Black Lips - Valientes del Mundo Nuevo (CD)

All Music Guide

One of the members of the Black Lips enthusiastically announces, "This is going to be the best live record of all time" before the band launches into "Not a Problem" on Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo, and from a conceptual standpoint this disc would seem to have real possibilities. For this live set (if the liner notes are to be believed), the Black Lips opted to record a gig in one of the world's great centers of debauchery Tijuana, Mexico and hired a mariachi band to open the show. A drunken and audibly enthusiastic audience packed the joint, hookers performed lewd acts while the band wailed onstage, and a splendid time was had by all capable of remembering the evening. While the performances on Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo (or, "The Brave Ones of the New World") sometimes sound suspiciously coherent for a real live recording (especially given the frantic circumstances they claim for the evening), the band's dirty, primitive take on bluesinfused garage rock sounds fine indeed, and ...though these performances are a few notches shy of "tight," the Black Lips sound just as together as they wanna be here. However, twothirds of the songs here already appeared on the band's previous studio set, 2005's Let It Bloom, so you don't have to be an especially loyal fan to be familiar with the material, and as overthetop as the best stuff is on this disc, the approach isn't radically different from their studio recordings. But judging from the crowd noises, a bunch of folks were having a hell of a good time while the tapes rolled for Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo, and anyone who digs their FallmeetsTrashmen vibe will doubtless feel the same way while listening to this album, though some potent beverages (or under the counter medications) are advised to help recreate the experience. - Mark Deming, All Music Guide Read more Less