Evanescence – Anywhere But Home

Wind-Up Records (USA)
Directed by Hamish Hamilton

With a completely different lineup to that which recorded multi-million selling Fallen (apart from vocalist Amy Lee), Evanescence release their horribly premature first live album/DVD. A live album after just one record is completely unnecessary and an obvious attempt at cashing in on the record because it did well.

Replacing Ben Moody on guitar we have Terry Balsamo and John LeCompt – and a sterling job they do too. They’re just about the best part of the whole show, save the lighting. New bassist William Boyd and drummer Rocky Gray do their part, but they don’t really have that tough a job to do. The set predictably contains all the obvious songs from Fallen. Singles Going Under, Bring Me To Life, Everybody’s Fool, the band version of My Immortal and the most god awful version of Taking Over Me you will ever hear are included, plus My Last Breath, Tourniquet, Imaginary and Whisper.

Other than the selections from Fallen (all but two songs, actually), we have a terrible cover of KoRn‘s Thoughtless, non-LP track Farther Away which is excellent, and unreleased piano ballad Breathe No More (written and recorded for Fallen but not used), which isn’t. Also included as a bonus on the CD is the studio track Missing, which it claims is previously unreleased. This is incorrect as it was on the Bring Me To Life single. Finally, the track listing is wrong. Missing is listed as track eight, when it’s actually (and sensibly) at the end.

The somewhat MTV-style editing with strange close-up selections and nauseating camera movement doesn’t help with the concert enjoyment on the DVD, even with the stunning lighting and crystal clear picture. It plays like a trailer for a live DVD, rather than a live DVD itself. The performance from the band is solid, and Amy’s voice is mostly alright. It’s only bad on one or two songs, or the odd verse (see Going Under). The sound quality is good too, which actually makes the CD more enjoyable than the DVD.

The bonus features include a “Behind The Scenes” documentary, all four music videos for the Fallen singles and a hidden bonus live performance of Bring Me To Life from the 2003 Billboard Music Awards. The videos are worth a look, and the Billboard performance is interesting, but the documentary is pointless (aren’t they all?).

Were Evanescence a band comprised of people, or even fronted by someone, already established from other bands, then a live DVD after one album with a new band would be acceptable, since they’d no doubt play plenty of old songs from their other bands into a live set. Evanescence don’t (yet) have that luxury, which makes Anywhere But Home unnecessary at best, even if it is good value.

“ horribly premature ”

Tracklist: Haunted / Going Under / Taking Over Me / Everybody’s Fool / Thoughtless / My Last Breath / Farther Away / Breathe No More / My Immortal / Bring Me To Life / Tourniquet / Imaginary / Whisper
Bonus Features: My Immortal video / Everybody’s Fool video / Bring Me To Life video / Going Under video / Behind The Scenes / Bring Me To Life (Live at Billboard Music Awards 2003)
CD Bonus Track: Missing

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gothic, Live DVDs, Evanescence