Work - Live In Japan
SKU
ADHOC13
This is a really great album, although I didn’t appreciate it as much when it was first released, because I was a TOTAL fan of Slow Crimes by The Work, and only half that band appears here.
Having said that, as time has gone on, I’ve grown more and more to be aware of what a splendid performance is captured here AND ALSO to appreciate what a utterly slaying performance Chris gives on drums!
And now with the CD issue of this, Udi made what I always thought of a not very good live recording sound really great in a utterly loud, raw way. Hugely recommended
"By 1982 drummer Rick Wilson had left The Work to study Katakali in India, and bassist Mick Hobbs followed shortly afterwards over disagreements about what the group should be playing. The remainder of the band then asked Amos (bass) and Chris Cutler (drums) to join them for a tour of Japan that had already been scheduled before the breakup. Together with sound engineer Chris Gray, the group flew there in June to play three concerts in Tokyo and one in Osaka.
The recording that became “Live in Japan” was taken at the Osaka concert, the only one on the tour that was recorded. A Japan-only release followed (on Recommended Records Japan), which has been out of print for over 20 years and is virtually impossible to find anywhere. This disc re-issues the concert for the first time, adding the extremely rare, red flexi-disc, live version of “I Hate America”, as a bonus track.
This is a different and extremely in-your-face version of The Work, made more so by the original processing of the (cassette) recording, which brought everything to the front of the mix, accentuating every hit and roar. Tim is in screaming form and the band take extreme liberties with the material, somehow staying inside the songs while systematically splitting them open and spitting them out in ruins. There’s an awful lot going on here, and yet it somehow remains uncluttered. Best listened to loud, as intended; although this disk sounds loud, even when quiet.
The original source tapes were recorded onto cassette, and mastered by the band one evening in an Osaka bedroom. Udi Koomran’s remastering has not sanitised or modernised the sound - which was essential to the spirit of the music - but has cleaned it up and made it even more what it is."
- LabelAd Hoc
- UPC187914001047