ROYKSOPP - Röyksopp’s Night Out – Live Ep

For a few months now this site has featured a concert review of Röyksopp. It says the show was a cracker, but how can you know if that's the truth? After all, the devious reviewer could easily have taken advantage of the fact that you weren't there to fill your head with made-up tales. How to fix that? Well, Röyksopp themselves have taken care of it, releasing a hefty live Ep and so putting an end to the reviewer's monopoly on the truth. Forty minutes to tell the truth of the music as played, and sweep away the storytelling of the music as described.

Picking up the cd, you first discover that the story about the Kraftwerk-style outfits wasn't a lie: there are three or four photos in the booklet to prove it, while others depict the inflatable chest of drawers, the bare-bones equipment, and Anneli Drecker of Bel Canto, who accompanied them for the whole tour despite her baby bump. Plus, of course, the guests of the Oslo night, the one on which this record was recorded (yes indeed, a live album always comes out better when recorded on home turf).

The track selection is shrewd: practically all the singles are here (a shame that "Eple" is missing), rounded out by a big instrumental, an almost-unreleased gem and a cover you wouldn't expect. Curiously absent is the track that gives the Ep its name and used to open the shows, but that's no great loss.

The sound obviously becomes more "live", more analog, perhaps even more human. And indeed this record can feel like a bootleg, with no studio frills or trickery, brazenly not without its flaws, tied above all to vocal performances that aren't always top-notch. If that was almost to be expected from Svein and Tørbjorn, it's a bit more surprising when the ones stumbling are (top-notch) professional vocalists. Anneli Drecker, especially, sounds much more at ease on "Sparks" than on "What Else Is There?". Fair enough, the former was written for her and the latter wasn't, but still…

The singing of the ever-excellent Chelonis R. Jones, on the other hand, doesn't disappoint at all. On "Go Away", previously heard only on the limited edition of "The Understanding", he channels his best eighties self like no one else can, completely at ease in a lively synth-pop touched by grace: the album's loveliest surprise. And further proof that, with a little help on the music side, Chelonis is an extraordinary performer.

"Remind Me" in the pumped-up single version and "Poor Leno" in the "Istanbul Forever" mix are the tracks to dance to with heart and soul, postcards from this past autumn spent making Europe sweat. Even "Sparks", sandwiched between the two, tends to pick up pace. Sure, transferring these tracks onto record loses a bit of the excitement and atmosphere that only being there can create, but they still work well.

Then it closes with an "Alpha Male" in trance mode and the surprise cover: "Go With The Flow" by Queens Of The Stone Age. Have you ever considered the possibility of Nordic electronica embracing desert stoner rock? We hadn't, but here it is, made real. Röyksopp bend Homme and Oliveri to their will, and the result, however bizarre, keeps vibrating all the way to "Teppefall", the little thank-you tune.

Sometimes live albums are a bit much, whether because they're premature or simply pointless. This one, though, was needed.

And it also proves that when I review concerts, I'm not feeding you tall tales.

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22/12/2006