As you might have assumed this live set is purely for the most loyal of Krokus followers.
Written by: Dangerzone
ARTIST: Krokus
ALBUM: Long Stick Goes Boom: Live From da House of Rust
LABEL: Sony Music/The End Records
SERIAL: 88843024652
YEAR: 2014
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Switzerland
LINEUP: Marc Storace – vocals * Fernando Von Arb, Mark Kohler, Mandy Meyer – guitars * Chris Von Rohr – bass * Flavio Mezzodi – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Long Stick * 02 Hallelujah Rock’n’Roll * 03 Go Baby Go * 04 AM Woman * 05 Tokio Nights * 06 Fire * 07 Rock City, Better Than Sex, Dog Song * 08 Screaming In The Night * 09 Hellraiser * 10 Bedside Radio * 11 Easy Rocker * 12 Heatstrokes * 13 Live For The Action * 14 Hoodoo Woman
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
After seeing Krokus live for the first time a few weeks back on their recent U.S. jaunt, it inspired me to revisit this live album from last year, one which I’m sure most people barely know exists besides Krokus enthusiasts.
On the face of it this album is about as essential as another Whitesnake live album, but Krokus to their credit haven’t flooded the market with a slew of worthless live cash grabs over the years.
Then again after seeing them live and realizing how identical their show was to the content here, it makes me somewhat ill. At least the audience here in Solothurn, Switzerland, was able to see a comprehensive Krokus lineup somewhat, with Freddy Steady long gone from the drum stool again.
When I saw them they were minus Von Arb and Kohler, making it seem more like a hired gun version of Krokus circa 1999 rather than the real deal. In retrospect I could have stayed at home and listened to this rather than seeing them in person, a cynical take perhaps but this unadventurous outing shows Krokus to be coasting in their old age.
The Songs
Krokus seemed to breathe a new lease of life after the classic line-up reformed back in 2010 and their last couple of albums were infinitely better than the rubbish of ‘Rock The Block’ and ‘Hellraiser’.
Here they present a mixture of tried and true classics and newer tracks I’m sure nobody wanted to hear. What infuriates me about Krokus is their reliance to this day on insisting on playing covers like ‘American Woman’.
With such a vast back catalogue of immense albums there’s no need for this, or even the snippets of UFO and The Who tracks. Anything from 1984 to 1999 is treated like the plague too. If I could count the amount of punters I heard complaining about not hearing ‘Midnite Maniac’ I’d have made 7 dollars.
Here though you get some ‘Metal Rendezvous’ favourites like ‘Tokyo Nights’, ‘Fire’, ‘Heatstrokes’ and ‘Bedside Radio’ which somehow still sound inspired many years later. Storace belies his age and still sounds as good as he did back then too.. almost.
It’s somewhat farcical hearing him deliver the same stage raps as he did in 1984 though. He’s still asking audiences ‘Is this Rock City? Is USA/Switzerland (wherever they are) the rock capital of the world?’.
The obligatory ‘Screaming In The Night’ is stale and I can’t even remember what album ‘Live For The Action’ is off.
It’s all very energetic and the crowd reacts in a (studio enhanced) rabid fashion to the hometown heroes, but there’s something mechanical about the whole thing.
Maybe I wouldn’t have thought that after seeing them, but it soured my taste somewhat and turned this review into a critical expose of their gig rather than this album. If I told you they only played for 70 minutes and 12 songs would you believe me? That’s because they did and I wasn’t the only punter wondering if it was a prank.
But Storace walked off the stage after a bemusing cover of ‘Quinn The Mighty Eskimo’ never to be seen again. Of all the songs at their disposal they choose to play that? I still can’t comprehend it.
At least it’s not included on this disc. Even the worst Krokus song would be better than some novelty joke, or maybe a selection from their 1976 debut to confuse the ageing geezers only there to hear ‘Screaming In The Night’ or ‘Headhunter’.
In Summary
As you might have assumed this live set is purely for the most loyal of Krokus followers, most of whom were probably at this gig in Switzerland. It’s not always fun lashing out at one of your favourite bands, but I felt a certain measure of comeuppance was required after the underwhelming live show I attended of theirs.
I assume playing before an audience of 100 people in a venue the size of your average living room is a comedown after the lavish attention in their home country and Europe. But if you have the chance to see Krokus you might as well listen to this and call it a night.
Krokus on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
