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Often live albums are choppy and ill fitting,
with poor cutting and splicing from one show to another. This
is not the case with "311’s" new live album. The
cheering crowd sounds similar between each song, giving the feeling
that one is listening to one show. The sound quality on the album
is a joy to behold. Hexum talks to the crowd, creating a connection
between them and the album’s listener, as well. If you close
your eyes, you can imagine being there.
“311” is Nick Hexum (guitar and
vocals), Tim Mahoney (guitar), S. A. Martinez (vocals and DJ),
Chad Sexton (drums) and P-Nut (bass). Together they mesh an astounding
number of music styles, from Reggae to Hard Rock, forming a sound
unlike any other band. As a result, they’ve played live
across many genres of music with bands as far afield as “Kiss,”
“Blues Traveler,” “2 Skinnee J’s” and
“Beck.”
The album opens with the roar of the crowd
and, “311” launching full force into, “Down.”
Rap from S. A. Martinez interweaves with Nick Hexum’s riveting
vocals. Tim Mahoney’s relentless guitar rumble drives the
song along. Hexum intones, “I feel the air is charged tonight,”
over the crowd. You can feel it as the band slides into “Homebrew.”
The balance of vocals is similar in this song to the first. “Beautiful
Disaster” starts with the rumble of guitar and crowd. You
barely notice the crowd noise fading off into the background,
allowing the music to be clear |
