Live Trax Vol. 32

Getting through this release was painful. You look at the setlist and think, aside from the BURNING DOWN closer, this will be epic. Well, the performances make it anything but, and the awful mix only makes matters worse. It's certainly the worst officially released appearance of the Lovely Ladies. Tim is overbearing. Dave's voice is shot for a good deal of the set. And of course—this is 2014 we're talking about—Boyd is a train wreck, both on the violin and backing vocals. There are some highs. STAY OR LEAVE is beautiful; this song should never be played full band as it simply takes away from the beauty. SWEET may be the single-best acoustic set song. CRASH translates really well to the acoustic format. RHYME is a banger even in the acoustic format, and I like Jeff on the flute—a nice change of pace. The jam in LOVER is a highlight. But the lows are extreme. In addition to the general ones I mentioned above, you have the shitburger that is SATELLITE ("something's wrong" indeed). Boyd makes RECENTLY absolutely brutal. #41 is a mistake-riddled performance that you want to move past quickly, although the jam is a bit better. All of Tim's noodling in DITCH really grinds my gears. GREY ST. may be the worst officially released performance of the song ever, and there have been many. EVERYDAY is unlistenable: Boyd, Dave, Tim, the whole thing. YOU & ME is the worst-released version of the song. CAN'T STOP is... ugh, I can't even. And then the whole is-it-solo-is-it-full-band SPACE is half everything and 100% of nothing.