Chuck Ragan seems to have slowed down his relentless output in the last couple of years. Between 2007 and 2014 he was playing solo shows constantly, and cranking out albums at a pace that was hard to keep up with. We saw him whenever we could, and found ourselves singing along in increasingly large venues. In the last three years, he's only released one studio album (which is a perfectly normal cadence for any other musician) and I can't think when the last time he toured was.
Luckily, for every studio album of his I have, I also have a live album (I'm on five of each, not counting the split album with Austin Lucas, but including the Daytrotter 10"), which means I can get some of the Chuck Ragan live experience whenever I want. Live at Skaters' Palace is the most recent of the live albums, and probably the one I know the least well; it doesn't include mp3s and I tend to go for Chuck Plays Frankfurt when I want to hear him live, because I'm not sure I'll ever tire of hearing it.
The setlist here is strong, but some of the later songs never struck me as hard, and I find too much peddle-steel guitar a bit grating. Most of the classics are there though - it finishes with the brilliant duo of The Boat and California Burritos, and has excellent versions of Rotterdam and For Broken Ears. If I were there, I'd have been shouting for Glory and Cursing Concrete but I have both of those on other live albums (Daytrotter and Frankfurt, respectively), so I can live with them not being here.
The unexpected highlight of this set is undoubtably Drag My Body, a Hot Water Music song from their 2012 album, Exister. One of the last times I saw Chuck was an afternoon in-store in Banquet Records that I was very pleased to be able to go to (this was whilst I was still finishing up my thesis). It was a short set (and my request for Cursing Concrete wasn't heard) but he played brilliantly. It was great to see him play entirely solo again, as that was something I hadn't been treated to for a good few years. The unexpected highlight of that set was also Drag My Body, so I was happy to have a Chuck-solo recording of it - I remember being floored by what a great song it was that afternoon in Banquet, and that's true of this version too; it's an incredible song and I recommend either version of it thoroughly. It works so well as a solo song that I wonder if Chuck wrote it with that intention. The only other HWM song he often plays live is "God Deciding", which doesn't translate anywhere near as obviously - whenever I hear either version it takes me a moment to remember the other version.
Keen to keep my collection of Chuck Ragan albums reasonably up-to-date, I ordered this from Uncle-M records in Germany shortly after it came out and was able to get the blue vinyl version (which now seems to sell for quite a lot on Discogs). I remember it arriving, because we had my friend Vicky staying with us for a couple of weeks, who commented on what a nice colour the vinyl was. At the time I remember thinking that £22 was a lot for an album (including postage from Germany!), but clearly things have changed a lot in those few years since.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, insert
Tracks: 17
Cost: £22
Bought: Uncle-M Records website
When: 03/02/13
Colour: Light blue
Etching: none
mp3s: no
