There's cheese and then there's cheese of a truly mind-boggling variety. Behold, then,
Live in Germany -- from the post-
Creed era of
Chrome, recorded by
Damon Edge and the European lineup. Exactly where the concert was in Germany is unknown, and the date is only indicated as being December 1987. This whole exercise can simply be summed up as trash -- but like the most horrible of car accidents, there's a weird urge to want to pay attention to the aftermath. The deep irony is that
Helios Creed left
Chrome because he wanted to tour and
Edge didn't. The band play coldly professional '80s neo-synth/hard rock takes on
Creed-less
Chrome material, with occasional stabs at
Depeche Mode-styled metallic percussion fills, though the lack of the singular talent of that band makes the results here seem watery and tame. Remy Devilla deserves a mention for his sometimes vaguely interesting guitar heroics, but only just. As for
Edge, besides whatever synth in the mix is his, he sounds mostly like a drunk bar band rocker with pseudo-punk roots, moaning, slurring, and barking his lines in a terrible attempt at delivery. Imagine late '80s
Iggy Pop fighting his way through a really bad relapse with no sense of soul or joy in the proceedings, and it all becomes morbidly clear. To top it all off, extremely obvious fake crowd applause and cheers from a massive show is taped on the beginning and end of each song -- making the noticeable lack of crowd participation or interest during the song all that much more embarrassing. Sometimes you can hear a few scattered real cheers from those in true attendance, making the gap between perception and reality all that much more apparent. The whole thing sounds like the type of music one found in the barroom scenes in Streets of Fire or Miami Vice episodes, which about says it all. ~ Ned Raggett