Live music
Live music. It is all consuming. It is a therapy. A great gig can have so many positive effects on the soul, on mental health, it can take away all the shite of the day and help you escape to another dimension where all that matters is the music.
I have come out of so many gigs in my life and uttered something along the lines of “best gig ever”, every gig can be the best gig ever, just because of living in the moment. The euphoria and endorphins released due to the pure unadulterated enjoyment of experiencing everything that goes along with.
A gig isn’t just seeing a band live or listening to music, it is an event, it is somewhere you can feel unfettered joy and shake off the shackles. You didn’t just hear the music, you feel it. The bass and drums through your whole body. You shut off the outside world and get lost watching intricate guitar work. You feel like you are the only person in the room and whoever happens to be singing at that point is doing it just for you.
You get it, I love live music.
Venues
As an aside, this is why it disappoints me to hear of applications for the demolition of the O2 ABC and closure of small venues across the length and breadth of the country and why it is also so heartening to hear of new venues, like Ice Box, opening their doors.
Bootlegs
I’m kind of getting off topic here, but I remember trips to the Barras market the week after I’d seen a life affirming gig to buy a bootleg tape, excitedly going home to listen to it only to hear a tinny noise with the guy recording it laughing with his mate and talking about what they had for dinner that night. Still it was a memento of being at the gig. I’d probably never listen to most of them again as it took the shine off the memory of how good the gig was (in fact, I think I taped over most of them with mix tapes eventually).
Live Albums
Anyway, that takes me on to the live album as a concept. So often a live album disappoints. You want to be able to experience the elation of the gig, to feel as if you were there. All too often though, the live album is over-produced to within an inch of its life, overdubbed, polished and manipulated until eventually it is so sterile and soulless you listen once then file under pointless. I was sent the new Reef live album to review recently. While you can’t deny the quality of the songs and their last album Revelation, their live album is, well, dead. The production is such that it sounds like they are playing to two men and a dug, the band spunds flat and uninspired, it feels totally lacking in atmosphere and if I hadn’t seen how good they were live last year I would be put off.
THIS is a BIG BAD BEAUTIFUL NOISE
A live album only works if it captures the band at their live best, and boy does The Godfathers new live album, This is War, do just that. Having seen them ply their wares at a rousing and emotional gig in Glasgow’s Audio last year, I had high expectations of this offering. I was not disappointed.
The title of their last album says it all succinctly. This live album is indeed a big bad beautiful noise.
Big
Big. The sound on this recording is huge, an immense juggernaut that hits all the senses. Play it loud, ramp up the bass and you’re almost there in the room. THAT is what a live album should be about.
Bad
Bad. In that paradoxical Michael Jackson use of the word, this album is baaaad. Peter Coyne’s mean and moody rich gruff vocal hits the mark every time, sometimes intense and threatening but always gutsy, strong and powerful.
Beautiful
Beautiful. The songs are phenomenal works of art and some are intensely striking and emotional. New songs like the outstanding beauty on Until My Heart Stops Beating from 2017’s Big Bad Beautiful Noise slip seamlessly into a set rammed with Godfathers classics.
This is War…
Their back catalogue has been mined perfectly to bring together a perfect set of old and new tracks showcasing just what a prodigious selection they have to choose from. Kicking off with the call to arms that is This is War, the band ramps things up and goes for the jugular with every track. The band are tight as fuck and the powerful instrumentation and wall of sound complements Coyne’s commanding vocal perfectly.
You wouldn’t argue with Mr Coyne when he spits out the chorus on ‘Cause I Said So, backed by the incessant bass and incendiary guitars.
As the set progresses through the exploration of rockabilly on Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues and sleazy NY punk n roll reminiscent of The Heartbreakers on How Low is Low there is not one weak point in the whole album.
Birth School Work Death
When you have a trio of songs as colossal as the soaring epic, I Want Everything, the frantic vitriol of This Damn Nation, and entire lifecycle in five minutes that is the chant-a-long Birth School Work Death to end your set you can’t really fail.
I may have wanted everything from this album, and it delivered. Then some.
Hats off to The Godfathers, and kudos to guitarist Steve Crittall for producing this album perfectly, capturing the atmosphere and intensity of a Godfathers gig. Everything that matters about a live experience is there ensuring that, with a little imagination, the listener can experience as near to the true live Godfathers experience as possible without actually being there.
All bands take note, THIS is how to do a live album.
A brilliant review about THE best live band. Thanks.