Amazon.com essential recording

Before Anodyne, Uncle Tupelo already had one masterpiece in 1991's noisy and tense Still Feel Gone, but this album, the band's major-label debut, had even grander ambitions. Replacing the group's grungy guitar with soaring lap and pedal-steel fills, plus fiddle and mandolin breaks both sweet and raucous, Anodyne is overflowing with a spacious grandeur that alludes to, and then makes it own, everything from the Band and the Stones and Neil Young (both as a solo artist and with Crazy Horse) to old Acuff-Rose songs--all of which is just to say that it's among the best roots-rock records ever made. The 2003 remastered and expanded edition offers three unreleased tracks from the original sessions plus a pair of live covers from a 1993 Chicago show. --David Cantwell ... Read more

Reviews (47)

Wow
This is a truly amazing album. My favorite Uncle T record was No Depression, but then Anodyne came out, and it may be better. If you've only got the first two records (or one of them) then this will be a change of pace. The thrash from the early days is almost all gone here, there's nothing at all like "Factory Belt" or "Gun" here. While they do have some really great rocking moments like on "Chickamauga", it's the sad, mostly acoustic numbers that really stand out, though. Farrar's "Slate" and the title track, and Tweedy's "New Madrid" and "No Sense in Lovin'" are my favorites. This is much sadder on a personal level, whearas the first two Tupelo albums were angry about everything from their girlfriends to the economy.

Despite the change of pace, this is definetly an Uncle Tupelo album. There is still that half (and sometimes more)-defeated tone to all of the songs, and there are occasional strong echoes of not only Husker Du, but of Paul Westerberg's Replacements-era songwriting. Add a little twang and see what turns up!

Great, great album, definetly give this one a try.

A raw, passionate parting shot
Upon the first listen to Uncle Tupelo's 1993 album Anodyne, the aura of something coming to an end is clear. Nearly every one of Farrar's songs contain lyrics hinting at separation: "The time is right for getting out while we still can", "No sign of reconciliation", "We can't seem to find common ground", and finally "No more will I see you". In hindsight, we should have seen Uncle Tupelo's demise as clearly as we should have seen Kurt Cobain's suicide. But we didn't, and that only makes the music more haunting and timeless.

As splintered as some Tupelo albums are, it is ironic that Anodyne is cohesive and flows effortlessly from track to track. Jeff Tweedy clearly caught up with Jay Farrar on the album, his songs emitting the buoyant and upbeat antidote to Farrar's mournful ballads. The frenetic energy of the band's early days is gone, replaced with a more balanced and subdued mix of rock and country. The band's sophistication has always stood in contrast with its age, but while listening it's hard to imagine that this band has only been releasing albums for 4 years. While Anodyne is UT's first release on a major label, it retains the raw edge of earlier releases; this can be attributed to the band's standards of getting the songs down live in one take. Mistakes are clearly audible and some parts could be tightened, but the deficiencies actually add to the quality and credibility of the album creating an achingly vulnerable atmosphere. Remarkably, the orchestration is stunning in most places and you have to remind yourself that there were no overdubs or studio trickery in place. Mandolins and guitars drive in sync, lap steel floats over the mix, bass hooks abound creating a sound that at the same time soothes and rubs against the grain of your eardrums. The songs are the best the band ever created as a unit and the lyrics, Farrar's especially, reveal the anatomy of the band's breakdown in a poignant manner. By the time the chorus of the closing track "Steal the Crumbs" comes around anyone who cares about the band's music will feel saddened and deprived of what this band could have become.

The bottom line: Anodyne is essential for any fan of rock music. Pick it up, it's impossible to be let down.

Saving Their Best For Last
Anodyne was Uncle Tupelo's major label debut and also their swan song. After going the acoustic route on their previous album, the band revs back up into the country-rock arena. They shoot for the top and don't miss. The album is a perfect blend of rock songs "Chickamauga" and "The Long Cut", folk like the amazing "New Madrid" and "Steal The Crumbs", straight country in "Acuff-Rose" and the marrying of their sounds on the brilliant remake of Doug Sahm's "Give Back The Keys To My Heart" (Mr. Sahm provides guest vocals on the track). The band unfortunately splintered apart after the album with Jay Farrar forming Sun Volt and Jeff Tweedy forming the more successful and critically lauded Wilco. But as their parting gift, they served up one of the best albums of the 90's.

one more reason to love uncle tupelo
all sorts of great things have been written about this group, here and at altcountry.com, and at any other place that has taken the time to review this band. two reason i own all their music and most of the two off-springs of this group: great lyrical content, great music...what more can ya ask for? write about american history, heartbreak, folklore, tragedy,love, combine that with timeless folk, rock, punk, country. what do you get? a classic must own collection of songs, albums, you get the picture. this album stayed on my disc player for at least two straights months...i only took it off so i wouldn't burn out on the album....will be as classic as any dylan, stones, who, or neil album!!!!

The Irreparable Rift
By now it should be apparent that, irrespective of genre, two brilliant songwriters can coexist within the same band for only so long. Such collaborations may last but a few months, as in the case of the early incarnation of Metallica that featured both James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine, or as long as several years in the cases of the dynamic duos that fronted the Beatles (ok, George Harrison made them a dynamic trio of songwriters) and Uncle Tupelo. Ultimately, however, a band with more than one ingenious songwriter is destined to fission.

Luckily, in the case of Uncle Tupelo, childhood friends Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy were able to work together long enough to produce four excellent studio albums, the last of which, Anodyne, represents their most remarkable artistic achievement as a songwriting team.

The proceedings start out well enough with the mournful "Slate" and hoedown worthy "Acuff-Rose". However, the meat of the album starts on the third track, "The Long Cut", which is the first in what seems like an endless stream of classics to come. "Give Back the Key to My Heart" manages to be sweet, funny, and heartbreaking all at once. As perhaps the finest and most rocking song UT ever recorded, "Chickamauga" features a several minute blistering guitar solo outro that soars to the rarified heights achieved before by only a handful of bands such as Pearl Jam on "Alive" and Pink Floyd on "Comfortably Numb". After the frenzied glory of "Chickamauga", the laid-back country pickin' on "New Madrid" comes almost as a relief. "We've Been Had" snags the riff from Springsteen's "Crush on You" and does great things with it. "Steal the Crumbs" is a wonderfully mellow closer.

It's a shame Farrar and Tweedy could no longer work together after Anodyne, yet you've got to admit they've both acquitted themselves quite well on their own since then. Maybe sometime I'll take the time to compare their post-Tupelo output and throw my two cents in on the Farrar vs. Tweedy debate. For now, I suggest that you pull out your copy of Anodyne, grab a bottle of IBC, and enjoy. ... Read more

Amazon.com

After ripping it up on No Depression and Still Feel Gone, their first two albums of twangy punk rock, Uncle Tupelo unplugged for this remarkable tribute--half originals, half political and religious covers--to the band's old-time influences. While the new songs of frontmen Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy are consistently strong here (especially Farrar's "Grindstone"), the album's haunted covers of old folk songs are the true keepers. Tweedy's apocalyptic version of "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and Farrar's earnest readings of the beat-down "Moonshiner" and the labor song "Coalminers" are as frightening, beautiful, and passionate as anything the band ever recorded. The 2003 expanded and remastered edition adds three unreleased demos, a live version of "Moonshiner," and an instrumental B-side. --David Cantwell ... Read more

Reviews (9)

not my uncle
who's uncle is it. Obviously someone in this band has been heavily influenced by "50 cent" but that's my opinion. This recording didn't sound like it is good.

