Er, talking about undercutting the bootleg market: With Gabriel having recently embarked upon his live “Encore Collection” in conjunction with on-line distributors www.TheMusic.com. This series makes available CD copies of every concert on Gabriel’s 19-date 2003 tour. Granted, the release at hand was recorded in December of 2002, but since it’s just an average audience recording from the Up tour, marked by clear vocals but having typical big-arena tinny/boomy sound, why bother with it? In that regard, this is for Gabriel completists only.
Filou, however, continues its tradition of high-quality packaging. The double-digi features handsome brown-themed artwork decorated by full-color photos of Gabriel (one of them bears a reproduction of his autograph) as well as some shots from the concert itself. The clear inlay trays also feature the setlist for each disc underneath. So just on packaging terms alone, this is worth having – completist or not. – OSWALD
