Up Close and Personal (Live and Rare)

Album Review

Safety in Numbers: South's Tour Diary is an excellent look at South's 2006 tour in support of their third opus, Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars, an album that found the band scaling back their signature space rock infusions for a more mellow set of simple songs. Such a change could have been disastrous; however, South did it in such a way that their newly stripped-back presentation proved just as interesting as their previous material. They never lost scope of their craft, so South's live performance and the songs themselves didn't suffer at the hands of such a drastic change. Basically, Safety in Numbers comes at the right time. The CD/DVD set celebrates their growth as a band while showcasing some of their classic songs in a different fashion. Favorites such as "Paint the Silence" and the typically gossamer "Colours in Waves" and "Loosen Your Hold" get the studio session treatment without all the layered reverb and overdubbing. The previously unreleased "Something & Nothing" and "Autumnal Morning" make their debut here, once again adding to the fresh clearness in South's growing body of work. For longtime fans, the band's version of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" makes Safety in Numbers a definite must-have. With a quirky mix of dainty synth beats and wispy acoustic guitars, South has added a newfound sweetness to this new wave classic. [The DVD portion features music videos, behind-the-scenes stuff, band interviews, and never-before-seen live footage.]