Supersuckers--Live at the Magic Bag, Ferndale, Michigan.
Before I even review this, let me say this...this band, The Supersuckers, are phenomenal. If you don't have anything by them, you can visit your local record store and buy ANYTHING they've put out and it will easily make 2/3 of your record collection useless to you. How could you possibly listen to The White Stripes ever again after hearing "The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll"?
Well, I'm going to be a complainer. No one has ever really been able to set me straight and correct the notion that live albums are something of a cash-in. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, a band puts out a live album because the fans buy it...there's obviously demand and they serve up the supply.
So, what I'd like to know is why live albums cost the same as studio albums...the songs are already written, the recording process is fairly easy, and studio time is minimal (mixing and mastering is necessary of course). If there is a legit reason, I'll shut my mouth but I can't think of anything logically. This one's packaging is pretty sparse...a digipak without a whole lot going on...some photos, a paragraph note from Eddie, and appropriate credits. It's fine, but it's full price.
Okay...Joe and I are the main contributors to this site and we're pretty much both Supersuckers nerds. I tend to complain a bit more than him so here's something of a mixed review.
The Supersuckers are incredible live. Check out my DVD review for more on that...in fact if you can't see the band live in the flesh, then do yourself a favor and buy the DVD. Unfortunately, this CD doesn't really capture the power of the band live. How many live albums do? The only live discs that I think surpass studio recordings are of non-comparable artists like Otis Redding (get "Live in Europe") and Elvis (any live '69-'70 albums)....Iron Maiden's "Live After Death" does a quality job too, but for the most part the technology of CDs isn't strong enough to really capture a pure rock band's live shows. DVDs, yes...put this out as a DVD-Audio, pump up the guitars, and we'll be set.
Sure, it's not bad, the sound is clear but the mix isn't perfect. Mainly, the guitars are too low in the mix...the songs of this band are more or less carried by the guitars so you gotta pump them up, each time I've seen the band the guitars were almost painfully loud, why are they buried on here? Okay, they're not "buried" but I guess when I think of the Supersuckers live I think of guitars.
Enough complaining about the mix...
Aas far as I can tell, this is the full live show from that night...no cuts, no fade out/ins...this is what a live album should be.
The performances are excellent...no worries there. The band is tight, Murderbunger is a tremendous drummer, the band all around sounds great, and Eddie holds his own live.
The song selection is pretty much ideal...songs from just about every record are on here as well as a couple covers--the band does "Jailbreak" rather well plus an old song by The Coasters called "That is Rock N Roll." Not bad. When I look at this, there's really nothing missing that "had" to be on here...it won't please everyone, someone is bound to say "What? 'Dead Meat" isn't on this?" But, I think they made some good selections.
Overall, I think it's not bad, but I doubt I'll break this out often as nothing on here surpasses the studio versions.
So you want to drop some money and want my advice? If you don't know who the band is or if you're just starting out getting into them, this may be worth picking up as a sort of "greatest hits." This band actually has a "greatest hits" out already, but this way you get different versions.
Diehards will enjoy this as it's The Supersuckers.
It's the people on the fence...the people who like the band and have a few of their albums that I wouldn't suggest this for. Pick up some more of the studio stuff or, what the hell, buy a shirt.
