Pekka
Whereas the first Alice in Chains live album showed the band in an acoustic setting, the second live album simply titled Live spans six years of electric live performances from the Facelift tour to the final gig with Layne Staley in 1996. While I generally prefer live albums taken from a single concert, this one features so many quality cuts to make it one of my favourite live albums.
The early era with Mike Starr is presented by two tracks, a passionate reading of the Facelift highlight Bleed the Freak and the previously unreleased country piss take Queen of the Rodeo which really is more amusing than enjoyable, but as such an interesting look into the more humorous side of AIC which hasn't been showing up very often. The Mike Inez era starts with a solid version of Angry Chair, but this take is most notable for leading straight into a stunning rendition of Man in the Box through a fantastic transition. This one is far superior to the original Facelift track with a faster tempo, fuller and heavier sound and a great vocal performance by Layne Staley. One of the highlights of this album. The Dirt world tour is presented by several more tracks up to the "drunk and disorderly version" of Dirt from Japan. These are all solid versions with raw sound and good performances with Junkhead being another one of the album highlights with its modified chorus melodies and harmonies.
The last five songs are taken from the last two shows Layne Staley did with the band and they spawn many highligts. He might have been skinny, weak and hurting but judging by these takes nevertheless very much alive. He lets Jerry Cantrell's guitar do the opening roar of Them Bones, but despite that this is a great version of a great song, again somewhat altering the chorus harmonies to great effect. God Am and the Last Action Hero song A Little Bitter are two other brilliant performances from the second to last show, Staley being very much on fire on these numbers. The original God Am seems very tame in comparison. Layne makes his final bow with a powerful version of Dam That River, according to the setlists the second to last song he ever performed live.
Some absolutely essential takes and some just good, all in all an excellent live album.