Uncle Tupelo 's finest disc
I love this album. Most people are familiar with the story of Uncle Tupelo, and how they branched off to form two of the best bands of the nineties, Wilco and Son Volt. This disc captures Tupelo at thier finest. The whole disc has a live type feel to it. It is a mystery why this disc has not been elevated to classic status. Maybe if the music industry wasnt so concerned with the flavor of the week, this disc would be more widely played. If your a fan of music with some heart and soul to it, you will like this disc.

Quiet Side
Uncle Tupelo went unplugged on their brilliant third album, March 16-20, 1992. Produced by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, the album features six cover songs of mostly traditional folk music. The band's signature sound is stripped down to the skeletal remains of acoustic guitars with a dash of percussion and strings. The songs have on overt political nature and the band throws in some religion as well. The overall starkness of the album recalls Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. Unlike that album which found Mr. Springsteen singing from a first person point of view, Uncle Tupelo act as troubadours, telling the tales of the downtrodden. The album shows the band's versatility and Mr. Buck's subtle production is first-rate.

Uncle Tupelo's best
This is by far my favorite Uncle Tupelo album because this is the album that best shows Uncle Tupelo's folk influence. This album has a perfect blend of original songs, and traditional songs the band learned from a Missouri folk compilation tape they heard. Its also good to see a CD that has worthwhile liner notes. The liner notes explain the band's background and the inspirations for the album, which makes for interesting reading for any Uncle Tupelo fan. Out of all the Farrar/Tweedy albums, I rank this one second only to "Trace".

Must have for all alt country fans
yep !!! bye it right now!!! you're missing out if it's not in your collection. destined to be as classic as any of bob dylans albums. a great collection of acustic music from the band that put alt counrty in the music vocabulary....to bad it it's their last album. while you 're at it you should just get all the uncle tupelo music you can find here....then start buying up the drive by trucker stuff too!!!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Kick Out The Jams still sounds astonishingly powerful after almost 30 years. Recorded live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom in 1968, this relentless, aggressive set offers the frenzy of politicized garage punks blasting through giant stacks: a blitzkrieg of hard rock ignited from the dueling guitars of Wayne Kramer and Fred Sonic Smith and of the throttled vocals of Rob Tyner. The Stooges with barricade-busting ideals, the Five turned the Motor City into a Mecca of sonic excess and shattered the dazed dreams of hippie America. From the pounding of the title track to the eight-and-a half-minute weirdout of "Sun Ra's "Starship,"" Kick Out The Jams will rip your head to shreds. --Barney Hoskyns ... Read more

Reviews (42)

The best punk album to come before The Ramones
Most people know punk officially started with The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. Before those bands, there was a form of proto-punk called garage rock (And, no, I'm not talking about The Strokes or The Hives). These bands included The Monks, The Stooges, The New York Dolls, and MC5. MC5 remain to be the best of all these bands, with this politically-charged masterpeice. Music hadn't been this political since 1966's "Black Monk Time" by the Monks, and wouldn't be more political until The Clash's self-titled album. Well, enough with the history lesson, and a reveiw of the album.

1. "Rambilin' Rose" 10/10: The opening speech is amazing, and you can feel the excitement.

2. "Kick Out the Jams" 11/10: The classic of the album, legendary for the controversial opening line "Kick Out the Jams MOTHAF*CKA!". One of the best songs of the 60's, and certainly an anarchy anthem.

3. "Come Together" 10/10: Another classic on this album.

4. "Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)" 9/10: Not my favorite on the album, but good anyways.

5. "Borderline" 8/10: It's good, but no classic.

6. "Motor City Is Burning" 6/10: My least-favorite song on the album. A little bit slower than the other songs.

7. "I Want You Right Now" 10/10: The album picks up after a slight slump. Of course this is nothing compared to the next track....

8. "Starship" 10/10: A memorable weirdout cover of Sun Ra (!). Words cannot describe this avant-garde classic.

Like so many other political bands of the past (Dead Kennedys, Millions of Dead Cops), the politics slightly date. However, just like it is with Dead Kennedys and MDC, the music certainly doesn't. Go and spend the $10, it's worth it.

full tilt rock and roll at its best....
I can remember ther first time I heard "Kick out the Jams". I was at a party for a friend of mine and he happened to have an old dog-eared reissue jamming on the CD player. I borrowed it that night nearly five years ago and haven't given it back yet. Do I regret it? My neighbors' ears have never been the same. The energy at the heart of this album is the complete essence of rock and roll. Nothing has been distilled or added at all. Their mutation of anger and brashness and overall guts (and this album spills over the brim with guts) is often echoed in the music of Pearl Jam and the best hardcore punk (Black Flag comes to mind, as well as the Minutemen). Many mornings in peaceful suburban Azusa the air was shattered by the primal scream of this record (the UNCENSORED version, thank you) blaring through my apartment window. "Well I feel pretty good...." Music to play when your grandma comes over and you have plans with the opposite sex. She'll run for cover guaranteed. Not many people I know are fans. Buy this CD and let me know what you think by email. I'd like to hear from people who liked it. LA is full of fake punks who've never heard it. Long live the Motor City Five!

Outrageously wild
When I first met this CD,I was nearly knocked down to the floor.The extreme heat that this album possess is almost incredible.If you want to search for proto punk music ,this will be the one.And these guys are really politically aggressive,many taboo words can be heard.This Cd can lift you into higher ground.
Loud and hard-driving sound will set you free from your tedious everyday life.Shut your mouth ,and listen !

A Grande Night Indeed
It was only a short 10 days before my first birthday that this event took place. I guess Mom and Dad wouldn't let me trek from Philly to go see this; well the 60's for the most part except for some pop tunes, and country, and stuff like Glenn Yarbourough were part of "thier" record collection. It took to when I was a teenager to find out about this group. I got the sanitised version of "Kick Out The Jams" in a local record store. Mind you I drove the owner nuts as he was more into accapella, and doo wop. I got this tape for my 19th birthday, and was a little put off by it at first as the first song "Ramblin Rose" sounded like a woman singing. It made up for it quickly as the title cut followed, and then there was "Come Together", and my fave "I Want You Right Now". This was rock at it's angriest. The snarl that The Standells used in "Dirty Water" was a pussycat mew compared to this. Not even other local legends like Iggy and The Stooges, or The Sex Pistols were as "MANLY" sounding as this. It was after this that the MC5 severed ties with thier manager as they felt he was turning them into a hate machine with his lyrics, and his propaganda. I'm glad that the group woke up to that realization, but you can't help, but feel "Oh What A Night(Halloween, 1968)".

I was there, man!
This is the greatest rock album, ever.

Wayne Kramer didn't use an SG, he used a Strat painted like the Stars and Stripes. The only thing missing from this album is the intense ear-splitting volume.

Brothers and sisters, the MC5's music will drive you wild, into the streets, tearing down everything that would keep us from being free.

