HAREM SCAREM – Live in Japan (1996 WEA)
Three albums seems to be the industry standard before you can release a live one. Harem Scarem followed suit and issued Live in Japan right after their third LP, Voice of Reason. It was their first with new bassist Barry Donaghy, replacing Mike Gionet.
Live in Japan is a safe, fairly compact selection of tunes from the first three. It could use less Voice of Reason, an album which never boasted the killer tunage from the first two. In fact if one edited out “Blue”, “Candle”, “Breathing Sand”, and “Paint Thins”, you could make a pretty tight set. Leave in “Warming a Frozen Rose” though; it was always the best of the Voice of Reason tracks. You can also leave in the title track as it’s pretty heavy. Most of the real firepower comes from Mood Swings. The opening salvo of “Change Comes Around” and “Saviours Never Cry” are a rousing start to the proceedings.
Live, Harem Scarem were tight. Their harmonies are handled easily by the four guys, all capable singers. Harry Hess’ roar is not lessened by the road nor jet lag. He’s as powerful here as he is on record. This is necessary for amped rockers like “Had Enough” and “Empty Promises” from Mood Swings, both very strong. There is only one song from the 1991 debut album Harem Scarem. Representing Harem’s early pop rock roots is “Slowly Slipping Away”; call it a power ballad or just call it a song. It feels like it has too much guitar to be a ballad, so call it what you want: it’s great. You can clearly hear Barry Donaghy’s contributions on backing vocals, an essential part of the song’s hookiness. The live set closes on “No Justice”, the best known track from Mood Swings and an obvious crowd favourite. The vocals are just outstanding from the whole band.
There are two bonus studio tracks on this album, a nice little unexpected treat. The first, “Pardon My Zinger” is a peppy instrumental the likes of which you expect from guys like Joe Satriani. Not so much for guitar trickery, just in terms of composition and hooks. The last track is a new ballad called “More Than You’ll Ever Know”. It has since been reissued on Japanese compilations such as Ballads and B-Side Collection, but this live album is the easiest place to get a copy. As far as ballads go, this one’s not bad.
For fans who didn’t get into Voice of Reason the way they did the first two, Live in Japan offers a bumpy ride. There is little question that the recorded performance is freaking amazing. It just comes down to the songs and personal taste.
3/5 stars
mikeladano.com 
Glad to see you covering the non studio albums because they are the ones I don’t have that reminds me what I need to go get.
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Yes sir! My goal is to review all the ones I have. And even for studio albums you already own, some of my later ones are the Japanese, so you may run into songs that you weren’t aware of. The Japanese version of Overload has You SHook Me All Night Long on it!
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Would love to see the Japanese editions for the bonus tracks for sure.
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I’m actually listening to Overload now. Good album! Another one I bought, 13, has a bonus live CD.
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I haven’t listened to anything in about a year. Need to revisit.
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I am still working on ripping my collection to my PC. It’s a years long process. It’s a good way to force myself to put new music in the rotation. Typically when I rip a bunch of music to my PC, I’ll also put them on a flash drive so I can listen to them in the car.
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I remember when I digitized my CD and DVD collection, l blew out my hard drive and CD/DVD drive on my computer. It took 3 months, but I I don’t have as much as you.
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I’ve gone through two computers since I’ve started but I’ve been at it about 7 years!
You did your DVDs too eh? I don’t think I want to go down that road….
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That’s an interesting standard – after 3 studio albums = acceptable.
Before then, feels hasty. After, why such a wait?
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Look at a band like Tragically Hip. Only one (official) live album!
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Nice call on official in brackets – the unofficial recordings are so memorable too!
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Yes I have a live album that came with a CD crate. I think there are four or five of those total. But I don’t believe they count on the “official” discography, although that is often up to the fan.
I think there are varying degrees of official. At one end are the regular CD releases…at the other end bootlegs (completely unofficial). In between you have: record company compilations, fan club releases, radio broadcasts, “instant live”…ultimately the fans must choose what to focus on for their collections.
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I have that crate too, mine came with Vol. 4 – I think most of them did. I don’t know where or how you could get the other volumes now.
Haha look at Discogs…
https://www.discogs.com/The-Tragically-Hip-Kollectors-Krate/release/7657097
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That’s always the trouble with live albums, eh? It’s a fine line and so subjective… you always want to hear your favourites!
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Yeah for sure. I’m sure there are fans out there of the Voice of Reason album, who think I’ve got it completely wrong — and that’s fair!
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Your recent posts got me listening to “Mood Swings” again. Still their best album and if the live album is top heavy with songs from that album, then it must be good.
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Empty Promises is a great track! Cool stuff Mikey….
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I think this is the kind of live set that would grow on somebody, with time. Maybe even bring people who didn’t like some of it around to the album versions later on!
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