Live At Brixton Academy

Alternate Versions

Live Version Only
A medley of "Love Token" and "Headlong", with "Headlong" getting the most interesting treatment. This actually varied a bit on Brian's tour, with slightly different amounts of each song being played, but the version on "Live At Brixton" is pretty typical (and certainly the best around in terms of sound quality). It starts with a pretty standard version of "Love Token", which lasts about three minutes. Then "Headlong" starts, and lasts a good five minutes before finishing off as "Love Token" again. Brian's vocal on "Headlong" is pretty good, and seems to feature a slight lyric change. The line "they start freaking everywhere you turn" becomes "now you got sh** everywhere you turn", possibly giving a glimpse of Brian's original lyric for the song, but more likely the result of confusing the lyric with the other line "now you got soup in the laundry bag". Of course there's a different guitar solo too, especially near the end. Not as interesting as the version Brian recorded at KEWB (see the Miscellaneous section for details), but recommended all the same (and at least on this version you get to hear Brian sing - now if only he would combine the vocal from here with the guitar from KEWB!). Timing (typically) "Love Token" 3 minutes, "Headlong" 5 minutes, finale 1 minute.

Live Cover Version
Originally recorded by Rainbow. It's not a complete surprise, given the pedigree of Brian's band (and Brian's own musical tastes) that Brian would do something like this, but that's hardly cause for complaint. Brian's voice suits the song surprisingly well, and the Red Special sounds just great on the slower part near the middle. The guitars don't have quite the same "attack" as the studio original, but they're certainly not lacking. In all, this is a fine version of a fine song - simple as that! Time 3:47

Live Version Only
Alright, so we all know this is going to include "Brighton Rock" somewhere, but there are a few new elements to this impressive instrumental too now. "Chinese Torture" gets a welcome airing, but its the first couple of minutes that really shine. Brian really has got extremely good at this over the years, and you won't be disappointed (even if you're getting a bit tired of hearing the "Brighton Rock" solo at every concert for twenty years...). Time 6:07, although the "Live At Brixton" version also segues into the Resurrection medley mentioned above.

Live Version Only
As performed during the "Back To The Light" Tour. Usually around ten minutes long (the "Live At Brixton" version is 10:08), this starts like the normal version of "Resurrection" but after a few minutes becomes a showpiece for Cozy Powell. Cozy provides a truly magnificent drum solo, lasting several minutes and accompanied for part of it by Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". It has to be said that this is best appreciated if you can actually see the performance, as the visual effects (explosions in time to the music etc.) do add a lot, as indeed does Cozy's own performance (throwing the drumsticks way up into the air between beats, only to catch them in time for the next one - trust me, you had to be there!). The final few minutes consist of the "fast part" of "Bohemian Rhapsody", from "so you think you can stone me" to "just gotta get right out of here", finishing with the final few minutes of "Resurrection". Brian's solo near the end of "Resurrection" is superb, but it's Cozy who steals the show. Completely different, of course, though the audio recording alone is less interesting. The version on the "Live At Brixton" video doesn't really do justice to this either, but I saw it at Plymouth and it was stunning. Timing (typically) "Resurrection" 3 mins, Cozy Powell 4 mins, "Bohemian Rhapsody" 1 minute, "Resurrection" (again) 2 minutes.