Saturday, December 17, 2005

The Half Bad Boy Music Review - Live Hallelujah

Summary: Packed with hits from Montrose, Van Halen, and his solo career, this is Sammy Hagar at his live, raw best. If you are a Sammy Hagar fan, that is a good thing.
Grade: B

Ladies and Gentlemen, t's time for the first ever Half Bad Boy Music Review. Today's topic is the album "Live Hallelujah", a live album from Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas.

I just downloaded this from iTunes the other day after hearing the live version of "I Can't Drive 55." This song is particularly awesome and reminded me of the time when Sammy et. al. came to perform at Novell's BrainShare conference. In fact, I think it was for the same tour, but not sure.

Anyway, it was a great concert, and being a collector of live albums (I love concerts but they rarely come here), after hearing "I Can't Drive 55" I decided to get this live album to remind me of a great show I attended once.

About This Album
First of all, this is not a recording of a live show; rather, it is a compilation of live recordings of different songs from several shows. This album sounds almost like a high-quality bootleg. The sound is very raw and unpolished - when I crank it up in my car, it sounds very much like it did live. He plays a variety of songs, from his time in Montrose, pre-Van-Halen Red Rocker, Van Halen, and post-Van-Halen Red Rocker.

The Best Thing About This Album Is...
... the awesome live sound. Isn't that the point of a live album - to recreate the live experience for the listener? I mean, if you want a polished sound, you'd buy the studio equivalents. It sounds like you are there.

The Worst Thing About This Album Is...
...Sammy's language. Not really unexpected with Sammy Hagar, and it doesn't make him a bad person. But Half Bad Boys don't need to talk like that!

The Bottom Line
Despite the language, the album is pretty sweet. I would have preferred more Sammy Hagar songs and fewer Van Halen songs, and a two-disc set would obviously have been better than just one. There are a lot of great songs in there though, and the set from "Rock Candy" to "Heavy Metal" really rocks. If you are a Red Rocker fan, you'll probably want this album - it's Sammy at his best.