Live at the Phoenix Festival 95-96

AMG Review of Live at the Phoenix Festival 95-96

Dave Thompson
All Music Guide

Two years running, the Fall's performance at the annual Phoenix Festival was broadcast live on the BBC by DJ John Peel, and this sharply packaged set rounds up both of them in their almost full glory -- just two tracks are excised, 1996 revisits to the storming versions of "Pearl City" and "Behind the Counter" that opened the 1995 set. The Fall were experiencing one of their undisputable live peaks around this time, no matter how many clouds clung to their immediate future. The studio albums Cerebral Caustic and Light User Syndrome, too, were proving the band's continued magnificence and, though it is very easy to become simply overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of Fall live albums out there, both the sound quality and performances captured here raise this one high above the run of the mill. Plus, is there a better live version of "Glam Racket" going around than this one?