Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — Live

Two DVDs accompany this release, but since all I got was a download of 14 audio tracks recorded live at shows in Berlin, Dublin and Glasgow near the end of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's 2007 tour in support of Baby 81, that's all this review will focus on.

The Los Angeles-based group's next studio album is expected in March, but this offering showcases the best of their material to this point.

"Love Burns" should have been a hit when it first came out in 2001 on the trio's first, and I still think best, album. Other songs from that self-titled record included here are the threatening-sounding "Red Eyes And Tears" and the dark, blues-based rocker, "Spread Your Love." And when the group ask "Whatever Happened To My Rock N Roll?" they should look no further for the answer than "Whatever Happened To My Rock N Roll (Punk Song)," which is a take-no-prisoners tour de force.

There's a Gang Of Four-like introduction to "Berlin" before BRMC's typically swaggering rock approach takes hold. There's a little more jangle in the guitar in "Ain't No Easy Way," and "Mercy" is done acoustically as a change of pace. That song leads into a cover of The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town," which works surprisingly well since that's a band you'll likely never see listed among BRMC's obvious influences The Jesus And Mary Chain, Led Zeppelin and The Velvet Underground.

BRMC channel Iggy And The Stooges on the feedback-filled "Six Barrel Shotgun" as another highlight, but "666 Conducer," "Promise" (apparently performed without a bass for the first time in this version) and "Took Out A Loan" last a little longer than they have to.

I haven't seen BRMC since early this decade, but this album will make me want to change that when they come back to town again.