Live recordings are a great way to document your career as a musician and playing your songs for your fans in a live setting where they can experience and feel the music that you create. Often the best experience is to be there when the live album or DVD was recorded so you can listen to/watch it when it's released and think to yourself "I was there and I was a part of this chapter in my favorite band/artists career."

Today I will be reviewing a live album from British guitarist Steve Rothery called "Live In Rome" which was recorded at a sold out show at the Cross Roads Live Club in Italy with his solo band playing some songs from his own solo career as well as songs from his time in the band MARILLION.

The album is split across two discs with the first disc consisting of instrumentals from Steve's upcoming solo album "The Ghosts of Pripyat" which is out on September 22^nd but by the time this review is out, the album will most likely be released and available to hear.

So who is Steve Rothery? He is a British rock guitarist who has been hailed by magazines such as Total Rock and Guitar Player for his skills as a musician. In 1979, he joined the band MARILLION and has since been on every album they have released as well as appearing as a special guest on albums and songs by other artists.

His upcoming solo album "The Ghosts of Pripyat" was funded through the Kickstarter platform and the goal target of around £15,000 was achieved in the first 24 hours which is a remarkable achievement but since then it has achieved almost £60,000 which is even more astonishing.

So what about the music on this live album then? The first disc consists of instrumentals from his upcoming solo album "The Ghosts of Pripyat" and each one has it's own concept, as explained by Steve before the song begins and the most interesting is the concept, of writing a song and imagining it as part of a film soundtrack, which personally I think is a great idea. When you first listen to them, the songs may seem a bit slow paced at times and a bit dull and a bit too lengthy with some equaling around nine or ten minutes but then they are Progressive Rock instrumentals so that is to be expected.

However, because they each have their own concept behind them, it makes them interesting to listen to and when it gets to the shred sections where Steve Rothery lets loose with some wild guitar solos, you soon forget about the lengthiness of them as the fast paced shred sections make them enjoyable to listen to.

The second disc of this live album consists of songs from Steve's career in the band MARILLION and because they are vocal songs, he brings out some special guests to sing them including Manuela Milanese and Alessandro Carmassi. Not having heard any song from MARILLION prior to listening to this promo, I didn't know what to expect but the songs do sound very soulful and yes it is a live recording so the vocals may not be of studio quality but because it's a live recording, it is to be expected but then, most singers do sound very good on a live stage and here that is the case as the two singers brought out to sing the MARILLION songs put on a great performance and the music sounds great too.

So what is my overall verdict on this live album? A live performance should bring out the best of an artist's studio work as often live versions sound better then their studio counterparts. Having not heard any of Steve Rothery's studio work prior to hearing this live promo, I cannot really give a comparison but if I were to compare them, I would probably vouch for the live versions as here the best is brought out in the music in the performances on the instrumentals on the first disc and the vocal songs on the second disc. If you like your live albums and your Progressive Rock, then this is definitely one you should pick up and have a listen to even if the genre as a whole is not really your cup of tea.