Liminal Bins
...cough... have released a live LP, their first for almost ten years, which brings together the highlights of a decade of touring.
Liminal Bins has between nine and fourteen tracks, depending on what you count as a track. According to the sleeve notes, the act of putting the CD in the player counts as track one, the act of taking it out as track thirteen, and the pleasant squeak and snap of the case closing (plus any other putting-away noises) as track 14. Track six sounds like a production error and lasts less than a second, and track twelve is listed as a "hidden bonus track" which I have so far been unable to find.
The more usual examples of the band's output make up the remainder. Here we find some classic ...cough... moments such as Jerusalem. Fans will remember this from 1999's Ah, I thought we had something there tour in which two men argue about who is going to pay for the building of a wall whilst a third man unsuccessfully tunes a guitar.
The version of We've been here before is taken from last year's gig at the Astoria in London and captures the moment of innocent joy as the band recognize their surroundings, and even some members of the audience.
All in all, it's a good outing for the band. Some old names pop up - Fred Beckett makes an appearance, Joe Gaitskill refuses to play the bass on a couple of tracks - quite loudly on Willingly - so there's plenty for the fans to get their teeth into. It's not exactly a good place to explore the band's history (the far more comprehensive Attractive Propositions, Dull Results covers the band from 1973 onwards) but it doesn't disappoint new listeners seeking something to stir the memories of gigs past, or create an idea of what to expect in the future.
