Run-DMC

Audience rule number 4,085: hip-hop usually sucks recorded live. Run DMC strike that notion down with a spot-on performance from which most rappers should take their concert cues. Whether they’re dishing out the call-and-response tactics for "Mary Mary,” barrelling through "It’s Like That” or finishing each other’s rhymes the way only they could do, live hip-hop gets no better than this. No doubt fans of the group will already have these songs but here, without the aid of studio wizardry, they remain raw and somehow closer to the original spirit of hip-hop. Any interludes/freestyles fail to annoy as much as they do on most albums and if anything, add to the atmosphere you can conjure anytime you press play. Little can be written about these songs that hasn’t been said long ago but hear this: if you haven’t already done so, carve out a special place in your heart for these pioneers and know that the true measure of a live CD is how badly you wish you were there. Considering that Jam Master Jay would be shot dead in a year and that the capacity crowd of about 2,500 was in a state of ecstasy and it’s clear: those of us who didn’t make it to Montreux, Switzerland missed out.