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Pacifier Live: Pacifier

It’s the one common criticism that has been levelled at every Shihad/Pacifier album to date - that none of them have managed to capture the intensity of one of their live performances. That’s been rectified with 'Pacifier Live’, a two CD live album taken from the recent Everything tour of NZ, mostly versions recorded in Hamilton and Christchurch. Their hometown Wellington gets only one track, Thin White Line - not really surprising given the awful concrete acoustics of the Starlight Ballroom. It’s a collection of the best of Shihad/Pacifier, and with clever mixing flows seamlessly as one complete show. While many fans denounced the name change to Pacifier and the Josh Abraham’s produced album of the same name as evidence of them selling out in favour of breaking America, 'Pacifier Live’ stands up as further evidence of a progression of the band. Each album is represented by a healthy number of tracks; but it’s the latest ones that hold up the best, especially Run, Bullitproof, The General Electric and Comfort Me where you can almost see Jon Toogood spitting the chorus, sweat flicking off his brow. The liner asks you to play it loud and given the decibel levels of the shows, the recording is excellent and the stereo separation a treat. Jon’s voice has never been in the foreground like this before and as such the band has never sounded better. Live albums frequently come at the end of a career, but let’s hope that’s not the case here. 'Live’ is proof of four focused men at the peak of their powers.

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