Band : Extreme
Album title : Take Us Alive
Label : Frontiers Records
Distributor : Frontiers Records - Rough Trade Benelux
Release Date : 23/04/2010
Release : CD

The first CD I bought from Extreme was their “Pornograffitti” album.  If it had been up to me I wouldn’t have bought is since I only knew their hit single “More than words”, but my girlfriend kept on asking me to buy it, which I finally did.
Now having bought the album I had to listen to it.  And I was pleasantly surprised.  Not only did these guys know how to write a decent radio-friendly ballad, but they were also able to rock, be it with at some times a very funky edge to it.
And when the follow-up album came out “3 Sides To Every Story” I was even more surprised.  Up to this day I regularly spin this album, I guess that’s enough evidence that this really is/was a masterpiece.

Unfortunately for them, this album was no commercial success, and Extreme sort of faded away out of the attention.
If I’m not mistaken Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt also participated at the concert that was organized after the passing away of Freddie Mercury, and as I recall it, Gary  was one of the few singers that could equal Freddie, be it in a different way/style.
I then completely lost sight of them, till they released the “Saudades De Rock” album in 2008, which I found not as good as their previous work.
But now down to this double live album, recorded in their home town of Boston on August 8th 2009, on the last night of their tour.  And a good album it is.  It shows Extreme at their best, playing live.
Of course being recorded in their home town meant it was extra special for them, not only because they were playing on their own turf, but also because the public was very enthusiastic.

Gary has, over the years, lost none of his vocal abilities, and Nuno still plays as energetic as ever.  Backed up by a powerful, yet musically rhythm section this could not turn out wrong.  They played a good number of songs, spanning their career, including, of course their hit single(s).

For someone who’s always been very sceptical about live albums, I must admit I liked this one a lot.

85/100

Erik Morren.