Customer Reviews

Art of Live

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I picked this one just to add to my complete collection of Queensryche recordings and it's very dissapointing.

First off, the vocals are poor, Geoff Tate is poofed right out in front, it sounds terrible. Sometimes it puffs the speakers it's soo close.

Second singing. Again Geoff sounds like he has his mouth stuffed with napkins like on Evolution. I think his voice is aging poorly. He hits the high notes occasionally, but take the song Roads To Madness, he just brings it all down an octave and doesn't hold. They're acoutic tracks, but still, at least do My Global Mind some justice.

No Harmonies, just take a listen to ANYBODY LISTENING, he's the only singer on it, put that with the puffy vocals, and congrats, you've turned a classic to boring as heck. Breaking the Silence again is bad. Mike Stone proved he could hit a good harmony on Losing Myself, so why doesn't he sing more? Bring DeGarmo back, at least he could sing good like on LiveCrime, where the harmonies were as soaring as ever.

All in all this album is just another addition to a collection, don't count on it as clasic. There are some decent highlights. Losing Myself, Desert Dance, Needle Lies, Best I Can.

Who are all these people drooling over this dreadful CD ? To quote QR themselves,
"Is There Anybody Listening ?" Geoff Tate not only misses many of his notes, he doesn't seem terribly interested in most of them. But the biggest travesty is the total
absence of any backing vocals. Whaaaaaaa....???? This band won me over with "Empire", and, since then, the clever vocal work has been one of their big selling points. That's all completely absent here and it's really depressing to hear. I'm a musician myself and I'm absolutely appalled that these guys would release this stillborn mess. Let me join the seemingly endless chorus ; CHRIS DEGARMO, WE NEED YOU ! I also have to quesion the lucidity of thse other reviewers. Are you people stoned ??

I didn't figure this live album could be even more mediocre than their 2001 double-CD "Live Evolution". And to say it's worse doesn't do it justice... it's MUCH worse.

How can that be? Well...

As others have pointed out, Geoff Tate may be losing vocal range, but more importantly, he doesn't even appear to be trying. The guitar work is thin, and usually strong rhythm combo Scott Rockenfield and Eddie Jackson are relegated to setting the boring pace of this CD. It's not that their playing is bad, it's that it's very subdued and lacking energy. The harmonies have been gone since Chris DeGarmo left around 1997.

Particularly awful is the "The Needle Lies". It's almost as if the song is played at half tempo, and if any song needs the pounding background, it's that. None of the songs off of "Tribe" do much for me either. The choruses are extremely flat and you won't find a single guitar solo in that suite.

"My Global Mind" and "Roads to Madness" in their acoustic form are interesting, but Geoff Tate obviously was replaced with an older, "mature", completely uninteresting ripoff of himself for these songs too. "Della Brown" is the strongest performance by far on the album, probably since the vocals on that song were fairly subdued by Queensryche's standards, and they didn't change it much for the live performance.

The impression I get after listening to all of the songs, then going back and listening to Livecrime, and yes, even the middling (awesome by comparison) Live Evolution is that these guys need a serious mid-life crisis, the aliens that abducted Geoff Tate need to work out a deal with Earth, and perhaps nothing short of divine intervention is going to get them their mojo back again.

I've been hoping since "Hear in the Now Frontier" that Queensryche would get their sound back, and it's been 7 years, 2 bad studio albums, 1 mediocre live album, and now this swill. I've about had enough.

Boy, what a mess. Unlike some other reviewers, I thought the Ryche did a nice job on Live Evolution a few years ago. But what a difference a few years make.

The best one word description for Art of Live is "boring." Of course it can be described in other ways as well, such as "flat," and, on occasion, "embarrassing." Geoff Tate's voice is not as strong and lacks the range it used to possess. Further, there is no longer any harmony in the band. This is likely the result of the departure of Chris DeGarmo. Honestly, Queensryche has been a shadow of itself since DeGarmo left the band (although HINTF showed signs of deterioration even before his departure).

The sound on Art of Live is so thin. There is no "oomph" and, having seen QR in concert several times, it's a noticeable loss. Some cuts, i.e. "The Needle Lies," are particularly bad. To say this track is a shadow of it's former self, is giving it more credit than it deserves. There are a few decent cuts. For example, "Losing Myself" is pretty good but is still fairly weak. But a few good tracks do not justify the sad performance on classics like "Roads to Madness," "My Global Mind," and "Anybody Listening?"

If you're a QR fan, do your fond memories of the band a favor and leave this one on the shelf.

This record is a bit of an enigma for me, there's just something wrong with it. The performance is good, I actually am quite fond of the setlist, it just doesn't work. I think its the sound-- the whole record feels sort of muffled and flat, and it really ruins the listening experience. Honestly, that's the best assessment I can give.

The set itself is largely material from "Tribe"-- this was the tour for that album and six of the fourteen tracks are pulled from there, with the rest distributed across the band's catalog. Two songs ("My Global Mind" and "Roads to Madness") get acoustic performances. Highlights include a fantastic opening "Tribe", an energetic "Losing Myself", and a powerful "Breaking the Silence". But regardless of how good the performance is, the whole show just feels flat because of the recording fidelity.

Skip this one unless you're a fan, I can't really get into it.

I am a long-time fan of Queensryche, and am thrilled with this release, as well as with the release of the DVD. The cd is lacking a bit in its bass sound on "The Needle Lies," but the rest of the cd makes up for it! The acoustic renditions of "My Global Mind," and the old favorite "Roads to Madness" are nothing short of incredible. Once again, this amazing band releases a work of art!

I loved it! Saw the concert and loved it also. Geoff was in top form. He's getting older but his voice is just as young and powerful as when he first started his career.
Buy this one if you don't buy anything else!

I've seen Queensryche live 4 times over the years, and they never fail to impress. They are a band who releases live albums that sound great and don't let you down. So what if Geoff Tate can't shatter glass like he used to. He has just as much passion in his voice as ever (BTW, his solo album is a rare treat well worth owning). I don't care what anyone says, Tribe is a great CD, and hearing these songs live gets the heart pumping. Anybody Listening is excellent and sends chill down the spine. Also includes solid versions of OMC's "Breaking the Silence" and "Needle Lies".

Evidently you didn't see their last tour, cause they were as good as I've seen them in their whole career and Geoff Tate was in top form. Obvious you are still hanging onto the past, waiting for Mindcrime Part 2 (LOL). You got left behind.

"The Art of Live" has been, for me, the ultimate souvenier from a series of concerts that I thoroughly enjoyed. The CD version of the project is accurate to the sound of the shows, as very little (or no) studio touchups and overdubs seem to have been done. The audio is almost an exact replication of the 2.0 audio track on the DVD. The only differences between the two are the tracklist, and it should be noted that the list here on HMV.com is incorrect. The encore duets w/ Dream Theater are NOT included on the CD version, and "Anybody Listening?" has been ADDED and is only available on the CD. I would recommend this release to any present-day Queensryche fans.