Stiff Little Fingers are often referred to as “Ireland’s answer to The Clash”. This comparison is a fair one in some respects: they were around at the same time; they were part of the same punk scene in the late ‘70’s and have a similar sound to The Clash. On the other hand while they may have been similar, they had nowhere near as much impact, and this is why they are less well known today. This isn’t necessarily because they’re not as good as The Clash (although many would agree with this statement), but maybe because Stiff Little Fingers debut album ‘Inflammable Material’ came out two years after their contemporary’s first album, and therefore are seen as the less original of the two. Another notable difference between the two bands is that one has ended and the other is still around. Almost a full 30 years after their debut album was released, Stiff Little Fingers are still touring and playing to their loyal fans, both old and new alike; yet they never really had the same kind of impact on the masses that others did.
Their live album starts out with their most recognisable song-
’Alternative Ulster’. It is received very well and immediately demonstrates a solid sound from the band. The sound levels are just right, and this is because as far as I can tell the songs here are not from the same show but instead were recorded at different shows and then pieced together here. The ‘opener’ is followed by perhaps their second most recognisable track, and that is the rasping
‘Suspect Device’. Similarly, this track sounds great live and doesn’t disappoint with its stuttering, choppy chorus. However, what may disappoint some after these two songs is the fact that looking down the track listing, there are very few songs that the casual listener would know. Never fear though, for those that this applies to, they are about to get an education in a great, albeit less well known punk band.
Just because songs are less well known doesn’t mean that they are not as good as songs that are well known though. It just means that the song maybe didn’t have the same impact as others. There are many highlights on this album, and many of them would be new to those who are new to SLF. Whether it’s Jake Burns’ scathing vocals that introduce the brilliant
‘Wasted Life’ or the way that the crowd sings all together in
‘Gotta Getaway’; there are many great moments on this live album. With an album that has a lot of tracks (18 on this one) you would expect it to have its fair share of weak songs, and while there are a few ‘skippable’ songs; songs that could be described as ‘weak’ are few and far between. What does let the album down though is the fact that when you listen to it as a whole it does seem to drag because of the similarity of the songs. They are all simple as punk is intended, but using mostly power chords for the whole album can get quite old after a while. Fortunately the songs here are written very well indeed.
Towards the end of the album they cover Rolling Stones’
‘The Last Time’ which is a welcome change, as although not too distant from the usual Stiff Little Fingers sound is a departure from their classic punk sound. They proceed to play a few songs:
‘The Cosh’ and
‘Stand Up and Shout’, off of their most recent album-‘Flags and Emblems’ which in fact are some of the ‘skippable’ songs mentioned earlier mainly because they are much more mild than other songs on the album. The album ends with a cover of Bob Marley’s
‘Johnny Was’ that is extended to a full 8-and-a-half minutes. The song uses a good guitar solo which shows that the band can play more than just power chords, and a long breakdown which gives the song its length. It ends the album well, demonstrating good participation from the crowd, offering “whoa’s” during the breakdown. They build up to the climax of the song well; but you can’t help but thinking that it may have been better for Stiff Little Fingers to end their live album with one of their songs, a classic such as
’Alternative Ulster’, maybe.
I mentioned at the start of the review that Stiff Little Fingers are one of the less well known
old punk bands, and that is true; but this live album proves that they deserve more credit than they have got/are getting; especially since some of the recordings here were done almost 30 years after the bands conception. There are many great songs here such as
’Alternative Ulster’,
‘Suspect Device’,
‘Nobody’s Heroes’ and
‘Moon’. What would have been nice though is for the live album to have been recorded from the same concert, as it would have given the album a better flow. However, this is a great place for those who have perhaps not heard of this band before to start listening to them as this ‘Stiff Little Fingers Live’ works almost like a greatest hits collection as songs from most of their album are featured here.
