Live record from a band back in the news.
With recent interest coming from the U2 and Green Day collaboration and the inevitable greatest hits release, The Skids resurgence continues with the release of 'Masquerade Masquerade', a live collection mainly focussing on a Hammersmith Odeon show from 1980 but also including songs from the famed Glasgow Apollo from 1979.
Although The Skids are receiving some credit these days, in Scotland there has never been a lengthy period where they haven't been considered. With Stuart Adamson's 'Big Country' being a commercial smash in the 1980s, Richard Jobson's media career, Adamson's untimely death and even Sky Sports using 'Into The Valley' on some of their football shows, there has usually been some note of them.
The live recording finds them in good form with Jobson utilising the charm and patter that eased him into the world of media so easily.
Coming on the back of punk, there's a lot of spit and snarl to the music but The Skids had a bit more about them, with a bigger sound and more developed songs. This comes through as early the second track, 'Out Of Town' with the repeated title refrain echoing at the tracks conclusion.
Of most interest to new fans will be 'The Saints Are Coming' and it's a fairly snappy version, with the track again powering through quickly and seeming to wow the crowd.
The bands biggest hit, 'Into The Valley' is book ended with snippets of 'Sloop John B', a traditional folk song that was made popular by the Beach Boys and fits neatly with the chugging guitar of the track. The high end guitar line is recreated faithfully and the song manages to stand out as the best in the bands arsenal.
Throughout the set, references are made about the band's Scottish-ness and this comes through the most on 'Will Ye Go, Lassie Go', a tune that has also been used by The Byrds and Rod Stewart under different names, and marries traditional folk with a raucous guitar line.
The final few songs come from a Glasgow show and the biggest thing to take from it is the atmosphere and crowd interaction. The bellowing of "Albert Tatlock" on 'TV Stars' comes across as loud as the on-stage vocals and is further proof of the high esteem that the Apollo is held in.
No doubt there will be a renewed interest in the band and you can't fault the record label or those involved for attempting to cash in as much as possible and this live record is quite decent. For those curious about the band there may be better places to start but for established fans of the act, this album should find itself into their record collection.