Kick out the Jams and stay alive with the MC5. ... Read more

Amazon.com

For most musicians and groups, the live box set marks the culmination of a lengthy recording and concert career. Not so for Laurie Anderson, whose United States Live appeared in 1984, following her tenure in academic and bohemian circles and a small handful of releases on Warner Bros. and smaller labels. The release was an unusual event, though perhaps less so for a musician who seeks to upend musical traditions, most notably the distinctions between pop and classical, spoken and sung, live and Memorex. The lengthy set is a recording of a live performance composed of dozens of carefully defined experiments in form and technique, most of them fitting into one or two of these three categories: show pieces for items from her technological music arsenal (like her emblematic electric violin), witty narrative snippets (back when "spoken word" was called "performance art," prior to the rise of the poetry slam), and full-band performances, featuring, among others, Peter Gordon and David Van Tieghem. "O Superman" and "Big Science" are the familiar titles that appear amid the nearly 80 tracks. "Just a slow accumulation of details," her computer-enhanced voice intones moments before the intro to "Blue Lagoon" (later heard in a studio version on Mister Heartbreak). That makes a nice epigram for the collection as a whole, which is essential to understanding art music of the '80s in general and the New York scene in particular. --Marc Weidenbaum ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Professor Anderson's American History 101
One of the many qualities that separates Laurie Anderson from the sub-par pop world of the Backstreet Boys and Korn is her unerring intelligence, and it is on full display in the ambitious four CD box set entitled "United States Live". Taken from a series of shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Anderson attempts nothing less than a cultural, historical and psychiatric dissection of America. Though this was probably much more interesting to watch (as it included the use of multimedia which is obviously incompatible with audio formatting), the songs nevertheless work on a cerebral level, the likes of which have seldom, if ever, been duplicated. Utilizing her electric violin, Harmonizer and toy saxophone (among other instruments), Anderson has concocted a tour de force of sound and expression. Admittedly, each of the 78 tracks available here are exceedingly intellectual and demand the listener's full attention; consequently, one cannot listen to this box set in one, five or even ten sittings as though it were a simple collection of pop songs. The themes, multiple meanings and interior layers of each track unfold gradually with repeated listenings. It is also of note that a few of the songs included here can also be found on Anderson's first studio album, 1982"s "Big Science". Personal Favorites: the history of Tesla's relationship with Einstein that accompanies the song "Dance of Electricity", the philosophical musings on the nature of human motion found in "Walking and Falling", and the pseudo-Native American vocal rhythm of "Hey Ah". Representative Lyrics: "I can see the future and it's a place- about 70 miles east of here." ("Let X=X")

Professor Anderson's American History 101
One of the many qualities that separates Laurie Anderson from the sub-par pop world of the Backstreet Boys and Korn is her unerring intelligence, and it is on full display in the ambitious four CD box set entitled "United States Live". Taken from a series of shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Anderson attempts nothing less than a cultural, historical and psychiatric dissection of America. Though this was probably much more interesting to watch (as it included the use of multimedia which is obviously incompatible with audio formating), the songs nevertheless work on a cerebral level, the likes of which have seldom, if ever, been duplicated. Utilizing her electronic violin, Harmonizer and toy saxophone (among other instruments), Anderson has concocted a tour de force of sound and expression. Admittedly, each of the 78 tracks available here are exceedingly intellectual and demand the listener's full attention; consequently, one cannot listen to this box set in one, five, or even ten sittings as though it were a simple collection of pop songs. The themes, multiple meanings and interior layers of each track unfold gradually with repeated listenings. It is also of note that a few of the songs included here can also be found on Anderson's first studio album, 1982's "Big Science". Personal Favorites: the history of Tesla's relationship with Einstein that accompanies the song "Dance of Electricity"; the philosophical musings on the nature of human motion found in "Walking and Falling"; the pseudo-Native American vocal rhythm of "Hey Ah". Representative Lyrics: "I can see the future and it's a place- about 70 miles East of here." ("Let X=X")

Overdue for digital remastering
I remember seeing this performance series being advertised in The Village Voice & wanting desparately to go...but at 17, I didn't quite have the wherewithall to get the $ together to go & have always regretted this. But it was soon enough after that I had a summer job & the LPs were available. The sound was rather thin & scratches noticeable, so I bought the CD box soon after that. I always see this box set around (new & used), so I'm surprised that people say they haven't been able to find it. I always had half-wished that it had gone out of print, if only so that it finally gets the digital remastering (from the original tapes) that it deserves. The one thing that has bugged me about the set is that there is occassional popping/crackling noises that makes it sound as if the cd's were mastered from a pristine LP. The sound on the LP's was always very quiet & you had to turn up the volume, which made any surface noise extremely unpleasant. The CD's are louder, but the tape hiss is more obvious. Some cd's are already on their 3rd remastering.....so it seems that an upgrade is long overdue, SACD would be nice too.

Buy it, relive it or live it for the first time...
I had the good fortune of attending this two day performance in Brooklyn. It felt then like we were participating in something special. Looking back it was as I can't think of anything else from the 80's that was in anyway cultural or arresting. Maybe the Clash's first night at bond's before the fire dept showed up? Anyway during intermission the second night my current wife then girlfriend accidently kicked Grace Jones in the ankle while she was sipping champagne. We thought she was going to kick both of our asses. Luckilly Phillip Glass was walking by at that moment and struck up a conversation w/ her and save us from such humiliation. Plus it was so hard to get a cab to take you from the city to brooklyn back then.

Nights I Swim in the Blue Lagoon
Yeah, it's worth [money] for her 13:00 minute version of "Blue Lagoon" from MISTER HEARTBREAK. Professor Anderson says it all very well, below. I never fully appreciated Laurie until I saw her live recently on tour. I mean, I knew she was smart and inventive, but she finally got to me. She's paying attention to it all; she sees beneath the surfaces.

I suspect you do, too.

And she's coyly feminine and beguiling.

This is a great live set. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Simply Amazing
Ween has always been a great live band, and they've shown that since their first official live CD release "Paintin' The Town Brown". Since then there has been a steady supply of live Ween; including the 3 disc set "Live at Stubbs," "Live in Toronto" touring for their country album, and now "Live in Chicago" with a DVD. This DVD is spectacular. Mastered in 5.1 surround and great picture quality. They change the songs so much, refusing to recreate the studio album version of the song. This makes the concert so much fun and instresting to watch. They change instruments, lyrics, add/change sound effects; it's fantastic. And Dean must be one of the greatest guitarists in music today; some of those solos were just sick, such as "I'll be your Johnny on the spot" or "Voodoo lady"; just tearing up every song with some killer lead guitar. Also, a great cover of Led Zeppelin's "All of my love". This is a must own for Ween lovers, and for anyone who appreciates good music and a great live performance.

I think you NEED this....
If you are a Ween fan, you are going to buy this. If you are new to Ween, you NEED to buy this. This is Weens first DVD release and what a release it is. The quality of the recording on both the DVD and the CD is incredible. Not to mention that the setlist on both is top notch. It covers the hits spanning Ween's illustrious career thus far. The DVD also has a cover of Led Zeppelins All of My love which they rock out to the fullest. I think the boys in Lep Zep would agree with me on that. So enough of my rambling and enough of you reading. This is a must have. So buy it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Laurie Anderson scored an improbable hit in the early ‘80s with the atmospheric "O Superman," a song that appears near the end of this exhaustive two-disc live set. Despite a new arrangement, the track sounds just as entrancing as it did 20 years ago, if only because the 90 minutes leading up to it features some of the most complex, dreamlike, and unnerving music ever produced. But given that these concerts were recorded just days after the September 11 attacks in New York, the effect is all the more chilling--just try to hold back the goose bumps when Anderson sings, "Here come the planes / They're American planes / Made in America." The air of intensity is palpable throughout Live at Town Hall, as Anderson pulls out vintage pieces like "Let X=X" and "Strange Angels," each one taking new shape and meaning in the process. It is a harrowing listen. --Aidin Vaziri ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Brave New World
Laurie Anderson recently applied for and was hired as kitchen worker at McDonald's hamburger joint near her studio in Manhattan. Huh???...yes it's true, and she recounts her McDonalds experience in her new performance piece, "Happiness". Laurie Anderson can find beauty in strange places. At Town Hall, eight short days after the collapse of the Trade Towers, Laurie found beauty in a terrifying place. She performed "Love Amoung the Sailors", from her Bright Red album and the lyric..."There is no pure land now, no safe place...If this is the work of an angry God, I want to look in his angry face..." ; becomes a prophetic statement of iron willed resolve. "Let X=X" takes on a new meaning as we, the listeners, are placed in an aisle seat of a burning plane. George Bush talked about "wanted dead or alive" and "hunting down terrorists like dogs" and Laurie Anderson talked about the phenomena of flaming birds in the sky after the American planes became guided missles from hell. Now, one year later as Sadam becomes the ghost of Osama, I look to Laurie Anderson's concert at Town Hall as a defining moment in a Brave, New World. Laurie Anderson (not Rudy Guliani) is New York's first citizen and the heart and soul of this planet, Earth.

