Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If you know its final then you make a conscious effort to enjoy the maximum effort you can in the wake of the mighty ship of emotions you will be faced with; and even if there is no announcement of the end, you can often tell that the chances are that what you hear, what you experience has a ring of certainty about it. The final flight of a beautiful, impressive machine, one that has taken to the skies and been lauded for its creative posture, is always one covered in glory, and the melancholy of its place in the hearts of those touched by her.

Of course, when it comes to a supergroup, especially one of the prowess and intelligent design of Transatlantic, the end is never truly in sight, and as the seriousness of the music, the depth of emotional reach that is unsparingly produced, and the passion in each note is played by Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt, Pete Trewavas, and Ted Leonard, The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia, the music shows that it will always beckon another journey at some point, it is surely just a matter of time.

Paris is a place of intriguing and beguiling beauty, its history is one of complexity, and perhaps only rivalled for its ability to inspire artists to see both Heaven and Hell from a position of aloofness in the cities Moscow and London…Three old cities connected by more than just time, but by the sights seen from above; it therefore is to the audience captured in fine voice that The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia is one that registers in the listener’s ear; for their siren like call adds flavour to the sheer weight of greatness on stage, and it in harmony that the flight is a seamless, smooth event.

The live album makes the most of the studio recordings of The Absolute Universe and The Whirlwind, with stop offs on the journey from other selections and adored pieces, and whilst  not every track can be performed, it is a testament to the 20 plus years since the first tentative steps together as a group that the album could have been a single, or even a double set of discs and it would still have sounded as though driven by the finest crew and a first class presentation. The fact that they have placed huge faith in setting it out as a full event makes the crossing even more astounding.

With tracks such as Reaching For The Sky, The Darkness In The Light, Bully, Take My Soul, Lonesome Rebel, Evermore, and Duel With The Devil all leaving their sizeable impressions on the hearts of the listener, the belief of a final flight might nag at the soul, for in any circumstance when a machine is so well loved, there will always be the knowledge that such beauty cannot be contained and grounded forever.

A terrific and full-blown live album, pumped to the rafters with joy, a Progressive lover’s dream date in the stars.

Ian D. Hall