Live albums always offer a precarious task for musicians. If a band merely fills the studio molds with too-perfect clarity, fans want for the lack of stage improv. If the band jams on the closing riff for six minutes, the fans yawn. So what's the perfect balance of fiddling and play-by-numbers? If you've ever exclaimed, "Man, the guitarist adds a little vibrato to the one note in the hook! And the riff has this little extra stutter," ask yourself why this really matters. Do five subtle changes really warrant praise? And if it's freeform re-interpretation you want, go like Phish.
The above sentiments appeared verbatim in my review of Sunny Day Real Estate's Live. You can argue that I'm lazy, or that I'm filling a contractual obligation to the Editor, or that I'm pleasing more of my diehard fans by re-offering some classic prose riffs. The truth is, that's how I view live albums. Well, actually, I'd like to improv on that paragraph a bit. You can't spell "improve" without "improv." Oh dear, that was unfunny, unnecessary banter. But I'm dictating this review live.
Built to Spill's live album, aside from its uninspired title, restores purpose and value in the format. Primarily because Built to Spill restore purpose and invention to the guitar. On their 1997 album, Perfect from Now On, Built to Spill's slave fingers stacked slabs of reverb and bricks of glitter-dipped notes into a Record of Babel under the whipping brilliance of Doug Martsch's mind. Keep It Like a Secret chopped up the anthemic architecture into more livable suburban models. While other bands like Radiohead and Sunny Day Real Estate carved majestic epics, nobody else truly used the sheer volume and sparkling colors of jacked amps. Built to Spill weld Television-esque interplay to the head-melting swirl of Spiritualized or Spacemen 3. That Martsch can turn such fireworks into acute hooks is genius.
Live smartly pulls primarily from the two recent LPs. The universally held favorite, "Car," makes a welcome appearance-- the first live recording of the band's best song with their best line-up. Caustic Resin's Brett Nelson sprays vapor trails over half of the album, upping the fist-pumping factor to three behemoth guitars. These nine songs provide an idol for guitar fans who sicken at the sound of dancing solos. This is slow motion synchronized gymnastics, not a tap recital. Doug Martsch worships the guitar. He was born to play 19 minute scorches. There's Nothing Wrong with Love seems plainly cute in hindsight. Other Northwest bands scratch the itch for high-pitched pop nuggets-- Quasi and Elliott Smith will serve you. Built to Spill, and especially their live album, are for people who want to air windmill, air-strum, air-riff, air-solo, and air-drum without the guilt of actually listening to classic rock.
