My Dying Bride "An Ode To Woe" CD rare Bootleg

There’s a side of me that’s never really seen the point of live albums. You get the studio version (theoretically at least) which has been recorded with multiple takes, produced, mixed, mastered carefully and generally polished to perfection. So why would anyone want a single-take, warts-and-all, mistakes-on-the-night version that isnt going to sound anything like as crisp and clear? Especially from a band like MDB who are known for good production values on their albums.
Well, ‘An Ode To Woe’ just about gets away with it. The songs on offer here are instantly just that little bit different to the original versions, and even though there is far too much guitar reverb on several songs (‘The Blue Lotus’ in particular) and Aaron’s vocals do drop in and out of the mix a little bit, in the main this is a good live sound. Even the drums exceptionally high placement in the mix gives new drummer Dan – ‘the wildman’ as Aaron refers to him – the chance to show off his skills and bring some new flavour to the proceedings with some extra fiddly rolls where previously there weren’t any.
‘To Remain Tombless’ kicks off, which is a sensible choice – a decent amount of energy and the same pace changes which characterise any good set opener. However things really get going with ‘My Hope, The Destroyer’ which was my personal favourite from ‘Dreadful Hours’ and really does roll things on brilliantly. Then things get even better with ‘For You’ with some really inspiring keyboard work. This is another personal favourite and comes across really well as part of this set.
However things are then brought up a bit short by ‘The Blue Lotus’ which is spoilt slightly by the abovementioned excess guitar reverb. Aaron then takes a moment to introduce new members before launching into a spirited rendition of ‘Like Gods Of The Sun’ which brings matters back on course very neatly, followed by probably the best thing they ever did – the awesome ‘Catherine Blake’, which cements the flow again perfectly.
A short version of ‘The Cry of Mankind’ follows and then ‘The Whore, The Cook and Her Mother’ hoves into view, a very odd choice in my opinion. Now don’t get me wrong, I am in the minority that thinks ’34.788’ is a work of absolute genius and that this is the best track on it, but in a live environment the quiet and introspective midsection is lost and this makes the listener lose interest a tad.
‘Thy Raven Wings’ follows, one of only two songs from the new material which does make you wonder how confident MDB are in it. It isn’t one of the stronger ones either, in my opinion, and really only serves as a filler before Aaron garners a huge cheer as he introduces golden oldie ‘The Snow In My Hand’ which brings a renewed energy once again, as does the stomping ‘She Is The Dark’.
Final track is a courageous choice which unlike ‘The Whore…’ works brilliantly. No high-energy romp, but rather ‘The Dreadful Hours’ closes things, the gloomy intro with nothing but a single guitar and Aaron’s dulcet tones building into the classic number that it is
In short this is about as good as it gets for a live album – I’m still not sure of the point but what the hell, there are some quite good versions of damn good songs on here, so enjoy.

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