{"id":49650,"date":"2015-06-11T07:28:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T12:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49650"},"modified":"2015-06-11T07:28:35","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T12:28:35","slug":"babylon-a-d-livexxv-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/babylon-a-d-livexxv-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Babylon A.D. | Live@XXV<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"babylon_ad_live_xxv.jpg\"To age gracefully is to embrace both the past and the future, and this rule \u2013 as it turns out \u2013 applies to the music bands as well. Every concert attendee knows the pain of going through a set list of band\u2019s newly recorded songs which are miles apart from their classic style\u2026 luckily for those craving for nostalgia-driven journeys back, there are bands who are willing to reach out to their past and who do it with style \u2013 one of them being the Frisco-based five-piece Babylon A.D. Twenty five years ago they were an up-and-coming Hard Rock act, enjoying the minor success of their debut album. Now, quarter a century older, they not only return to the stages worldwide but also release a live album entitled simply Live@XXV<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Released in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the group\u2019s self-titled debut, the track list of Live@XXV<\/em> is mostly \u2013 but not entirely \u2013 based on the mentioned album. Commemorative dimension to it aside, this fact remains quite a wise move anyway. Out of all studio albums released by Derek Davis and the pack., it\u2019s Babylon A.D.<\/em> that\u2019s spawned the band\u2019s most recognizable songs \u2013 \u201cKid Goes Wild,\u201d \u201cHammer Swings Down\u201d or \u201cBang Go The Bells.\u201d The gritty Sleaze Rock anthem \u201cBack In Babylon\u201d was included on the very same album too, here on Live@XXV<\/em> serving as an excellent opener. Having thus started in an upbeat, feisty manner, the band continues their retrospective journey twenty years back with \u201cHammer Swings Down\u201d and \u201cShot Of Love.\u201d And even though it\u2019s been quite a while since the Headbanger\u2019s Ball era, time\u2019s had hardly any effect on Babylon A.D., both tracks having the same rough, gritty vibe to them the 1989 originals had.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no more the \u201880s on the band\u2019s time machine as \u201cSinking In The Sand\u201d hits, the only representative of 2000\u2019s album American Blitzkrieg but not a drastic shift style-wise. However, guessing by the crowd\u2019s reaction, it\u2019s still more about the late \u201880s and early \u201890s throwbacks rather than anything else at the Babylon A.D. gig, as the band continues the flashback on their early days with \u201cBang Go The Bells,\u201d \u201cMaryanne\u201d and \u201cBad Blood.\u201d \u201cLove Blind\u201d that goes next is, however, a whole different story as this particular track was one of four lost-to-be-found gems that resurfaced only on the group\u2019s 2014 EP Lost Sessions\/Fresno, CA 93<\/em>. Here it\u2019s unearthed once again for the sake of the live show, a bit feistier and more straightforward sound-wise than it was in its original studio version \u2013 and surely a nice surprise for the fans familiar with the band\u2019s most recent release. <\/p>\n

A bluesy, semi-acoustic \u201cSally Danced\u201d precedes a certain Zippo moment as there\u2019s hardly any image the live rendition of \u201cDesperate\u201d could have brought to mind other than a sea of cigarette lighters. After this soaring piece of balladry, next goes another staple in the band\u2019s catalog \u2013 \u201cKid Goes Wild.\u201d And if this Hard Rock anthem alone didn\u2019t convince the audience it\u2019s high time they engaged in some furious fist-pumping and head-banging, it must have been the two final tracks that did the trick. Both are cover versions \u2013 so if you ever wondered how Montrose\u2019s \u201cRock The Nation\u201d or UFO\u2019s \u201cLights Out\u201d (here credited as \u201cLights Out London\u201d) would have sounded if infused with a generous dose of \u201880s Sleaze Metal, here goes the answer.<\/p>\n

Live albums are about capturing the flow of energy between the band and the audience and inscribing it further on record more than anything else. In this respect, Live@XXV<\/em> is more than a nostalgia-driven release by one of the bands we consider a swan song of \u201880s Hard Rock. It\u2019s rough, raw and dynamic and a real testimony to what Babylon A.D. is now \u2013 a mature Hard Rock outfit aware of its roots \u2013 rather than just a retrospective glance over the band\u2019s early days. One can only hope that if Derek Davis enters the studio with his bandmates anytime soon, the result of the recordings will capture as much of band\u2019s energy as Live@XXV<\/em> does.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nDerek Davis \u2013 lead vocals, acoustic guitar
\nDan De LaRosa \u2013 guitars
\nRon Freschi \u2013 guitars, vocals
\nJames Pacheco \u2013 drums, percussion
\nRobb Reid \u2013 bass guitar, vocals<\/p>\n

Track List:
\n1.\tBack In Babylon
\n2.\tHammer Swings Down
\n3.\tShot Of Love
\n4.\tSinking In The Sand
\n5.\tBang Go The Bells
\n6.\tMaryanne
\n7.\tBad Blood
\n8.\tLove Blind
\n9.\tSally Danced
\n10.\tDesperate
\n11.\tKid Goes Wild
\n12.\tRock The Nation (Montrose cover)
\n13.\tLights Out London (UFO cover)<\/p>\n

Label: Apocalypse Records<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Babylonadband<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Senior Columnist — To age gracefully is to embrace both the past and the future, and this rule \u2013 as it turns out \u2013 applies to the music bands as well. […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[11308,9127,2317,9126,1103,11307],"class_list":{"0":"post-49650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-apocalypse-records","9":"tag-babylon-a-d","10":"tag-cd-review","11":"tag-derek-davis","12":"tag-hard-rock","13":"tag-livexxv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}