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One of British Christendom's most enduring bands, Split Level are beginning to wind down their activities. But it wouldn't be right for them to go without bringing us an album recorded where they've always excelled, live. Recorded along with a number of other releases at Christmas Rock Night in 1998, Live! is a good representation of the band's live show. The selection of songs is biased towards their last studio album, global, but they also manage to slip in a couple of older tracks such as the omnipresent "Julia" and "Holy Fire," covers of the Undertones's "Got My Number," and Maria McKee's "I Found Love." New material comes in the form of "Window Shopping", which is featured in both live and studio forms, and "Every Breath," featured only as a bonus studio track. The band is immensely tight and deeply impassioned. Adrian Thompson's vocals lead their three piece rock sound, with backing vocals from both bassist Gary Preston and drummer Rob Craner. The sound is occasionally a little thin, but generally represents the band well, with the energy of the occasion bringing more life to the material than the studio recordings which comprised global. It's a strange time to be introduced to Split Level, but if it's an introduction you need then this would come second only to seeing them live. Long standing fans will miss tracks like "Nicholas Says" and perhaps some of the even older material, but will appreciate this as a good appraisal of the band's current live form. James Stewart 05/29/2000 As well as writing for the
Phantom Tollbooth, James Stewart is currently helping to develop a website
for Split Level.
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