Evanescence - Anywhere But Home (+CD) > Reviews > Good live CD & DVD, but just for fans?

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Soundtrack	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Evanescence fans can experience that band live, bonus track
Disadvantages:	Audio recording is weak in places

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

This CD and DVD set contains Evanescence's live gig in Paris. The performance has 13 songs, the CD contains a bonus studio track "Missing" and the DVD contains photographs and footage of the band.

The track listing on the CD is as follows:

1. Haunted - 4:04
2. Going Under - 3:57
3. Taking Over Me - 3:57
4. Everybody's Fool - 3:40
5. Thoughtless (Korn cover) - 4:47
6. My Last Breath - 3:53
7. Farther Away - 5:02
8. Breathe No More - 3:33
9. My Immortal - 4:38
10. Bring Me To Life - 4:43
11. Tourniquet - 4:17
12. Imaginary - 5:25
13. Whisper - 5:45
14. Missing - 4:17

The performance starts with Amy Lee descending a staircase to the crowd of screaming fans. There are some background noises and she starts to sing into her microphone. As she does so, a heavy guitar noise pulses through the air and she starts to sing the first verse as the drum beat starts and the guitar gathers pace. A pause and a beeping noise, and the guitar kicks in again - louder this time as the chorus is played and the crowd screams louder with delight.

This live CD and DVD set can be seen in two ways. If you're a die-hard Evanescence fan, it's a great way to experience the band live. If you just like the music, however, you may find the live recording isn't as impressive as the studio album, Fallen, since it isn't quite as polished and Lee's voice isn't perfect in places - sometimes barely picked up by the microphone. One thing that may disappoint all is that it's obvious that the band are playing to a backing track - at least the instruments such as violins or the choir heard in some places can't been seen anywhere on stage!

Having said this though, the band does play their instruments live, Lee does sing and play the piano with skill and the band put on a good show with plenty of energy and enthusiasm - you can tell they enjoy what they do.

The DVD is well filmed, with lots of camera angles, special camera effects and the performance (not the extras) is shown in 16:9 widescreen, as are the beautiful menu screens, depicting the thorns shown on the album's case. As you navigate through the menus, you move through the thorns - this is quite impressive!

The tracks from the Fallen album are faithful to it, so I shall not go into detail on these. If you would like to know, the version of My Immortal is the 'band version', with the guitar performance near the end of the song.

Thoughtless is a cover of the Korn song. It's well done, featuring Amy Lee on the piano, with the band playing guitar and drums later in the song.

Farther Away is an old song by Evanescence that didn't make it to the Fallen album, which is a shame since it is a lively guitar track, similar to Haunted and Going Under.

Breathe No More is a song that featured on the Elektra soundtrack. It's a slow piano track like My Immortal, featuring some nice imagery e.g. "I've been looking in the mirror for so long that I've come to believe my soul's on the other side". The version on the live album, however, features acoustic guitar and drums to accompany the piano and voice.

Missing is a studio track. I've heard two versions of it, this one being faster. It's very much voice-orientated, with background noise of "ah ah ah" and whispers of phrases such as "can you stop it please". Lee sings over the top of this, and there are other instruments, that sound electronically generated, such as a muffled drum beat. It's a nice track, but perhaps not very "mainstream" - not something you would hear on the radio?

This would be nice as a gift for an Evanescence fan, or as a treat for yourself if you are one, otherwise you might want to borrow a copy and make up your own mind since even if you like Evanescence's music, this may not be your cup of tea.