Member:
The Silent Man
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by The Silent Man)
Date:
9/22/2004
Format:
CD (Album)
A much underrated album this one, and one I find more enjoyable than the later double live album The Thieving Magpie. Recorded on the Fugazi tour, this therefore predates the breakthrough Misplaced Childhood period, and focuses on material from the first two albums, plus two non-album tracks. I must confess to being a fan of this early period of the band, including the much-maligned Fugazi album, so that's just fine by me.
The only major gripe here is the short duration, but it was originally released as a 6-track, budget priced 'mini-album' (at least in the UK), with “Emerald Lies” being a bonus track on the cassette version only (thankfully included on the CD release).
Kicking thinks off is “Assassing”, the opening track from Fugazi. A reasonable start, it doesn't quite have the punch of the studio version, and I would probably have preferred “Script...” as the opener, but it gets the ball rolling well enough. Following on from that is a good version of another strong Fugazi track “Incubus”, followed by the welcome inclusion of “Cinderella Search”. Only released as the B-side of the “Assassing” single, and later unforgivably edited on the B-Sides Themselves compilation, this a brilliant track, and it baffles me as to why this was omitted from Fugazi in favour of weaker material such as “Punch & Judy” or “She Chameleon”. Good version too. Following this comes the original cassette-only track “Emerald Lies”, a great performance of one of the stronger tracks on Fugazi, and an excellent Fish lyric.
From then on, we get to the earlier material. The next track is worth the price of the album alone, being the definitive version if the epic “Forgotten Sons”. A track that always had to be appreciated live, this simply eclipses the weak version on the debut album. An awesomely powerful version of an emotional tour-de-force, it's one of the band's finest-ever moments.
Sadly from there, the album does tail off somewhat. Following track “Garden Party”, while a popular live track, has never been one of my favourites, and I would have rather have had the inclusion of “Chelsea Monday” from the debut album. Similarly with “Market Square Heroes”, though as the band's non-album debut single, it's nice to have it here, and it was always a better track live.
A disappointingly brief album then, but the high points are truly peaks, and the triple-punch of “Cinderella Search”, “Emerald Lies” and “Forgotten Sons” make this a more than worthwhile addition to the band's catalogue.
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