Built To Spill "Live" 2000***

Built To Spill must be one of those indie bands that have never even remotely thought of pop stardom. Judging at least from this album, they seem to be content with groping for the edges, trying to find out what sound possibilities the electric guitar can offer them, fascinated by distortion and feedback noises. In this respect, they sound a lot like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. and Neil Young in his more adventurous excursions with Crazy Horse. Fortunately, just like with 80's shoegazers My Bloody Valentine and Jesus & Mary Chain, a melody often lurks just beneath that noisy surface. Lots of references to other groups, I know, but Built to Spill are one of those bands that wear their influences on their sleeve as evidenced by their tribute to Young, an epic 20-minute reworking of his "Cortez the Killer" in which singer-guitarist Doug Martsch manages to emulate the original's vocals and reckless guitar playing. This cover is also probably the highlight of the album, which truth be told, does not bode well for the band. Of their own songs, "Cars" is the better one. It opens the second cd with some rare acoustic guitar and is the more pop-oriented of the bunch (sorta like The Cure meet early Radiohead). Other highlights include "The Plan" and two more covers: Love as Laughter's "Singing Sores Make Perfect Swords" and The Halo Benders' "Virginia Reel Around the Fountain". My own version of the album is a special reissue for Record Store Day 2013 (great institution, by the way, worth your support) and features 2 fine bonus tracks: "Forget Remember When" and "Now & Then".

**** for Cortez the Killer, Car
*** for The Plan, Stop the Show, Virginia Reel Around the Fountain, Singing Sores Make Perfect Swords, Forget Remember When, Now & Then, Broken Chairs

** for Randy Described Eternity, I Would Hurt a Fly