|
I love live albums!! There's nothing like
a live album that can truly capture the magic and essence
of a band. A few albums throughout Rock history, like like
The Who - Live at Leeds', KISS Alive, Frampton
Comes Alive, and The Rolling Stones' Love You Live,
have managed to do so.
Westworld's Live... In The Flesh is
a great live album. It is rockin', fiery, raw, and a lot
of fun. It also manages to capture the essence of Westworld
the live band and the magic of the night in which it was
recorded. How do I know this? I was there! And believe me,
many bands put out a "Live" album and then go into the studio
to "re-do" everything, this is not the case with Westworld.
This album is truly live, and very raw. The overdubs here,
if any, are minimal.
Now on to the performance, vocalist Tony Harnell
was totally on and at his best this evening. He puts out
an emotive and fiery performance and gives us a live testament
of his amazing vocal abilities. His ability to sing beautifully,
and then growl and scream is truly astonishing. He may very
well be the best singer I have ever seen live. His pipes
totally make the album.
Axe-Slinger Mark Reale just rips and shreds
away while making us think he's Michael Schenker. With Westworld,
Reale has evolved into a bona-fide shredder and a more complete
guitarist. Bassist Bruno Ravel and drummer John O. Reilly
have great chemistry, not unlike Bonham/Jones and Bruno
can sing very well, his voice really complements Harnell's.
Rounding out the live attack are keyboardist/vocalist
Josh Pincus and violinist Mark Wood. Kudos to Pincus as
harmonizing to Tony Harnell is no easy task and he pulls
it off very well. Mark Wood is just an amazing musician
who automatically enhances every song he plays on.
Recently, I was at a Westworld show in NYC
and somebody in the crowd told me something that just about
sums up the performance on this album. "Every time I see
Westworld, I feel like I just saw Zeppelin - they are just
that damn good!" Now go and buy the record!
Shred Pick - A tie between "Uneasy",
"Uninvited", and "Shame".
Reviewed by Henry Bocanegra
Artist Website: www.westworld-web.com
Click
here to order Westworld - Live... In The Flesh from
|
