AMG Review of Sleepless Nights Live 1990

Stewart Mason
All Music Guide

One of several basically useless bootleg-quality live recordings issued by Christian Death in their sputtering final days, Sleepless Nights Live 1990 is a lot worse than the early-years The Doll's Theatre and a lot better than the utterly abysmal Invocations: 1981-1989. This set features guitarist Rikk Agnew, the band's primary bright spot, alongside singer Rozz Williams and latter-day guitarist Eva O., and a setlist that covers all of the band's records up to that point, including excellent performances of the fan favorites "Figurative Theatre" (which really benefits from the twin-guitar attack) and "Sleepwalk." The problem is that the sound is atrocious. Tinny and far away, the songs basically sound like they were recorded on a Dictaphone from the next room over. Even diehard fans will have trouble overcoming that flaw enough to enjoy the actually not bad performances.