She's amazing....
Well, the first time I got to see Laurie live last
year (2001) in a small theater in New Hamsphire
she doesn't sing a word really, it turned out to
be a talk. Sure, I wanted to experience Laurie
Anderson with a band but I'm glad in a way that I
didn't get to hear her perform considering all that had
happened this past year it has made her new/older music so much more
compelling to experience live. I've listened to this many times now
and I find this to be a classic set of songs for troubled times
and I'm just glad there are caring artists around that have
something to say about this or have written songs that still
mean something. I'm more perplexed that musicians as a group
haven't had a whole lot to say about 9/11?? since the fundraisers. It doesn't say to much
to me about the music community of this country? Music in general seems so hard to be all about being young and unstopable but we all learned real quick whats important! many musicians are still caught up in the get rich
quick trip, thanks to Laurie for this gift of music. I also
enjoy the song "Silver Lining" the David Grey song that Bonnie

Raitt covers on her new Cd, she really shines on this, and she
to has something important to say, as well.

Love
A maximum of 1,000 words is not enough to do justice to one of the most glorious artists of our time.

Attending the event
Playing this CD makes the listener feel they are attending the event itself. The music itself is amazing right through, as are the spken word pieces. There is an intimacy, some intensity, some discomfort but some delight too, for example when the anecdote ('Beginning French') about French 'traffic testers' gives way discreetly to the intro of 'O Superman.' But the intensity is felt most when Laurie refers to 9/11 and her reactions, playing that evening, the sense of an entirley changed world. Her songs fit. My favourites here are O Superman, which I knew from the 8os and Strange Angels, which I didn't know before.
The discomfort comes in when you've listened all the way through and get to O Superman on Disc 2, when the references to 'Amercian planes, made in America' are heard.
This is a good place to go for a live compilation of Laurie Anderson songs.

The Best Concert I've Ever Seen
Firstly, I have yet to hear this album, but I did see her show In Toronto on September 13th, 2001, and I have to say that it was aesthetically and artistically the most incredible concert that I've ever attended. The quality of her performance (and band!) was superb, and the themes that she's been weaving for all of these years really came together. For me, peak of the show was the transition from O Superman to Pieces and Parts: very emotional, new layers of resonance to say the least. She was visibly shaken at the "American Planes" line, almost as though she had just realized what she was singing. The show ran from the quiet and delicate (White Lily) to surprisingly (and successfully) noisy, loud and aggressive (My Compensation), to arty and humourous (distributing pencils and papers for the audience to draw with and pass back after the show). She's consistently been the most interesting American artist for the past 20 years. Content-wise, she has all the bases covered: musicality, intelligence, technique, experimentation, insight, wit, and grace.
Inspired. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Weird, wild, and sometimes wonderful, this live recording (deftly captured at Slim's in San Francisco on New Year's Eve 2000) is from bizarre underground "supergroup" the Fantomas, featuring Buzz Osborne of Melvins infamy and former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, in this case, performing both Fantomas and Melvins tunes. The term "tunes" should be used loosely, as many of the album's 18 cuts are, as titles like "Musthing with the Phunts" and "Liquorton Gooksburg" suggest, exercises in musical oddity and excess. When guitarist-singer Osborne joins Patton (also of Mr. Bungle) in Fantomas, which features Slayer drummer Dave Lombardi, there's a cacophony of influences, from death metal to experimental to Black Sabbath. On Millennium Monsterwork, "Hooch" and the rumbling "Night Goat" from the Melvins album Houdini are included, as is "Mombius Hibachi" from Honky. "Cape Fear" and the gothic-into-punk-metal version of "The Omen," originally found on the Fantomas' Director's Cut album (full of bizarre reworkings of movie themes!), butt up against the painful noise of "White Men Are the Vermin of the Earth," the relatively straightahead raw rock of "Ol' Black Stooges," and the childlike spookiness of "Skin Horse." If Millennium Monsterworks is the ultimate in musical indulgence and esoterica, there's nonetheless a pleasing power and freedom to be gleaned amid the chaos. --Katherine Turman ... Read more

Reviews (7)

2 AMAZING Bands, Playing At The Same Time, Live=Decent..
This gets more of a three and a half. Mainly becuase i'm a big fan of both of these bands. But this recording isn't that great. Theres nothing wrong with the sound quality, its just that Its a medieocre album. It gets a little boring. I have a feeling it would have been better in the studio, with slightly longer songs. The versions of Cape Fear, Hooch, and Night Goat are amazing how ever! Those three tracks alone are worht the price. But I expected more from such a great concept. However, I did have the privalage of Seeing the Fantomas/Melvins Big Band live last summer, and it was an amazing experience! Don't let this album detuor you from seeing them live if you get the chance!

Better luck next time, perhaps...
I was really looking forward to this CD after having seen Fantomas live and then Melvins live a few months later. Sadly, this effort to merge the two bands is a disappointment. The sound quality is bad and the "tightness" of the Fantomas songs just doesn't come accross with such a large ensemble. Stick to the studio albums - this is for die hards only. Although hearing Patton sing Hooch was cool!

Two bands, one disc, zero reasons to buy
Nah, I can't really get into this. I have a stack of Melvins CDs, a Fantomas disc or two, some Faith No More, and all that groovy loud stuff. So I had high hopes for this live album.

But 90% of it is a noisy waste. I'm surprised that these guys decided to play weird death-metal jams while Mike Patton screams over top. I mean, they can all really play, so why just act like [that]on stage? What's the point?

Sometimes I'll listen to this when I need a caffeine jolt of mindless aggression. It's like Ministry for nerds, with an extra hit of doofus humor and none of the discipline.

Not quite perfect, but so close
The only official Melvins/Fantomas bigband release recorded live at Slims on New Years Eve is an exercise in power to say the very least. Uniting two of the underground's most inventive and unique bands as one single monolithic 8-person supergroup, the Fantomas/Melvins combined band's sheer volume and personnel are staggering. Just the prospect of hearing Dave Lombardo and Dale Crover together on the same stage, two of rock's most pummeling and ferocious drummers, should be incentive enough to buy this CD, but the rest of the extended band's veteran rockers are not too shabby either. King Buzzo growls every syllable while laying down some of the heaviest, grinding riffs that have ever oozed their way out of his guitar, Patton screeches like a madman, Stone revels in his own sonic noise montages, and Trevor Dunn and Kevin Rutmanis hold down the set's bottom end with their bombastic low frequency blasts. While Fantomas and The Melvins may all be good friends and even include one of the same members (King Buzzo), their styles are at exact opposite ends of the spectrum. The resulting clash of ideas is fascinating, forcefully combining the slow bludgeoning work of the Melvins with the frenetic fury of Fantomas to create something that is truly formidable in its violently contrasting elements. The songs themselves are an even mix of Melvins and Fantomas originals, with a few covers off The Director's Cut as well, but the additional members involved bring new individual parts to every track that give the entire show a fresh layer of complex intricacy. Unfortunately, the actual sound quality of the performance's source tapes is not that great and although Buzzo did a wonderfully comprehensive job of compiling and cleaning up this epic CD, especially the flawless transitions between tracks, the sound quality still prevents me from giving it a full five stars. Then again, Millennium Monsterworks is far from the average cassette recording by a semi drunk audience member, and still sounds quite professional; It is simply not on par with the quality of past live releases like "Your Choice Live Series Vol. 12" or "Colossus of Destiny". A brilliant idea and undoubtedly an amazing concert experience, Millennium Monsterworks falters a bit in its recorded version, but even with these minor flaws, this album should still satisfy fans of either of one of these genius bands.

sadly, this is just okay
I've had the pleasure of seeing both the Melvins and Fantomas in concert and this is not a great representation of what either band sounds like live. Okay, it's not really either band. Okay, it's done for fun but it's just sooo medicore. It's mildly entertaining but not engrossing. Most of it sounds like soundclips from longer pieces of music. Perhaps the entire concert should have been released?

