BAKER GURVITZ ARMY: LIVE (2005)
1) Wotever It Is; 2) The
Gambler; 3) Freedom; 4) 4 Phil; 5) Remember; 6) Memory Lane; 7) People.
If, for some reason, you are still in the mood for more
gurvitz-bakery, this extra release, also from 2005 and, seemingly, also from
the post-Elysian Encounter tour,
might do the trick. Unpretentiously called Live (or, as some sources put it, Live Live Live, or even longer, depending on how many times you
spin around the CD cover), these are not remastered, but still good quality recordings
that only partially overlap with Live In
Derby, and thus, have some real appeal that warrants at least a quick
reconaissance download (or even a certified purchase, although I am not even
sure that the artists themselves get anything from these limited-issue foreign
imports).
Anyway, there is at least one song here that is
totally unavailable anywhere else — the introductory ʽWotever It Isʼ, a jiggly
hard-funk number, unfortunately, mostly keyboard-driven for the first half, but
once Adrian finally steps in with burning solos, the groove starts unfurling,
and by the fourth minute, the BGA are completely in their element. Then there
is a rather faithful, and not very intriguing, rendition of ʽThe Gamblerʼ, and
a somewhat more intriguing version of ʽ4 Philʼ which, as Ginger says, «starts
off as it used to be, and finishes as it is» — that is, with a new section, now
featuring life-asserting vocals from Mr. Snips, thrown in. Finally, the major addition to Live In Derby is the red-hot finale
with ʽPeopleʼ — Baker-Gurvitzes are always at their most infectious live when
doing fast stuff, and this here is no exception.
The stage banter tidbit to be associated with
the album is Ginger's mid-show mumble about how «the police have said that they
are gonna raid the place, but the stage is a sancrosanct area, so you if you
all throw your illegal things onto the stage, we promise we'll look after them
for you». Judging by the average comprehensibility of the mumble, you'd think
that quite a few «illegal things» had already landed on the stage by then —
then you remember that it's just Ginger, and that he always talks that way.
If you are still
in the mood for one more red hot gurvitz on your baker, keep in mind that there
is more: for instance, Still Alive from 2008, featuring even
more archival live stuff from the same tour, scattered on 2 CDs. There is a bit
of good stuff there, too — such as an early, and quite impressive, live
version of ʽHearts On Fireʼ, and the only official live version of ʽHelp Meʼ
(which should really have been a stage favorite — I have no idea why they
didn't do it in Derby). Oh, and during his stage banter bit, Ginger actually
says «drugs» now instead of «illegal things». I guess that must be the
difference between knowing you're being recorded for the BBC and not knowing
you're being recorded at all.
But the whole thing still shows clear signs of
being scraped together, since (a) the overall sound quality is much worse than on Live, and (b) there are no less than four separate drum solos, altogether adding up to about thirty
minutes — and each of them sounds just like ʽToadʼ. To be sure, Ginger Baker
was one of the most distinctive drum soloists in the business, but it's not as
if the fifth minute of a ʽToadʼ-style drum solo is all that distinctive from
the eleventh minute of a ʽToadʼ-style drum solo. Well, actually, the eleventh
minute is usually louder than the fifth (that's just about the time when the
drummer goes into full acceleration mode on each limb). But that, too, is sort
of predictable.
Overall, it is always sort of a lottery — which
one of the «lost legend» bands will be the next in line to start getting the
let-it-all-hang-out treatment, particularly now that the task of digitalizing
an archive recording and releasing it as a «limited issue» pressing has never
been easier. In reality, nobody but the starkest fan should care about Live (Live Live), and nobody but the looniest reviewer should care about
Still Alive. Which should never
detract from the fact that the Baker Gurvitz Army were a dang fine band anyway,
both in the studio and live.
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