It's a very rare thing for a band to be so amazing live and on record when the two experiences are quite so different. I've mentioned before how brilliant Restorations are live and how their first LP captures a different side of them. The same thing can be said for LP2, but I think I love this record almost as much as I love seeing Restorations play. In fact, I'm such a fan that it even topped my end-of-year list last year (in a close fight with TWIABP and RVIVR). The first listen was enjoyable, but it really came into its own over the next few listens. To list the highlights would basically involve listing all of the songs, so much so that on their recent tour I didn't find myself hoping that they'd play any songs in particular; I was happy with any combination of them.
Which brings me round nicely to how incredible they are live. I've now seen them four times - Fest 2011 (when I first heard them and went home with a new favourite band), twice at Fest 2013 and most recently in The Fighting Cocks in Kingston a few weeks ago. Despite it being a fairly regular occurrence, I always forget just how incredible they are to watch (which given that I always remember them blowing me away should say something). I swear live everything is played to its extremes - the drums are battered, guitars thrashed and vocals screamed. The choruses to Let's Blow Up the Sun and Civil Inattention are excellent on vinyl as it is, I can't even think of words to describe how it was in the Cocks the other week. I've played this record a lot since October and had no idea I could enjoy those songs so much more - in my head there are now two versions of Civil Inattention - one where the the lines "I am no longer scared / I am terrified all of the time" are sung, and another where they're screamed frantically.
I was a bit gutted to only catch Restorations once on their recent UK tour (especially having looked forward to it for so long). I moved to Oxford just before they came over which is making a lot of gigs a bit harder to get to. On top of that, I already had tickets to see The Ex on the night of their first London show. The final London show was free which removes that guarantee that you'll actually be able to get in, leaving just the Kingston show. Kingston is now a 5 to 6 hour round trip from Oxford, depending on how bad the trains are across London, but it was definitely worth it. I miss Kingston a lot, and Banquet have more than a small role in how my life has played out over the last five years so it was nice to go back and see a band I'd been so keen to see again play in a venue I know so well.
As for this copy of the LP, I picked it up after seeing the band at Pre-Fest in Tampa (very pleased that they were as awesome as they had been two years previously). The artwork on the inside of the gatefold and the colour of the vinyl (some sort of smoky-white? Possibly the green marble?) are both particularly lovely. I fully recommend checking out this record and catching Restorations live. Both are equally awesome but in different ways.
Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 9
Cost: £9.45 new
Bought: gig, Tampa
When: 29/10/13
Colour: Smoky-white/green marble?
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
