I don’t normally review live albums in the Reflecting Pool, but since the next album in the Femmes’ oeuvre, Rock!!!! was originally only released in Australia (!!) and is supposed to be horrible, I will pass on it until someone can send me a free copy. Because of that omission, I’m giving the band a live album pass. That, and I happen to think they are better live than recorded.
Violent Femmes – Viva Wisconsin! – 1999 (iTunes – Amazon)
When Violent Femmes’ debut was released it sort of snuck up on everyone. Every dorm room had a copy at NYU. At least, it seemed like it. We were all touched by the Femmes. We knew every word of every song on that album. Some of us quoted them to girls in malls.
It was a no brainer that we would see them when they came around for the Hallowed Ground Tour.
A bunch of us went to see them at Irving Plaza. I remember sitting in the back, talking, smoking and watching the Horns of Dilemma kill it more than once in the set.
I’ve forgotten just how tight and tense a live show the Femmes were. After all, they were street performers plucked from obscurity and sent on their career almost in spite of themselves.
I’m grateful for Viva Wisconsin! because it reminds me of the collected love of many of the tracks. There is something comforting in hearing the audience get roused and shout when they hear that familiar bassline of Country Death Song. 17 years into their profession and they couldn’t be sounding better.
Every track is fueled with energy and tragic frustration, none more emphatically than the 7 minute version of “Confessions”. Also the nasal syllable twisting on the frenetic “Add It Up”, sublime.
I’m also pleased by “Life is an Adventure” & “Sweet Worlds of Angels” from the much maligned “Rock!!!” album. I wonder just why they sucked so much there and are such a fine crowd pleasers here.
One song really seems to shine in the live format: Good Feelings, the closer from the debut. It’s such a uniquely lush song and given a lovely treatment here by the band that it’s a true standout.
If I had one complaint about “Viva Wisconsin” it’s that it’s not a true concert. Often the tracks just fade out, depriving us of the feel of being there and just presenting the live versions of the songs.
Grade A
No Sides, just best tracks: Country Death Song, Confessions, Good Feelings, Sweet Worlds of Angels, Add It Up,