I wasn't a huge fan of "Director's Cut" when it first came out and I gave it a bad review. It has since grown on me and I enjoy it quite a bit. If I was thinking of purchasing "Monsterworks" or "Director's" I'd definitely go for "Director's" and I'd also pick up the new Melvin's album, "H.A.T." It is one of the best things they've done in years. After getting both those albums then, and only then, would I buy this album. ... Read more

Album Description

Released by ROIR as cassette-only in 1987 under the title “Mekons New York”, this completely remastered CD, with 2 bonus tracks, is a musical sound document of the Mekons 1986 – 1987 road tour of the USA. This recording includes mostly live club date songs, ad libs, vaudeville sound-bytes and back of the van ribaldry and banter. “New York” drew amazing plaudits from the press and fans. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The tape is worn, the cd is new, I'm just not human anymore
I was jumping like a frog when I saw that the Mekons had released New York on CD. The tape is absolutely precious to me for the simple reason that so few Mekons albums allow you to see the band at it's *personal* best. This is live, grungy, dirty, distressed, far-from-the-studio stuff and beyond that it is honest as hell. Hear the audience, hear Jon's sarcasm, but most of all hear the absolute beauty that is the Mekons.

This album probably won't be good introduction to the Mekons for your straight-laced geek friends, but if you know what to expect then by all means grab it. The Mekons have truly brought us to heaven and back. Screw it if I'm not a critic. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

These polkas kick ....
I lived in Denton for several years but never got the chance to see Brave Combo. My wife and I made the 30 minute trip (from Dallas) last year on the Thursday after Thanksgiving for the annual Christmas on the Square event and finally saw them. These guys are the best. You don't have to be a polka-nerd to enjoy their music.

d-e-n t-o-n t-e-x-a-s
buy a map and come on down

D-E-N-T-O-N is the place
1. What is the text about? ...

2. What is good about it? The melodies are infectious and the lyrics often amusing.
3. What is not so good about it? Polkas are surprisingly aggressive to the ears.
4. Who might like it? Polka lovers, but also those new wavers/"alternites" who like stray a little far afield.
5. Personal bias: Have seen Brave Combo a dozen times; play the accordion.

Almost like being there!
Don't worry if you think you won't like polka. Those who have been there know that seeing Brave Combo live at every opportunity is a happy addiction. An instant pick-me-up that gets your dancing feet moving and your endorphins flowing into a polka-loving, just-like-flying physical high. If it's been a while since your last Brave Combo fix, put this CD on, turn up the volume, and you're there! This CD includes some of the band's best live numbers, done flawlessly as always. It's guaranteed to get your blood moving. In short, this album kicks ...!

Exactly What the Title Says
Imagine, if you would, a German full brass Ooom-Pa band playing polkas after each member of the band just drank a liter of Mountain Dew and a liter of Jolt Cola. Now add this twist, imagine this band was actually VERY competent and VERY influenced by good-time Tex-Mex Austin style rock and roll. Twisted up enough yet? Imagine no more! You have just conjured up the goofy but ridiculously fun 'band', "Brave Combo" and their 2001 album "We Are Not the Enemy: Kick Ass Polka". When the wine gets flowing and the party gets ready for a new twist on the Conga Line, break out Kick Ass Polka and have the joy-paramedics ready for some business! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Sadly, I agree with "monkey_brains7945"
I was very excited to receive my copy of this bootleg, and having purchased some Pearl Jam concerts previously, I expected a lot more quality. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not comparing the two bands at all, but live recordings should have a higher quality standard than the one found on this record. I understand that they're a "new band", and their live material is quite limited, but come on! They should have picked better material to put on the record. It's very short and badly mixed. I guess the only thing that kept me from throwing it in my "crappy cd" pile, was the autographed cover. If you want live material, buy the DVD instead. It also has some faults, but it's far better than this CD. More material, and perfomed a lot better.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA JUST HOW GOOD THIS ALBUM IS!!!
ALTHOUGH THIS ALBUM IS LIVE, IT KICKS ASS THIS IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BAND, IF I COULD ONLY TELL THEM IN PERSON JUST HOW GREAT THEIR MUSIC IS, AND HOW MUCH I APPRECIATE THEM PUTTING FORTH THEIR NATURAL MUSIC TALENT. I GOT THIS ALBUM AFTER THEIR CONCERT THAT WONDERFUL NIGHT WHICH WAS HONESTLY THE BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE, AND I LISTENED TO IT THE WHOLE WAY HOME FOR TWO AND A HALF HOURS, AND LOVED IT THE INSTANT I POPPED IT IN. EVERY TIME I LISTEN TO IT, IT BRINGS BACK MEMORIES I NEVER WANT TO FORGET FROM THAT NIGHT, YOUR REALLY STUPID IF YOU DONT EVER GIVE THESE GUYS A LISTEN TO, AND IF YOU DONT WANNA IT'S YOUR LOSS, YOUR MISSING OUT ON THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!!

Back to the good stuff
Chevelle's recently released live CD proves to those people who feared that good rock n' roll was dead that it is alive and well. These guys produce a sound unlike any I have heard from any three person band since CCR. They are incredibly talented and passionate about their music and their fans. This is an album that I listen to almost every day and am still finding amazing parts and lyrics. It is an album that you can put in start listening to it and truly look forward to the next song. I would like to take this time to thank the members of Chevelle for making the album and putting every ounce of energy into their live shows and songs.

CHEVELLE IS LIVE!
Great songs, great sound, short playlist. Chevelles third album, Live From The Road, delivers a great musical album. But an extremely weak playlist. Only 10 songs, one is a song off the Dare Devil Soundtrack, leaving only 9 songs, making a weak album. And although I don't JUST listen to Christian music. They include the curse hell on track 8. Very dissapointing. But if you're a true chevelle fan, i highly reccomend this album!

Disillusioning...
Wonder What's Next was a very solid album. The songwriting was incredibly simplistic, but the melodies were catchy, the sound was hard and tight, and Pete's voice shined. A lot of the greatness of the sound could probably be attributed to lots of studio time, and work with producer GGGarth. After hearing WWW, Live from the Road was, to say the least, a disappointment. The vocals were very weak and often off key. He often sang an octave below what he sang on the CD. The high notes he attempted were often missed. He barely put any power into his singing either. This is incredibly apparent in the verses of Family System, which were remarkably passionate on the studio CD. Let's move on to instrumentation. The guitar tone was CRAP. Plus all of Pete's guitar playing was profoundly sloppy. The guitars and bass were out of tune on many songs. Plus the CD just sounds like poop. The drums were not recorded well, and they are way too quiet. Terrible mix job. All around, a disappointment. Sorry guys. This is for die-hard fans only. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

great live record, but doesn't compare to real shows
This is a great disc to pick up if you want the Red Elvises experience. This is a representative selection of their concert song list. But trying to put them on a live record is difficult since they have so much personality and the shows are a lot of fun.

