LUNA
Live
Beggar’s Banquet
· Recorded over three nights at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. and New York City’s Knitting Factory last year.
Live albums are often a shaky proposition, and those that actually enhance one’s admiration of a band are few and far between. Dean Wareham’s always amazing and sadly under-appreciated Luna are a prime candidate for actually pulling it off, and on Live they deliver an album that equals their past studio recordings.
Following the extensive problems getting their previous album, The Days Of Our Nights, on to store shelves in North America, it’s surprising that Wareham sounds so happy and refreshed. The performances of old favourites "Chinatown," "23 Minutes In Brussels" and Serge Gainsbourg’s "Bonnie And Clyde" approach the level of perfection not often heard since the Velvet Underground’s monumental Live 1969 double album.
Second to actually experiencing them from the front row, Live makes a convincing case for Luna’s long overdue status as one of the best rock and roll bands operating today.
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