Album Reviews

Recorded without Tim Barry knowing it, “Raising Hell & Living Cheap” gives you a mighty good impression of what the former Avail frontman sounds like live, unfiltered and unadulterated. Yes, this hometown show has been recorded on a four-track and as a result it all sounds raw and unpolished, but that only adds to the charm.

The crowd on this one has no problem participating, singing along every time they get the chance and you can hear how it spurs Barry on as he belts his way through material from his five solo albums, including “Driver Pull”, “Fine Foods Market” and “Ronnie Song”.

I’m still more of a fan of Tim Barry’s studio albums to be honest, but as far as live albums go, you can do a hell of a lot worse than “Raising Hell & Living Cheap”. They didn’t cut out any of the stage banter here and besides shedding some light on the origin of a couple of his songs, Barry is just a lot of fun to listen to. So sit back, grab a PBR and enjoy “Raising Hell & Living Cheap”!