In between American Music Club albums, and also in between labels, Mark Eitzel
was offered a deal to fly to London and play a solo show with the
intention of releasing the results. To the dismay of many within the AMC
camp, Eitzel
accepted the deal, as he would have complete control over whatever came
of it. Songs of Love Live is the result, a documentation of his show at
London's Borderline. Though he played nearly half of what would become
AMC's best work (Everclear), most of the CD is made up of gripping
versions of earlier favorites, such as "Outside This Bar" and "Gary's
Song" (from Engine), as well as "Firefly" and "Blue and Grey Shirt"
(from California). The only missing element is the trademark banter
between Eitzel and his audience. To paraphrase Saturday Night Live's Dieter from "Sprockets," Eitzel
masks his self-depracation with the subtlety of a flying mallet, and
when combined with his razor-sharp wit, it can lead to some hilarious
and sometimes uncomfortable exchanges with the crowd. The closing songs
"Take Courage" (a one-off Matador solo single) and "Nothing Can Bring Me
Down" were actually recorded by Eitzel in a small room at Demon's offices. Fitting perfectly with the AMC mystique, Songs of Love Live was the best selling Eitzel
record to date, despite it's U.K.-only release. A key possession for
any AMC fan, it provides an unfiltered, uncompromised, raw vision of Mark Eitzel's songs.
aCá
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment