REVIEW: “Live” “At” “The” “BBC” Ty Segall & The Muggers

It’s a quick and dirty five-song release with a uniform “noise” sound. This nineteen-minute live album was recorded in 2016 during Segall’s Emotional Mugger tour. Segall was joined by The Muggers–a powerhouse group consisting of Mikal Cronin on bass, Kyle Thomas on guitar, Emmett Kelly on guitar, Cory Hanson on keys and Evan Burrows on drums.

Segall was only sporting a mic during this tour which is uncharacteristic of the talented guitarist and multi-instrumentalist.

This album offers what Segall’s latest studio release Possession, did not. Possession–though it’s a great album–is void of Segall’s heavy soundand signature guitar fuzz. On “Live”"At” “The” “BBC,” Segall’s voice is hoarse from being on the road–you can hear this clearly in his speaking voice at the beginning of “L.A. Woman” when he states, “We’ll play three minutes of a really long cover, and then we’ll stop for the news.”

“Squealer” opens the album and sets a heavy tone and futuristic beeping noises creep in–sounding like someone threw R2-D2 in the deep end. Segall’s rough voice is prominent on “Breakfast Eggs” and the verses are somehow reminiscent of AC/DC’s“Big Balls.”

This leads into “Emotional Mugger”which features the best vocals on the album and on this track, Segal’s screams bring more of his inner Jim Morrison out than the upcoming Doors cover. In the middle of the song, Segall sings, “John Wayne was a bad bad man.”

Next comes “Candy Sam” which has an old punk ring to it with all the members singing together. The song ends in a chant that slowly amplifies: “La la la.. La la la.. La la la.. La lala.. La la la!”A shortened and demented cover of “L.A. Woman” ends the fleeting ball of energy that is “Live “ “At ““The “ “BBC.” I wasn’t sold on the album at first, though it grew on me very quickly, especially when I turned up the volume. This is a live album, so I suppose it’s meant to be listened toon 11, Spinal Tap style.