Alive 95 is technically Gamma Ray's second live CD (they were featured on a live Noise compilation CD in 1994) but their first proper live CD. And as a "best of" type compilation it works quite well.

The album was recorded during the supporting tour for "Land of the Free", and as such it contains 7 tracks from that album , along with "Lust for Life" and "Space Eater" from their first album "Heading For Tomorrow", "Tribute to the Past" and "Heal Me" from their third album (Insanity and Genius", and "Ride the Sky" and "Future World", two songs from Kai's days back in Helloween. There are no tracks from the band's sophomore effort, "Sigh No More" (on disc 1).

The band at this point in their careers is about as tight as it gets. Thomas Nack and Jan Rubach, who formed quite the underrated rhythm section, are very good live, and Dirk Shclachter has really grown into this own as the second guitarist in the band at this point in time. Kai Hansen's guitar work as usual is flawless. But, as another reviewer pointed out, Kai's vocals are not quite where they need to be, and as a result some of the songs suffer a tad bit, most notably on the Ralf Scheepers' material. It just seems like Kai feels a little trepidation at letting loose on some of the songs, and it shows. But that doesn't take away from the fact that the song selection and performances are top-notch, and it would behoove any power metal fan and Gamma Ray fan in particular to pick up this CD.

The double CD version of the album contains a second disc with 6 songs from the supporting tour for the previous album, "Insanity and Genius". Most notably, the songs are the last recordings of Gamma Ray with Ralf Scheepers on lead vocals. And while the song selection is a bit weak ("No Return", "The Last Before The Storm" and in particular "Changes" sound like the band sleepwalked through them), there are 3 standout tracks in "Future Madhouse", "Insanity and Genius" and "Heading for Tomorrow/ Dream Healer" that are worth hunting down, if only to experience the lunacy of Scheeper's vocal range.

The first thing I want to do is inform those reading this is that there is also a single cd edition of 'Alive 95'.

I advise those to spend the extra money and get the double cd since every track recorded on the double is excellent.

The only other Gamma Ray cd I can compare this to is 'Somewhere out in Space'.

That said, the only difference is Kai's singing is somewhat weaker on the 'Alive 95' cd, but this could be due to the live recording and, for another comparison, is only slightly lagging with regards to his singing on Helloween's first cd.

Never the less, the singing is very credible on this cd along with the constantly superlative Gamma Ray guitar playing and songwriting.

Also, the only issue I have with Power metal bands in general is a tendency to use repetitive drumming throughout the cd, where many of such bands could save the expense of a drummer and program a drum machine at 32nd beats on the bass and tom tom drums all the time and on every 8th bar have the sticks roll across the drums.

Thankfully Gamma Ray does not do this to the drumming.

If I could use a rating out of ten, this would get an 8/10

great cd, too bad it`s been cut from different shows but very good none the less. great introduction to the band if your not familiar with them. buy it you won`t be sorry. H

If you are a gamma ray fan, go for it!!