I listened to my copy of RETRO FUTURE today too.
I had been a little "meh" about it in advance, thinking "don't I have all this already on the Subterrean Omnidelic Exotour CD?"
But as Mr Metalbeat says, this is probably much more fun as it is a "real" live album, rather than live in studio.
As far as the track selection goes, it is nearly all the same as the Exotour CD, but you do get the sadly neglected "Here We Go" on this one, which has to be one of the best tracks off the come-back "Shifting City" album.
Actually the setlist from the Exotour is interesting in that it's about 1/3rd Metamatica, 1/3rd Ultrafoxx! and only 1/3rd Shifting City (and no thirds from John's 3 albums of 1981-85)
I found it interesting to compare this 1998 set to last night's Metamatic show.
Back in '98, for the "comeback", they clearly felt the need, whether artistically or through technological necessity, to "update" the old songs' arrangements, so there's a lot of modified rhythms, the sounds are sample-based or digital, a lot of the more melodic bits are replaced by more blargey techno-style pulses...
I've noticed that at gigs post 98, each tour has seen the sounds getting closer to what they used to sound like in 1980
... last night's Metamatic had the majority of them sounding identical to 1980 (indeed, I suspect we maybe WERE hearing the tapes from 1980!) ... it's hard to judge whether in 1998, they were trying to sound different to the past, or just not able to replicate the past properly... technology has moved on and it seems we can now virtually not only listen to recorded music from any era, but record new music that sounds like it was in any era!
I have to say I probably preferred the arrangements on most of these songs the way they were originally, and the 1998 versions sounds frankly a bit pants in places - e.g. on "The Quiet Men" - the synth solo in the middle - are they trying to "do something new with it"? Or were they just a bit crap and couldn't quite work out what notes Billy Currie played on the original and couldn't quite get as good a sound as he had on his Odyssey and Elka string synth and had to "make do"? I dunno, and now 10 years on, I dunno if it matters either
John's singing with the digitech vocalist harmonizer is in fine form; Louis' "in the club style" guldering backing vocals are not always quite in the same league.
Nonetheless, there is palpable excitement in the air as these middle aged men let loose the full cartoon modernism of "20th Century" on the cultural hotbed that is Shrewsbury
They just gotta do what they gotta do, really, innit?
I'm pleased they're still doing it now in 2007, long may they continue!
