Fire - 'The Magic Shoemaker Live'
(Angel Air, Cat. no: SJPCD286)
Fire - 'The Magic Shoemaker Live'
(Angel Air, Cat. no: SJPCD286)
From Aural Innovations April 2010 update
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Fire, they were a short-lived UK psych band (1966 to 1970) that has a song "Father's Name Is Dad" on the ' Nuggets II ' 4-CD box set. Apparently, Fire released their sole album - 'The Magic Shoemaker' in 1970 and many years thereafter put out a rather good compilation, 'Underground And Overheard', that featured additional edits of songs that showed up on their 'actual' LP. At least that's what drew my interest to this import CD. The live performances on this Angel Air disc were recorded over the course of a two night stand at the Windlesham Theater in Surrey, UK on November 30 - December 1, 2007. Tunes here that definitely stand out are "Children Of Imagination", the catchy "Tell You A Story", the should-have-been a hit "Treacle Toffee World", the band's power-pop psychedelic gem "Flies Like A Bird" and the jamming (good guitar riffs) "War". Then, there's "I Can See The Sky", the previously mentioned "Father's Name Is Dad" and "It's Just Love". This long awaited Fire reunion even has all three original members - Dave Lambert (later of the Strawbs) - guitar, keyboards & vocals, Dick DuFall - bass & vocals and Bob Voice - drums & vocals. Should draw in fans and followers of The Action, The Eyes, Q 65, Les Fleur De Lys and possibly The Who's early material. The CD comes with a 16-page full color informative booklet. A nice pick.
Visit the Angel Air label site at: http://www.angelair.co.uk
Reviewed by Mike Reed