Pulled from Art's archives, these location tapes may have been around the block a couple of times (as four separate releases) and so may well be familiar to those Pepper fans who have to possess every thing by The Great Man. For those new to these recordings, the Japanese performances are by far the more preferable in that aside from bassist Bob Magnusson, Pepper is backed by the same Milcho Leviev rhythm section that would support him during his now memorable stint at Ronnie Scott's in June 1980. As such, some of the material overlaps (‘Ophelia’, ‘The Trip’, ‘Red Car’), but not so as it matters. During conversations I had with Art both in London and LA he was acutely aware that he was living on borrowed time and so at this stage in his career back-peddling was never at option: not that it ever was. As a performer, he never once sold either himself or his audiences short.

He stressed that when he got that final tap on the shoulder he was determined to exit in a blaze of glory. To dust off a familiar cliche, Pepper performed as though it was for the last time. A perfect example being his playing on ‘Besame Mucho’ which spills over with intense passion and is matched by Leviev's equally daring contribution. Though again, Pepper could be wildly uninhibited, the Live In The USA scores less as a result of fluctuating acoustics and the realisation that he's fronting pick-up units. That said, there are very few more exhilarating sounds than Pepper's biting alto sax. For confirmation, just check out his Japanese performance of ‘My Laurie.’