by Sebastián Gorla
Let’s say live albums have one of two ambitions. The first, the most typical, is to capture the energy and performance of a particularly elaborate or rowdy live show, often including ample recordings of audience participation. The second, arguably more formidable type, is the live album that history later determines to be the true, genuine article on a band or artist’s career. Considering how on Live ’19 you don’t hear a peep from the audience until the album is basically over, I’d argue Cool Ghouls were shooting for the latter of the two.
Live ’19 has that special historicity in spades. It is, in a sense, a greatest-hits compilation for a band eight years into the global fight for psych-garage supremacy. “Just Like Me” wastes no time in introducing you to the band and all the tools in their toolbox: their rhythm section locks in, acting as a springboard for the guitars, which trade in their trademark bright, spanky tones and friendly West Coast country fretwork. By the time the singers are indulging in their sometimes-on-key harmonies, you can almost imagine what San Francisco was like when making rent was still a possibility.
The album includes two previously unreleased songs: the pleading, reaching “Bound” and the raucous “26th St. Blues,” which explodes into the kind of euphoric noise-laden fuzz-outs that their studio recordings rarely featured. The entire second half of the record lets loose, from the THC-transcendence of “Creature That I Am” to the closer “Witch’s Game,” which apply ends the night with strained cries of “It’s me baby / I am the one!” If psych-garage romps were ever up your alley, even if it was back in the genre’s hey-day at the start of the last decade, this would be it. The kind of genuine article to chronicle a little piece of a genre.