Michale Graves - Illusions Live/Viretta Park (2008) Review

Remember Graves? Former lead vocalist for the Misfits from 1996 – 2000? Well he is a solo artist with 3 albums under his belt not to mention his 4th away from the famed Misfits (Graves – Web of Drama being his first). This recording is an acoustic live album recorded while on his Illusions Tour (not to be confused with Gnarl’s own Illusion’s tour). With the exception of a handful of songs, it is just Graves, his guitar and fans sitting around him as he indulges from songs from all eras of his career from the Misfits to Graves and his solo work. This CD would work great if it was electronic and you wanted to give it to someone who has never heard anything Graves as sung before. His voice is in top shape and sometimes his guitar is out of tune but hey, this is a punk show right? Sloppiness comes with it and the CD benefits from it. Also included with this live recording are 6 demos (5 new original songs and 1 re-recording) that were recorded in Romania during the filming of Perkins 14 (a new horror movie featuring Graves). The new songs sound pretty good and I would be interested in hearing them in their final versions when he decides to release a new album. As for a ratting? I give this album 8 fiends out of 10 just cause “Blackbird” appears twice and I would have preferred another recording of an acoustic “Dig Up Her Bones” which is, to me anyways, his greatest song he wrote.