Many bands joke that their second album will be a live album that reprises their debut, to show how much better the songs sound after several months honing them on the road. Well,
Lizzy Borden went and did it. 1986's
The Murderess Metal Road Show is nothing more nor less than the entirety of 1985's
Love You to Pieces with a different song order and a few extra tracks from the band's first EP. The problem is that the songs actually don't sound better live: the playing is sloppy and the songs tend to ramble on listlessly ("American Metal" goes on for six full minutes, then returns for an interminable encore in "Finale") without the tightness and punky precision that was the main attraction of
Love You to Pieces. Even worse, the sound is simply awful, hollow, and echoey like it was recorded from the back of an empty arena during sound check. And if you can't see a band as theatrically glammy as
Lizzy Borden, a lot of the appeal is lost.
The Murderess Metal Road Show is a disappointment even for fans. ~ Stewart Mason