Reviewed by Tim Cockram

Strangely enough, 'Live At The Fringe' is a live album recorded at Theatre East End during the '96 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A rather fine recording it is too, good enough to shame many studio albums. Okay, so there are a few "duff notes" from the lead singer but no more than have appeared on major bands' live albums (no, I won't say who). So what's the music like? It's actually quite difficult to pigeon hole as Jacobs Ladder mix some quite diverse styles together. The vocals at times remind me of Paul Heaton (Beautiful South) with maybe a little of Van Morrison's phrasing. The instrumentation is guitar, bass, drums and keys, all played superbly especially the delicious Hammond (a real one methinks) organ grooves. Perhaps the best way of describing the overall effect is that this sounds like the product of a Later With Jools Holland show. Worth checking out for the band's rendition of "I Can See Clearly Now". The band have now called it a day so this will be your last chance to hear them.

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