I think what I'm getting at is that I was expecting a little more. The band has a lot of funny little things to say between songs (some are on the record), but most tracks do not; the songs fade in and out of silence. This doesn't reflect the amazing rapport the band earns with any crowd. I expected to hear their usual, like "Show us your beers! Beer makes us sound better!"

I was concerned with sound fidelity as I was thinking about buying this. Well, the sound is almost *too* good; the vocals and lead guitar stand out, leaving the bass and rhythm guitar less present. I guess if you crank it with the bass up and the treble down you can try to recreate the live show sound. But all in all, it sounds too polished to be a live album. The Red Elvises are a band that makes their money on great shows, and this disc doesn't quite get there. I enjoyed the actual live sound than the live-album-sound. But perhaps that's just me.

I'm giving this four stars because it is a great colleciton, and the Red Elvises are a great band -- probably the best band nobody's heard of. Not five, since the live show experience could have been put on disc a little more faithfully.

The album is a great introduction to the Red Elvises but you really should go see them live. You won't regret it. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Best Nephilim starter album
It's been said before but it cannot be repeated enough - this is simply an awesome live album. If you are new to Fields of The Nephilim then this is the perfect place to start as it combines tracks from their 3 prior studio albums, i.e. Dawnrazor, The Nephilim and the most excellent Elizium. I have owned Earth Inferno since it's original release and still find it fresh. Too bad they didn't include the extended version of Chord of Souls from the Visionary Heads video that complements this release. Overall, Sumerland and Last Exit for the Lost are standouts for me but there isn't really a bad track to be found. Do yourself a big favor and pick up a copy.

Ferocious Live Performance
Purely on its merit, this is an amazing live album. The output is far more loud and ferocious than their studio performances generally were. As a big FotN fan though, I'm not sure that's always a good thing. Rather the live album is a perfect compliment to the studio albums, it is not meant to be a replacement unless you are a metal fan in which case you may like this better. What is impossible to replicate live is the dreamy, ethereal nature of the studio recordings. The best moment is the perfect version of "Dawnrazor" - this is how this song was meant to sound and is far superior to the album version. In most other cases, I think the versions are merely different and I appreciate them for that.

A must-have for fans, and a great starting point for new fans who will likely find this more accessible (at least at first) than the studio albums. I know that's an odd thing to say, but for FotN it may be true since EI is more straightforward kickin' rock and far less complex than an album like Elizium.

Live dark metal from the edge of the apocalypse
This is the most incredible live album I've ever heard. None of FoTN's studio albums moved me that much, but this is incredible - a record of not just a concert, but a seance, a spell, a happening of epic proportions. Carl McCoy's fluid, shifting takes on his own Crowley-inspired lyrics weave an incredible luminance over a blasted psychotic landscape.

If you like dark metal you'll find this album a revelation. I can't recommend it enough.

Yikes
I never was a big fan of Sisters Of Mercy and I was a little hesitant about even giving this CD a chance. I was sold from note one. Although the vocals on this recording are along the same vein as S.O.M., the music is similar to a gothic and energized Pink Floyd: guitars and basses enhanced by rich delays and effects. Whenever this CD gets played, newly exposed listeners always ask who it is and if they can borrow it: this alone is a testament to this CD's worth.

A Musical, Spritual Experience like no other..
Don't Listen to the first review, he's approaching it from the wrong side. The music is not full of cliche's.. Thats just It! McCoy is the Genuine thing.. Influences are drawn from Occult/Literate sources, IE. Austin Osman Spare, Aleister Crowley, Peter Caroll, Shakespear, Milton, Zoroastrianism etc.. You name it he's read it. Which gives us a deeply poetic outcome. As for the music, it's all very atmospheric, (Andy Jackson (Pink Floyd) Produced it). The Music has a rock element but with an Classical (maybe I dont know what I'm talking about here) arrangement. This is not for the faint hearted. The music is very dark and spiritual, and you will never find anything else as authentic as it in the World. The Fields are an experience not just a Band. If you get the chance to see them live go.. This is the best produced live album I have ever heard. If you want a culture shock, or are open minded get it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Ween is often dismissed as a novelty band, but those who stoop to such judgments should check out this shaggy document of Gene and Dean bringing it to the people. Paintin' the Town Brown captures the brothers Ween in their early days playing to DAT accompaniment through their full band stints. The strongest cuts on this release come from their 1996 country tour; backed by a crackerjack band of Nashville studio legends, Ween saddles traditional honky-tonk with politically incorrect lyrics and the whole package seems to make a lot of sense. Longtime fans will be thrilled at the inclusion of obscure Ween cuts like "Mountain Dew," "Vallejo," and "Ode to Rene."Casual fans will have a hard time with disc two, a spotlight on Ween's overindulgent Boredoms-like jams. Still, it's hard not to admire a band that tackles French cabaret music, Middle Eastern drones, funk, punk, and demented children's music. --Jason Josephes ... Read more

Reviews (14)

a cool album... BY WEEN!!
This album is so awesome. The bits where Ween talk about the songs are so funny... those guys are so bizarre, and insanely immature, and hilarious, and awesome. The songs with the Nashville Boys are standouts, but also earlier songs like "Doctor Rock", "Vallejo", "Mister Could You Please Help My Pony", "She ****'s Me", and the greatest acheivement ever recorded on tape- a blazing 20-something minute version of "Poopship Destroyer"... what else do you expect from Ween. One thing I wonder about is why didn't they put any live vesions of the songs from "The Mollusk" (my favorite Ween album) on it. Oh well, this album is still one strangely rocking live document to one of this country's best, and most duos, Ween. (The liner notes are hilarious... I just thought you might like to know)

For fans...
I remember when I bought this CD... it was during my post-college, pre-employment phase. I woke up at about 3:00pm, swallowed a handful of asprin to stave off a bad hangover, went to pick up the CD, came home, popped it in and sat on my couch with a bowl of fruity pebbles... the full Ween experience! Anyway, I was pretty disappointed. I mean, I had sprung for the CD instead of another fifth of Early Times whiskey!! The first disc is listenable, with some great moments from their awesome '96 tour (best Ween tour ever??), but also some really badly recorded early stuff. There is a great version of "Mountain Dew" though, that will make this disc worthwhile for hardcore Ween fans. The vastly varying sound quality is what ruins my enjoyment of the first disc overall... if it was all lo-fi (a la "The Pod") I could have dealt with it, but going from crisp, pro-engineered multitrack recordings to amature DAT stuff is just annoying. The second disc has the best version of "Poopship Destroyer" and a hell of a lot of noodling that doesn't sound so good when one is sober.... hmm... A few years down the road, and I'm a respectable member of society. I still love Ween, but this is definitely the disc I reach for the least. This is aimed squarely at serious fans, and newcomers or general listeners should definitely start elsewhere... Not bad, but certainly in the "For Fans" category.

