Vertigo Days is one of the best works in the discography of the Weilheim institution, which is not exactly stingy with strokes of genius. Because it just deserves that The Notwist give the album a little more limelight with a corresponding live record.
However, the First Take recording, recorded in 2021 in her studio without an audience, still feels like an audience and precisely because of this (as well as, admittedly unfairly, also because of an almost flawless live album like Superheroes, Ghostvillains + Stuff as a benchmark) a little as if getting Vertigo Days in his performance in Alien Research Center not quite the space that is needed to actually unfold the prolonged psychedelic krautrock collage along the potentially shown ideal state.
In general, in the end, that certain something will simply be missing, that indefinable bit of magic that can only arise face to face in front of the stage – because this friction can sometimes seem a bit too sterile and isolated Vertigo Days – Live from Alien Research Center due to the circumstances of course not generate.
In particular, some songs are also missing – namely Al Norte, Ghost, Night‘s Too Dark, *stars*, Al Sur and of all things charming Into Love Again – and (except for the snipping ones I am-Samples in Shipwhich suggests wearing yourself out psychotically, but then remains symptomatically a bit too well-behaved and accommodatingly controlled and does not ultimately necessarily tear away) all guest features, what Vertigo Days – Live from Alien Research Center in knowledge of the regular studio album costs a little in weight and facets.
But what makes it clearest is the opening one Into Love / Starswhat would actually have been possible here if The Notwist Showing the suite growing to over eight minutes, softly and tenderly resolving into transcendentally supple indietronica rock, hallucinogenicly cultivating the textures and atmosphere with a comforting smile over the herbaceous mood and soulful background. Terrific – and the actually structurally open, pondering jam nature of this performance raises the character of the performance to the pedestal in the most engaging way.
Only the one moved to the end of the setlist from the otherwise chronological performance Loose Ends als tinkling Nirvana also stretches longer than the original template – all other numbers remain relatively compact on the forms of the album versions. A few of the seamlessly flowing transitions may seem a bit too hasty, which is why the added interludes of intro and interlude also create welcome space to take a deep breath, where the omitted shorter numbers are missed, while the second half of the record in particular is a lucid dream a captivating depth effect unfolds, the vocals float in trippy loops and the music hypnotizes: the class of this band and record is simply remarkable!
With the most serious accusation once morest this publication, namely that one The Notwist simply forever and thus much longer than the 45 minutes offered here, the Achers and Co. will certainly be able to live well. In any case, the anticipation for upcoming tours is once once more fueled like nothing.
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