THE PREGNANT CONCERT

Rasputina's third live album was recorded during bandleader Melora Creager's second pregnancy which led to the obvious title 'The Pregnant Concert'. The tracks here are all from a single show, recorded at the East coast Knitting Factory the same week it opened at its Brooklyn location, relocated there from a larger Manhattan setting for the purpose of accommodating cozier, more personal affairs like this one. The new venue seats only about 300 patrons so the crowd couldn't have been very big this night, but they are clearly devoted fans and dote on Creager, fellow cellist Daniel DeJesus and drummer Julie Griner between (and sometimes during) the songs. Creager also engages in some witty banter between tracks, mostly quick jokes or background about one song or another and occasional references to her growing waistline.

The only new song here is actually a cover, the Undertones punk anthem 'Teenage Kicks' which DJ John Peel (and hoards of other DJs) went gaga over back in my high school days. I personally thought the Undertones to be a bit bland back then, and particularly Feargal Sharkey (his solo career proved me right), but this became one of their more enduring hit singles and Creager does it justice with that way she has of projecting the mood and meaning of a serious song while sitting legs akimbo in a corset and face paint while cranking on a cello. Nice trick, that.

The others are mostly original compositions, smatterings of the more well-known songs from four of the first five Rasputina albums and Creager's first solo record 'Perplexions', as well as 'Kinderhook Hoopskirt Works' and 'Holocaust of Giants' which would appear on the band's excellent 'Sister Kinderhook' CD in late 2010. For some reason there is nothing here from 2002's 'Cabin Fever!', probably because that was also the most un Rasputina- like album of them all complete with too much electronic noise and industrial arrangements. Not the sort of thing that would translate well to the quaint environ of the Knitting Factory and not the best Rasputina work anyway so no big loss.

But as with just about every Rasputina album there are also uniquely interpreted cover tunes as well. Other than the Undertones tune none of them are new for Creager. The Ray Davies lullaby 'I Go to Sleep' is a great choice. The song was written by Davies during the birth of his first child in 1965 and was most famously covered by Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders. Hynde would of course go on to give birth to a child by Davies, so it's apparently a good song for artists who are about to have a baby.

Another cover is Tom Petty's 'American Girl' which Creager recorded on her 'Perplexions' solo album a few years' prior and again on the live 'Melora a la Basilica'. Of the three versions this one is pretty good but the haunting echo and plaintive cello bowing on the 'Basilica' version outshines this by a fair bit.

The band also includes Sunforest's 'I Want to Mary a Lighthouse Keeper' which originally appeared on A Clockwork Orange (and which Creager also covered on 'Basilica'); this version is a little more lively but both are decent. And they also play the Goldfrapp house hit 'Clowns', again a cover first recorded on 'Basilica' and again a little better and more focused on that one but not bad here.

Finally Creager launches into a rousing rendition of CCR's 'Bad Moon Rising' along with her own 'Rusty the Skatemaker' during an extended encore nearly an hour into the recording. So if nothing else you get your money's worth in quantity.

But don't get me wrong, the quality is good too. The production is solid, the setlist shows an appreciation for fan preference and balance, all three musicians are in good form, and Creager seems to be really enjoying herself and the intimate interaction with her adoring fans. And sometimes that's all you need for a great concert experience, which I'm sure most everyone had that night. A solid three stars and just short of four. But if you can only buy one Rasputina live album I'd recommend 'Melora a la Basilica' over this one. This one is very good; that one is a classic.

peace