At the near-closing of the Proletariat in Houston last September. Just awful. It sounded like 25 different versions of Yes' Five Per Cent for Nothing (or a throwaway King Crimson riff) with shrieking vocals, with all amps turned up way too loud.

Thanks so much for reviewing this album. The Fiery Furnaces are truly the most underrated band on the planet.

I have enjoyed every record in their prolific output and can't wait to get a copy of this one.

They may require a little more patience on the part of the listener than some bands, but that's a good thing. Too much music these days is thoughtless, easily consumed and forgotten, following tired formats.

The amount of detail and enthusiasm The Furnaces put into their music is refreshing, exciting, and, well, beautiful. They are one of the few bands that I actually sit down and give my full attention. You really have to applaud a band that makes rock seem like a new genre with unlimited possibilities.

I liked Blueberry Boat a lot. Bitter Tea, not as much. I haven't bought the others. Reading this review, I thought I might like this live album better. So, I goes to Amazon and start the Preview All on the tracks. Yep, 51 of them. Most clock in at about 2 minutes so the samples are giving you quite a taste.

After all that build-up, what's my comment: Just listening to the 51 samples became tedious. Much sounds the same and in what I know to be an unusual turn of phrase...the chaotic nature of it becomes repetitive. An unwritten law of art: repetitive chaos is not all that interesting. Probably a bit like being Manuel Norriega when the US military blared rock music at him 24 hours day to get him to come out of the Holy See's embassy after the Panama invasion.

Now, ask me again in 5 years and it could easily be that I did eventually buy the album and grow to like it. I come around sometimes...