If you don't know WEEN, you ain't brown...
Lets face it -- if this album is your first exposure to Dean & Gene Ween's music, your response will probably range from mild annoyance to outright cringing. But for us Ween officianados, and especially for those who have been fortunate to be blessed with a 4-hour live show or two, this album is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Early super-sloppy inclusions such as "Mushroom Festival in Hell" and "Mountain Dew" demonstrates the band's remarkable ability to really rock without really worrying about how they sound (you'll see what I mean). But before you dismiss them as just another over-indulging garage band, check out the hard-as-rock licks by Deaner in "Awesome Sound" or Gener's soaring vocals in "Can't Put My Finger On It" or Claude Coleman's other-worldly drum solo in "Vallejo". Ween rules. God bless the Boognish.

one star off because..
i swear i have bootlegs that are longer and better than this, but you have to love it since ween lovingly handpicked the songs themselves. the 26 minute poopship is a masterpiece, and i wish they had the hour long vallejo on another disc making it three but this is just fine. for a live album, ween has so many great live shows and some very old funny ones back in the days when 23 to 12 people were at a live concert, most were held in parking lots, they should have put out a 5 or 6 disc boxset, including all the old concerts, some more nashville material and all the funny stuff. but this is fine, get it or die!

an awesome sound going down...
Not for the sonically squeamish. Parts of this album are so sick you can't even believe it. Gene implores Deaner not to hurt 'em, but he just doesn't listen! Buy this now and look forward to hours and hours of Boognish-bliss... ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Muppets Take Copenhagen
OK - it's not as if Galaxie 500's live show ever was much to brand with superlatives. Check out Damon & Naomi's modern-day wankfests for evidence (and bring me back some Romilar as a souvenir ... zzzz ... ). Aside from serving some sentimental purpose for the G500 folks now moping through middle age, ain't much this CD, documenting the band's final European performance, has to offer. Like most live recordings, the bass is mixed too high, the guitars too low in some sort of a jagged murk, the vocals from some cave north of Omsk. And those voices - yeesh, and this is when Wareham's forlorn whininess actually sounded most at home. On "When Will You Come Home," though, it sounds as if he's been hanging out in the kitchen with the Swedish Chef and a puppeteer has a hand up his rear. The covers (Yoko Ono, George Harrison) are interesting in and of themselves, but God bless y'all if you see the need to listen to them more than once.

excellent
Before Low, before Mogwai and before Luna, these guys were perfecting the perfect slow core pop, I was lucky enough to catch them play live and since they wont be doing that anymore this is a perfect document as to how great Galaxie 500 sound outside of the studio.

bye it ... Read more

Album Description

This is an album or rare, unreleased recordings from March1979, recorded live at San Francisco's Deaf Club. The sound quality is excellent, & it features the original 5-pieceline-up of Dead Kennedys. This is only the second-everauthorized live release from the band, after 'Mutiny on the Bay' from 2001. 15 tracks including a never-before heard DK song 'Gaslight', plus an 8-page booklet of brand-new art!Digipak. Manifesto. 2004. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

relevant irrelevance
simply put...dks at their best. the band thrashes, the crowd is pumped, & jello mixes political pokes w/ irrelevant jabber. some classic lines in this one, like "...this one's for the blind hitler-saluter's...ill in the head". also, a great cover of "viva las vegas". personally, i don't think it gets much better than the dks rippin "holiday in cambodia". WARNING: PLAYING THIS ALBUM IN YOUR CAR MAY RESULT IN SPEEDING VIOLATIONS! PLAYING THIS ALBUM IN YOUR ROOM MAY RESULT IN BROKEN ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT! if you like the dks, you probably have this already, but if you never heard a dk song before, this is a great album to get you into the band. buy it, burn it, steal it, borrow it...just get it.

They could play a bit
The original DKs at last sounding as if they can play...which they always could. A great lost gem and fxxxxg brilliant in the car!! Ive just seen the fake Dks twice in Scotland and they were also brilliant as they slowed the songs down from the 80s thrashy political hardcore to their original speed.(and power)

The greatest band ever....

Glorious punk from the past, despite the current acrimony
This is a great CD, which is important to say right up front. If it weren't for the lawsuit between Jello and the rest of the former DK's there would not be any controversy over this recording. Despite the ugliness of that legal battle (irrespective of which side you plant yourself), this CD delievers where MANY 20+ year old recordings do not. It simply sounds great, a not so inconsequential achievement for a punk recording given the paucity of both funds and quality recording equipment typically available to such bands at that time. In addition, there are several unreleased songs on this recording (most notably "Gaslight," which is great) and Jello is in rare form. Sure, there are a few glitches in the performance (there always will be in "true" live recordings; note: Performance glitches, not recording), but this is the last show with 6025, so c'mon! stop with the punk posturing and just enjoy this CD for the rare document that it is. In my opinion, this recording is better than the "Mutiny on the bay" recording, which is also great despite the mudraking that also surrounded it's release. Bands like this do not exist anymore and any bootleg of the Kennedys that you can get your hands on will not come close to touching the quality of this disc. A disco version of "Kill the poor" an early version of "When you get drafted" (Back in Rhodesia) and a cover of the Honeycomb's "Have I the right" make this an essential document that you'd be a fool to miss

This is great!
This cd sounds like it was performed practically yesterday and it' well over 20 years old! Others may disagree, but I enjoyed hearing the old songs (with 5 members). Some of their later stuff was good but lacked the rage of the first two albums. There is even some Jello banter between songs- live DK isn't the same without it. DK fans should own this cd. Even if you don't like the set list, it's at least a great piece of DK and punk history.

What's the point?
If you have "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death" and "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" you pretty much have everything on here. "Gaslight" is okay, but it's not worth buying a CD for. Maybe it'll wind up on a bootleg 45 like "Cold Fish" did, but it's not that thrilling anyway. Neither are the covers. It's not really fair how much the remaining DKs have been demonized in the scene, but then again, putting out junk like this and the "Lost Tapes" DVD isn't helping their cause any. Hey, how about writing new songs? Maybe they could drop the nostalgia tour, change their name to The Iraqi Scientists or something and try to be interesting or original again. But, this CD is just plain boring. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Some of it barely sounds like polka
Some of the album has a definite polka sound, but a few tracks have such a heavy rock influence it doesn't barely sound like polka at all. "Come Back to Me" and "Pretty Dancing Girl" are examples, and two fine songs. The "Polka Medley" is great. I wish they would do some of those songs individually. Some of the record even sounds vaguely like ska music. I would highly recommend this to any younger listener of polka, and anyone who likes to dance polka. It may even appeal to some listeners of lighter core ska.

The future of modern polka music.
This is a fine example of a robust live performance by a superb, energetic modern polka band. Renditions of the High Bounce Polka and the Peanuts Polka are true classics in the fast tempo "Eastern Style" of polka. This collection could possibly be the best example in its appeal to the modern polka listener of the future. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

did not capture what i saw
i wanted a cd that had steel drums on it like when i saw phil perform in the bay area. sadly i got a bunch of songs that aren't that great at all. The guy sings off key in many instances and also has a tendancy to have songs with horrible endings (songs feel incomplete). I appreciate lo-fi, off key, but not when its so overwhelmingly bad and purposeless. Don't buy this, buy the glow pt 2. at least half the songs don't suck.

I wish he'd tour the East Coast :(
So this is the last title we'll ever get under the name The Microphones (or rather, the only title we'll ever have under the name, "The Microphones"), and it's a great one. Phil Elverum plans on changing the name to Mt. Eerie from this point on, which is unfortunate really. No, Mt. Eerie wasn't a bad album (it was damn good!), but in listening to it we heard Phil Elverum explore concepts far beyond any scope he has ever attempted ("Universe / I see your face / looks just like mine"). It's unfortunate. Of course the voice was as heartfelt and captivating as ever, but the appeal of Phil Elverum the lyricist is that he can present the simplest images that drip with raw human emotion - he can display a character, an action, or a dialogue in such a way that we, the listeners, can assume the back story and can feel all of the emotions used in constructing the song ("The Moon" for example). With Mt. Eerie, he strayed from humanity, producing a great album nonetheless.

