Red Mosquito

Can't Keep (Lexington 2003-04-21) vs. World Wide Suicide (Vitoria 2006-09-02)




jump to 7:16

I never really thought Eddie could pull off WWS live but that was pretty good. I've always felt like Can't Keep was building to something but never gets there. WWS I guess.

bada's right

Huge fan of both but ill go with WWS

Can’t Keep

This is tough. Big fan of Can't Keep. WWS is a top 10/probably top 5 song for me.

The version of Can't Keep was fine for the first half, but starting with the guitars cutting out at the start of the last verse going into the excellent outro this morphed into a really strong performance.

WWS is a perfect studio track for me. Eddie's best political lyrics directed against a specific target (as opposed to the more general statements in songs like grievance, insignificance, MYM, Infallible, etc), and a performance boiling over with an angry intensity that still feels optimistic - like the first signs of a mass insanity breaking - all is not forgiven, but you can start to imagine a way forward. It's just a phenomenal track, one that never gets fully captured in live versions (which is weird because the studio track practically feels live anyway). But this version comes about as close as any I've heard. I'll give it my narrow vote.

Isn't "worldwide" one word?

well la de da! Look at Kevin Davis and his Queen's English pronunciations of everything...

I'll go with Can't Keep by a hair, though that WWS is very well done; I'm not a fan of the studio version of that song, but the preparation and heavy touring they did in '06 show with performances of that song, and this version is as good as it gets. The Can't Keep manages to keep the spirit of the studio recording while giving it an aggression that the Riot Act version lacks (this is another song that, like WWS, was by far at it's best the first year it was played). It's a more interesting song and a slightly more powerful performance but both of these are good choices.

Can't Keep takes me back to hanging out in PHATJ's mom and dad's garage around the time the album came out. Pretty easy vote, although that performance of WWS does not suck.

staying open for the next round - currently tied at 10-10

macphisto wrote:Can't Keep takes me back to hanging out in PHATJ's mom and dad's garage around the time the album came out. Pretty easy vote, although that performance of WWS does not suck.

Good times. You Are and Sleight Of Hand were heavily played back then too.

Also WWS sucks balls

Can’t Keep

Easily Can't Keep. I always feel like Ed is struggling to keep up in live versions of WWS, though this is a great version.