Is it a hit, *hit or miss?

Evanescence - Anywhere But Home   by Joannie Foney

Evanescence - Anywhere But Home
Label: Wind-Up
Hit, *hit or Miss?:  Hit
Rating: 

When Ashlee Simpson was caught on live TV lip-synching to the wrong prerecorded track, little did she suspect how instrumental she'd be in exposing today's audiences for the passive, Jabba the Hut- like, bread & circus devouring industry shapers that we truly are. Good thing all that finger pointing produced such fruitful results! Some silly little girl not bright or talented enough to sing her own songs was never the problem, we the people are to blame. I'm so glad this has been laid at our feet, now the healing can begin. No more should we expect singers of the inferior, unoriginal, sound- alike, lame & theatrical bent to do Olympics- quality gymnastics & dance routines without gasping for breath mid song. The entire music industry is so relieved that this spoon-feeding of a generation of crybaby fans will end, and all it took was some irrelevant celebrity's irrelevant little sister to reform us. What does any of this have to do with Evanescence? Very little, as you will soon see. I just like to ramble on as though I were paid by the word. 
   
Just in time for Christmas, Evanescence wades into the truly live vs. truly a lie controversy with a live CD/ DVD. Some fan reviews I read elsewhere on the internet concerned me. Is this really a live CD? Or is it merely a studio release with 'screaming fans' sound effects added, as one review I read suggested. The first track I listened to on this, "Imaginary", convinced me that Amy & co. must think of their fans as so many brainless idiots that only want studio slick production. A venomous review started to pound itself out onto my computer, as I was so incensed at being condescended to, as though I were an Ashlee- caliber fan. I can't really remember what I wrote, but I know it was too furious to make much sense, & it was a relief to delete it all after hearing the next song, "Going Under". That song chosen of course because augmentation to achieve the vocal effects was inevitable. How would they smooth their way through that, given the quality of the song that had infuriated me? Amazingly, that sounded like a live song should, not polished & oily, whew! It had the dumb, prerecorded vocal effect, but on the whole, the entire song had a more live, experimental feel to it. The guitar & drums especially stood out for their spontaneity. Whoever wrote that fan review I read, wherever I read it, was maybe Ashlee Simpson or her drummer or one of her good friends seeking to draw the fire away from her now that the word, "live" is back in the media in relation to the music industry, eeek! 

The Korn cover, "Thoughtless" is just weird, swapping the 7- string guitars at the beginning for a piano. The Evanescence version is therefore obviously much less heavy, about what you'd expect from a not very heavy band covering a heavyish Korn song. It's great if you like weird, mushy as a wet paper plate cover versions of songs that didn't really need tampering with. But, since I'm a fan of originality, I must admit it's very that. As a Korn fan though... well, I better shut up. That's probably the only disappointing thing on here, but again, maybe very weird & original is your thing. Maybe somewhere out there a pitch black dyed hair, albino blue eyed contact lens wearing, funny little Evanescence thing tattooed on their face rabid fan is pouring sugar in my gas tank for daring to put the word "mushy" in any review of Evanescence. 
   
As a whole, the songs sound exciting & live, possibly how a live album should sound. But I'm not sure, I don't remember what live performances sound like anymore & it's all my fault. There's solid musicianship, and although there's little deviation from the way the songs sound on the CD, it's no Ashlee encore performance. Anyway, at this point in history the music industry is onto us & our devious tricks. The beautiful people behind the scenes are not stupid & irresponsible. No one wants to wean us of our saprophytic dependence on what's predictable more than they! To release a canned anything & call it live they know would only feed our addictive proclivity to devour what's sanitized & wrapped for our protection, especially when it's mediocre & ordinary concert dross! Please music industry!! Help us!!! We're so desperately sick and don't know how to get better!!! Maybe the DVD on here is to help us on our road to recovery. Included on this is so much proof it's live it's almost medicinal. This is what makes this set such a whale of a deal. It not only has the entire concert, it has a really funny & long behind the scenes special feature that's maybe over an hour long. It also has a bunch of videos that are quite informative, almost educational. I have never seen an Evanescence video before. Such a surrealist & strange bunch they are. How many drugs have to be done to achieve such silly, pretentious ideas? More than I have access to, I'm afraid. 
 
4 stars, the extra star for the timing of this. I love when buying Christmas gifts is easy!! (AAAUGH!! and predictable!! I have such a long way to go)