woensdag 28 januari 2015

Why The Red Night Live Album Is Superior To The Studio Album

Live albums are usually somewhat of a mixed bag. They of course miss the slick production and eye for detail a studio recording would have, but in it's place there is the honest experience, the story it tells of that one evening, faded in the memories of most except those who were there. This is the story of one such evening.

Everyone realises by now the girls of BABYMETAL are experienced and professional performers, but the other side of that coin is that they are three teenagers doing their biggest gig up to that point on ground sacred to metal and rock fans. Understandably they sound a bit nervous at the start, which isn't helped by the opener being Megitsune, a song Suzuka has never been entirely comfortable singing. She slowly gets more in her element as the concert progresses, but it isn't until the fourth track, Iine!, that things really fall into place for her. After that she manages quite effortlessly.

There are of course a few more hiccups here and there, such as Yui and Moa sounding out of breath at certain moments, particularly during the performance of Onedari Daisakusen. By far the biggest disruption of the evening though occurs during Head Bangya!! when Yui falls of the stage and is out for the rest of the song. It's a bit sad that my three favourite tracks from the studio album (Megitsune, Onedari Daisakusen, Head Bangya!!) are worse off here, but that's all part of the drama. We now know Yui's accident had no serious consequences, but you can still feel that moment of confusion and concern as one voice is suddenly silent.

Other songs however sound much better. Rondo of Nightmare is transformed from a somewhat lacklustre sibling to Akatsuki into a passionate experience, by way of excellent musicianship of the Kami band and an unleashed Su-metal! Iine! goes from a big ball of weirdness to a pumping, joyful kawaii-metal anthem, but the biggest improvement is definitely the Youtube wonder itself, Gimme Chocolate!!. Now that I've had a chance to hear the song in concert (back in November), and know how it's supposed to sound, the studio version seems a bit lacking. This one is its superior, dark and menacing with the riffs being much more punctuated and less a wall of noise, even though it's one of the earlier tracks and the girls are still struggling somewhat against the band.

I would be committing a great injustice if I didn't take a moment to mention the mind blowing performance of the Kami band throughout. Never missing a beat, these men are truly masters of their trade. Taking centre stage on the album are an extra long rendition of Song 4 as Yui and Moa run to every corner of the Budokan arena to lead the chants and the excitement rises, and Akatsuki, which takes a step back first with it's quiet opening only to burst into full force a few moments later. Suzuka is at her very strongest here too, wrenching every drop of raw emotion out of it that she can. To me this transition is the most memorable highlight of the entire thing. It is a bit strange to hear Babymetal Death being played after that, because it's near the end of the concert after such a peak moment. It's well performed here, but it suffers from not being the opening track.

So our story works its way to its conclusion: a rendition of Ijime Dame Zettai that's so fluent it's hard to distinguish it from a studio recording, the band and the girls by this point being completely absorbed in the flow of the evening. But as we close the curtains, an echo from the future sounds, unbeknown to the characters in the story. The new track Roads of Resistance is played at the end, the studio version mind you, a successful collaboration with the British band Dragonforce. It's a very upbeat tune that leaves me with the feeling that great things are still in store for BABYMETAL, just as there were on that evening in march.

A while back I tried to do a review of BABYMETAL the albumn (yes, another one, because why not). I had the whole thing written down, but threw it away because I wasn't happy with how it turned out. It's just not possible, for me at least, to do the studio album justice in all its weirdness and inconsistency, even though I do love it. Red Night somewhat brings BABYMETAL back with their feet on the ground, not enough to loose their unique charm, but just enough to notice how genuinely great their music is, even when it's not flying high tripping on some weird mixture of kawaii and acid. That makes this a tale to remember, and to relive as often as I can.

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten