Silver (2001)


 

 Disc One  
  1.Ain't That a Shame
  2.I Want You To Want Me
  3.Oh, Candy
  4.That 70's Song
  5.Voices
  6.If You Want My Love
  7.She's Tight
  8.Can't Stop Falling Into Love
  9.Gonna Raise Hell
 10.I Can't Take It
 11.Take Me to the Top
 12.It All Comes Back to You
 13.Tonight It's You
 14.Time Will Let You Know
 15.World's Greatest Lover

 Disc Two
  1.The Flame
  2.Stop This Game
  3.Dream Police
  4.I Know What I Want
  5.Woke Up With a Monster
  6.Never Had a Lot to Lose
  7.You're All Talk
  8.I'm Losin' You
  9.Hard To Tell
 10.Oh Claire
 11.Surrender
 12.Just Got Back
 13.Day Tripper
 14.Who D'King

 Itunes Bonus Tracks
  1.Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School
  2.On Top of the World

 

The band celebrates their 25th anniversary with a "one off" show in their hometown of Rockford, Illinois. Had they not just released Music for Hangovers three years earlier, this would have a been a bit more special. This release sounds very similar to their last live album - from the venue size to the strange fact that half the songs on Music for Hangovers are also featured here. This almost makes the former CD lose it's value, and one has to wonder why, instead, they couldn't have played more material on this release not previously done on the said mentioned earlier release.

Another drawback is that the band simply tries to include too much here. We have guest appearances from family, friends, offspring, ex-band members and high school choirs. Then you add to that fact the band felt obligated to include something from every album in the catalogue. We also have a track from Robin Zander's only solo album, a John Lennon song (which Bun E. and Rick were featured on) and one song a piece for Rick and Tom to sing.

With all these added "bonuses", the disc loses something. The spontaneity that makes this band unique is seriously compromised. The sum definitely ends up being less than its parts. It would have almost made more sense to make this one a single disc and Music for Hangovers a double since the latter had about 40 songs to choose from the multiple shows.

Still, the show has a lot more positives than negatives, and its weaknesses are only exposed when compared to Music for Hangovers. Also worth the extra couple of bucks - the two ITunes bonus tracks (Daddy Should Have Stayed In High School and On Top of the World).

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