Live At Electric Lady Studios - LCD Soundsystem: Review
LCD Soundystem
is the James Murphy fronted legendary New York dance punk band that came to prominence in the mid 2000's in the scene of the same style which they helped to develop. After dropping three fantastic albums between 2005 and 2010 the band announced that they we're retiring and would play one final show in New York's Madison Square Garden. This became what many believed to be the band final release, the live album taken from the event. One that was critically acclaimed upon release and was compared to LCD inspirations like Talking Heads and their fantastic live outputs. LCD reunited and dropped their 4th studio album American Cream to critical acclaim in 2017 numerous songs from which land on this live project.
Review By Lav:
I absolutely LOVE LCD Soundsystem, lets get that out of the way immediately. I consider all 4 of their albums to be among the best of their respective decades and their sophomore effort Sounds Of Silver is one of my favorite albums of all time. They also have what I believe to be one of the best live recorded albums of modern music with their 2014 Live From Madison Square Garden farewell show. So the combination of a band I love and one that is known for a fantastic live album is an enticing promise but ultimately the Electric Lady Studios leaves me far more conflicted than I would have liked. I'm going to say a lot of contradictory things throughout this review, moments where I wish they sounded more studio, moments where I wish they sounded a little more raw, songs I love falling short in this format and songs I found a whole new way to appreciate hearing them live. There are really only a few consistent elements, a complete lack of intimacy from frontman James Murphy, very solid performances all around from the bands backing members, and song selection that won't do long time fans any favors.
So lets start off with the positives, which surprisingly contains two of the three covers that land on the project. The album opens with Seconds a cover of The Human League song of the same name that serves as a very solid introduction to the album. It features a little bit of a quiet essence, compared to the original some of the highs Murphy and company try and hit fall a bit short, but overall its a solid introduction. But the outro, a cover of Heaven 17's Fascist Groove Thing may be the albums shining moment. The song feels like it was destined to be performed by LCD and the masterful interpolation of background vocals and the driving disco rhythms the band is known for equate to a brilliant final product. Even though it's a long shot a studio version of this track would be killer.
The remainder of our good section comes in two pairs towards the start and end of the album. You Wanted A Hit was always a song I enjoyed from This Is Happening but never one I considered to be top tier. I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed the live version. It's one of the only tracks on the album that really plays well into the distant and measured delivery James Murphy gives on the project. Not only do the instruments sound blissfully natural but his lack of passion implores a perfect attitude given the songs themes. I consider it to be the lone song on this album that actually improves on the live version from their previous live outing at Madison Square Garden. Directly after this is a great track from Sounds Of Silver that is also one of the best live interpretations the album has to offer Get Innocuous. This has some of the best live mixing I've heard in years as the background vocals sit perfectly over the mix like their angelically guiding it from one killer rhythm to the next, as the track builds so does the energy and force of the live recording and it's hard to imagine listening to the song any other way but their grand live display after hearing it like this.
One other track I'd like to stop on is this version of Call The Police directly after, I consider the studio version of this song to be weaker than that of its companion single American Dream but in this capacity it succeeds in a way that American Dream and many others fail, vocally. James Murphy shines on the track and I think I would consider it the best performance he gives to the project,
The last two songs I really enjoyed are a pair of American Dream tunes that I wasn't thrilled to see turn up here, yet both are great standout moments. Emotional Haircut and Oh Baby help bring the tail end of the record to a fantastic close as both feel so much more genuine when performed live. Some of the somberness of Oh Baby really shines through in this edition of the track in a way that gives it a sharp sense of emotion we didn't see on its original studio recording and the bluntness of Emotional Haircut is heightened by fantastically robotic performances that perfectly fit the theme. These two followed by Fascist Groove Thing round out the album strong.
Unfortunately smack in the middle of the record there are a handful of strange misplays or moments that are so close to being good but end up brought down by something silly. It's hard to appreciate live renditions like the truly underwhelming version of I used to and the strange interpretation of Chic's I Want Your Love. A version of the This Is Happening track Home lands here as well but is more forgettable than any kind of abandonment of style or poise.
In a strange twist of fate the two songs that I consider to be my favorite of the bunch here in studio form turned out to be the most headache inducing in the bunch and its apparent right away why. American Dream is really close to being redeeming, its one of the spots where James is mostly up to the task, but the completely blown out and blistering keys that light up the tracks chorus and are the first thing you hear blaring far too loudly as soon as the track starts are hard to get over. If only by virtue of the long building moments in between these parts, American Dream is a bearable misstep. What I can't find any way to forgive is the horrible treatment given to Tonite. The inability to nail the tracks infectiously groovy tempo and James Murphy delivering his lines somehow with both hesitation and disconcern aren't even the worst offenses here. The fantastic and gritty dance-punk inspired riff that carries the entire song start to finish is completely ruined in this format, and frankly I'm amazed somebody didn't stop this version from being released. They sound like they've been compressed through a black hole in an attempt to replicate its studio dirtyness but the point is missed very badly. Its a moment that almost sours the entire album experience for me and a song I am still very confident the band can nail live, its just that the edition we receive here is so far from it.
