Live Trax Vol. 17

I used to think this show was the absolute shit—one of my five favorite Live Trax releases—but relistening to it for this exercise, it didn’t resonate with me in the same way it always had in the past. I actually listened to it all the way through three separate times, but each time I walked away feeling like it was a very solid yet unremarkable show. That’s not to say I don’t like it—almost all of the shows released as Live Trax are pretty darn good—but this is far short of (for example) LT47. That said, there are some real gems here. Possibly an unpopular opinion, but although there are exceptions, I prefer the sub-10-minute performances of TWO STEP like this one. At the same time, it’s clear the band hadn’t yet discovered the full potential of the song. Unrelated to that, I love the sound of this era: the Chet, the intensity of the drums on the jam, the more prominent bass throughout. The whole song is wham, bam. BEST is one of my favorite versions; although Summer 1995 is my favorite era for the song, this is right up there. LOVER is possibly the best version ever—a play-me-on-repeat-forever recording. JIMI is the only song in this show that’s over 10 minutes long, and both the sax and guitar solos are strong. WYNONA is the highlight of the show: the growing, the guitar, the everything. I love Stefan’s solo intro to CRASH, and the entire performance of the song is really solid. And finally, LEAVE ME PRAYING is the definitive version for me, much better than LT47 and LT65. The lyrics, the “jam”, the overall intensity… this is its most-polished state before becoming DON’T DRINK. Okay, after writing all of this I listened to the show a fourth time, and it is indeed pretty epic.