Forgotten Gems : STAYING A LIFE by Accept

Generally Accept is an under-appreciated band. They probably always were struggling in the huge shadow of their fellow rockers in Scorpions, though the output in the eighties was vastly better from Accept. They originally started out as a dated kind of hard rock band, in the early Scorpions vein. Then they went sort of light thrashy speed metally, in the early to mid eighties, and hit the sweet spot for a couple of years.

This live album was "made in japan" and the pun at Deep Purple is intended, because the sound on these discs is almost as deliciously fresh and punchy as that legendary live album by Purple and it was also recorded at the height of their career in 1985. Heavy Metal is not famous for their high fidelity live recordings, but this is an exception. I cannot recall any other live album where the guitars sound so full, fleshy and crispy, and the whole soundstage comes right out in your face... without feeling forced.

Add to that an Udo Dirkschneider in absolute top shape voice-vise. His otherworldly screemish voice is a kind of singing, even if he screems... I never quite understood how he did this. The repertoire stretches back to another forgotten gem, the Breaker album, where 3-4 tracks excells here. Specifically I need to mention Son Of Bitch, a notorious fan favorite. They literally sing You Asshole, Kiss My Ass, Cocksucking Motherfucker etc... completely over the top :-) The special point here being that they stick to the real lyrics while in the studio version they sing Fother Mocker etc instead... i guess they had their balls to the wall by the record label.... but not live haha :-)

The performance of the legendary guitarist Wolf Hoffmann is impeccable. He is tight yet playful, using a few Beethoven(?) references even. Everything falls into place and the diversity of the chosen songs is also good. One of the best rock/metal live albums of all time. Very underrated.