THE SCREAMING JETS: Live Forever

Produced by The Screaming Jets

Released: 2002

During the 1990s, the Screaming Jets were what Cold Chisel and the Angels had been to the 1980s and what AC/DC was to the 1970s. So when they originally pulled the plug in mid-2001, the door closed not only on a great band, but on an entire chapter of Australian rock history that may never be reopened, because the Jetters really were the last of the great Australian hard rock bands. Like some of them too, the Screaming Jets were sometimes never quite able to translate their raw, live energy adequately onto their studio albums. Perhaps the confines of a studio was too much like putting them in a cage because while they put together some great albums, the Screaming Jets was always a band to be experienced on stage, pumping sweat and crunching through some of the best no-frills rock of the 1990s.

Live Forever is a double live CD recorded at the very last show of their farewell tour in Newcastle in June 2001. For some reason however, this album still doesn’t quite give as good an impression of the feverish chaos of a Jetters live show in the way that, say, Liveline did for the Angels or Last Stand did for Cold Chisel. Apart from Dave Gleeson’s stage banter, this could almost have been recorded live in a studio somewhere with its surprisingly smooth and polished sound. It seems a little pointless to release a live album that doesn’t sound “live” but nevertheless, Live Forever gives you two whole CDs of the band’s best and not so best known songs from right across their catalogue, over two hours’ worth of catchy and hook-laden melodic hard rock tracks that have become part of the nation’s musical heritage.

For Screaming Jets devoted this will be, of course, indispensible, and the casual fan will probably find it a better overall document of their music than the BMG-issued ‘best of’ Hits and Pieces.

CD 1

1. Dream On


2. Alright


3. Tunnel


4. Blue Sashes


5. Realise


6. No Point


7. Starting Out


8. Higher With You


9. Shine Over Me


10. Helping Hand


11. Watching the Grass Grow


12. October Grey


13. Sad Song


14. Think


15. Here I Go

CD 2

1. Needle


2. Individuality


3. No Way Out


4. I Need Your Love


5. Too Drunk to Fuck


6. C'mon


7. Shine On


8. Shivers


9. Living in England


10. Better


11. Friend of Mine


12. F.R.C.

Rating: 78%