Similarly to what I said in my last post about Max Richter, I've also fallen into a trap of mindlessly buying new Public Service Broadcasting records. I loved the first album, albeit less than how impressed I was by seeing them support the Manics in 2013. Since then, I've become increasingly wary of them as they commit even harder to each album having a theme, often at the expense of the album itself. I still enjoy seeing them live, but I do think my record collection probably only needs the actual albums. Even then, I kinda wish I'd started buying them on cd rather than vinyl; I wouldn't feel so bad about being in this trap if I was spending £10 a time instead of £20+.
This live album was recorded after they'd released two albums - it's an early point in a band's career to be releasing a live album, but they'd had a pretty fast rise so I guess that's worth celebrating. On top of that, they were clearly quite pleased with the dancing astronauts they'd taken out on tour and wanted to capture it. I first saw them do that bit at a very crowded show at Greenman festival, and it was a crowd-pleaser for sure. As a result of only having two proper albums, they play most of their songs. The constant change back and forth between the two works against it a bit, as the songs from The Race For Space are so heavily themed that they stand out. But I can see that separating them would feel too forced too. On the plus side, the last side of vinyl contains the highlights from both and ends the set brilliantly (although Tomorrow feels like a strange inclusion, given it doesn't really go anywhere or do anything).
I didn't buy Live at Brixton when it first came out, but did give in to my urges and buy it a few months later after not finding much else I fancied in Truck one day. The part of me that knew I wasn't a massive fan knew I probably didn't need it, but the part of me that remembered how great they were that first time wanted a live album to bring back some of those memories. After a slow start, Signal 30 hits billion times harder than the album version and is exactly what I wanted. The other older songs are just so much more to my liking - heavier guitars, louder drums and a lot more going on in general. But I have come to terms that they're not the band I wanted them to be (that is, early Therapy?) and can enjoy these for what they are.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves, dvd
Tracks: 17
Cost: £25 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 17/03/17
Colour: Blue
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
