After
three cd singles, two EP’s, four full-length albums, four 7-inches and a
compilation the time was there for Mike, Tom and Yuri to release their first
live-album. It’s a co-production of Tooth and Nail (with a special edition for
the Christian market, without the Ramones’ cover “KKK took my baby away”),
Rock City Recordings (American distribution) and A&M Records (worldwide
distribution).
After
looking at the song-list I was a bit disappointed: I missed songs like "Teenage
Politics" and "Move To Bremerton" on the compilation and I wasn’t sure if the
large amount of “Slowly Going”-songs was various enough to keep my
attention, but after I had put the disc in my cd-player I was quite embarassed:
how is it possible that three young guys play their songs as straight and fast
as they do without losing
their so-called musical credibility? Though
most songs are quite fast, all songs are still ‘sing-along’-songs and the
noise they produce is just a way to express their very emotional and true
feelings. Mike shows his guts as an excellent singer and I always wonder how in
the world it is possible for him to keep on playing his bass-guitar while he
sings such a large amount of (and difficult) lyrics. 23 songs in a gig: there are a lot of
bands who play less songs live!
The songs I like best on this album are the ‘old songs’, though I still
consider “Slowly…” their best album. "Time
Brings Change",
"Small Town
Minds",
"Walking
Bye"
as well as the short song "Forgive
And Forget"
just make me sing
along and jump all around my
room. Very special is the Ramones’ cover "KKK
Took My Baby Away", which is only
available in the secular market. It’s a typical Ramones-song: short, fast and
quite easy to play, but very, very catchy. Unlike their label-mates the
Huntingtons on their Ramones-tribute, MxPx tries to play their own typical
version of the song, which is not so hard, because they lack a
“rhytm-guitar”.
The only real problem with this album is that for me, as a die-hard MxPx-fan,
this stuff is not new and fresh anymore. So I am really looking forward to their
new album but for this winter I can listen to this album and keep on hoping for
them to come and play here in Europe again.
“DARLING
TAKE ME BY THE HAND, WE GOTTA SEE A PUNK RAWK BAND!” Karel
Smouter
for The T&N Records FAN Homepage © 2000