In conclusion I refused to let my expectations for this get very high and ultimately I'm glad I didn't because the final product is pretty close to what I was anticipating even if the tracklist didn't shake up exactly how I though it would. With the true standout moments being Fascist Groove Thing, You Wanted A Hit and Get Innocuous this is a project that will probably only please some real die hard supporters and I'm one of them. But at the same time I can't ignore some of the more egregious missteps along the way. I've settled on a 6/10 as a comfortable place, I don't foresee this becoming any kind of legendary live recording but there are certainly some tunes that I will think hard about which version I really wanna hear next time they get stuck in my head.
So lets start off with the positives, which surprisingly contains two of the three covers that land on the project. The album opens with Seconds a cover of The Human League song of the same name that serves as a very solid introduction to the album. It features a little bit of a quiet essence, compared to the original some of the highs Murphy and company try and hit fall a bit short, but overall its a solid introduction. But the outro, a cover of Heaven 17's Fascist Groove Thing may be the albums shining moment. The song feels like it was destined to be performed by LCD and the masterful interpolation of background vocals and the driving disco rhythms the band is known for equate to a brilliant final product. Even though it's a long shot a studio version of this track would be killer.
The remainder of our good section comes in two pairs towards the start and end of the album. You Wanted A Hit was always a song I enjoyed from This Is Happening but never one I considered to be top tier. I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed the live version. It's one of the only tracks on the album that really plays well into the distant and measured delivery James Murphy gives on the project. Not only do the instruments sound blissfully natural but his lack of passion implores a perfect attitude given the songs themes. I consider it to be the lone song on this album that actually improves on the live version from their previous live outing at Madison Square Garden. Directly after this is a great track from Sounds Of Silver that is also one of the best live interpretations the album has to offer Get Innocuous. This has some of the best live mixing I've heard in years as the background vocals sit perfectly over the mix like their angelically guiding it from one killer rhythm to the next, as the track builds so does the energy and force of the live recording and it's hard to imagine listening to the song any other way but their grand live display after hearing it like this.
One other track I'd like to stop on is this version of Call The Police directly after, I consider the studio version of this song to be weaker than that of its companion single American Dream but in this capacity it succeeds in a way that American Dream and many others fail, vocally. James Murphy shines on the track and I think I would consider it the best performance he gives to the project,
The last two songs I really enjoyed are a pair of American Dream tunes that I wasn't thrilled to see turn up here, yet both are great standout moments. Emotional Haircut and Oh Baby help bring the tail end of the record to a fantastic close as both feel so much more genuine when performed live. Some of the somberness of Oh Baby really shines through in this edition of the track in a way that gives it a sharp sense of emotion we didn't see on its original studio recording and the bluntness of Emotional Haircut is heightened by fantastically robotic performances that perfectly fit the theme. These two followed by Fascist Groove Thing round out the album strong.
Unfortunately smack in the middle of the record there are a handful of strange misplays or moments that are so close to being good but end up brought down by something silly. It's hard to appreciate live renditions like the truly underwhelming version of I used to and the strange interpretation of Chic's I Want Your Love. A version of the This Is Happening track Home lands here as well but is more forgettable than any kind of abandonment of style or poise.
In a strange twist of fate the two songs that I consider to be my favorite of the bunch here in studio form turned out to be the most headache inducing in the bunch and its apparent right away why. American Dream is really close to being redeeming, its one of the spots where James is mostly up to the task, but the completely blown out and blistering keys that light up the tracks chorus and are the first thing you hear blaring far too loudly as soon as the track starts are hard to get over. If only by virtue of the long building moments in between these parts, American Dream is a bearable misstep. What I can't find any way to forgive is the horrible treatment given to Tonite. The inability to nail the tracks infectiously groovy tempo and James Murphy delivering his lines somehow with both hesitation and disconcern aren't even the worst offenses here. The fantastic and gritty dance-punk inspired riff that carries the entire song start to finish is completely ruined in this format, and frankly I'm amazed somebody didn't stop this version from being released. They sound like they've been compressed through a black hole in an attempt to replicate its studio dirtyness but the point is missed very badly. Its a moment that almost sours the entire album experience for me and a song I am still very confident the band can nail live, its just that the edition we receive here is so far from it.
In conclusion I refused to let my expectations for this get very high and ultimately I'm glad I didn't because the final product is pretty close to what I was anticipating even if the tracklist didn't shake up exactly how I though it would. With the true standout moments being Fascist Groove Thing, You Wanted A Hit and Get Innocuous this is a project that will probably only please some real die hard supporters and I'm one of them. But at the same time I can't ignore some of the more egregious missteps along the way. I've settled on a 6/10 as a comfortable place, I don't foresee this becoming any kind of legendary live recording but there are certainly some tunes that I will think hard about which version I really wanna hear next time they get stuck in my head.
