3 out of 5

Label: Aezra / Orpheus

Producer: Team Vision (engineer, mixing, mastering)

I’m not a giant fan of live shows or recordings of live shows.  There’s indisputably something invigorating about experiencing music live, but as with most such experiences, that feeling generally wears off after whichever band’s initial rush of energy… which is why opening acts can sometimes be better because they’re limited to a only a small slot of space to get going and get out.  That being said, there are always exceptions – groups who can bring it live for an hour plus – but in general, unless there’s something extra to a live show, I normally don’t get the point.  Extra doesn’t have to be bells and whistles, just a reason that I’m not in the comfort of my home listening to your same songs on album, with better fidelity and less sweat and stink.

And so it goes with ‘Best of Toadies,’ which was an odd moniker for an album that came out right before the band’s 2001 split, as they’d essentially only had a couple real singles and two albums worth of material at that point (with earlier stuff having been re-recorded for those discs)… so ‘Best’ in this case really means – ‘here’s almost every song we’ve put out.’  I do like it when live albums capture a single show, and the recording is notable because of its timing, but all in all, besides the documentation of the event, there’s a feeling of Why? to the disc.  It confirms that Toadies didn’t have to dress up their rock too much – they are able to squeeze out the same awesome stomp live as on disc, and the rawness of some of the riffs doesn’t harm the songs, just underlines Todd Lewis’ throaty snarl.  But there are no flourishes otherwise.  You get one non-album track, the instrumental ‘ATF’, but that sort of signals the break in the show where Todd’s throat starts to hurt and so for the remaining five tracks the group takes it easy.  The Pixies cover has, I think, appeared elsewhere, but don’t quote me on that.  Regardless, though we all love that song, it’s so close stylistically to other Toadies’ compositions that it’s always funny to hear them play it… like, hey, this could’ve been our song.  (I realize that means the influence goes the opposite way.)

Anyhow, is it well recorded?  Yes.  Does it have all the songs you’d want to hear at that point?  Of course.  Totally does the job, and I’m sure it was a good show live.  But if you’re like me when it comes to concerts, the disc doesn’t offer too much except filling out your collection.