LIVE IN THE USA

I really need to get my butt over to RoSfest. I mean, I live in OH, which isn't ridiculously far from Gettysburg, PA. In fact, I think it's 8 hours or so. Anyways, this festival is starting to get some seriously good line-ups every year, and this live album from IOEarth proves that.

Usually, I judge a live album by whether or not the experience comes off as better than the band's albums. I know that being at the concert is a different story all together, but a live album can be exciting, too. IOEarth is known for their dynamic live shows, and I think this transfers to the album quite well. I love the song selection here: Some of their best songs are present, such as "The Creation", "Harmonix", "Moments", etc. I also love how they performed them differently than the studio album. "The Creation", for example, has whale noises as mimicked by a guitar---genius. Other times, the guitar solos might be different or altered subtlety. Although I love the song selection, I do wish that they could have chosen one or two more vocally driven songs. They have plenty to choose from: I would have loved to hear "Come to Me" or "Mountains Start to Fall". I think I know why they did not explore these options, though.

One of the downers for this live album is the fact that female singer, Claire, was starting to have issues with her voice. She had some sort of throat condition, and has since stepped down as the vocalist for IOEarth. This is tragic because she has an immense voice, and it is this quality that is missing from Live in the USA. She misses high notes, sounds very masculine at times, and sounds like she is in pain. Don't get me wrong: She still sounds great and did an amazing job. However, she didn't quite have the power available to create the truly stunning moments that IOEarth usually presents. I was left thinking, "If only she'd hit that note, my legs would have turned to jelly". Or whatever.

The vocals aren't my only complaint: I feel that guitarist Dave Cureton tries to rush things a bit. His studio recordings are crisp, clear, and purposeful. In this live album, his guitar work is often muddled, not by the recording quality (which is excellent), but by his own messy attention to detail. He completely misses some foundational notes in some of his solos. I can't help but wonder if he was stuck between wanting to improvise and trying to remain true to the original recording. The result is a muddy sound at times.

I can't emphasize enough, though, that this album is still excellent. My issues with the album are only present at certain times, but I do feel that they reduce the overall quality. With that said, any IOEarth fan NEEDS to hear this, and hopefully I can experience this group live someday.