Great White - Once Bitten, Twice Live (Sidewinder Records)
Wayne Madden | Tuesday, 27 July 2010
This album, their first release on Sidewinder, who are also responsible for the VH1 Metal Mania Stripped DVD, is a rather interesting re-release of a live album recorded and released no less than two years ago on Mausoleum under the title Thank You? Goodnight!
The whole thing indeed sounds rather fishy, no pun intended, considering the band have played only a handful of shows since then. As if they've tried to conceal that fact, the whole album has been cut, butchered and mixed, sounding as dodgy as those CDRs your 'mate's friend' used to burn and sell in the school yard.
With currently 42 studio releases to their name, it's hard to stop this band from putting out new material, so the nature of this re-release is a little puzzling. Great White pride themselves on a live show; their rare trips to Europe have helped prove this, yet songs like 'Old Rose Hotel' and 'Mistabone' don't have the quality you might expect. On the other hand, 'House Of Broken Love' and the rocking-out-in-your-socks track 'Call It Rock N' Roll' go a long way in attempting to salvage it!
'Desert Rose' gets a good airing, while 'Save Your Love' literally saves the band and proves they can 'talk the talk' when it comes to playing acoustic. But it's not all cockles and mussels, as some of these oysters have turned very sour indeed, the band finishing with an encore of 'Once Bitten, Twice Shy', like they really had any choice in the matter.
With the band's last studio efforts of a more refined and, thankfully, better tasting quality - the group need to do something to avoid the icy depths of the deep blue sea.
Rating: 2/5