However, with this live album, the fans are in for a treat. Here, Elverum has actually achieved new heights in displaying his personal emotions. He voice searches for the pitches, fails, cries, and even screams at itself ("Thanksgiving"). We have here utterly beautiful songs of self-doubt sung with as much conviction as I've ever heard from Phil. Additionally, the few flaws from Mt. Eerie are not at all present here; there are few moments of certainty, which is by no means a bad thing. In moments in "Universe Conclusion" Phil and company wail, "We know there are/ there are hearts beneath those skins." We take take a thing for granted, and that's what Phil is good at - showing us what we should have been seeing all along. Musically, the CD is very good. We have here some of the great musical elements from The Microphones' past: The clean-tone electric guitar that worked so well in "Solar System" is here in "Climb Over" and "I Love You So Much!," the blending of the Calvin Johnson and Kyle Field on reminds us of Mt. Eerie's finer moments, "The Blow Pt. 2," is taken directly from "It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water," and exploding bit of distortion in "Universe Conclusion" reminiscent of "Don't Wake Me Up" and of course, the fantastic "Great Ghosts" is an acoustic piece as poignant as any we've ever heard. We also have new musical sounds: improvised sections that prove the group's musicianship despite its charming sloppiness. I wish "After N. Young" was a bit longer, and a few other minor things, but overall, a fantastic album. And one more side note - no, this is not "The Glow Pt. 2," and nothing much can touch it (Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over The Sea" being the one album I am currently putting ahead of it), but let's be glad that Phil Elverum is exploring new musical ideas rather than trying to recreate the same album over and over again

A Marvelous Experience
I can hear the questions now coming from Microphones fans all over the world: "Didn't Phil change the name of the band to Mt. Eerie?" Technically, yes. Following the release of the Mount Eerie album, Phil Elverum announced that he was no longer going to record under the name of the Microphones, preferring instead to adopt the name of that album. However (or so I read) he did not want the first recording under the new name to be a live CD and since, when Live in Japan was recorded, he was still calling the entity by that name, he left it alone for this album. This explains the quotes around "The Microphones" on the cover. Got it? Good.

Now that we're past all that...If you only know the music of the Microphones from the albums, you're in for a surprise. There is no previously recorded music on this album; unlike most live CDs, this is not simply a rehash of his other work. After recording Mount Eerie, Elverum took some time off and went to Norway, where he apparently became very inspired and wrote dozens of songs. When he subsequently went on tour, he took all this new music on the road with him. One example, the minimalist "Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano" (also the name of a prior incarnation of Khaela Maricich's The Blow), appears exclusively on the Invisible Shield compilation and is not included on Live in Japan. But if you've heard that, it is a shining example of the kind of music that appears on this CD.

Elverum begins with what is possibly the best song on the album, "Great Ghosts." It's a moody exploration of the northern regions and their great history. Then, showing that he has a sense of humor about himself, the next song is entitled "The Blow, Pt. 2," which not only recalls his breakthrough 2001 album, The Glow, Pt. 2, but also continues his practice of naming songs after Khaela Maricich's various band names. At the end, he also caused me to hearken back to an older song "I Want My Wind to Blow" as he wails those words at the end of the song.

Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening) and Kyle Field (Little Wings) appear on two songs: "Universe Conclusion"--which, by its title and epic 11-minute length, sounds as if it might have been an outtake from the Mount Eerie album, but contains something very different and moving as Johnson and Field drone a call-and-response "We know there are" to everything Elverum tells them; and "I love you so much!" where their contribution includes asking the musical question "What do you love?" Johnson, Field, and Elverum all have fantastic, distinctive voices and I've never heard them blended before. It's a mind-opening experience. It must have really been something to have been sitting in the audience and seeing three musical geniuses on the same stage.

Really, the whole album carries that kind of wonder with it. When Phil does seemingly spontaneous riffs on the Christmas classics "My Favorite Things" and "Silent Night," it's easy to imagine that he has found lost verses of these songs, they suit the music so well. (Perhaps we'll get a Christmas album from Elverum one of these days? I'd certainly pick that up.) As fans wait for the upcoming Mount Eerie "debut," this couldn't be a better tideover. All new material, an intimate venue with surprisingly excellent sound quality, and an evening (or three) spent with the final days of the Microphones with special guests. A marvelous experience. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A landmark recording
Galas' performance of these songs is simply awesome. Many have sung them before her, but who will dare to sing them after her? Her performance somehow transfigures these very familiar classic blues and spirituals, bringing out a depth of emotion, an awesome power and force, a wonderful subtlety of feeling that was hitherto unknown. Her voice blends perfectly with the piano, her vocals are perfectly balanced, each "scream" and intonation neither too much nor too little, but just perfect. I don't think I will ever again be able to listen to someone else's interpretation of "I put a spell on you" or "A balm in Gilead" without somehow finding it lacking in comparison with Diamanda Galas' performance. She simply outshines them all.

A real performance...
This CD is absolutely brillant!
When I first bought it...I didn't think
much about it. But.. then I listened
carefully to the version of "I put
a spell on you" which she does here.
Around the same time, there was
a version of "I put a spell.." by
Brian Ferry. Brian sings it without
any feeling. Its like he is falling asleep
while singing. Diamanda on the other hand,
gives a real delivery...punctuated ...and
more like someone who is actually living
and talking it: "I put a spell on you"...
pause...becaaaaause "You're Mine!!".
Absolutely commanding! And throughout this
CD she keeps her screaming to where its
appropriate, which I like. I don't see the
point to some of her other cd's where she
only screams.

Not the best...
I've been a fan of Diamanda's work for quite a while. I must admit this isn't the best Diamanda Galas album, but it does have some wonderful songs. The Singer consists of performences performed on the Judgement Day tour, however, if you can find a copy of the Judgement Day VHS you'll find a better example her amazing work. This album is not as beautiful as Malediction and Prayer but is still a good example of her work with her voice and her piano. The best tracks include Gloomy Sunday and Judgement Day!

A chanteuse back from Hell
The Singer

Operatically-trained AIDS activist/performance artist Diamanda Galas plays the "it's the song, not the singer" game here, and wins. Accompanying herself on piano, Galas gives thoughtful, impassioned= readings of these songs (mostly standards, many previously recorded as parts of her performance pieces), leaving behind for the moment her infamous 8-octave vocal gymnastics and beyond-the-pit-of-Hell moaning.= Maybe not as personal an album as "Plague Mass", but certainly accessable to those afraid of her earlier (and scarier) works.

A chanteuse back from Hell.
Operatically-trained AIDS activist/performance artist Diamanda Galas plays the "it's the song, not the singer" game here, and wins. Accompanying herself on piano, Galas gives thoughtful, impassioned readings of these songs (mostly standards, many previously recorded as parts of her performance pieces), leaving behind for the moment her infamous 8-octave vocal gymnastics and beyond-the-pit-of-Hell moaning. Maybe not as personal an album as "Plague Mass", but certainly accessable to those afraid of her earlier (and scarier) works. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Must have for Gusgus fans
This is a wonderful collection of tunes spun by Gusgus at a small club in Iceland. Every track is very lush, funky and very gusgus-esque (only one real gusgus song on here). Def a must have for every gusgus fan out there, only complaint I have about this cd is that the recording quality is not all that great, yeah its kinda cool that you can hear all the folks in the bar but it does have a bootleg quality which detracts from the great tunes that are on here. But, don't let that hold you back from getting this cd, its def worth having! Oh, and by the way, be kind to animals, don't eat them! Peace! ... Read more