Truth be told, Live, released in 2000, was nothing more than an attempt by their record label to take advantage of every last drop, of the Alice in Chains success as a major band of the Seattle Sound. Nirvana had inevitably succumbed to Cobain´s tragedy, Soundgarden had disbanded, Pearl Jam seemed to have derived towards a more traditional rock style and Alice in Chains, well, it was clear that Alice in Chains no longer existed since 1996. However, fans seemed to be looking for rock bands influenced for the Seattle Sound and proof of this, was the success and attention that late 90s bands defined as part of the "post-grunge" era as Godsmack, Creed, Bush, Puddle of Mudd and Chevelle among others, were getting. Thus the record label with they still maintain an ongoing bond decided to put in the stores a more than expected album by the fans and that would keep the hope alive of seeing them out of the pit where they were.
Even though Alice never showed a real interest to release a live recording, who knows for what reasons, the need to listen to them live was huge and in the previous period to this album, there were circulating through specialized music stores or via mail orders, a lot of bootleg recordings that showed, either through audience recordings or soundboard recordings, live performances by Alice in Chains. Some of these recordings were really poor, while others such as the Seattle Center Arena performance in 1992, Toronto 92 known as "Life in Chains" bootleg, the 93 Tillburg gig known as "Little Red Rooster"bootleg, and Glasgow 93 concert, known as "Bad Dream" were really worth listening gems. The Glasgow gig, is perhaps the best show the band has made and it was recorded entirely by the BBC. From this show precisely, several emblematic songs were extracted to compose this official live, constituting the primary source for this album.
Alice in Chains
Live
"Live" is the payment of a historic debt. That debt that every 90´s fan needed; to have a tangible and high quality document that shows what was Alice in Chains during the short, intense 6 years period. Although there was Unplugged, the tour period had not been approached by the band with an official live album, which showed the thunderous power of a group that only performed one world tour, and because of the excesses of the life on the road, took distance from the stages indefinitely, for an indefinite period.
The album starts with a familiar song for us taken from the "Live Facelift" home video from 1990, a gig that took place on the Moore Theater. It´s “Bleed The Freak" and the truth is that it sounds HUGE due to the improvements done, to reach the cd format for the first time.
Mike Starr's bass sounds with a depth that enhances the character every initial track must have. Cantrell's guitar sounds with absolute clarity and the Sean´s drum kit sounds really powerful, heightening the power of Starr. Layne's voice is this one is full of melody and very powerful at the same time, showing the exact emphasize on each note he has to sing. A dream start for every fan who was impatiently waiting for this official Live.
A song that we had heard before in the bootleg "Alice in Wonderland" takes the second place in this journey. The Cantrell country guitar style is set and it´s time for "Queen of the Rodeo". The truth is that for many people, years 90 and 91 are considered the best in terms of Alice in Chains musical performance. I think they might be right, because at this time the songs sound different from all subsequent periods, with a really funny Layne, totally imbued in his role of an "entertainer" frontman . The band is playing at the exact speed (some songs in the following years show some quickness regarding their original versions). Great sound for a great version of this song that no one expected to be in the tracklist.
After Dirt, we start to hear the last part of the album, the Kiss concerts part. "Them Bones" starts and the first thing that attracts the attention is the lack of the classic "Ah Ah Ahhh" by Layne at the beginning. The sound is dirtier, there´s no depth in the bass sound. Layne's voice is deteriorated, and that is undeniable especially when you´ve heard this album from the beginning, song by song. Layne forgets the lyrics on a couple of times and that makes you inevitably wonder why they decided to put this version if there are so many more, much powerful versions of Them Bones? Some will say that the intention may have been trying to show the terrible change Layne's voice had, and give testimony that the truth was this, that's how the band existed over these years, like when we were told in science class "The man is born, grows and dies.”It can be. In my personal opinion and having heard so many Alice in Chains live recordings, I can say that the part of the Kiss concerts was completely unnecessary. For sound, quality and context.
This is confirmed in songs like "God Am" and "Again" that require great vocal performance that Layne actually no longer had because of his illness. Musically the band is correct, but we can´t be blind and say that Layne was okay, because he just wasn´t. Totally dispensable, in my opinion.
Layne seems to catch up in "A Little Bitter" although you hear him a little tired. The volume of the voice predominates by far over the instruments. I insist that they could have got a much better sound from these shows. It's pretty inexcusable for a band of the size of Alice in Chains the sound quality of these from last 5 Songs.
The album ends with "Dam That River". The start of the band is completely devastating, but again Layne's voice is weak and what is worse, with a totally different “voice color”. Again, he misses some lyrics in a couple of times. However you can notice the effort he puts in, trying to do his best in this song. We all appreciate that.
Live is an uneven album. On one hand, it´s a document of unquantifiable value that shows at least until "Junkhead" the whole band´s strength, particularly Layne´s voice. The attempt to cover 3 different periods of the live history of Alice in Chains was not the best choice at all. It shows a manipulation of the record company, trying to do more of a "Greatest Hits Live" putting songs of the entire catalog of Alice in Chains until 1996. But that runs the risk of "continuity" issues and removes the emotional component that is precisely the essence of a live album. The greatest live albums have been made using just one date and venue, and there is a band interest in producing an excellent live recording, carrying special recording equipment to the venue and getting a producer who will be responsible for monitoring every recording detail. Perhaps if the band had released the full 1993 Glasgow concert, with no sound differences between songs, along with the emotion and magic of a unique night, we would be talking of a GREAT live album by Alice in Chains. But make no mistakes, the result is too distant to be bad, it´s just that it could have been totally sublime. But it wasn´t, and still is an album to treasure in our personal collections.
By: Schulz.
With "Angry Chair" the Glasgow concert sequence begins and it will run for 6 songs. The sound is even more powerfull than the previous tracks, though Layne´s guitar sounds a little weak in this one. This song (as Man in the Box and Love Hate Love) didn´t appear on the "Bad Dream" bootleg, so it´s a real gift for the fans who finally get all the songs that were played at the classical concert. What can I say about this version? Not much, almost to the point of perfection with a fully blended Cantrell-Staley duo on vocals, the trademark of this song, and Sean Kinney and Mike Inez (Yes, Inez, who has already replaced Starr for this 93 concert) making total justice to the studio version. A classic.
In that 93 tour "Man in the Box" borrowed almost always the final Angry Chair drum parts and started as an emotional whirlwind to give the show a perfect closing. This happens here, except that in this Live, MIB takes the fourth place in the tracklist, something unprecedented in some way, and that makes the listener feels a little confused in the most emotional part. However, this version is superb and shows Layne as the remarkable musician he was, as well as the whole band. The groove is immense and you can feel the power of the band at its best.
It´s now the turn of "Love Hate Love". It´s perhaps the best live version of this song along with Live Facelift version. Superb, magnificent, terrifying, dark, depressing. Inez's bass stands magnificently supporting Sean´s drumming and giving that spooky touch to the track. A great performance.
Then come “Rooster”, “Would?” and “Junkhead” from the same Glasgow concert, all of them performed at the highest level with the best sound.
A big surprise comes with track 9 It´s "Dirt", a song which was recorded at Club Quatro, Nagoya, Japan in October 1993. Until this live album, there were no recordings of this show in any bootleg, which turns out to be a nice gift for fans. The song itself has a less powerful sound than the Glasgow show, but you can´t say it's bad at all. Layne, despite the title (Drunk & disorderly version) is in perfect condition offering a correct vocal performance. The drum work by Sean is remarkable due to its strength, precision and elegance, in a song that wasn’t one of the recurrent songs in the setlists of that time. A very good version.
