The group were finishing off a huge US tour that had roared down the east coast then across the Midwest and by the time they hit LA, as Brian recalls the group was performing at their height.
The show opens with a hyper fast version of 'Beginning Again' due to drummer Steve Ferrone being almost an hour late and running high on adrenaline, Brian remembers thinking “I don’t even know if I can play it that fast!”. Fortunately, he and the Oblivion Express including stellar vocalist Alex Ligertwood rise to the challenge and the result is akin to some frenetic jazzy drum & bass but also pushes the group onto another level altogether for the rest of the show. Across both volumes there are no fillers and the highlights are many, but especially the epic version of 'Maiden Voyage' which Mos Def sampled on his 1997 'If You Can Huh! You Can Hear', and both DJ Mitsu in 2004 and 2017 Crimeapple both dipped into Live Oblivion to sample that fire for their own projects.

When it was released at the end of 1974, this album seemed pretty redundant to fans of Brian Auger's band. Two of the four songs had just been released in superior studio versions a few months earlier, and the two other selections from Second Wind had little new to offer over their studio versions. In retrospect, the music is good, but this record is not the place to start for an introduction to the music of this fine band.

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express was the phoenix that rose from the ashes of sixties combo The Trinity. Fusing R&B, jazz, soul and funk, keyboard maestro Brian Auger created a new breed of music that took the US and the UK by storm. Auger's unique experimentation culminated in rhythm-infused jazz funk that united Black and white '70s audiences.
The 6 studio albums that make up Complete Oblivion illustrate the group's diverse musical influences and progression, from the 1970 self titled debut's heavy jazz- rock to the jazz fusion, latin and disco tinged Reinforcements from 1975 - this process no doubt powered by the groups' evolving line up, which included guitarists Jim Mullen and Jack Mills, drummers Robbie McIntosh & Steve Ferrone, bassists Barry Dean and Clive C h a m a n and vocalist Alex Ligertwood.