The last time punks Against Me! put out a live album, fully half the band were different members and it was three albums ago, so it makes sense that we get their Alive II here (minus the studio trickery and half-assed new studio songs, but, work with me). The band is nothing but pure energy, as songs like "True Trans Soul Rebel" and "Walking Is Still Honest" sound way more lively than the already-intense studio versions, the current incarnation of the band gelling together in a big way.
This is a live album in the most honest of ways, overdubbing clearly not being something the band is interested in; sure, some of the performances aren't perfect, at times sounding downright ragged and sloppy, but that's the glory of a loud, fast and sweaty live punk rock show, here captured in all its glory as the band plough through songs from all eras of their history, finding the common thread between the old basement-punk anthems and the slick arena-punk rockers of later years in a shockingly profound manner.
Main bummer: no "Because of the Shame," but "Pretty Girls (The Mover)" rocks twice as hard to make up for it.
(Total Treble)This is a live album in the most honest of ways, overdubbing clearly not being something the band is interested in; sure, some of the performances aren't perfect, at times sounding downright ragged and sloppy, but that's the glory of a loud, fast and sweaty live punk rock show, here captured in all its glory as the band plough through songs from all eras of their history, finding the common thread between the old basement-punk anthems and the slick arena-punk rockers of later years in a shockingly profound manner.
Main bummer: no "Because of the Shame," but "Pretty Girls (The Mover)" rocks twice as hard to make up for it.
