Cats in space – Cats alive!

Cats in space are a band I only saw live for the first time late last year, opening for Deep Purple, and they really impressed me, both on stage, and in their attitude with them coming out to the merch stand at an arena show as soon as they finished their set in order to meet fans.

Now they’re releasing a live album – Cats alive. The album was recorded in March 2017 at the Cardiff Motorpoint arena, when they supported Thunder. Since this was five months before the release of their second album, Scarecrow, then unsurprisingly most of the songs featured in their set came from the first album, Too many gods, with just one song from the as then unreleased second album.

When I saw the band live, the first three songs were spent photographing them, so I didn’t get to sit back and really enjoy the songs as much as I’d have liked, so until I get to see them play live again, I can now listen to this album. It’s well recorded – the sound is lovely and clear with a very good mix, so every instrument comes through well without being drowned out or overpowering other instruments.
Listening to the songs and the performance I’m thoroughly impressed. There’s a definite 70s element to the sound but without feeling like a nostalgia act. At times they really remind me of ELO – which is certainly no bad thing, while at other times they’re heavier and rockier.
It’s an excellent album with only one thing I can criticise. The problem is simply that by recording a support set, it’s by necessity a fairly short one – seven songs and just 34 minutes. To be fair though they have acknowledged that by pricing it accordingly – you can get the mp3 album for under £7 which is very fair.

An excellent (if slightly short) live album from a band I really want to hear more from.

Cats alive! will be released on 23rd February 2018

Track listing:

1. Too many gods
2. Only in Vegas
3. Last man standing
4. The mad hatter’s tea party
5. Mr Heartache
6. Greatest story never told
7. Five minute celebrity.