Scream In Blue - Live
Okay, so this is the Oils' official live album. Basically with most bands this means that the versions played on it will be of fairly good quality, and will cull the best performances from many of the bands' shows. At first glance it seems that SIB would be the same, but this album feels different. Yes the songs are taken from multiple gigs, but when you listen to the CD version especially, there is a little something more.The album starts with Scream In Blue - an instrumental (or at least the instrumental first part of the original song). In this short piece of guitar fury the scene is set. Here we have some phenomenal playing, that is mixed to lead perfectly into the next song. Even the slight pause in the middle is rewarding, the hum of the amps audible, showing the silence of the crowd.
Next up is an excellent rendition of Read About It. This is a song with plenty of passion on the studio version, which overflows in this highly charged live rendition. The backing vocals are unusually good for a live mix, and Peter's leads give the impression of franticity.
Dreamworld follows, and is again an unusually good live rendition of a great studio track. As before the background vocals are excellent, possibly due to the fact that Read About It and Dreamworld were recorded at the same gig. The background organ playing is excellent during the bridge, resulting in an excellent overall song.
Seamlessly back to 1982, for a couple of oldies, we have Brave Faces and Only the Strong up next. The older sound is apparent but more than tolerable. The vocals are not as strong, and the arrangements are not as well embelished as the previous couple of tracks, but this flavour of the older stuff is still strong enough to carry it off. The only let down in these two tracks is the bridge of Brave Faces - the rendition is fairly accurate to the album version, but this bridge wasn't the highest point on Place Without a Postcard.
We now move to the most recent song of the album, Stars of Warburton. It is intro-ed by the chants of a Native American dance, and unfortunately this does not seem quite as appropriate as the lead in to the following song, Progress. Once again the Oils provide an excellent rendition of Stars..., and the keyboards are well added to this live mix. Progress follows the sound of birds chirping, as the Oils play outside the Exxon buildings in New York. As a song this track stands out, as a great performnace, but when you think of the reason for the concert at all, and that this was probably a hastily arranged affair, this song is excellent.
The "People of Australia..." segue is a great lead into Beds are Burning. Possibly the best part of this song is Garrett's adaption of the chorus to read "The time has come to that's that, It belongs to us all, let's give it back." The song was barely changed but it is a striking statement, and one designed to stir emotion. Following Beds.. are two more from Diesel and Dust. Sell my Soul and Sometimes are next, and while Sell my Soul is an good track, it's a little in the way between Beds and Sometimes. The latter track however is excellent, and carries an apparent energy present at the gig.
The Oils carry on with an impressive version of Hercules from Species Deceases; a version which, in my mind, is better than the studio version in terms of energy and production. Then to a classic - Powderworks from the self-titled first album. Again this live version with it's excellent production and drive surpasses the studio version by far, and is a good way to end the album.
But it doesn't end there. Along come unlisted track thirteen - a vastly superior acoustic version of PWAP's Burnie. It comes in over the sound of waves crashing, and stirs an emotion inside. The original was good - this one is great!
So how does the album stand as a whole? Well it's excellent. Clocking in at just under an hour, it's a perfect burst of live Oils. The momentum is lost slightly in some places, but I guess that just mirrors the reality of a concert nowadays. There are no poor tracks on the album. There is no cause to use the skip button. Maybe you might want to program Sell my Soul into a different order, but that would be a little fussy. It's an excellent album. You should go out and buy it!
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