Labels: Flying Kids – Gringo
Review by: MH
I must admit it kind of feels almost redundant for me to be writing a review of The Van Pelt on Collective Zine in 2016 – regular visitors to the site will be well aware of them and probably won’t need any convincing from me as to their worth. Yet here we are with a new live double LP by the band featuring 19 tracks recorded on the first date of their European tour in 2014 at a private gig for friends in a garden in Ferrara, Italy. Both their regular LPs and “Imaginary Third” are well represented with a good mix from all three throughout. Just look at the tracklist – and I come back to my first point – does anyone need me to tell them that “We Are The Heathens”, “Nanzen Kills A Cat”, “A Speeding Train” and “Magic Fantasy” are good songs? I could have picked any set of songs on here actually. If you’re dissuaded by the thought of a live album then I’d say it’s worth re-considering here as there is little interference from outside of the band aside from the odd bit of applause between songs and The Van Pelt still sound great coming back to these songs a couple of decades (ish) later than when most of them were written. Chris Leo’s vocals have always had this knack for me of being able to make any subject matter seem interesting and time hasn’t changed that. The complainant in me would be wishing “Don’t Make Me Walk My Own Log” was on here but you can’t have everything. So, yes, it’s rather good – but you knew that already, right. Right!?