It's all been said so many times before. I probably don't even need to go beyond this. Half of you know what I'm going to say. I feel trite just thinking about it. And yet, as is always the case, necessity squelches the desire for originality. Here goes:
This live album, while a must-have for die-hard fans of the group, will disappoint those who are looking for an inspiringly different interpretation of the band's canon.
Live albums are tricky business. One out of fifty times, a live album provides a stunning insight into a spontaneous, dynamic performance, or a collection of particularly outstanding performances spanning a given period of time. The other forty-nine times, a live recording is little more than a collection of a band's songs run through a bulldozer and stripped of a good deal of their ornamentation, complexity, and character. And thus, the above statement comes into play. If you love the songs, you'll love the slightly different versions of the songs; if you don't give a fuck about the songs, you're wasting your time.
In the case of Eric's Trip, the live treatment does marginally alter the nature of the band's music, sometimes allowing some extra vibrancy and energy to come through, but almost always removing a good deal of the charm that makes their albums so appealing. Eric's Trip slapped together beauty and noise in a fantastically haphazard manner, jumping with reckless abandon from lazily strummed acoustic guitars to hectic, screeching feedback. On The Eric's Trip Show, the contrast between the various sounds employed by the band is greatly downplayed, replaced by a steady stream of consistently rocking numbers.
Which is not to say that there aren't some absolutely lovely songs on The Eric's Trip Show. The album opens with "Stove," a classic cut from the band's debut, Love Tara, featuring Julie Doiron's gorgeous, breathy vocals. It's all well and good, but it doesn't do much in comparison to the original, with its dreamy cymbal crashes and intensely intimate recording quality.
Indeed, the loss of intimacy is a big problem with this album, as the close-up, lo-fi recording that helped make Eric's Trip's proper albums so great is no longer a factor. The band plays their songs through, and the songs themselves are pretty damned good. On tracks like "Blinded," Mark, Chris, Julie, and Rick really start to rip shit up-- a needed blast of energy, and a nice addition to The Eric's Trip Show, but certainly no replacement for the moments of sheer brilliance that can be found in the band's albums.
Which brings me back to the original point. The songs on The Eric's Trip Show are very good songs. I'd venture to say that some of the more straight-up rock numbers actually sound better here than they do on studio LPs. But generally speaking, this album leaves Eric's Trip without some of their greatest musical assets. If you're in love with the songs, this probably won't matter to you; if you're not, this won't help. But you already knew that.
