Queensryche - The Art Of Live (CD)

Share this on Facebook | Share this on Twitter

We live in strange days, don't you agree? There are new bands out there making a good impression on the music world, there are old bands who're getting back together and launching world tours (a thing many people would only dream of), there are bands who “vanish off the face of  the earth and there are legendary bands who get worse everytime they release something (instead of getting better).
“Getting worse…I'm afraid that's the case for good old Queensryche who seem to be releasing one bad album after the other and adding more useless “live albums to their discography when simply that shouldn't have been the point.
In 2003 they released “Tribe when all their dedicated fans were hoping to receive an album closer to the '83 - '94 era. Unfortunately “Tribe was yet another effort by Geoff Tate (vocals) and the rest of the members to expand their musical horizons a bit more. It's not bad trying to expand your musical directions but why do that when all your fans have eagerly been waiting for something to thrill them for about ten years already?
Isn't it evident enough for Queensryche that people are getting sick and tired of their down-going course? Isn't it evident enough when their sales (concerning the last ten years) are dropping like hell? Can't they see that people are still buying “Queen Of The Reich (1983), “Operation Mindcrime (1988) and “Empire (1990) but refuse to throw their money in something like “Tribe?
“The Art Of Live  was recorded during their promotional tour of “Tribe and to be frank with you, I don't like this live recording at all. It contains 6 tracks off the latest studio album, 1 track off “The Warning (1984), 2 tracks off “Operation Mindcrime, 3 off “Empire, 1 off “Promised Land (1994) and 1 off “Here In The Now Frontier (1997). Oh how great it would have been if it didn't sound like a badly recorded bootleg! And with the exception of “Tribe's songs the rest we've already heard more than once (in previous live albums and compilations), so what was the meaning for all this? To get to hear how “Tribe's songs sound live? The least I could say is awful and people who saw the band in 2003 singing those songs, felt the same way (most of them).
I don't have anything more to add to this review except that if Geoff Tate's lost his appetite for good old Queensryche music, I feel sorry about the fans and I hope he'll realize someday how important it is for his fans that he starts giving them what they want.
Therefore, “The Art Of Live was no “art to me, nor was it a decent live recording…