World Be Live

Listening notes

Inside World Be Live

By Alex Vale

World Be Live opens with “Oh L’Amour” and “Ship of Fools,” then begins threading World Be Gone through a set full of familiar singles. The Loveboat song “Mad As We Are” joins newer material; “Just a Little Love,” “Sweet Summer Loving,” the title track, “Take Me Out of Myself,” and “Love You to the Sky” are not confined to one new-album block.

The contrast is productive. The current songs carry public anxiety and bruised optimism; “Blue Savannah,” “Always,” and “Sometimes” bring decades of audience memory. A cover of Blondie’s “Atomic” gives the set a welcome surprise and suits Bell’s theatrical delivery.

This is the live record to choose for the 2017 chapter because it lets that chapter argue with the greatest hits. Pair it with World Beyond to hear the same new material tested in the opposite direction: orchestral intimacy instead of stage scale.