Fu Manchu- Go for It...Live! (SPV)
This
much is for certain- industrial strength smoke machine and freely freaking
stoner chicks notwithstanding, listening to Fu Manchu pour on the loose
and live slabbage on disc is way more fun than actually being there and watching
these four Jeff Spicolli’s stare at their sneakers for two hours.
Although live shows are the driving force of the woefully named “stoner rock”
movement (of which Fu Manchu are the original flag wavers), dynamic
personalities are simply not the driving force of this band. “Go for It”,
then, gives us the best of both worlds. You get to hear what happened at the big
rock show, but you can stay home and stare at any number of
infinitely more
interesting people while it plays. This absolutely bitchin’ double disc
set (the most oddball choice so far from an ongoing series from German metal
label SPV- other entries include Germanic power thrashers Kreator
and Sodom) contains a multitude of hits and live favorites culled from
various stops on their summer 2002 European tour. The booklet doesn’t specify
which tracks were performed where- at least the promo version doesn’t- but when
it comes to the Fu, that hardly matters. There hasn’t been a band more staunchly
devoted to a signature sound since the Ramones, so no matter where they
go, they sound like the Fu. One of the things that really strikes me when I
listen to this career spanning disc is how Fu Manchu pretty much single-handedly
brought back a long-time tradition to rock and roll. Not since the hey day of
Thin Lizzy and AC/DC has a band been so easily identified by the
riffs in their songs. Sure, the vocal hooks are just as easy to pick up-“Boogie
Van” does little more than repeat the title 27 times- but all it takes is
the first few rubbery guitar squiggles, and you know “Hang On” is on
deck. That might not seem like the biggest deal in the world to you, but believe
me, it is. Even with zero rock star extravagance and an
appalling fashion sense, Fu Manchu songs truly are classic
rockers, full of world-class guitar heroics and brilliantly laconic, half-lidded
rhythms, and there is not a band in this whole fucking world that sounds better
when you’re driving. Of course it helps that every single song they’ve ever
written is about driving, but still. Anyway, short of an actual greatest hits
album (or a tedious night fiddling with one of those pussy I-Pods), this is your
best bet for hearing all your fave Fu tracks in one place, and since Fu Manchu
sound the same live as they do on studio albums, even newcomers to Manchu mania
can dive right in with this one. Summer might be over, but you can always relive
it here with the sunny grooves of Fu Manchu. Just don’t drive stoned, cuz that
‘freaked out by the red light’ shit really fucking aggravates the rest of
us.