Must've Been Live

Album Review

Refusing to close the chapter on their country & western forays, Supersuckers' Must've Been Live is the in-concert companion piece to the similarly monikered Must've Been High. Though the disc replicates all but two tracks from the studio recording, and quite faithfully at that, added reasons to check out the engagement (actually a collection of various material culled from numerous shows) include well-tenured harmonica master Mickey Raphael on darn near the entire disc and Willie Nelson collaborator Amy Nelson on an amusing duet with Eddie Spaghetti on "Hungover Tonight." Sideman Adrian Demain and Black Crowe Audley Freed also make cameo appearances. Additionally included are versions of the standards "Drivin' Nails in My Coffin," "Cowpoke," and the Buck Owens stomper "Alabama, Louisiana or Maybe Tennessee," all done with a reverence that belies the band's punk rock origins. That said, you still can't help but wait for the band's return to their more rockin' roots; not to disparage either of the country discs, but there are few groups as fun and good as Supersuckers when they get it in their mind to rock you, and there's no reason the band can't do both in one project, after all. ~ Brian O'Neill, Rovi