3 out of 5

Label: Hausu Mountain

Produced by: Joel Berk (recorded by)

A solid live capture of tracks from Illegal Moves and then then-forthcoming Oh Yeah?

Hauslive 1 is, firstly, a well-recorded live album, given a significant amount of punch and roundness to the sound – bass, drums, horns, guitars, all sound appropriately leveled – that is often lost in such recordings to a general flatness. It is, secondly, not drastically different from what you’d get on album in terms of song composition, and that’s where we go into subjective tastes regarding live albums. For me, unless the live experience is notably different from the produced one, or unless I have a personal connection to the show, I don’t really get live albums – to my ears, the studio stuff inevitably sounds better. And I’d say that is the case here, with the caveat that Sunwatchers are already a pretty live-to-tape band. You do get some wonky wiggle room on these versions from there being no second take, and I can appreciate the fun of that, alongside having recorded evidence that the group is just as rocking on stage as they might be in a room with mic setups and mixing. But mostly, the differences are down to some sonic ones, and the sequencing.

For the former, the horns – while not as clear as on album – get more weight in a way, and with the added aforementioned wiggle room, you can pick up on some nuance or melodies that maybe get lost in the studio mix. However, though super minor, the pickup of the occasional vocal interjections are very lacking, and those can be great punctuations on certain songs, so it’s kind of a bummer.

For the sequencing, it’s also kind of a knock: Sunwatchers albums flow very well, and some of the tracks’ sudden stops – rare or used more purposefully in the “true” sequences – are probably fine when you’re in the audience for a show, but feel like the song is getting short shrifted when you’re listening at home. And there’s some novelty to doing a medley of one song from Illegal and one song from Oh Yeah?, but it’s played as the set’s closer and rather misses the mark – the choices used make it kind of an underwhelming bit of build-up to nowhere. However, I do appreciate that they set the banter aside into its own tracks – live album producers take note: we want to get to the music when we skip to a track!

Overall, this will come down to the live album preferences mentioned. This is a good set, and provides a way to sample good singles from two albums – though the Oh Yeah? stuff, being new at the time, isn’t as tight as the Illegal Moves tracks. And while it avoids the sound quality issues facing most live albums, there are other regular issues with some sound dropoffs and sequencing that further set it into collectors’ territory, and not a must own.