Rating: 2.5/5
Rebecca St James has been in the music industry for more than 16 years. She has released many studio albums, but Alive in Florida is only her second live album. In recent years, Rebecca has changed her sound from acoustic guitar-driven rock to more electronic pop rock. This change has shown through a lot in her new album with only one track featuring an acoustic guitar.
Alive in Florida opens with a neat little electric clip that builds into God Help Me, which opens the album strongly with lots of drums, keyboards and electric guitars. The next two songs follow on, a little less electronic and more guitar driven rock, before backing off for the acoustic version of You Are Loved. The rest of the album brings back the electronics and the keyboards. Overall, the song selection and arrangement is fantastic. However, there is one major flaw.
The sound quality of the album is actually too good. It sounds like the entire album has been recorded in a recording studio and the crowd sounds added in later. If you actually listen closely between tracks, the crowd sounds identical on each track. If I had wanted a studio album I would have gone out and purchased St James’ If I Had One Chance To Tell You Something album. But I didn’t. I brought a live album, and I expect it to sound like it was actually recorded live.
For an album that has the word ‘alive’ in the title I found Alive in Florida anything but alive. The songs themselves are excellent and performed very well, but it is a real disappointment when you expect a live album and you get something that has been edited more in a studio then a standard studio album.
