The Gun Club – Larger Than Live (2xLP)

This "live import" offers a very solid quartet performance from the Gun Club's 1992 tour, more likely than not recorded in Europe, but that's speculative -- there are no dates given. This is not a reissue of the Triple X label's Live in Europe album; the material and performances differ significantly. Some of this stuff may have appeared elsewhere, but again, the Gun Club's live discography is a mess so it's difficult to know. What does matter, however, is that this gig -- and it feels like a single show -- featured Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers on guitars, Romi Mori on bass, and Simon Fish on drums clicking on all cylinders. While the band's later material from Mother Juno, Pastoral Hide & Seek, and Divinity are supposedly the focus of this show, nine of these 17 cuts come from the band's first two albums. The sound quality is far above bootleg, and the kinetic energy of this band is caught in spades here. The proceedings begin with a spooky "Give Up the Sun," and then reach into more recent material. The performance of "She's Like Heroin to Me" is nearly a defining one: all the fury, spit, and desperation of the Gun Club at their best is in the roar of Pierce and Powers' guitars. This vibe continues in "Thunder Head," which blows away the studio version of the song. Things calm a bit and go dark with "Emily's Changed" and "Yellow Eyes," but ramp up again with "Another Country's Young." The real treat, however, is in the last half of the disc. Beginning with "Fire of Love," the band tears through very inspired readings of early songs. "Bad Indian" is punk country blues at its best. The swamp thunder in "Fire of Love" and "Jack on Fire" is mesmerizing. "Devil in the Woods" rivals its pre-Miami compilation incarnation. "Fire Spirit" begins with a moaning, a cappella blues howl before the band kicks in at 100 miles an hour and just rips the lid off. The closer, "Sleeping in Blood City," is over-the-rails squalling, screeching, and falling ever forward into the maelstrom. If you're a fan, you have to have this. It's easily one of the best live GC gigs -- if not the best -- out there. ~ Thom Jurek