“Lyon” starts off with The Psychic Paramount really taking individuals into a very industrial type of vein. In essence, the track sounds as if someone is rewinding a tape, as everything has a back-masked type of quality that really operates nicely in terms of opening up this disc. From the onset, “Paris pt. One” has a much more rock-based feel to it.
Everything is blanketed with a heavy degree of fuzz and distortion; amongst this coating, a beauty is still audible and will entice listeners in regardless of their attitude. The amount of noise during these tracks is reminiscent of Guitar Wolf, but without any vocals the influences become much more nebulous. As can be expected, “Paris pt. two” works in tandem with its predecessor part; there seems to be a unity of the two styles (noise and industrial) that have presented themselves previously on this album. Where the first few tracks on the disc have runtimes approximating a pop track, the band really gets off their feet with the second half of the disc, averaging about ten minutes per track for the last three tracks (“Napoli/Perpignan pt. two”, “Perpignan pt. one” and “Ex-Visitations”). One could think that the band would succeed to a greater degree on these tracks as they are given more time to work their magic, but what really happens with the first half of the tracks on “Live 2002” is that they coalesce into an amorphous entity regardless of a two second break in the action.
By far, the closes that The Psychic Paramount get to anything traditional on this disc has to be the step-ladder sound of what one has to assume is the second part of “Perpignan”. This sound is a beacon to all who listen, shining a light through the haze and fog that is ever-present in the distortion on this album. There is never a word uttered on “Live 2002: The Franco-Italian Tour” but The Psychic Paramount have written War & Peace in the space of only forty-five minutes. Each shrill guitar line, the positioning of each drum hit tell a story that apt fans will be more than happy to pick up on. Experimental, noisy, but always maintaining some sort of structure, The Psychic Paramount create music that sound fresh regardless of how many years ago that they put it forth to their crowds in whatever nation they found themselves in.
Top Track: Perpignan pt. one
Rating: 5.8/10
The Psychic Paramount – Live 2002: The Franco-Italian Tour / 2006 Public Guilt / 6 Tracks / http://www.thepsychicparamount.com / http://www.publicguilt.com / Reviewed 12 February 2006
[JMcQ]