduled 24 performances only 16 were given and Handel never offered a full season of oratorio again. The Libretto by Charles Jennens (1700-1773) is, as the production notes say, meant "not only to show the fall of Babylon but to show it as a fulfillment of divine prediction and to confirm the biblical testimony by reference to classical history." There's only one problem, as good a quality as the CDs are, it is not possible to follow the full libretto and the accompanying booklet includes no text, which is a shame. I think the listening experience would have been increased immeasurably if one was able to follow the text of what is being sung. Nonetheless the dramatic narrative is fluid and even, and the English Concert and Choir provide nice balance to the less full vocal passages, as in Disc 3s "Oh Glorious prince", cut 10. There is enough of this throughout to keep one's interest, but disappointing if what one expects is another ""Messiah".

Average customer rating:

Too Short To Do It Justice
You must see the video!
EARLY MALMSTEEN
flawed yet brilliant
Yngwie Is Born.. Shredding and Screaming

Live Sentence
Alcatrazz
Manufacturer: Import [Generic]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000005RES
Release Date: 1998-11-17

Tracks:

Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Night Games
Island in the Sun
Kree Nakoorie
Coming Bach
Since You've Been Gone
Evil Eye
All Night Long

Album Details

No Bonus Tracks.

Customer Reviews:

Too Short To Do It Justice.......2007-03-13

I really want to love this CD
the guitar playing is mindblowing...but the album is over before you can really get into it
and for such a short album having 2 very long guitar solos seems a bit much,even though they are great,it just seems to be too much
however songs like All Night Long and Since You've Been Gone make this a worthwhile addition to any good hard rock collection
Alcatraz is a great band,with some of the fastest guitar solos on the planet and this album captures them live,there is some real nice crowd interaction but unfortunately there aren't enough songs to really build a mood...there are definitely some nice moments and if they could have kept the momentum going with songs like Islands In The Sun into Since You've Been Gone to All Night Long it would have been a classic but it seems to get drug down by the extended guitar solos and strange choices like Kree Nakorie
the studio albums are much better and I would recommend seeking them out,Alcatraz is a great band and worthy of more attention then they got
If you enjoy great rock music in the style of early Rainbow,Fastway,Waysted etc...then check 'em out...and if you are a guitarist then check out the live album and the studio albums because they had both Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen in the band at different times...you can't get much better then that
but as for the live album on it's own merits,it's too short to be effective,sorry

the upside - great guitar playing,and the outstanding songs 'since you've been gone' 'Islands in the sun' and 'All night long'

the downside - too unbalanced and far too short,especially at the asking price

the bottom line - the studio albums are better,but if you are a huge fan,check this out...donutman says so!!!

You must see the video!.......2003-11-09

This is surely a great album and a must-have item if you're a Yngwie fan. I just can't believe the video (either VHS or DVD or LD or DVD-R) version is not available or even listed on Amazon.com. Or am I simply missing it? I'm referring to the Alcatrazz live in Japan in '84, entitled "Metallic Live '84". Was I privilaged to have seen the video, which I still own, in the same year in Japan?

I just checked out Amazon.com.jp, and the VHS video (no DVD is listed) is out of stock. []Well, if you're a true Yngwie fan, you must see the video! Somehow! By all means! The CD is nothing compared to it! If you do[], You'll see the young (20 or so), slim and very cool Yngwie on and off stage. There are several minutes of him practicing backstage and being interviewed. You'll see the (then) incredible fingering and picking; actually, it's far better than watching some of his instruction videos because camera work is great, heavily concentrated on Yngwie. You can see his face full of emotions, passionate, sometimes demonic, sometimes as if dreaming, and even smiling at some points. His play is sincere and terrific, partly due to the fact that, I guess, Japanese audience is relatively quiet in between songs and they don't go crazy and screaming even during songs.

Graham's vocal, much as I like and admire him, is not so good, unfortunately. Must have been tired. But you can listen to him singing Lost In Hollywood, which is not on the CD! But if don't have access to the video, the CD is highly recommendable nonetheless.

EARLY MALMSTEEN.......2002-06-27

VERY GOOD LIVE CD FROM THIS VERY GOOD BAND FEATURING GUITAR LEGEND MALMSTEEN AND FORMER RAINBOW VOCALIST GRAHAM BONNETT.
LOTS OF HARD ROCKING, SEARING LEAD GUITAR, AND GRITTY VOCALS.

