HEART STILL BEATING

I was surprised to see this live CD from Roxy Music´s Avalon tour of 1983 to be released only seven years after the event. At the time the only thing available was the four track EP The High Road, which had the excellent version for a song Ferry had recorded solo before, the brilliant Can´t Let Go. I just loved that track! So when I found Heart Still Beating in a store, and saw it had all the EP´s tunes, in the early 90´s, I bought without even listening to it beforehand.

Was it worth it? Well, at the time it was. Contrary to what happened to many big rock names of the 70´s and 80´s, there was not a flood of live recordings of RM on the market throught the years. In fact, there are only a few around. So I was glad to have this one along with Viva. Viva was much better, of course, since it was the classic line up, but it also lacked so many good songs it made me feel a bit frustrated. Heart Still Beating has lots of good stuff, even if the overall quality is a little uneven.

The tracklist is great, the perfomances not that much. Remember, this was not the same band that shaked the rock´n roll scene when they arrived in 1972. By the time Heart... was recorded, only vocalist Bryan Ferry, sax player Andy McKay and guitarrist Phil Manzanera remained. The others were just hired guns. Good musicians, ok, but nothing like the real thing. So it was no real (pun not intended) surprise to find that the old stuff here sounds a bit tame and not that interesting (just compare Viva´s delicious, energetic, semi chaotic version of Both Ends Burning with the bland one here. They sound like two completely different songs)

On the other hand I must admit that their latter tunes are actually sounding better here than on their original albums. This is specially true on songs like My Only Love and Dance Away. Not to mention the very good Can´t Let Go (not available in any other RM CD). Roxy´s versions of Neil Young´s Hurricane and John Lennon´s Jealous Guy are also very well done (the latter became quite a big hit in the UK). The sound quality is very good and I wished it was truly a one show affair: it is very clear that the tracks are from various venues wrapped up to sound like just one.

Conclusion: a good live album. It has some strong live renditions of their latter studio stuff and two very interesting covers. Not essential, as Viva, but still worth it. 3 stars.