Lost in Space: The elusive art of the live recording

July 10 — By Bryan Reed on August 9, 2010 at 6:06 pm

Live albums, as a general rule, suck.

Even without poor recording clarity, it’s rare that a live record manages to capture not only song, but also a sense of place; rarely are we taken into the recording instead of merely hearing a facsimile of it. But occasionally, a live recording – not necessarily in front of an audience, mind you – pulls it off. One need look no further than the careers of Johnny Cash, Cheap Trick or Peter Frampton, whose careers were either boosted or kick-started by live albums.

But somehow, knowing that makes the average live recording worse, like it’s little more than a missed opportunity pressed onto plastic.

But when the transportative power of a live recording is, on those rare occasions, harnessed, it transforms the music into something bigger.

Luckily for Georgia indie rockers Venice Is Sinking that their first foray into live album making went so successfully. Their disc, Sand & Lines: The Georgia Theatre Sessions | May 20th-24th 2008, was recorded in the stately Georgia Theatre a year before it burned to cinders. Here, the theater is as much a part of the band as any of its members. Strings and vocal harmonies swell to fill the historic building, empty during these sessions. Contributions from auxiliary players littered through the cavernous venue alert us to the fact that this is no confined studio booth. Only two microphones were used to capture the sound, and the natural reverb, which developed because of this, gives a unique robustness to these songs.

On the two full-length albums that preceded “Sand & Lines,” Venice Is Sinking was a talented, promising and not-particularly noteworthy band, creating the sort of lush, cinematic indie rock that bands like Arcade Fire used as foundations to build careers. The Georgians, though, favored rich, melancholy tapestries woven from densely textured arrangements and somber pacing. Given the space to breathe – as they are here – Venice Is Sinking becomes something else entirely; they become almost redemptive.

Their set list is a seamless blend of originals and covers – Galaxie 500’s “Tugboat,” Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” and Waylon Jennings’ “The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want To Get Over You).” But the covers become entrancing, highlighting the character of the band, and giving credence to its influences – Galaxie 500’s shoe gaze and Parton and Jennings’ timeless country. Finally, Venice is Sinking brings its listeners into its songs, instead of just near them.

The similarly unknown, but differently styled, Chapel Hill outfit Hiss Golden Messenger accomplishes a similar feat with the limited release “Root Work: Live WFMU 2009.” While it’s not technically a proper live album – bandleader MC Taylor “spiced it up” at his Pittsboro homestead and in Brooklyn – it has the same transformative and transporting qualities of the finest proper live records. Chirping birds, whether authentic or synthetic, set the recording outdoors. This suits the loose, casual explorations Taylor takes with his songs here. Track lengths stretch, song strictures embrace diversion.

Though several of these songs appear on Hiss Golden Messenger’s 1009 LP “Country Hai East Cotton,” to say they’re repeated wouldn’t do justice. “John Has Gone To The Light” barely touched five minutes in the studio; here it pasts eight. Taylor leads his band through airy compositions lacing his casual songwriter fare with dub-reggae echo and jam-band meanders. But in the outdoor, presumably warm, setting the band has created for itself, and for us, these explorations are more than welcome. The band offers the same sort of rocking chair comfort as James Taylor, if he’d been recorded by dub legend Lee “Scratch” Perry. The graceful sprawl of Southwestern alt-folk bands like Calexico provides a gentle momentum as these songs yawn, cat-like, into activity.

Each of these records thrives on its sense of place: the cavernous, dusky theater or the sticky, endless summer sky. But setting makes music into travel, song into roadmap, artist into tour guide. Now, it’s up to justice to spin “Sand & Lines” or “Root Work” into “Frampton Comes Alive” or “At Folsom Prison.”

The Claudia Quintet with Gary Versace – “Royal Toast” (Cuneiform)
From slow-glow nocturnes to kinetic bouts of jazz aerobics, Royal Toast displays its players’ more-than-ample versatility. But what sticks is the sense of discovery that arrives upon hearing the range – in tone and emotion – the combo derives from its instruments, which include clarinet, vibraphone and a delightful, prominent accordion.
Sphinx