Short Reviews [RPWL - 2019 - "Live from Outer Space"]

With the release of ‘Tales From Outer Space’ RPWL managed something almost unheard of within the underground progressive scene, namely that the album made it into the Top 50 Album charts in their home country of Germany. For the ensuing tour the band made the decision to play the whole of the album, in order, and then follow it with other material after that had completed. The result is a set which is available in multiple formats, including Blu-ray, and here we have the double CD. The quintet of Yogi Lang (vocals, keyboards), Kalle Wallner (guitars), Markus Jehle (keyboards), Marc Turiaux (drums) and Sebastian Harnack (bass and bass pedals) can trace their origins all the way back to Violet District, with both Lang and Wallner appearing on their album all the way back in 1992. Although there have been changes in the RPWL camp over the years, those two have been a constant, and even now all these years later they still display their roots, as they were originally a Floyd covers band. This live set has been very well recorded and produced, and I am glad to say there are a few minor fluffs here and there, which allows me to believe this is actually how they sound as opposed to having been cleaned up. Mind you, here is a band who are so confident in their own ability in concert that they have released six live albums alongside the ten studio, a much higher ratio than most. In my review of the last studio album I said the keyboard sounds reminded me somewhat of MMEB, and this can be heard particularly on songs such as “Give Birth To The Sun”. Fourteen songs, more than 100 minutes in length, this is a very polished release with little in the way of emotion, but there often isn’t that much from Floyd either. Yogi’s vocals are often a little lower in the mix than I would have liked, but that is personal choice, and he certainly blends in well with the accompaniment. RPWL released their debut album back in 2000, and since then they have been incredibly consistent in terms of quality of output, and while they have undoubtedly been heavily influenced by the sounds of Pink Floyd this is very much a band treading their own path, and for those who have yet to come across them this is a great starting point.