Long overdue and well worth the wait.

After a long stint fronting Rainbow for three albums and world tours, Joe Lynn Turner found himself with the opportunity to strike out as a solo artist when Ritchie Blackmore put Rainbow on hold in order to reunite with Deep Purple. Turner, a skilled song-writer as well as singer, had no qualms about going the solo route and issued the excellent 'Rescue You' record in 1985. This release captures him on tour promoting that album.

While 'Rescue...' is rightly deemed as a classic, unfortunately no follow-up album came about. This was because, according to Turner, producer Roy Thomas Baker's liberal use of the label's budget to make the record left very little for promotion and as such, a planned second album was shelved, with Turner joining up with Yngwie Malmsteen instead. This recording gives an intriguing look at what might have been if things had turned out differently.

The show has been available as a bootleg for years, but this is an official release, and a very welcome one. The audio has been given a proper overhaul with professional mastering and sounds sublime, allowing you to enjoy a really first rate performance. Turner's confidence is obvious, from the easy manner at which he addresses the audience, through to the fact that over the course of seventy minutes and thirteen songs, he only plays two Rainbow tracks – 'Stone Cold' and 'Street Of Dreams'. Almost everything else comes from his debut solo effort and the songs work wonderfully live.

Opening with the anthemic 'I Found Love' (which bizarrely never made 'Rescue...' and turned up years later on the second Sunstorm album 'House Of Dreams'), Turner sets the bar high, and is equally at home with Rockers like 'Feel The Fire' and 'Good Girls Gone Bad', or the slower numbers like 'Soul Searcher' and his popular ballad 'Endlessly'. His band, consisting of Foreigner's former keyboard player Al Greenwood, guitarist Bobby Messano, bassist Barry Dunaway and ex-Rainbow mate Chuck Burgi on drums, nail everything and it's a pity this group never got to stick together for more studio records and concerts.

Closing with a superb cover of Buddy Miles' classic track 'Them Changes', this recording is a reminder of what a consistently great live performer Joe Lynn Turner is, and acts as the perfect companion piece to those who love 'Rescue...'. Long overdue and well worth the wait.

James Gaden