The Miracle Workers - Live at the Forum

The Miracle Workers were one of my favorite bands of the late 80's/early 90's (and good friends) and a precursor to what is now known as "punk'n'roll", though they were simply taking the garage-punk that they had always played and filtered it through Detroit high-energy. Great songwriting, great playing, cool stage presence - they were the complete package. It's only because it is an unfair world that they never hit big.

This live record is a document of their tour after releasing Primary Domain - one of their best albums. They had been to Europe before (we toured together on the first Euro tours for either of our bands) and the audiences there loved them and treated them like stars. The enthusiasm does really shine through on this recording, unfortunately - apparently this is a board recording so the audience is barely heard. But the group is on fire, as per usual, and this is a souvenir that I know many of their fans cherish.

With a set list combining songs from throughout their career mixed with Workers-ized covers, this gives you items that you won't hear anywhere else. They learned "Evil Woman" from Black Sabbath's version (as opposed to the Crow original) and I hope that they did not have to live through that tale! They also blast through "Slow Death", "You Got Your Head on Backwards" (remembering their garage roots), and "No Fun" (they could perform just about any Stooges/MC5 song at this point) along with originals like "She Came to Stay", "Patron Saint", "Ninety-Nine", "Memory Lane", "Already Gone" and "That Ain't Me". All amazingly rockin'!

Any fan of 80's garage, punk'n'roll or just good music should own this! Makes me miss this time!

PS - the cover shown is completely different that the original, which was a drawing from cartoonist Joe Sacco, who toured with them and created a comic book from the experience which captured the guys perfectly! I guess the anatomically correct Centaurs might have been a bit much for some sellers!