Boomtown Rats, the - Live in Germany '78
Review by: Daniel Pavlica
Year: 2015
Produced by: The Boomtown Rats
Label: Gonzo Multimedia
Tracks:
1. Close As You'll Ever Be
2. Never Bite The Hand That Feeds You
3. Neon Heart
4. (It Feels) So Strange
5. Kicks
6. She's So Modern
7. Joey's On The Street Again
8. Don't Believe What You Read
9. (She's Gonna) Do You In
10. Do The Rat
11. It's All The Rage
12. Mary of the 4th Form
13. Lookin' After No. 1
14. Banana Republic (bonus)
15. House on Fire (bonus)
This is a previously unreleased audio/video recording by the Boomtown Rats, one of Britain’s finest but after all the years still criminally underrated new wave bands. Well, for those wondering what the fuss was all about, all is revealed on this neatly packaged CD/DVD combo!
From a sleeve that portrays the band in their full flight motion, we are left with little doubt of a pending aural assault. The camera work is uninspired, which was quite the standard for 1978, nevertheless the motionless footage doesn't take the sting out of the Boomtown Rats' performance. Quite the opposite, actually. The DVD offers something of an intimate affair. It gets you up close and personal during the course of a show in Germany in front of an orderly seated, yet definitely excited crowd. Focusing on their early repertoire, the band works with apparent determination and absolute authority through punk imbued favorites like “Close as You’ll Ever Be”, “She’s So Modern” and “Mary From the 4th Floor”. A broader musical ambition is displayed with “Joey’s on the Street Again”, which is simply wonderful. But don’t get fooled. Further down the road, “Looking After No.1”, stuffed with impatience and belligerence, is a definitive Boomtown Rats statement - a perfect set closer.
Bob Geldof turns on the moves, splashing his Jagger inspired swagger all over the stage. It is all so timelessly cool it is almost comical. Throw in a watertight band performance, complete with a small catalogue of intriguing stage moves (particularly by Pete Briquette) perfectly complementing the frenzied rhythms, this is an unrelenting, unsophisticated and age defying example for us all.
9 out of 10
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:
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