flawed yet brilliant.......2001-12-13

Given the fact that Rainbow similarly produced the premature live album On Stage early in its career, it is initially tempting to believe that Alcatrazz's decision to follow suit was symptomatic of any metal group possessing a guitar god. However, when considering that Live Sentence was apparently released without Yngwie's consent, it becomes increasingly evident that this EP was made to boost the group's sagging finances by showcasing the technical prowess of the renowned guitarist. Ironically, nonetheless, as fate would have it, just when Yngwie's reputation had sufficiently grown for the citation of his name on the album cover to lure buyers, he had acrimoniously left Alcatrazz shortly prior to the release of this concert. Nevertheless, at the time of this recording, Yngwie seemed to be on relatively amiable terms with the rest of the group, a fact more palpable on the video, where he happily mimics Graham's vocal line (in the tradition of Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan) in concert and confusedly sings the lyrics to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" backstage.
Seldom has there been a live recording of a group so lopsidedly dominated by a single band member, thereby generating no surprise that Yngwie's tenure with Alcatrazz proved to be brief. Nevertheless, to claim that Alcatrazz was held hostage to the guitar god is improbable considering that on tracks like "Kree Nakoorie" enabling an opportunity for Gary Shea to commence the song with his own keyboard solo, he inexplicably relegates himself to a subordinate role in only playing the intro neo-classical riff with the inevitable result that Yngwie can exclusively hog solo time. Consequently, by this recording, Alcatrazz had already become a backing band, proving that Yngwie hardly needed to go solo to achieve musical hegemony.
What has largely prevented Live Sentence from entering the annals of legendary live albums, however, is Graham's less than spectacular vocal delivery which fails to comparably hold its own against Yngwie's phenomenal performance. To be sure, Graham clearly struggles on this recording, especially on "Hiroshima Mon Amour," where, after, straining his voice with the first chorus, wisely sings an octave lower in the subsequent verses yet fails to recover full confidence. Ultimately, Yngwie was quite correct in later commenting that many of the songs on No Parole were too high for his vocal range live which probably accounted for why Graham did not tackle the demanding chorus to "General Hospital,"one of the album's greatest songs. Although he brilliantly acquitted himself in concert at Castle Donington in 1980 (coincidentally, his final performance with Rainbow), unfortunately Graham obviously abused his voice in the interim, thereby resulting that his true vocal prowess would subsequently only be faithfully conveyed in the studio.
Considering that this recording was taken from a live performance in Japan in late January 1984 and released in conjunction with an excellent, though long out of date video entitled Metallic Live, it seems foolish that Alcatrazz (or more probably, its management) condensed a full-length concert into a 30 minute EP, particularly as its original 90 minute length easily could have accommodated the standard 2 LP live album format. The omission of two thirds from the original concert was an unfortunate decision, as it excised tracks which were not only among the band's finest (notably "Bigfoot"and "Suffer Me"),
but also featured Graham's better singing moments. Given that the lower vocal register on "Bigfoot" is less straining on his pipes, it is no accident that on this song he is in his stronger form and comes closest to reproducing his otherwise flawless studio perfomances. "Suffer Me" also features commendable singing, logically because Graham is not competing with Yngwie's guitar for most of the song. Also unfortunately absent is Alcatrazz's excellent cover of Rainbow's "Lost in Hollywood," a track which would be rarely performed by Graham again, with the less interesting songs "All Night Long" and "Since You've Been Gone" becoming his preferred Rainbow staples.
The reasons for Yngwie's displeasure with his performance on Live Sentence remain unclear, for, in all intents and purposes, his performance here is truly spectacular, where he skillfully solos in between brief verse breaks yet faithfully reproduces the memorable melodies which made his studio work on No Parole so distinctive. While it is possible that his dissatisfaction may be predicated upon an unintentionally humorous accident in the video where his wristband suddenly became entangled with his Strat pickup (perhaps accounting for why he has not worn wristbands on his picking arm ever since, at least in every subsequent video concert) which consequently hampers the climactic recapitulation of the main theme to "Kree Nakoorie," this seems to be an unlikely explanation, especially since these marred notes are nowhere audible in the EP recording, the natural result of overdubbing. Overall, here the listener is exposed to what was, at the time, one of the fastest and most dazzling guitar performances from a wunderkind who had recently turned twenty, rendering Live Sentence a curious, impressive albeit incomplete and flawed presentation of an overlooked band in concert.

Yngwie Is Born.. Shredding and Screaming.......2000-02-06

This is the album that made guitarist forget about Hendrix (for a while at least), kicked Eddie Van Halen to the curb and spawned so many clones that "Neo-Classical" became a catagory at the record stores.Sure he may not have all the feeling in his playing that would come in later years.. but there is something to be said about the abandone of youth. I still get chills when I listen to this album ( OK I cringe a few times when hearing the vocals, but the guitar playing and energy make up for any other flaws). A must have for any true Yngwie fan or anyone who loves guitar music.

