In 1998 Erasure threw their old friend Martyn Ware a bone and invited Heaven 17 to be the support for their Cowboy tour. Up to this point, Heaven 17 hadn't played live for many years, so they decided to record the shows for posterity.
Confusingly this recording has been released under various titles including, "How Live Is", "Live at Last", "Absolutely The Best Live" and "Deluxe Heaven 17 Collection" - but they all have the same content.
I'll be upfront and say that this is one of the cheesiest live albums you are ever likely to hear and I only own it because it was included in the box set "Another Big Idea".
Whilst this isn't a total car crash, the crowd is clearly overdubbed and no matter how enthusiastically Glenn may shout between songs, there is absolutely no atmosphere in the recording. The music and vocals are competently recreated but everything sounds flaccid and lifeless.
The highlights are the Brothers In Rhythm arrangement of "Temptation" and a faithful rendition of "Come Live With Me" but the breakbeat version of "Fascist Groove Thing" is a confused mess that comes nowhere near to the Big Beat sound it aspired to. There's an ill advised stab at "Let's All Make A Bomb" and The Human League's "Being Boiled" is butchered live on stage.
The sleeve notes say that nothing the band created between 1984 and 1996 could be moulded into the electronic sound they were looking for, so we are presented with a 45 minute set culled from their first two albums and their then current offering "Bigger Than America". On this evidence the other songs had a lucky escape. 1/5
