Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

A good friend and I often debate who are the key members of a band. For example, he says without Jagger and Richards there can be no Rolling Stones but I insist Charlie Watts has to be included. For Over The Rhine we have to have Karin Bergqvist and Linford Detweiler but, at the start, they were joined by Ric Hordinski on guitar and Brian Kelley on drums. For some Rhinelanders this quartet defines the true OTR and, you know, they may just have a point. The original line-up released four albums in the years up to 1996 when Ric and Brian left the band and it took time for Karin and Linford to figure out what to do next. In December 2008 they celebrated 20 years in the music business by putting on two shows in their hometown of Cincinnati, dividing the two evenings into the first and second decade. For the first time since 1996 the four original members were together on the same stage and the double CD that resulted from the occasion gives an outstanding overview of the band's first four albums ('Til We Have Faces'; 'Patience'; 'Eve'; and 'Good Dog Bad Dog'). We open with the very first track of the very first album, "Eyes Wide Open", and from there it just gets better and the chances are that whatever your favourite tracks from the first four albums they will be here. For me "How Does It Feel (To Be On My Mind)" sounds as good live as it did in the studio, "Like A Radio" will be one of my Desert Island discs, "Daddy Untwisted" rocks, and then we reach my personal live favourite, the 10-minute epic "If I'm Drownin" with Ric's beautiful soloing leading up to Brian's grand finale on the drums. Wow. If ever you caught the original OTR live - Greenbelt comes to mind - then this will bring back many happy memories and if you know only the later, acoustic material - good though it is - it's time you travelled back and heard OTR rock.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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