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Album Review: Violent Femmes, Viva Wisconsin

BMG

The Violent Femmes have been teenagers since 1981.

And on Viva Wisconsin, a new live album recorded over a week on an October 1998 tour of their home state, the band's perpetual youth shows in the energetic rendition of 20 of their most popular songs.

For the most part, this album sticks to the hits, but avoids the geriatric arrogance of most who would be called classic rockers, such as the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over.

The album is a sing-along, from the opening "Prove My Love" to the closing "Kiss Off," the band's classic piss-in-the-coffee-mug of adversaries and authority mantra.

Vocalist and guitarist Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie and drummer Guy Hoffman, despite their teen-angst-themed songs and irreverent attitude, are a tight group of musicians, who certainly know what the crowd wants, and their fellow Wisconsinites give the band all their due respect.

"We've decided not to do songs that we don't know," says Ritchie as the 13th track begins. "So here's another one about Wisconsin. This one is about a little cannibal from down the road."

A condemnation of their most infamous statesman, the 53 -second song has the band singing, "Dahmer is dead, Dahmer is dead, a broomstick bashed upside his head ... Jeffrey Dahmer has no right tomorrow. Long live the broomstick upside his head."

As expected, "Blister in the Sun," "American Music," "Country Death Song," "Gone Daddy Gone" and "Add It Up" are included, sounding fresh and full in the all-acoustic arrangements. -Eric Swedlund