I always wondered what the OES tour would be like with the BIA tour, with Terry and Jack. I always imagined how it was the repercussion at the time when the DS came back with a new format, as was seen by the old fans ...
I think in terms of impact it would be even stronger, because from the perspective of DS fans, Terry was already a legend within the band, as well as Alan Clark (both members of Alchmy), Jack had all that charisma, but that was not something taken into account by MK at the time, who clearly wanted something technically grandiose and called musicians like Phil, Paul, Danny and Chris Whitten, won technique but lost in feeling and spontaneity, stayed away from the band's classic sound in the years 80, light years from the sound of the original 77/79 formation. However, as was said, OES was the most virtuoso moment of MK guitar, sublime moments, the weak point is the drums, that although Chris Whitten is a good drummer, he fit much better on the sound of Paul Mccartney than in the sonority of DS, has left things very mechanical, millimetrically calculated, Phil has something of that too. There remained the same excesses of sax that already existed on the BIA tour, however, more balanced and better crafted. The protagonism of Paul was something inevitable, to have the best pedal steel in the world and not take full advantage of it would be something seen as waste. All of Chris White's appearances with the sax were better than during the BIA tour, he evolved remarkably.
Looking at all this, I clearly notice how the band's sound is linked to the band members, with each change of limb, a new sound texture, what DS did in the 80's was something incredible, in the late 70's was something, very singlualr, genuine, unique in terms of style and sound, 91/92 is the sum of all the processes (77 / 79-80 / 88, MK-EC, MK-Chet Atkins and NHB). more time to analyze, appreciate and digest, even today it is shocking the sound structure of the band and its last tour-OES tour!