Average customer rating:

1984
Better than their studio effort...
Alcatrazz - 'Live Sentence' (Universal)
Flawed Yet Fabulous
Great Album

Live Sentence
Alcatrazz
Manufacturer: Universal Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music
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ASIN: B00006BGXR
Release Date: 2002-09-02

Tracks:

Too Young To Die Too Drunk To Live
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Night Games
Island In The Sun
Kree Nakoorie
Coming Bach
Since Youve Been Gone
Evil Eye
All Night Long

Customer Reviews:

1984.......2007-05-22

I have heard that for this band's one & only US tour in 1984, they opened for Ted Nugent. Does anyone know if this is correct?

Better than their studio effort..........2005-11-24

Proof that Yngwie isn't using mirrors. He shreds through this live album, almost overshadowing the songs, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, since the songs aren't that great (let's face it) and Yngwie is a guitar god. It almost sounds like he is jamming to a Rainbow album -- his playing seems disconnected to the songs at times. The production is pretty much the same as the studio album, No Parole from Rock and Roll, (which is pretty bad by today's standards) but Yngwie is note for note when he wants to be. Amazing that he hardly hits a bad note LIVE, given how fast he plays. High points are Too drunk to Live, Kree Nakoorie (outro solo!), Since You've Been Gone, and Evil Eye (!!!). I paid $26.99 for this import back in 1989 and it was worth it (but I'm an Yngwie fan)... Get it for Yngwie or leave it on the shelf.

Alcatrazz - 'Live Sentence' (Universal).......2005-06-05

Originally released in 1984,as 'Live Sentence' is a so-so live recording of the band's tour they did of Japan during that year.I've never been able to get into Alcatrazz at all,even though guitar wizard Yngwie Malmsteen was cutting his teeth in this second rate hard rock band.Some of the tracks here I thought were okay were "Too Young To Die,Too Drunk To Live","Night Games",Russ Ballard's(member of Argent)"Since You've Been Gone" and Rainbow's "All Night Long".Line-up:one-time Rainbow belter Graham Bonnett-vocals,Malmsteen-guitar,Gary Shea-bass,Jimmy Waldo-keyboards and Jan Uvena-drums.Believe I saw Alcatrazz as support act for Ted Nugent around this time period.Take my word for it,as an opener,I didn't even notice Malmsteen.Sort of like a Rainbow wanna be.

Flawed Yet Fabulous.......2005-05-12

Released within months of their incredible debut "No Parole from Rock 'N Roll" in 1984, "Live Sentence" was the first opportunity for many to hear Yngwie Malmsteen play live. His work on this album is nothing short of amazing. Malmsteen is really the star of the show throughout this album, way up in the mix, all over the place, soloing like crazy and given the time to really show his chops. His studio version of "Evil Eye" would appear a few months later on his debut solo album, but here it is performed live with the Japanese fans going berserk throughout.

Aside from their debut album, Alcatrazz did not have much material. Four tunes from "No Parole" made it onto "Live Sentence", along with two Yngwie solos, the aforementioned "Evil Eye" along with "Coming Bach". Graham Bonnet has been a star in Japan for a long time and "Night Games" from a Bonnet solo album entitled "Lineup" is included here as well and it is a decent song. Also included are two Rainbow songs harking back to Bonnet's one album tenure in that band, "All Night Long", and the Russ Ballard penned "Since You've been Gone". What is mind boggling is how many times Graham Bonnet has recorded this Russ Ballard song. Besides the original version on Rainbow's "Down To Earth", you can find him singing it on this live Alcatrazz CD, then again on the second Impellitteri studio CD, "Stand in Line" and then unbelievably again on the Blackthorn "Afterlife" CD.

Graham Bonnet is much more of a studio singer then a live performer. He shines brilliantly on so many studio recordings and his sheer vocal power is mind blowing. But his weakness as a live performer singing this type of material is so evident on "Live Sentence". Not only does he constantly sing out of key, but his vocals lack any emotion and his raps to the audience sometimes are downright embarassing. I've seen this concert on video and it is almost funny to see this skinny Englishman with short hair and glasses wearing a pink suit, singing "Too Young To Die Too Drunk To Live", horribly out of key, while jumping up and down, trying to be cool. I am surprised that this album was released to the public without Bonnet re-doing many of his vocal tracks.

That being said, this album stayed on my turntable for months when it came out and I still listen to it today for the wonderful live playing of Yngwie Malmsteen and for the awesome version of "Kree Nakoorie". Flawed yes, for the reasons stated above, but still a worthy slab of fabulous live guitar shredding.

Great Album.......2005-04-18

This is a wonderful live album and I would urge anybody that loves live metal to by this album. One of the previous reviews said they love the cover of Rainbows "Since You've Been Gone", well it is a cover of a Russ Ballard song which Rainbow covered while Alcatrazz singer Gramm Bonnet was in Rainbow.