The Gossip: Live In Liverpool

Live albums are rarely necessary; they tend to be

contract-fulfillers, momentum-perpetuators, or tacit admissions of creative

bankruptcy. Even for a powerhouse live band like Oregon's Gossip, Live In

Liverpool

falls squarely into the unnecessary camp. Two years have passed since its last

studio album, Standing In The Way Of Control, which enjoyed surprising

popularity in the UK long after its American release. The title track became a

Top 40 hit across the pond, and the hyperbolic British found a delightful

Yankee curio in frontwoman Beth Ditto: a fat-and-proud lesbian with the

knockout voice of a Pentecostal gospel singer. Unsurprisingly, Liverpool was released in the UK

months before the U.S. The awkward shift in fortunes isn't lost on Gossip,

either. When the crowd sings along to "Coal To Diamonds," Ditto sounds

genuinely surprised: "I can't believe you knew the words to that song! So

weird! But amazing." The crowd remains rapturous throughout the performance,

and anyone who's seen Gossip understands why: Ditto is mesmerizing, the kind of

fiery, immensely talented singer rarely seen in indie rock. Listeners only get

half of it on Live In Liverpool, but the CD comes packaged with a DVD. Regardless,

the live format suits Gossip well; "Yr Mangled Heart" and "Jealous Girls" are

particularly powerful, as is the band's dance-punk reworking of George

Michael's "Careless Whisper." Gossip's success, however late-arriving, is well-deserved.