On the Highwire

RELEASE
December 02, 2003
LABEL
Castle Music Ltd.
GENRES
Pop/Rock, Prog-Rock, Album Rock, Hard Rock

Album Review

It seems like most live sets and anthologies that focus on chameleon-like rockers Trapeze are either delegated solely to focusing on the group's era that included singer/bassist Glenn Hughes, or the group's post-Hughes lineups. The 2003 double-disc set, On the Highwire, manages to span the group's entire career (and various lineups), and is comprised of both studio and live tracks. Disc one falls a bit flat (due to the absence of any stellar Hughes-era studio tracks), as it runs the gamut from the Bad Company-esque "Don't Ask Me How I Know" and the Whitesnake-like "Running," to the sappy ballad "Don't Break My Heart." Disc two fares much better, as it focuses on much stronger material (recorded live), including "Medusa," "You Are the Music," and "Way Back to the Bone." For most rock fans, having copies of Medusa and You Are the Music...We're Just the Band will fulfill the "Trapeze quotient" in their album collection. And since On the Highwire skips the group's studio work with Hughes (which is by far the group's strongest work), On the Highwire fails to deliver as a true career overview.
Greg Prato, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Don't Ask Me How I Know
  2. Take Good Care
  3. When You Go to Heaven
  4. Livin' on Love
  5. Hold On
  6. Don't Break My Heart
  7. Running
  8. You Are
  9. Time Will Heal
  10. Way Back to the Bone
  11. You Are the Music
  12. Seafull
  13. Your Love Is Alright
  14. Medusa
  15. Black Cloud
  16. Keepin' Time
  17. Touch My Life
  18. Back Street Love
  19. Hold On
  20. Midnight Flyer
  21. You Are the Music
  22. Black Cloud
  23. Way Back to the Bone