Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Live In Paris
- Written by Naomi Mulligan
Chances are that it’s only when you know a band well that you’re willing to listen to a live offering which, unless you were there, is often inferior to a polished album. In the case of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Live in Paris you won’t be disappointed whether you know them or not.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at their best are purveyors of dirty, reverb-rich, classic rock and roots blues. Fortunately, on this live album, these elements are all here. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live in Paris offers you a full experience of the band’s back catalogue (excluding 2008’s download-only release The Effects of 333), all in one fine gig that starts with their newest offering Specter At The Feast (2013), which is played in its entirety, and then works its way back to their original roots. For a band like BRMC, this is exactly what you want. This musical smorgasbord of a live album has an almost prog-rock start, kicking off with ‘Firewalker’, which is followed by softer yet anthemic sounds, such as those of ‘Returning’, and then builds to take in the band’s instantly recognisable brand of dirty, distorted, seemingly effortless blue grass rock ‘n’ roll, with the track ‘Sell It’ being especially noteworthy.
Technically, it’s certainly worth pointing out the fact that BRMC are incredibly capable live. This is most obvious on slower tracks because there’s much less on offer by why of distraction. Highlights include ‘Lullaby’, which is chilled and perfectly indie; ‘Some Kind of Ghost’, which is a mixture of gospel, synth and slowness, and ‘Sometimes the Light’ which is a dose of heavenly awesomeness. And just you wait for ‘Mercy’, which has a melancholic, Sixties feel. You didn’t have to be there and, equally, you don’t have to be familiar with the band’s back catalogue to enjoy this. Live in Paris is a rewarding an experience, even if you’re lying on the bed at home. Trust me.
In terms of the album as a whole, the faster, more familiar, anthemic sounds of BRMC dominate the show, but they don’t overpower it. In vocal terms, BRMC are true and authentic live, with any slight differences between the live and recorded experience adding to, rather than diminishing, the aural experience. Peter Hayes (guitar and vocals, sometimes bass, harmonica, synthesiser)’s Donovan-esque voice and Robert Levon-Been (bass, vocals, guitar and sometimes piano’s Bolan-esque vocals merge into one another seamlessly, almost like one person with a split personality.
Instrumentally, the live experience offered by this album might even be considered to be superior to the band’s studio-recorded output. Here, Hayes and Levon-Been go on magical instrumental voyages through cornfields and bright, bright colours, but unlike in some prog-rock, they take you with them. Leah Shapiro (drums and backing vocals since 2008)’s percussion is thick and deep and a great foundation on which all else can build and loop and shine.
The live show’s middle section returns, for the most part, to the album Beat The Devil’s Tattoo (2010). Things kick off with the impossibly catchy, sexy, primal and distinctive title track of the album, which is followed by the country-referencing, grass-chewing, slide-sliding of ‘Ain’t No Easy Way’. This is great fun live. The musical journey winds, slows, picks up and changes pace again with the Brit-pop sounds of ‘Rifles’. Here, the cycle of musical influence comes full circle, as the influence of Oasis on the track draws in other influences from The Beatles and the Mods.
The final part of Live in Paris is absolutely spot on, and is surely the section of the album that listeners will love best. All the best tracks from the band’s self-titled first album, B.R.M.C. (2001), are here — and rightly so. ‘White Palms’ starts the sonic snowball in the typical God/ rock sex/worship sound we love and it’s bloody perfect. But then comes ‘Spread Your Love’ with its homage (surely?) to Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’ (1969) and the like. Before the last song, which you only hope and pray will be a crowd pleaser, comes the blue-grass, harmonic-heavy and wondrous, ‘Shuffle Your Feet’. And, finally, it’s the turn of ‘Whatever Happened to my Rock n’ Roll (Punk Song)?’, which is the perfect way to end the show as the track was both the band’s first release, and has proved to be their most popular song.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live in Paris is great, its amusing, it’s gyration-inducing. It’s time to get your hands on this fantastic release: listen to it, watch it, and spread the love.