Review: 5FM Presents (Live)⁵

Sergio reviews 5FM Presents (Live)⁵.

Artist Name: Various
Album Name: 5FM Presents (Live)⁵
Year: 2010
Genre: Various

While I do applaud 5FM for covering a variety of local and international acts on 5FM Presents (Live)⁵, I do feel the product could’ve been enhanced with a DVD of several of the performances. Just by flipping through the booklet you can see energetic pictures of the performers in action, and it would’ve been great to actually capture what The Parlotones and Flash Republic do best, for example.

Nonetheless, the quality of the live recordings is absolutely fantastic and there’s not one single song that sounds like a bootleg copy out of somebody’s Citi Golf boot. The mixing levels are spot-on, but you can still hear the crowd peeping over the songs to inject some “concert atmosphere” into them. Artists, such as Seether, also perform several watered down versions of their tracks – so it also gives the listener a new take on older classics.

Live albums don’t sell very well anymore – even more so if they’re compilations. Everyone wants a copy of a live CD with a DVD package, but it’s very rare that someone will just pick up an audio recording of a performance, without being able to see the visuals. If you’re a purist, who can enjoy live recordings without the visuals, I’d definitely recommend this release for you.

Best Tracks: Seether’s ‘Fine Again’, Flash Republic’s ‘Emergency’, and Staind’s ‘Everything Changes’

65/100

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za
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