EXTREME - review added 16th April 2010
Live Album Review: Take Us Alive (Live) (2010)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and not sounding quite as good as the albums...
Ah, Extreme... Their 1990 album Pornograffitti is, to our ears, one of the finest rock albums of all time. None of their other albums has quite matched it, but songs from elsewhere like 'Rest In Peace' and 'Stop The World' are up there for quality. I've never caught the guys live, so came to Take Us Alive with real anticipation.
The band only sprang back to life in 2008 after a 13 year hiatus. The Take Us Alive world tour visited 75 cities across the globe supporting the then new album Saudades de Rock. This live album was recorded on August 8th 2009 - the last night of the tour - at the House of Blues in Extreme’s home town of Boston, Massachusetts. The concert is also available in DVD form.
The performances from Gary Cherone on vocals, the frankly incredible Nuno Bettencourt on guitar, Pat Badger on bass, and Kevin Figueiredo on drums are mostly superb. Gary Cherone often sounds out of breath and struggling for power, but I guess that can be blamed on his hugely energetic performing style. It wouldn't have mattered if you were there, but on the CD it's a letdown. The musicianship comes across as well performed, but not that well recorded. The production is very raw, even for a live album, and isn't a patch on the listening experiences provided by the studio albums. Shame.
Song-wise, plenty of the big'uns are here, but - as is generally the case with these - numerous tracks I'd like to hear are missing. To be honest, Pornograffitti with a couple of extra songs in an encore would have been spot on.
Overall I can only really recommend this for die-hard fans. It has its moments, but not nearly enough. It certainly isn't awful, but there are better live albums out there. There are also much better Extreme releases. Hmmm...
Check out... The DVD instead?
Track List:
Disc 1:
01. Decadence Dance
02. Comfortably Dumb
03. Rest In Peace
04. It ('s A Monster)
05. Star
06. Tell Me Something I Don t Know
07. Medley Kid Ego - Little Girls - Teacher s Pet
08. Play With Me
09. Midnight Express
Disc 2:
01. More Than Words
02. Ghost
03. Cupid s Dead
04. Take Us Alive
05. Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee
06. Get the Funk Out
07. Am I Ever Gonna Change
08. Hole Hearted
Label: Frontiers Records
Artist's website(s): Extreme , MySpace
