Marah - Sooner Or Later In Spain

Genre rock Publisher Yep Roc Records External Links Official Marah Website Official Yep Roc Records Website

Marah seems destined to be one of those bands that spends its entire career just barely bubbling under the surface of widespread recognition, always threatening to pop up and make an impact but never quite managing to do so. Despite having a reputation for putting on a thrilling live show and being lucky enough to be considered one of the favorite bands of one Mr. Bruce Springsteen, the Philly-bred Bielanko brothers and crew seem to be permanently relegated to "next big thing" status. The recently released live DVD/CD combo Sooner or Later in Spain, capturing the band on tour in support of their well received 2005 album If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry, manages to be a perfect example of both why they have managed to amass such a rabid fan base and why they've still yet to break into the national spotlight.

The DVD portion of the set contains an entire concert filmed in a smallish looking venue located in Mataro, Spain. The band tears through an energetic set of more than twenty songs, heavily weighted towards the material on If You Didn't Laugh, You'd Cry, while lead singer Dave Bielanko sweats and pours every ounce of energy he has into each tune. By the time you've reached the halfway point it is easy to see why the band has gotten a reputation as such a stellar live act, every one of them appears to be giving their all and having loads of fun doing it. This is most apparent when the boys lighten things up a bit by delving into Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" or tossing Modest Mouse's "Float On" in a medley with their own "Float Away". It's enough to remind even the more jaded listeners out there what a good, old-fashioned, sweaty rock show feels like and just how cathartic one can be. "Round Eye Blues" and "The Demon of White Sadness" are a few of the standouts from the performance but the real treat from this set is the two encores, when the band busts out an intensely jammed "Reservation Girl" and a "Freedom Park" that threatens to set the crowd on fire.

But as great as this particular night's performance may have been, the viewer's at home enjoyment will be severely tested by the shoddy quality of the finished product. Audiophiles may balk when they notice no options for Digital 5.1 sound, but even the most fidelity-challenged will cringe a little when the show starts and the footage is little better than fan-recorded bootleg quality. Some will argue that the gritty graininess of the film is well suited to the down and dirty sound of the band, but that doesn't explain the need for the annoying "in the crowd" shots that seemed to have been shot by fans already half in the bag or the painfully dated split-screen "effects" and wipes. There were times when I thought I was watching the home video of a local high school battle of the bands winner whose uncle convinced them that he "really knows his way around the editing studio". And while it is always a tricky balance to not let the crowd sounds overwhelm the band's performances, the near complete lack of crowd noise between songs consistently threatens to render the band's raging performances impotent.

The bonus features fare a little bit better, in that they are thankfully free of the annoying production "tricks" and left to focus on the music. In addition to three fine tunes captured in various venues, there are also two pieces that feature the band backing up a poem by Bill Ehrhardt and a particularly entertaining reading by Marah fanboy Nick Hornby. Although this set seems to be primarily found in the CD section of most music stores, the additional disc included is little more than an afterthought that features seven different performances from various venues around the same time period. For a band with such a stellar live show this release deserved to be a lot better than it ended up, the sheer amateur level of production might be a big turn-off for all but the most hardcore of fans. But even those more ardent Marah supporters might question why they'd need to pay for a product that is little better than the bootlegs the band has allowed them to trade for free up to now. Hopefully the next official live release will truly capture and reflect the passion and energy of this oft-overlooked band.