THE PLIMSOULS : LIVE ALBUMS

The Plimsouls are one of my favourite bands. I discovered them following thanks to a short review that followed the re-release of their live album One Night In America on CD in 2005. I finally purchased the record a couple of months later and was totally blown away by it. It just seemed to contain everything I liked about Rock'n'roll, the songs are catchy, the band is tight but the playing is not flashy and Peter Case is a fantastic singer. After listening to that album I was eager to check their studio albums. They have released 3 LP's, two during the original lifespan of the band : The Plimsouls and Everywhere At Once and one when the band reformed briefly in the mid nineties : Kool Trash. I must admit that after the "blast" of One Night In America, I was slightly disappointed by what was on offer on these 3 releases. The Plimsouls sounded a bit thin on the ears and a bit flat, Everywhere At Once has the 80's sheen common to the year it was released (1983) and Kool Trash showcases a band that has mellowed a lot compared to its heyday. Don't get me wrong though, all have really goods songs on them, it's just that none of them have the drive and the swing of what's on display on One Night In America.

In the liner notes to One Night In America, Peter Case hinted that there was other live releases to come from the vaults so I sent an email to Oglio to see if anything was scheduled but I got a reply saying that despite that announcement nothing was on cards yet. Fast forward 3 or 4 years and we finally get an announcement from Peter Case saying that a new live album will be released, titled Live, Beg, Borrow And Steal and featuring a whole show recorded on Halloween Night 1981 at The Whiskey-A-Gogo in Los Angeles. Even if there's no information on where and when One Night In America was recorded, Peter Case has said that it might have been recorded in Cleveland in 1982. Even if the band seems a little stiffer than on ONIA, LBBAS is still an excellent album and showcases how good a live a and they were. It also enables to hear the songs from the first album with some extra oomph. It also contains of my favourite Plimsouls  : Lost Time. If you want to see a really good version of that song please check this youtube video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz6nFTzbDm4. It's an extract of a show recorded for the French television show Chorus in 1982 and it features a fantastic Eddie Munoz solo. There's quite a few songs that overlap between the two recordings (7 in total) but the difference between the two gigs justifies the purchase.

After the release of  LBBAS, I wasn't expecting a new release to come out of the vaults but we got a final one with Beach Town Confidential, recorded at The Golden Bear Club in 1983. The raw edges of ONIA and LBBAS have been trimmed and the raw enthusiasm has been replaced by professionalism. As with all previous Plimsouls LIlive recordings there are quite a few covers, highlights of which are fantastic versions of Fall on You and Making Time (originally recorded by Moby Grape and The Creation). There's also a really good original Plimsouls song called Who's Gonna Break The Ice that was never recorded in the studio (I'm a big fan of the intro with all the interweaving guitar lines). This record features The Plimsouls at the top of their game. Unfortunately their studio album Everywhere At Once failed to reach the mainstream and the band disbanded in 1985.