The Real McKenzies – Shine Not Burn

When Vancouver’s seminal Scottish punk band The Real McKenzies first announced Shine Not Burn, their acoustic live album, my ears perked.  Live albums always capture a band’s true spirit, and acoustic settings add that extra level of intimacy and audience interaction.  Combine the two and you’re sure to be in for a real treat.  Right?  Well, a few tracks in and I couldn’t help shake the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.

For their previous studio album, Of The Leash, The Real McKenzies included a quiet little gem titled “The Maple Trees Remember.”  It was deep, contemplative, and made use of a calming tone and reduced tempo.  The acoustics were strummed with a heightened sense of nostalgia, and despite not being entirely unplugged, had all the intimate markings of an acoustic set.  The track was pretty near conceived for an album like Shine Not Burn, yet “The Maple Trees Remember,” nor its sentiment, is anywhere to be found.

Instead, the boys get lost in the heat of the moment, playing their instruments and rallying the crowd as if forgetting their unique backdrop and stripped down armaments.  On tracks like “10,000 Shots” the always-energetic Dave Gregg practically pounds his acoustic guitar into the stage with each sweeping strike – which thanks to the instrument’s chorded amplification, gives the intimate instrument a blanket sound that drowns out any and all depth.  Meanwhile on tracks like “Get Lost” and “Chip” vocalist Paul McKenzie carries on with his trademark battle cry, completely unaware of how overpowering and out of place he sounds.  Speaking of which, for many of these tracks the band also feels like they’re trying too much at once.  The Real McKenzies are typically a massive, eight-person endeavor, but in this minimalist environment it feels as though they’re trying to include too many band members at once.  In the acoustic setting, all these layers just sound messy, detracting from the big, unified class act that the McKenzies are known for.

But for all my accusations, at least the band tries.  For opener “Nessie,” Paul pulls out his harmonica, with the rest of the band bringing out violins and mandolins, aiming to ground the tracks in their folk roots.  They collectively reduce tempo and share vocal duties, but it just isn’t enough.  It’s as if they’re meeting their goal half way – locked in a tempo too slow for the original, but still too quick for their acoustic aspirations.  Not surprisingly, the tracks that work well, like “Swaney Beane Clan” (which hosts a fitting tin whistle) and “Wild Mountain Thyme,” really strip down and focus on doing a few good things right.

When all is said and done, and the band tells everyone to “bugger off” (as per their track of the same name), I’m left a little empty.  Shine Not Burn isn’t terrible, just disappointing.   Not a single track lives up to its original studio counterpart, or offers a new take that equals or surpasses the quality of the original. Shine Not Burn would have made for a killer live album, or a fantastic studio acoustic set, but combined the band achieves neither.